Sod's Law is...

... a day of glorious sunshine, balmy breezes and general clement-ness the day after your weekend, which was none of those things.

After our Nihongo lesson last week, Mutsuko stayed round for a cup of tea and some ice cream to watch an English language programme on NHK (the equiv of BBC). I was interested in this because my Japanese culinary guru Harumi Kurihara was in it. Basically Harumi (who's a cooler version of Delia or Martha) tries to learn English and every week she's in a different situation - this week's was in a restaurant - she has a go speaking then an english professor in the studio corrects her mistakes and good ol' Harumi has another go. It's a testament to the japanese spirit of 'gambatte' (do your best!), refreshing to see someone willing humiliate themselves and most of all great fun to watch, not only because some of her attempts are interesting to say the least ("I'd like soup, but I'd like it boiled", "boiled?", "yes, boiled soup") but also because every week she teaches a different recipe in english. I'm hooked.

Harumi's Japanese style guacamole

Mash up one ripe avocado with a little lemon juice, add 100g silken tofu and mash up a bit more. Add 3 tbsp cottage cheese, some ground black pepper and 2 tbsp mayonnaise. This is really good on grilled prawns or fish, and chicken I suppose (but being a pseudo-veggie I wouldn't know)

As if all this wasn't enough, immediately after Harumi there was a learning Spanish show, followed by a Thai language lesson. Surreal to say the least....