Tentative Introduction ― 2009/09/01
Hello my friend (I assume you are a friend of mine I have pestered to have a look at this blog ). How are you?
I am grateful to you for giving me a lot of pleasant memories when I was in the UK. You taught me a range of things, from where I could get feather steak to how to read newspapers, mainly between the lines. I really felt I was in a foreign country, and enjoyed being a foreigner. In fact, those memories are clearer than many tourist attractions I visited.
So I decided to start this blog following your examples.
Most of the contents may be useless and not hilaariously interesting.. But I believe this blog will bring you a bit of air of this town in the Far East, and if you get more interested, please google with "Guide" and "Fukuoka", you will find a load of websites introducing "proper" Fukuoka .
With Love, Y.
I am grateful to you for giving me a lot of pleasant memories when I was in the UK. You taught me a range of things, from where I could get feather steak to how to read newspapers, mainly between the lines. I really felt I was in a foreign country, and enjoyed being a foreigner. In fact, those memories are clearer than many tourist attractions I visited.
So I decided to start this blog following your examples.
Most of the contents may be useless and not hilaariously interesting.. But I believe this blog will bring you a bit of air of this town in the Far East, and if you get more interested, please google with "Guide" and "Fukuoka", you will find a load of websites introducing "proper" Fukuoka .
With Love, Y.
Crispy Chives ― 2009/09/02
You may well have come across Chinese chives at Chinese restarant. They look quite similar to your chive, but the flavour (or the smell, to be more precise) is much stronger. They smell like a mix of garlic and onion. And here we have Chinese chive flower. You can taste the crispy stems only in limited season (end of July-Sep.) When stair-fried with a few drops of sesame oil and a teaspoonful of oyster sauce, they taste fabulous. But be sure to brush your teeth after eating them otherwise you must lose your friends.
Winged Bean ― 2009/09/03
This is my first time to have seen this bean. My local greengrocer said that it was a disgrace not to try this. So I tried. Cut in round slices, the profile looks like lovely stars. Although she said it is a kind of string beans, I found its texture and taste more like courgette, like a washing-up sponge, boring and tasteless. If you know how to cook this, please let me know.
Fishing Pier ― 2009/09/03
About 10km from our flat, there is a fishing park where my husband goes regularly.
Driving along coastline to the pier is a good one-day excursion, he says.
The park is basically a big pier, stretching 386metres from the shore. Underneath the pier there are artificial reefs to attract wild fish so that you can catch fish easier there.
Although you have to pay 1,000yen (about $11 or £7, as of 2009/09/04) as admission fee, you could expect catch more than 1,000yen worth, my husband says, or insists.
Apart from his (mis)calculation, I too think this is a good attraction for a Fukuoka City’s public enterprise.
For your information, today’s catch was…
Black sea bream (smallish size) 2
Baby sea bream 1
Amberjack (a little over 30cm) 1
Would you agree with my husband?
The park is basically a big pier, stretching 386metres from the shore. Underneath the pier there are artificial reefs to attract wild fish so that you can catch fish easier there.
Although you have to pay 1,000yen (about $11 or £7, as of 2009/09/04) as admission fee, you could expect catch more than 1,000yen worth, my husband says, or insists.
Apart from his (mis)calculation, I too think this is a good attraction for a Fukuoka City’s public enterprise.
For your information, today’s catch was…
Black sea bream (smallish size) 2
Baby sea bream 1
Amberjack (a little over 30cm) 1
Would you agree with my husband?
Monster Aubergine ― 2009/09/04
Have you seen an aubergine as long as your forearm?
I think this is a speciality of this area.
This type of aubergine can be found only during summer (June-Sep.) the pulp could melt on your tongue if you are brave enough to cook it in a cupful of oil.
I think this is a speciality of this area.
This type of aubergine can be found only during summer (June-Sep.) the pulp could melt on your tongue if you are brave enough to cook it in a cupful of oil.
Intelligent Oven ― 2009/09/05
Like many domesticated husbands, my husband loves state-of-the-art electric appliances. Since returning to Japan and moving in a new flat, he has kept buying his long-waited lovers; from a washing machine to CCTV camera (Big Brother!). Of course I have benefited from his shopping spree, but sometimes I feel I would be even more stupid because with these “clever” devices, I don’t have to use my brain at all.
My microwave oven, for example, is not a latest model (as the manufacturers launch new models every 6months), but it is so intelligent that I sometimes feel losing my instinction in cooking..
This machine is equipped with various pre-programmed menu so you don’t have to worry about the temperature and cooking time. Just choose the number of your desirable menu and you can go anywhere. Everything is done.
For example, if you choose no.25, the machine will bake a spongecake, and no.12 is for roast chicken. It can even bake cream puff shells quite nicely.
How many of Japanese housewives bake cream puffs at home, by the way?
The oven has a build-in liquid display so it tells you what it is doing., or orders you what to do to.
“You need the black enamel plate and ceramic plate to cook this menu”
“I’m preheating”
“You put the pan on the middle shelf”
“I’m baking your dough”
“Wait for 6 minutes and 11 seconds”
Then with a familiar beep, the oven tells you it has done the job.
If you left the cooked dish inside for 1 more minutes after the beep, the oven will beep again warning you,
“Take the dish out, you idiot!”.
My microwave oven, for example, is not a latest model (as the manufacturers launch new models every 6months), but it is so intelligent that I sometimes feel losing my instinction in cooking..
This machine is equipped with various pre-programmed menu so you don’t have to worry about the temperature and cooking time. Just choose the number of your desirable menu and you can go anywhere. Everything is done.
For example, if you choose no.25, the machine will bake a spongecake, and no.12 is for roast chicken. It can even bake cream puff shells quite nicely.
The oven has a build-in liquid display so it tells you what it is doing., or orders you what to do to.
“You need the black enamel plate and ceramic plate to cook this menu”
“I’m preheating”
“You put the pan on the middle shelf”
“I’m baking your dough”
Then with a familiar beep, the oven tells you it has done the job.
If you left the cooked dish inside for 1 more minutes after the beep, the oven will beep again warning you,
“Take the dish out, you idiot!”.
Cleaning Ladies ― 2009/09/05
When my friend came to our place, I took her to the neighbouring beach.
She seemed impressed by the cleanness of the beach.
Actually, there is no cigarette end, plastic bag, or no drowned body on the beach. I assumed that was due to our deep sense of public morality. But, in fact, it was the work of cleaning ladies that has kept the beach spotless.
They come in a group of 6 or 7 members, and pick up the rubbish by hand, and rake the beach of 2km long by human power.
We used to clean our neighbourhood ourselves. But now we are no longer such well-mannered people. Everyone seems to take it for granted that someone will clean the mess we created as long as we pay residential tax. Of course I’m one of them. It’s a sad thing.
Actually, there is no cigarette end, plastic bag, or no drowned body on the beach. I assumed that was due to our deep sense of public morality. But, in fact, it was the work of cleaning ladies that has kept the beach spotless.
They come in a group of 6 or 7 members, and pick up the rubbish by hand, and rake the beach of 2km long by human power.
We used to clean our neighbourhood ourselves. But now we are no longer such well-mannered people. Everyone seems to take it for granted that someone will clean the mess we created as long as we pay residential tax. Of course I’m one of them. It’s a sad thing.
Fly Trap ― 2009/09/05
In summer Fukuoka is occupied by humidity and heat. The temperature here can easily reach 30 Celsius, and sometimes higher, and the humidity is just unacceptable. In this environment, we are pestered by fruit flies throughout summer. Someone said that if you clean your kitche n and dustbin, flies won't get into your house. But, let me excuse, I try to do my best to clean my house: wash dustbin and kitchen sink, put everything in fridge, wipe kitchen surface with alcohol. In there anything wrong in my cleaning regime? Despite all my efforts, they get in my kitchen before I realize.
It seems that many people share my agony. There are many types of fly traps on the market. I have tried different products every year, and this year I chose this, believing reviewers at Amazon.
¥498 (around $5 or 3.7 euro, as of 2009/09/04)
One of the reviewers said that it had caught 20 flies a day. And on the package it was claimed that the pot is the result of a latest research on fly behaviour so every fly can’t stop being fascinated with the form of the pot and aroma of the jelly inside, which resembles to ripen fruits. And once a fly gets inside the pot, it can’t escape because of the pool of the sticky jelly .
How could I resist?
The inside
The result: for the past two months, it caught 3 flies. And now an innocent fly is creeping around on the top of the pot. ...Have I been swindled?
It seems that many people share my agony. There are many types of fly traps on the market. I have tried different products every year, and this year I chose this, believing reviewers at Amazon.
One of the reviewers said that it had caught 20 flies a day. And on the package it was claimed that the pot is the result of a latest research on fly behaviour so every fly can’t stop being fascinated with the form of the pot and aroma of the jelly inside, which resembles to ripen fruits. And once a fly gets inside the pot, it can’t escape because of the pool of the sticky jelly .
How could I resist?
The result: for the past two months, it caught 3 flies. And now an innocent fly is creeping around on the top of the pot. ...Have I been swindled?
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