There are 3 topics in today's blog. It is an Okonomi-Yaki, I cooked. Okonomi-yaki is a popular food in Osaka. The one is basic one. Sometimes I cook it. It is said my Okonimi-yaki is delicious. I tell you how to cook it here. However, I don't know detail because I always cook it as a rule of thumb. I guess you can do it.
Stuffs
flour (adequate dose)
cut cabbage (adequate dose)
thin slice pig meat (adequate dose)
Japanese instant bouillon. (bonito, seaweed broth, dried sardine)(adequate dose)
salt and pepper
egg, one per man
boiled and dried bonito flesh(Katsuo-bushi) (adequate dose)
mayonnaise (adequate dose)
sauce for Okonomi-yaki (Otafuku-sauce is best) (adequate dose)
How to cook
Put flour into bowl. Put water into bowl. Put (a) egg(s) into bowl and put instant bouillon into the bowl. Mix round and mash them. Put cut cabbage into bowl. Mix around them with your ladle. It is the dough.
Put dough into frying pan. Flame is medium heat. Put thin slice pig meat onto the dough. Sprinkle salt and pepper a bit. get a lid on with low heat. Wait several tens seconds and turn off the heat and steam for several tens seconds. Turn down the Okonimi-yaki and burn it. Flame is low heat. Wait several tens seconds and turn off the heat and steam again. Prod it to confirm whether it was burned well. (You must not extract water too much from it) Put sauce , mayonnaise onto boiled and dried bonito flesh and Okonomi-yaki. Finished.
I added egg onto the Okonomi-yaki. If you want to egg. Before you take up the okonomiyaki from frying pan, you can add it. I think you understand how to do it if you see my pic. Also I added sprouts and Tenkasu (chaff of Tenmura's cating) into it.
"Okonomi" means "as you like". You can put your favorite stuffs into/onto it as you like. But you shouldn't put Sushi, abluent, clothes washer, car and President Bush etc into/onto it. To put sea-foods and pan-fried noodles are popular. I often put pan-fried noodles into Okonomi-yaki.
I think if you cook a basic Okonomi-yaki, you can image which stuff you can put into it next time.
Second Topic
If you know an interesting movie characters speak in formal English, please tell me!!!!! Hmm, I should have studied English. I did nothing for 1st grade English test(first phase test) these months. But, my latest score was the best among scores I took so far. I don't know the reason. It's strange. Anyway it is obvious that I need to memorize English words and practice listening English conversation. I overcame tractate section. My score comes short 11 points.
I get 80% of maximum points of explanatory text listening. It was good enough score. It seems I understood chemistry's narrative text. However, for conversation listening, I got only 50%. Hmmmmm.
I got only 28%(7/25) of maximum points of word-test. I need to take at least more 30%. Hmmmmm.
I got 80% on long-form reading test. Those sentences are not easy, more difficult than common news paper's ones. I always take good score. I'm good at reading test even in Japanese. And I overcame English essay-writing.
Namely, I couldn't get scores from easy questions. However, conversation listening is not easy for me. Someone please tell me why I can't take good score on it! Perhaps, the reason comes from that I don't like to hear conversation in English and don't like to memorize idioms.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Hmm, Conversation. Hmm. It is the biggest problem for me. Then, why did I passed interview test of pre-1st grade test? Heaven knows? Hmm. I need to practice listening conversation. However, there is no interesting conversation text books in book stores. Also, always I've memorized conversations because I listen it many times. Hence, it is not a good practice. Also I need sentences which is translated into Japanese.
Hmm. I guess I should buy DVDs of movies. I used to listened Star-Trek Next Generation. When I said "Proceed". My Japanese friend who grew up in America got laughing. Is it a funny expression? Hmm, Natives knows.
I must take interview test if I pass the first phase test. The most difficult matter of English interview test is that examiner is Japanese who speak English in broken pronounce. There are many books contains native English, but there is no text which books contain such English. Who practices to listen it? Every time I get angry a bit when I hear their "Japalish" at interview test.
When I took interview test of pre-1st grade, examiner was an old Osakan who speak Osakan-style-king's-English, which sounds like a bit Manchu-Chinese. I cursed my destiny.
Third Topic
Sometimes I explain about my self, saying "My character is very similar to now-dead Endo Shusaku. If you read his essays you will understand how my character is.". If you all are Japaense, I could said so here too.
Yesterday I read his essay again. Hmm, what he thought is very similar to what I think. It is as if I wrote his essays, even though Endo is a better writer than me. Some my friends who read his essays told me the close resemblance between me and Endo, and I realized it long ago.
Endo's representative work is "Silence". He was a Catholic, but he studied about Buddhism well. Yesterday I noticed that he has read some books about Indian and Buddhist thought which I've read.
He wrote he was told that he was a pigeon in his previous life and he will be a deer in the afterworld by a psychic Indian at India, and wrote "If you find a deer, at Nara-city, which looks at you with lovely round eyes is me.". Now I want to go to Nara to find such a deer.
I guess there is not his essays which is translated into English. Too bad. I wanted you to enjoy his jokes. His jokes is also resemble mine closely. I don't know the reason. Some friends say "You are another Endo Shusaku." to me. That means I can be a great novelist? OK, I'll try to write a novel. I also like to read and want to write religious literature and history novels. Those friends say "Try to write it!". I have a plan I make them turn up in my novel as smurai who jolly others well too much.
ho, ho, ho
Have a nice weekend!
