Relief Society Birthday Celebration

The Relief Society Presidency in our branch (none of whom speak much English) asked me to teach the sisters how to cook something for our Relief Society birthday party. It was a big challenge to find a recipe that had ingredients they could easily obtain here, that we could make and eat right there, that didn't need an oven- only a stovetop, and that, was sort of pioneerish.  The Relief Society President really wanted to eat something the pioneers ate.  She had a Mormon Cookbook in English and had the idea that those recipes were what the pioneers ate.  But most, if not all of them had ingredients that are not available here. 

So there was my challenge.  I remembered a chicken chowder recipe that I got from my sister-in-law and decided on that.  I practiced it at home and counted out how many servings we could get out of it.  I prayed it would go well, that I could communicate, and that the soup would taste good. 

I was really nervous when we showed up that Saturday morning and no one there spoke much English.  But we muddled through and then later two sisters that do speak English came.  I had them cut up all of the vegetables and the soup cooked while Sister Nomura taught a lesson on Unity.  The soup turned out delicious.  Several of the sisters brought things to go with it.  It was a fun activity. 

Cutting up the vegetables

How I love these, my Japanese sisters

Chicken Chowder.  Sister Endo brought the mochi.  It's pounded rice flavored with soy bean powder.  The two biggest products of this Shonai area are rice and soy beans.

Here's a better picture of the mocha (with only one bite missing 😃)

rice flour senbei.  They are like chips, but made with rice flour.  They brought different seasoning salts to sprinkle on them. 

jam sandwiches

If you would like to try the soup, you can find the recipe here. It is delicious!  Though I was nervous about how it would go, it ended up being a wonderful birthday celebration of sisterhood.