Bread Matter

One of my hobbies for the past few years has been baking bread and cakes. It's in this way I discovered a possible error in our civilisation's understanding of reality. So this is a public service announcement I've been meaning to get to for some time.

When I started making bread, sometimes I didn't do a very good job. The dough didn't get cooked all the way, the temperature was too high, I left it in the oven too long or not long enough, etc. So it wasn't really a surprise that sometimes I'd get a peculiar stomachache from eating it but it was a sort of ache I'd never experienced before. Finally, when I thought I had all the timing and temperature right, and I was confident in all the ingredients, I still occasionally found I got this ache. I couldn't figure out what was causing it and it would last for days and seriously affect my mood. It was like having a rock in my stomach and it made me glum that I'd done something stupid and possibly seriously impacted my health. But I couldn't figure out what I did wrong, which was also depressing in itself. I googled and googled, I went back over each step and I never could figure it out.

Then, on Saint Patrick's Day last year, I watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People. And something about this scene struck me as it never had before:

"Did no-one tell you about the hazards of hot bread?" No, Katie! No-one ever had! Neither had google!

If you google "The dangers of hot bread" now, you generally find articles and forums in which people say it's a myth, that it's not dangerous at all, it just might not taste as good. However, there are things like this 1858 issue of Scientific American that say it is indeed very dangerous.

Hot bread never digests. After a long season of tumbling and working about in the stomach, it will begin to ferment, and will eventually be passed out of the stomach as an unwelcome tenant of that delicate organ, but never digests

Maybe for a lot of people, it has no ill effect. Maybe it's psychosomatic for some people but I can't say it is for me because I didn't even know about it. It's been over a year since that Saint Patrick's Day, I've made a lot of bread and I've always waited for it to cool completely before eating it, usually for 24 hours. And I've never had that stomachache again.

So, thank you Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

Sport Pumpkin

Happy Sports Day, everyone. Yes, sports are so important in Japan there's in fact a holiday for them. Sports really are like a religion in Japan, as you can see from the tradition for Japanese baseball players to shave their heads (though that particular tradition is in decline). I suspect it's partly related to the fact that western style sports were only introduced to Japan at the end of the 19th century. Before that, there were only martial arts, which tend to have religious or at least ritualistic connotations. So it makes sense playing baseball would be like becoming a monk.

Last week, the schools had their sports festivals in which an entire day was given over for students to compete in relay races, tugs of war, and obstacle courses. It happened to be my last day at one particular school. The school's brass band, whom I often visited after school, gave me these flowers and they all sang for me the theme from Space Battleship Yamato.

I was overwhelmed, to say the least. It's truly an honour to work with such lovely students.

To-day, of course, I haven't been playing sports. I have been making pumpkin muffins:

Pumpkin muffin recipes I found online called for pumpkin puree but I decided to mince it instead.

I used a quarter of a green Japanese pumpkin for a batch of six muffins, chopping that quarter into four parts. Three parts I chop into tiny pieces to mix into the batter and the fourth part I chop into large chunks to sprinkle on the tops.

Normally in Japan, pumpkin is eaten, with the rind, boiled in soups or fried as tempura. So I thought, why not bake it? The muffins are pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. I used cinnamon and brown sugar.

Halloween in Japan is kind of seen as an adult holiday due to the wild Halloween parties held in Shibuya every year. But a lot of people, especially people selling sweets, are trying to make Halloween happen for kids. I'm trying to do my part. Here's a worksheet I made recently to teach relative pronouns:

By the way, my preferred relative pronouns are that, who, and whom.

X Sonnet #1747

The living truth was far behind the tube.
A trusting god would eat the breakfast cake.
So place the proper squares around the cube.
You're gonna buy another bridge to stake.
The lengthy lizard bugs devour guts.
Remember looking lost the Nazis skins.
Exploding heads compete with rifle butts.
An angry sky attests the end begins.
Descending guests concealed their eyes from view.
The mountainside was shaken past resolve.
The atmosphere was orange and liquid blue.
A thousand grains do morbid plans involve.
Approaching pumpkin moons survey the ground.
The nights absorb a shaky screaming sound.