There is a popular expression in Japan right now “My Boom.” It is spoken in Japanese when talking about something that is trendy or popular in your own daily life currently. Right now, for Eric and me, raw cabbage salads and dark chocolate are MyBoom. (see our friends, the Ryus, blog entry on this). So, if we were sharing, we would say, “My myboom right now is raw cabbage salads and dark chocolate. What’s your myboom?” A little redundant and strange sounding, but that’s how imported words often are in Japanese…
Anyway, unwittingly, we have created a myBoom in Sanda. The crockpot. Making a few meals for Japanese friends from church in our crockpot caused a stir. Several of these friends ordered a crockpot from an import order store. They started raving about crockpots (which aren’t normally found in Japan), and then seven of the ladies in my English class also decided to order them. We had seven crockpots delivered to our doorstep last week! We have just ordered two more for friends, bringing the total in the past few months up to about fifteen crockpots.
So, to help these Japanese friends know how to use American crockpots, we are going to do a crockpot party in two weeks. I’m going to give them all different crockpot recipes, and they will make the recipe the night before and bring their crockpot filled with a dish to the party. We’ll try the different menus and look at the recipes.
I NEED CROCKPOT RECIPES! Could you send me your favorite crockpot recipe? Either you can post it in the comments or email it to me. We have a few favorites, but I would like some other favorites for variety.
What’s your myboom?
The Takameter 
We usually don’t use recipes. But there are lots online. Try this site: http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Slow-Cooker-Corned-Beef-Video/Detail.aspx. It even has free instructional videos. (They are making me hungry!) They could be the base for an English lesson as well.
Try also http://southernfood.about.com/library/crock/blcpidx.htm.
Make sure your friends order crockpots with removable pots. We had one with a pot that couldn’t be removed and couldn’t be submersed. We dreaded cleaning it so much that we seldom used it.
This is one of my favorite go-to recipes. I usually put it over brown rice. Yummy! What a great idea!
I met Claire the other night in Kobe, by the way. I can’t wait to meet all of you Kansai A2 people!
Country Captain Chicken
Ingredients
2 cup shiitake mushroom(s), sliced
1 cup onion(s), chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thigh(s), cut into bite-size pieces
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fat-free chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
3 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup golden seedless raisins
Instructions
Coat a large skillet with cooking spray. Add mushrooms, onion, celery and garlic and sauté until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Place vegetables in slow cooker; add chicken.
In a cup, stir together flour and chicken broth until smooth. Add to slow cooker. Add curry powder, salt, pepper, paprika, crushed tomatoes and raisins, and stir in.
Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.