I was on the phone to a friend of mine in Japan last week, and something we talked about left me in a mixture of embarrassment, uselessness, sadness, and frustration. This friend has been working as a volunteer helping rebuild the houses in Sendai, an area in Japan worst hit by Tsunami back in March. He said he had donated some money as well and will do some more when he saves a bit more. I've done nothing at all, not even a donation. I am a bit mistrustful (probably unwarrantedly) of charity organisations, but even so I felt very embarrassed...
It's been seven months since. There are still more than 27,000 people living in temporary shelters, friends' houses, or local hotels. On top of that, some 110,000 families have moved out of temporary shelters but still live in pre-fab houses with probably two rooms for four people. This friend of mine was saying that a lot of them are old people and that there's still a shortage of basic stuff like towels and blankets.
These people must be in physical or psychological pain every single day, being unable to enjoy even basic amenities in life, having to live with strangers with just cardboard walls around them, and having no prospect of living comfortably in their own privacy. I can only image what it would be like. I realise that there are billions of people who live like that (or worse) in the world, but I'm just talking about the people who used to have what I have and lost everything I'm enjoying...
Where is all the money donated from around the world gone? Maybe the scale of devastation is so extensive that this large amount of donation had already been swallowed up. But an accountant friend of mine told me that a large percentage of charity money disappears into 'administration'.
Someone has sent me an e-mail today with a Japanese article about Red Bull, one of the Formula One Grand Prix teams, which banned it's catering company to use any Japanese food during Japan Grand Prix this month as it might be contaminated by radioactive substance. It can't be true. This company runs F1 cars with their tons of CO2 emission and is sponsored by a drink company who produces poisonous drinks.
Well...I haven't done anything to help in this disaster and I used to work in F1. I should shut up now... When my son goes off to a uni next year I might go back to Japan and work as a volunteer there :)
Really lovely biscuit, this. Much nicer than shop-bought ones.
Ingredients (for about 40-50 bisucits):
300g flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of salt
170g butter, room temperature
170g sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoon lemon juice
grated zest of 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Mix butter and sugar in a large bowl until white and fluffy. Crack an egg into a small bowl, scramble a bit, and pour into the bowl. Shift the flour, baking soda, and salt into the bowl and mix everything well with a wooden spoon. (It would be too stiff to use a hand-held mixer.) Add lemon juice together with zest and mix again thoroughly.
Now get two oven trays out and lay a piece of baking sheet on each tray (unless you've got non-stick ones). Divide the dough into two and wrap one half in clingfilm and keep in the fridge. Make walnut-sized balls and lay them about 3cm apart from each other. Squash them with the back of a folk. Put the tray into the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. While the first batch is baking, get on with the second batch in exactly the same way.