One of my favorite TV programs is 劇的ビフォーアフター .  Everytime I watched it, it made me want to try something new. Japan is in the beginning of Reiwa (Beautiful Harmony).  How will this "before-after" turn out for Japan, I wonder? I haven't posted anything here for a month.  Sorry!  I was very busy before, during , and after Golden Week, with different projects around my house. Here are a few photos of my before and afters. My yard before after My Mother's back porch before After My walk-in closet, Before After Perhaps, the least dramatic, but most difficult, replanting our tree. Before After Changing my wife's car, turning signal, last Sunday. Before After And finally, ME! Before (1987) After (2016) What happened to my life??? What are some of your before and afters?      

Did you have a chance to enjoy the beautiful cherry blossoms this year?  The weather was perfect yesterday and the blossoms were at their peak.  I went cycling down Taihei River, Hitotsumori Park and through Senshu Park. Today, I want you to become a poet.  Using "like" or "as", compare the cherry blossoms to something.  This is very common in Haiku.  Here are a few of my tries. The blossoms looked like popcorn popping on the trees. It was like a gentle snowfall of petals. The blossoms were as white as snow. The tree looked like a great big dandelion puff.   It looked as delicious as the cotton candy if the hands of the child below.   Here are a few photos from yesterday.  I look forward to hearing about your cherry blossom viewing this year.  I'll add some of the best comparisons from my students here next week.

  This month  I'm starting many new classes, and meeting many new students.  I'm looking forward to writing new pages in my book of life. Different ways to say "HELLO".

1. What's up! ("sup"?)
2. How ya doin'?
3. Hey!
4. Lookin' good!
5. Yo!
6. What's happenin'?
7. Howdy!
8. Look what the cat dragged in!
9. Hi!
10. Finally here are 10 "hellos" from different languages.  How many do you recognize?

• Bonjour, Salut
• Hola ¿Qué tal?
• Zdravstvuyte, Privet
• Nǐn hǎo, Nǐ hǎo
•  Salve,  Ciao
• Konnichiwa, Yā, _Yō
• Guten Tag,  Hallo, Hi
• Olá, Oi
• Anyoung haseyo, Anyoung
• Asalaam alaikum (Peace be upon you),  Ahlan

  The end of March is a bittersweet time for me.  I have to say good-bye to some of my wonderful students who are graduating, moving, or just moving on.  I wish you all the best of luck in your future.  I will wish for you the same thing I tell my elementary school students at the end of the year.  I want you to be happy, healthy and kind.  If you have those three things, I have no complaints or regrets. Saying good-bye is hard and always using the same phrase is a little boring! Here are ten different ways to say "good-bye". Try one next time.

1. See you later alligator.
2. Well, I'm off.
3. Gotta hit the road.
4. Peace out.
5. Take it easy.
6. I gotta make like a tree and leave.
7. Catch you on the flip side.
8. Have a good one.
9. I gotta head.
10. Bye for now.

    I wrote about White Day last March.  So I won't repeat myself again.  This week is a week of baking and saying thank you to all my wonderful students.  Look forward to tasting some of these cookies this week.  More later.  I will post some of the recipes tonight.  No time now. Good Evening.  Here are the recipes: Missouri Cookies

BAKER'S Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

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This is our go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. When you have a craving for a classic chocolate chip cookie, bake up a batch of these!

 

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2-1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 pkg. (300 g) Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

 

• Heat oven to 375°F.
• Beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in flour and baking soda until well blended. Add chocolate chips; mix well.
• Drop tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets.
• Bake 10 to 12 min. or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet 3 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

 

Tea Cookies

Ingredients

Directions

 

1. Beat together the butter and confectioners' sugar till creamy. Add vanilla.
2. Mix the dry ingredients, stir into creamy mixture. Blend well.
3. Add the nuts, mix well, roll the dough out into two balls. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
4. Flatten dough out and cut into 15 or 20 equal size pieces, shape into balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes till firm but not brown. While still warm roll into confectioners' sugar, let cool and roll again.

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup butter or 1 cup margarine, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 ¹⁄₂ cups flour

1. Cream butter, peanut butter and both sugars together.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well.
3. Add baking soda, powder and vanilla.
4. Stir in flour.
5. Roll into balls, roll in sugar. Flatten cookies, using a fork, in a criss-cross pattern.
6. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 6-7 minutes or adjust to suit your oven and size of cookies!

    

Happy ＣＯＯＫＩＮG

Do you get cabin fever?  I do!  With the weather getting warmer and the snow melting, I really wanted to get out yesterday.  I didn't have a lot of time, somewhere not too far, but also not too near.  I finally decided on Kosaka Town.  NHK had a short special about Akita, Friday night, that I happened to watch.  They showed the Kosaka Mining office and the Kabuki Theater. We left around 10:00 a.m. (a late start), and arrived at the theater at noon.  Faster than I expected.  The road from Akita to Kosaka has gotten much better!  I was surprised that we were the only visitors at that time, but it allowed us to do and see many things that are not included in a normal tour.  Here are a few pictures:

  Happy Valentine's Day! Do you enjoy Valentine's Day, or do you think it's just another excuse for stores to sell more chocolate? I want to talk about the difference in Valentine's Day in Japan and America.

1. In America men and women exchange Valentine's on the same day, there is no White Day.
2. In America there is no "giri choco' (duty chocolate).  The first time I was given this was a shock to me.  I looked up the word "giri" in my Japanese dictionary and was so disappointed.
3. We have a school Valentine's dance starting around the 6th grade.  I can still remember my first dance.  So shy, so exciting!
4. School children in America typically give a Valentine's card to every member of their class. (maybe THIS is America's "giri choco"?)  These cards are put in a special handmade box at school.
5. Usually, a couple, husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend, etc, will plan a special date for Valentine's Day.  A nice dinner, a nice dance, a nice card etc. . . .