A Post of Pickles and Rice

　　So, for breakfast this morning, I had a bowl of leftover rice from last night with some pickles that I made, also last night.

　　I will say it bluntly: the rice was horrible. It looks lovely, and I'm sure it would have been nice if a) it hadn't been so dry when I made it, and b) it hadn't been sitting in the fridge for the whole night. But even with some water added in it, it was pretty disgusting. This only confirms the fact that you CANNOT refrigerate rice. Ever. It also has made it very clear to me that western rice and Japanese rice require very different amounts of water. Last night when making the rice, I used the amount of water I use to make perfect Japanese rice. Heh...
　　At least the pickles were good. I think they were my first ones that worked out, using tips from Anri's mom. They were a bit on the sweet side though.

　　But enough of failures, and onto successes. Earlier this morning, I made some onigiri for the freezer. I've never posted pictures of my onigiri before, so thought I would now. I've pretty much got the technique down to a cinch. The ones on the left have poppy seeds mixed in with the rice and are filled with umeboshi (pickled Japanese apricots - not plums, as they are commonly known as). The ones on the right are nori filled with tuna. The one on the far left, off the cutting board, is already wrapped in plastic wrap for the freezer. I'm looking forward to taking some of these to school this week - I'm known for bringing peculiar (in my friends' eyes) lunches. Once I even took sushi.

　　The one above was the biggest I made - hand used as a size reference. The others were on the smaller-ish side.

　　Making these today made my realize something: I love doing stuff like this (making Japanese food, learning the language etc.), and I would love to teach it to people. My dream job, besides being an author and a mom, would be to live in Japan and teach cooking, language, culture etc to foreigners who have just moved over there. (Foreigners who can speak English, obviously.) I just love sharing about Japan with other people, as anyone who has ever seen me when the topic is mentioned will testify. I become so animated some people say it's scary. ^ ^;