Japanese

January 31, 2001: Wasada Group meeting Cooking class for treatment dish.
The weather is so cold and crispy, but the morning deep blue sky promises warm weather in daytime. At last, we Wasada Group will have a cooking class today. Early in the morning, Mt. Yufu and Mt. Tsurumi see me off in the distance with white snow caps on them.
Today's cooking class has ten demonstrations. We prepare ten sets of cooking materials and tools in proper position respectively. We have already prepared some vegetables yesterday, but we still have to boil or cut the ingredients this morning. Our works have no ends. During our busy work, phone rings one by another from the guest today and some of them have already appeared.
At ten in the morning, the class started at last. Ms. Ihara, right, the leader of Wasada Group, made a few words in the beginning and introduced us to the guests. From left, Asou, Takeuch, Nagano. Ms. Kawano is on the phone in another room.
	The theme of the class is "Easy cooking for treatment." First, "Red rice" is introduced as an inevitable food for happy events. Electric cooker is used to boil the rice, Ms. Takeuchi explains.
"The first thing to do is to polish the rice", Ihara continues "and good stock is a must for tasty cooking, making the cooking pleasant. The first stock is made in this way." I am anxious a little because the water and kelps in the large pan is not ready for boil yet.
	The second stock is to be extracted in this stage, but the water hasn't boiled yet. We then changed the original schedule and explained the ingredients for the clear soup by using diagram. Detailed explanation on the ingredients and auxiliary seeds appealed to the guests.
At last, the clear soup was prepared and displayed on the table. Chikuzen-ni and Iwaotori dishes followed the soup. Ms. Takeuchi explains white marinated vegetable while Iwaotori is being baked in the oven. "We used to grind the sesame seeds" I, a helper today, explained with moving my hands.
	The next step is to make Chawan-mushi, a savory steamed egg custard with assorted ingredients, using the first stock. Iwaotori was baked over during we prepared Chawan-mushi. I show it to the guests.
	Ms. Kawano prepare Uguisu-mochi dessert. White flour is kneaded and heated in the microwave oven to make the product instantly. Ms. Igagami, a guest today, helped us in wrapping sweet ingredient with flour skin to make the Uguisu-mochi. "I was surprised to find smoother touch of the skin and easy way of wrapping", she commented. Many guests bought materials of Uguisu-mochi saying "We will soon try to make it in home."
The last menu was five standing vegetables used in the treatment dishes today. Included are sweet boiled Kintoki bean, vegetable pickles, densely boiled-down Shiitake mushroom, sweet boiled-down Kinkan, and boiled down mixture of kelps and shavings of dried bonito. During the sample tasting, we appealed the importance of dinning in home and what we should keep in mind for treatment.
During the explanation, four members in charge were working hard in the kitchen for dishing up the sample food for 20 guests.
Beautiful foods and dessert are finally set for ready to serve on the table decorated with a vase of early-blooming cherry flower.
	Twenty guests today enjoy the sampling party. "All foods are very tasty. I have learned the importance of taking stock." "I will make daily dish more neatly." "The lecture on the treatment food was great." Each guests described their impression of the day. We were happy as well and encouraged to hear many impressions and comments.
We Wasada Group have long been studying on standing vegetables. In the 70th anniversary of the foundation of National Group of Friends last year, we took part in breakfast preparation in the Life Exhibition. Since we have decided to have a cooking class of "Easy treatment", we also have working hard and repeated rehearsals and samplings. The working member was small in number and we have had hard times until today. The class was over in success anyway. I hope many homes will make use of today's leaning result. (Reported by Mieko Nagano)