Today's cooking class included making two dishes. First we made a great British classic, Toad in the Hole. Although this is quick to make, the cooking time is quite long, so while we were waiting for the oven, we made Hot Cross Buns.
Toad in the Hole is a strange name. It means 穴にいる蛙, but honestly, it doesn't contain any frogs. There are many humours about why it is called this, but nobody really knows. The most popular idea is that it simply looks like little frogs in a hole when it is cooked, because the sausages poke their way through the batter. There is also an idea that it is connected to the game of the same name, which involves putting small brass disks through a hole in a box. Another theory is it comes from medieval times when the poor really did eat frogs.
The second recipe is a bread product which is eaten at Easter. The cooking class happened to be on Good Friday, so it seemed a good time thing to make. The bun has a cross on the top made from flour and water which is said to represent the crucifixion. It is also a mark that 16th Century bakers used to mark their buns because they were only allowed to legally bake them on holy days.
There were 10 performances in total, ranging from the pre-school children to the middle school class. The performances included some songs, jokes and a story. The children also got to meet their new teacher Alicia.
We also enjoyed singing a song with the audience in English and everyone played a game together. We also got to see Shiyu recite his speech from the Iwate Children's Speech contest and he could still remember it even though it was 5 months after the event!
