Just call me Rachael Ray

Yesterday I made my cooking show debut. Okay, so there was no live studio audience or television cameras, and I didn't ever shout, "Bam!" but I did demonstrate how to cook two recipes with other people watching me. I'll explain: our church has a yochien, or Japanese preschool. The yochien moms hosted a cultural exchange cooking class with some of the American ladies from the church. For some reason I volunteered to demonstrate a dish, even though I am not a great cook, and I ended up doing one of our favorite dinners as well as some easy cookies. Even though I am not particularly shy, this was still out of my comfort zone. But since no one else was jumping at the chance, I decided I should be a part of this opportunity to strengthen relationships between our church and the surrounding community.
The set up was really informal. We all gathered around the small kitchen island (see the second picture below) and watched one or two people cooking. I learned a couple of ways the Japanese ladies cut up their vegetables into different shapes. All the recipes had been translated and copied ahead of time, so everyone knew what was going on. I watched two traditional Japanese meals being prepared- one was a noodle/vegetable/pork type of dish, very yummy, and the other was a soup with several things in it, including a very strange plant root that felt like rubber in my mouth. (I admit I spit it out in my napkin! At least I tried it!)

It was a lot of fun, at least for me. Elliott, of course, didn't want anyone else to hold her when I was cooking. And I thought Abbey would enjoy watching the Japanese ladies cook, or at the very least she would be content to play in the nursery down the hall, but I Was WRONG. She was miserable and clingy the whole time! So I called Chad and asked him to come over on his lunch break. He saved the day by showing up and taking a screaming Elliott back from my friend Rie (sorry, Rie!) and then took Abbey to McDonald's. Whew.

The ladies were appreciative of my efforts, but I'm pretty sure they were horrified that I used TWO WHOLE CUPS OF SUGAR in the cookies!

Don't you love my apron? Looks like Tigger and I are the only ones happy about being at cooking class!

These ladies (some American, some Japanese) all have kids in the yochien. I think it's really great how they get together and learn more about each others' cultures.

So what did I cook, you ask? Well, I adapted this recipe to use regular brown rice (instead of Minute) and also made some no-bake cookies (many Japanese homes do not have ovens).

No-Bake Chocolate Mounds
Ingredients:
½ cup butter (one stick)
2 cups sugar
½ cup milk
2 Bakers unsweetened chocolate squares (1 oz each)
½ cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-½ cups shredded coconut
2 cups old fashioned oats
Combine butter, sugar, milk and chocolate, and heat on low.
Continuously stir until melted.
Increase heat until mixture boils, approximately 1 minute.
Once mixture is melted, remove from heat.
Next add peanut butter and vanilla. Mix until well blended.
Add coconut and oats, stir well.
Drop tablespoons full onto waxed paper. Cool completely.