“Atsui†needn’t be the only word you use this summer to make small talk in the staff room. Make this easy peasy Japanesey somen lunch and you’ll be bantering about bentos till school’s out. Somen noodles are made of wheat flour and are usually served cold. With an easy dipping sauce, they can be…
HAJET Book Club: 1Q84 (Book 1 & 2) by Haruki Murakami ☆☆☆ Another book has been added to the Hyogo AJET Book Club’s Goodreads bookshelf: 1Q84. On a surprisingly sunny Sunday in June, some 17 book clubbers gathered, eager to share thoughts on one of many Murakami worlds. We took centre stage…
A boozy lunch experience, let’s blunch! Our beloved Kobe is not only famous for its drunk cows but also has a decent café scene. The fool proof place for a savvy lunch or kitsch coffee is definitely (in my opinion) Motomachi, those of you who have ever attended a Hyogo AJET Book Club…
My favourite rainy day activity is cooking. When it rains I always crave a hearty meal, whether it’s in cold, drizzly England or humid, wet Japan. This is a rapid, one-pot dish with an element of cheating – the curry blocks here are just too easy to pass up! I’ve added a few flavours…
Homesickness can be tough, recreating foody home comforts is my cure. A sure fire way to brighten up my day is through pie, a generous serving of cottage pie to take me back to Britain. All the ingredients are easy to get hold of (without a treacherous trip to Kaldi!). Serves 1-2 (depending…
On a sunny Sunday in spring, a dozen book clubbers assembled under (one of) Rough Rare’s retro roofs. With the Ball Room and Royal Room both occupied by newlyweds, the centre of the Supper Room (2F) became our discussion space for a couple hours. The classic 1980s sci-fi story, Ender’s Game was the…
The month of May has crept up on us once again, hello May! We welcome you warmly as you bear the best gift a nenkyu-less ALT can get, Golden Week! Come Friday May 2nd I’ll be all packed and ready to dart out of the staff room straight onto a flight to Seoul! Whether you’re…
While most of you may have the luxury of a fish grill tucked under your 2-set stove, I, among others, do not. But daijoubu, I have an ever-so convenient 860W toaster oven to save the day. This month I’ll show you how to easily transform salmon into a bento lunch or fish supper. …
Last month we had our biggest book club yet, over 20 people took over the ever-so welcoming Bo Tambourine Café in Kobe to share their many opinions on Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being. The novel runs two stories side by side, Ruth an author who reads the diary of Nao, a Japanese…