Feeling a little Yamato Nadeshiko.

Just wanna share a couple of "Japanese-y" things I've been up to recently:

Homemade amazake FTW! Nothing hits the spot like this after a brutally cold day out.

A former coworker and dear friend of mine once spoke to me about the wonders of amazake. She makes a point of making and drinking a cup every night, because it offers a number of benefits: for instance, apparently it contains a lot of nutrients (vitamins, protein, etc.), lowers cholesterol,  and is supposed to be really good for your skin?!

I am not sure how correct all of her information was, but if anything my friend (who I believe is in her mid-40s) looks fantastic, healthy - and her complexion is really nice. Plus, amazake really does  warm you up - with the weather as cold as it is, she had me sold.

Later, I happened to run across sakekasu (pictured in the bottom left of the photo above) when I visited a sake brewery awhile back. There are various ways to make your own amazake, but the way my friend does it - and how I do it - is basically to mix the sakekasu with water and sugar in a pot, and voila! All done.

Since I live alone and my sad excuse for a kitchen only has a single electric stove, which takes forever to heat up - and when it does, the settings are only OFF or VERY HIGH (heat), so making amazake on my own took way more effort than it needed to. But! I've discovered a recipe where you make it with the microwave - which might wind up being my new thing. Perhaps this time I'll be able to make amazake into a habit like my friend.

Simple recipe for making amazake:

1) Put sakekasu and ~50cc water (ratio of 1:4) in a microwavable cup, and heat for about 30 seconds.

2) Using a spoon or chopsticks, mix the sakekasu until no lumps remain.

3) Add enough water to fill the cup, as well as sugar to taste. Microwave for 1-2 minutes, or until hot...and you're done!

Onto a completely different topic...

Free tickets to the Kimono Beauty exhibit!

Another recent happening - I was typing furiously at work, focusing on some translation when one of my department's bosses - the Bucho, or Executive Director for Public Relations! came and sat next to me. I rarely see her even though we work on the same floor, perhaps because she's so high on the ladder that she has her own private office.

Anyway, while I was scrambling to collect my thoughts, she asked me if I'd been to the Kimono Beauty exhibit, being held at the Chiba City Museum of Art at that time. I said no - and then she pushed these tickets into my hands, and went on her way before I could even say thanks.

I had actually already been planning to go, but this incident just ensured that I would go - especially since my bucho had gone out of her way to give me these! So I went with some friends - on the very last day of the exhibit...but it was absolutely fantastic. It was even cooler because a lot of the other visitors that day were dressed in kimono, perhaps because they were all taking lessons in how to wear kimono and they came with their class, and/or because people in kimono got discounts on admission. In any case, many of them were just as wonderful to behold, and it took a lot of self-control NOT to ogle them.

Of course, photography wasn't allowed in the museum so I don't have any other photos to share - aside from this one below! These kimono were on display at entrance to the Taisho/Showa era kimono section of the exhibit, along with a sign that basically read "please take photos"...so of course, I had to oblige!

Viva Yamato Nadeshiko!