Cherry Blossom Party

Sadly this year the day of the Cherry Blossom party turned out to be wet and windy, but undeterred we collected together all of the delicious food people had brought and had an indoor hanami.

We might not have got to see any flowers, but we did get some delicious treats such as sushi, fried chicken, cherry blossom tea, and more besides.

April Cooking

This month in English cooking, we made two dishes. We made a savoury dish called Fish Cake and a sweet mini-pie called Eccles Cake.

The Eccles cake was first made in 1769 by a lady called Mrs Raffald, but then it was simply know as a "sweet patty". A servant girl in the house took the recipe when she moved to a town called Eccles and opened a shop selling them. By the beginning of the 19th Century they were being exported to America and the West Indies. Now they are famous throughout the world. Recently they were debated in Parliament to decide if cakes made outside the town of Eccles could be called Eccles cakes. We shall have to wait longer for an answer! These cakes are popular for picnics and snacks and are sometimes called "Dead Fly Pies" because of the raisins.

Ogama Kid's Festival

This year for the first time we had a Kid's Festival for the off-campus class at Ogama.

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!

March cooking class

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.

Murder Mystery Party

On Wednesday March 19th Zenrinkan hosted the third annual Murder Mystery Party night, A Taste of Poison. 20 people attended the event which lasted for two hours. The setting took place in the land of England in the 13th century. The court of King Richard Colchester was hosting a event at his castle when someone made an attempt on the life of his wife Queen Mary Colchester by poisoning the royal wine. Luckily for the King and Queen, they were spared by the royal taste tester who drank the wine first. The loyal tester died but started our mystery for the night as the guests talked and asked questions to find out who among them was the murderer.


During the night, a delicious dinner was served that included an appetizer, vegetable soup, pork ribs, and pastry and cake dessert. In the end, many guesses were made but unfortunetly no one correctly identified the real murderer. However, everyone had fun and we are all looking forward to the next Murder Mystery Party.

This week's cooking

In today's cooking class we made a selection of dishes. The main recipe was "Bakewell Tart". This is an English cake dating from 1839. It is also known as Bakewell Pudding. It has a pastry base covered with a layer of fruit, then a nut-based cake mixture topped with whole nuts. We made it with strawberries and almonds, which is the most traditional style, but it is also sometimes made with peanuts and blackcurrants, apples or peaches.

To go with the pudding we made custard. This is very difficult to make and both groups did very well, although one type became a little lumpy, but this is quite common. Custard uses only the yolk of the egg, so with the whites we made impromptu macaroons. A students brought an English cooking apple, which are rare to see in Japan, so we cooked that into apple sauce for everyone to try. Cooking apples are very bitter and don't taste nice raw, but when cooked make a lovely sauce to go with meat, or with a little more sugar, a tasty dessert.

Kids' Festival

Today was the annual kids' festival at Zenrinkan. At 1.30, everyone gathered to be entertained by the students of 15 children's classes.

The program opened with the youngest students rendition of the "hello song" and the members of the Wednesday kid's class doing a very cute recital of "the wheels on the bus".

The older students mostly entertained us with some skits and we even had three poems and a selection of jokes.

"The Hare and the Tortoise" and a presentation about how to save the environment gave us pause for thought.

Not only were the performances wonderful, but the art work was also incredible, much of it made by the class teachers. お疲れ様でした！