Denise

@petatonicsca (7070)

Japan

Joined myLot 9 years ago

I teach music at a Christian international school in Japan.

heavenandnaturesing.blogspot.jp

Discussions (661)

Denise's Discussions

Baking rice bread

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 17 May 23

Hi everybody! With the raised prices for everything, it appears I have to pay over 100 JPY (think: about 1 USD) for a small loaf of gluten-free rice bread here in Japan. There are a lot of YouTube channels that show how to make...

rice bread

gluten free

baking

7 responses •

8 people

Do you follow recipes or make up your own?

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 19 Jan 23

I always say I don't like cooking, but when I try making or baking something, it always happens that I don't have some ingredient, or I am allergic to something so I have to replace something. What ends up happening is I take a...

6 responses •

5 people

Happy New Year from Volcanic Japan!

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 1 Jan 23

I spend the last 10 days on my favorite volcanic island, Sakurajima, working at the museum there. It was a lot of fun because now tourists are allowed into Japan. We had many tourists who needed an English speaker so I was very...

8 responses •

6 people

Professional Certificate level unlocked!

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 4 Nov 22

I just finished a Professional Certificate in Volcanology and Volcanic Hazards through edX! Now I feel a lot more qualified to do my job at the volcano museum as well as comment on volcano livestreams (mind you, I never held back...

5 responses •

5 people

The New Me (Un-Retired)

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 21 Oct 22

So, I posted a couple months ago that I was retired, and was sad about it. Took me a few months to get in the groove. I am now happily reporting that I am un-retired. Because I don't like the word "retired"; it sounds like I'm...

not retired

6 responses •

6 people

No onions in my kitchen

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 8 Sep 22

Now that I am at home more, I am noticing things in how I cook. One thing I noticed was the spices (or lack thereof) and I made a post about it. Thank you for all your responses. I learned from them that I seem to be unusual in...

onions

garlic

cooking

10 responses •

8 people

Spices in your cabinet

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 6 Sep 22

What spices do you have in your cabinet? How do you use them? I did not grow up using spices, so I only have salt, pepper, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, and I always have fresh ginger in the refrigerator. I like hot...

spices

cooking

health

8 responses •

8 people

Second day of "retirement teaching"

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 6 Sep 22

I'm officially retired, but am teaching private lessons at the same school. I started that on Monday and it's Tuesday now. You know what is weird? I now have no office, no classroom, and the band director very kindly assigned me...

job

no job

belonging

7 responses •

8 people

Twin carrot top, twin egg yolks

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 23 Aug 22

I have been blessed with twins several times in the past month. When I was at Sakurajima in July, my landlady gave me eggs from the farmer's market. In those ten eggs were two that had double yolks! Then the other day I bought...

twins

eggs

carrots

9 responses •

8 people

Substitute teaching already scheduled!

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 16 Aug 22

As I told you, I retired from July 1. I put my name on the substitute list at school, so I can go in and see the kids, and earn a little money, and help out the school. (It's really hard to find substitutes for music classes!)...

summer vacation

over

teaching

6 responses •

6 people

Going back to my favorite volcano!

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 8 Aug 22

So, the first perk of retirement has come up. Everyone else starts school on Aug. 23, but I am going for a week to my favorite volcano, Sakurajima. That's the one that had the alarming bits of incandescent rock flying 2.5 km from...

4 responses •

4 people

Almost started a fire in my kitchen!

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 3 Aug 22

I got a very cute "mosquito-chasing-incense holder" that looks like an owl. You put the coil inside the clay body and light it, and it hangs freely so it can put out smoke. Unfortunately, I am used to using the kind where the...

fire

mosquito repellant

kitchen

4 responses •

3 people

Iceland volcano is erupting (safely but magnificently)

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 3 Aug 22

Yesterday (or today depending on your time zone) lava finally made its appearance where there have been a lot of earthquakes indicating magma movement into dikes (horizontal sheets of magma that will erupt as a fissure eruption.)...

3 responses •

3 people

Baby island went away

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 2 Aug 22

Too bad! Unfortunately the baby island I talked about in the last post has been eroded away by ocean waves. We will just have to watch that spot to see if it pops up again. Or, another possibility, other small islands around the...

new island

japan

3 responses •

3 people

A new baby island?

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 30 Jul 22

For several weeks, discolored water has been observed offshore of Iojima, a volcanic island south of Tokyo. (Maybe you spell it Iwo Jima.) Discolored seawater is often a sign of underwater volcanic activity with the gases...

new island

japan

8 responses •

7 people

How do you use scissors in the kitchen?

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 29 Jul 22

How do you use scissors in the kitchen? I use mine in a number of ways. I open packages of food with them. It seems like the food industry likes to make sure we can't get into any packets without a considerable amount of effort...

scissors

kitchen tools

8 responses •

8 people

Siesta

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 29 Jul 22

Since I'm not working at the moment except for at home (a very few flute and piano lessons) and there are "heat stroke" warnings out every day between 10:00 and 5:00 pm, I have discovered the siesta. I now understand why some...

nap

hot

coolers

6 responses •

5 people

Volcanic alert level down again

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 29 Jul 22

The other day I posted when Sakurajima's alert level went to 5 from 3. It was basically an upgrade "by the rule book" which states that if you have any volcanic rocks flying more than 2 km from the crater, you have to declare...

volcano

all fine

2 responses •

2 people

New friends

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 26 Jul 22

I was out for a walk/bicycle in the evening yesterday, because it was cool. Suddenly, I saw a family of foreigners (to Japan) and they saw me. I know most of the foreigners around here because I teach their kids, so I stopped and...

summer

walks

new people

7 responses •

7 people

A fortunate volcanic eruption

Denise @petatonicsca (7070) • Japan 25 Jul 22

At Sakurajima, we were kind of freaking out over the very few eruptions we'd had in 2022. Last night, there was a fairly normal-sized eruption, but it threw some rocks 2.5km from the crater, triggering a Level 5 (Evacuate)...

volcano

eruption

japan

7 responses •

8 people