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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