Murder!!

Recently, there was a murder at the Zenrinkan!! No, not really, but we did have a lot of people acting like there was. We had the 1st ever Zenrinkan Murder Mystery Night!

A murder mystery party is kind of like a play, but the characters and the audience are all mixed together. At our party, the story was that Lord Stratsbury was murdered, and his family (his wife, his daughter, and his grandchildren) and some employees at his residence (the cook and the gardener) were all suspects! They all gathered together with some investigators to try and find out who the murderer was.

Everyone had reasons to kill the Lord - the wife wasn't in love with the Lord anymore, one grandchild needed money for his failing business, the other grandchild needed money for her modeling career, the cook had just been fired by the Lord, and the gardener was in love with the Lord's wife - and it was the investigators' job to find out who had committed the crime.

The gardener

The evening was led by two detectives, who gave us new information throughout the evening - such as a letter firing the cook that was discovered and also the murder weapon itself - a high-heeled shoe!

Our two detectives who led the evening

We also had a wonderful 5-course dinner prepared by our marvelous Zenrinkan staff. Between the courses, people had free time to stand up and ask the suspects questions.

The waitresses

No one knew who the murderer was until the very end - not even the murderer himself! In the end, it was an incredibly fun evening for everyone.

The businessman grandson with one of the waitresses



The local vicar and one of the investigators

The murderer!

Dearly departed Lord Stratbury

Preparing for dinner

The next Zenrinkan Murder Mystery is planned for July. We will be investigating the murder of First Lieutenant Charles Chance. The setting is India, the year 1930. Everyone is a suspect, but only one person is the murderer!

Cottage Pie

Today 12 students got together and tried making traditional English Cottage Pie.

Everyone put on their aprons and in teams of 4, worked very hard to finish it all in time for lunch. Then we ate all together.

We all tried a little of the other team's dish too and it was amazing how different each one was. One team used very little salt and pepper and theirs had a more natural taste. One made theirs the very traditional way with no cheese on the top and the herbs they used were a little spicy. The final one was for me most similar to my mother's cooking, probably because of the herbs used.

Why don't you try making it too?

Ingredients:
1 onion
1 carrot
1 tbs of oil
500g beef mince
2 tbs of flour
1 tbs of ketchup
1 tbs of Worcester sauce
Peas
Corn
Mixed herbs
285ml stock
4 large potatoes
1 tbs of butter
salt and pepper
Grated cheese

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190°C

Peel the potatoes.
Cut into 4 pieces and place in a saucepan with cold water.
Add a little salt to the water and boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.


Peel and chop the onion and carrot.
Heat the oil in a large fry pan.
Add the onion and cook.
Add the minced beef and sauté.
When the mince is brown add the flour and cook for one minute.
Add the tomato sauce, Worcester sauce, carrot, peas, corn and herbs.
Gradually add the stock and boil.
Reduce the heat and cover for 10 minutes.
Add salt and pepper.


Drain and mash the potatoes.
Add butter and a little milk to make the potato creamy.


Put the meat mixture into a dish, then put the mashed potato on top.
Make lines in the potato with a fork.
Sprinkle cheese on top (optional).
Bake until the potato is a light brown colour.