I wanna make steak au poivre. But how much should I elaborate to make the sauce?
I wanna make chicken cordon bleu again with a slightly modified recipe.
I love cooking because "if we eat chicken we have to cook it well for chicken and me."
Sunday, July 12, 2009
My Attempt
I have applied to the certification exams for interpreters. Keep you fingers crossed. I will probably fail in Japanese history and geography... If I fail in English, I will feel down. Bwahahah. Impossible. If I do, I'll say, "You know, there is a stupid exam. blah blah. Yes. Wait to hear it in a pub!"
Speaking of a pub, let me list what I had at Horie's last time:
1) Scapa, the whisky Horie san recommended and made me a Scotch whisky fan,
2) Ciroc (snap frost vodka), a French vodka made from grape fruit, unlike ordinary vodka, you can drink it,
3) Ileach CASK STRENGTH, quite different from the ordinary(?) Ileach, which is said to be a vatted whisky of Lagavulin and Caolila. I liked it. A loooog finish.
Speaking of a pub, let me list what I had at Horie's last time:
1) Scapa, the whisky Horie san recommended and made me a Scotch whisky fan,
2) Ciroc (snap frost vodka), a French vodka made from grape fruit, unlike ordinary vodka, you can drink it,
3) Ileach CASK STRENGTH, quite different from the ordinary(?) Ileach, which is said to be a vatted whisky of Lagavulin and Caolila. I liked it. A loooog finish.
Two TV Series...unusually...
This is my first time to talk about TV series, but there are two series you HAVE TO WATCH.
One is Yes, Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister. The other is Blackadder.
They were both broadcasted in the 80s and probably in the early 90s. Hilarious if you like the British humor.
One is Yes, Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister. The other is Blackadder.
They were both broadcasted in the 80s and probably in the early 90s. Hilarious if you like the British humor.
Hikone Filipino Community
I started to manage another blog: hikonefilipinocommunity.blogspot.com.
My aim is to unite the Filipino community based on the Hikone Catholic Church and the Japanese society. I'm pretty sure that both the Filipino community and the Japanese community can learn something from each other. We live only once; why not try to broaden our horizons?
In my idea, there is no order of group of people, for example, a country or ethnicity. Each of them has their unique character. Once we open out mind, we can learn something. Learning is after all is to be open to something new, something unknown, foreign. It is Einstein's words that the common sense is a prejudice one acquires before the age of twenty.
Politically, I shall categorize myself as conservative (in the Japanese sense.) But it is not an obstacle for me to be friends with Korean and Chinese--you know what I mean. After all, when we meet anyone from anywhere in the world, we (except for statesmen responsible for his words and people of their nation) do not represent our government. We can freely talk. First thing we have to do I think is to listen, to listen, and re-examine our thoughts. I don't say that we have to believe everything we hear. I'm saying we don't lose anything by listening. We can evaluate what we heard afterwords.
Really, I want to keep myself open to ANYTHING except for stupid inaccurate arrogance.
My aim is to unite the Filipino community based on the Hikone Catholic Church and the Japanese society. I'm pretty sure that both the Filipino community and the Japanese community can learn something from each other. We live only once; why not try to broaden our horizons?
In my idea, there is no order of group of people, for example, a country or ethnicity. Each of them has their unique character. Once we open out mind, we can learn something. Learning is after all is to be open to something new, something unknown, foreign. It is Einstein's words that the common sense is a prejudice one acquires before the age of twenty.
Politically, I shall categorize myself as conservative (in the Japanese sense.) But it is not an obstacle for me to be friends with Korean and Chinese--you know what I mean. After all, when we meet anyone from anywhere in the world, we (except for statesmen responsible for his words and people of their nation) do not represent our government. We can freely talk. First thing we have to do I think is to listen, to listen, and re-examine our thoughts. I don't say that we have to believe everything we hear. I'm saying we don't lose anything by listening. We can evaluate what we heard afterwords.
Really, I want to keep myself open to ANYTHING except for stupid inaccurate arrogance.
Monday, June 22, 2009
3 things
1) I can't write equations on the blog. I could before. LaTex doesn't work any more.... I started to write about my recent mathematics and realized I couldn't type math symbols. Sucks.
2) Martini. I don't drink cocktails, or I just haven't had cocktails--of course, I have several times, but not so many times. I always thought if you had whisky and beer, what more do you want? Wait a sec. I'm having martini and I wanna go smoke. (Here, I go out to the veranda. -->) I'm back. Somehow I have hiccups. What was I talking about? Martini. Well, since summer is coming and for some other reasons, I bought a bottle of gin--gin, yes, everyone who knows me would say, "why not whisky? When summer approaches, I tend to buy rhum in addition to whisky and beer. This summer, I didn't buy rhum because I rather buy whisky if I pay the same price. Good rhum is as costly as nice whisky here. And inexpensive good rhum is hard to find. So I settled with gin, attracted to its bitter taste. Still, hiccups, hiccups. Now that I have gin, why don't I make martini? Probably there is Vermouth in the living room. Yes, there was. Do I have olive or orange or lemon? No. So, I made martini minus olive. But still it has an interesting taste! Gin and Vermouth goes well together really. I don't feel they were mixed. It is bitter. It is smooth. It has a pleasant flavor from vermouth. I say it's a very British taste. It is not continental. (Subjectivity matters. I think Martini is from the US, though..)
3) Writing. How can we freely write? I write three topics in this post. As a result, this post is ugly (as usual). If I want to write something readable, I have to concentrate on one topic. A good example is a mathematical writing. I prove something. If I want to present it elegantly, I should not mention how I discovered it or what implications it can have. There are so many things I want to write and I have to supress. I hope some day I will be good enough to be able to write whatever I want to in a readable fashion.
2) Martini. I don't drink cocktails, or I just haven't had cocktails--of course, I have several times, but not so many times. I always thought if you had whisky and beer, what more do you want? Wait a sec. I'm having martini and I wanna go smoke. (Here, I go out to the veranda. -->) I'm back. Somehow I have hiccups. What was I talking about? Martini. Well, since summer is coming and for some other reasons, I bought a bottle of gin--gin, yes, everyone who knows me would say, "why not whisky? When summer approaches, I tend to buy rhum in addition to whisky and beer. This summer, I didn't buy rhum because I rather buy whisky if I pay the same price. Good rhum is as costly as nice whisky here. And inexpensive good rhum is hard to find. So I settled with gin, attracted to its bitter taste. Still, hiccups, hiccups. Now that I have gin, why don't I make martini? Probably there is Vermouth in the living room. Yes, there was. Do I have olive or orange or lemon? No. So, I made martini minus olive. But still it has an interesting taste! Gin and Vermouth goes well together really. I don't feel they were mixed. It is bitter. It is smooth. It has a pleasant flavor from vermouth. I say it's a very British taste. It is not continental. (Subjectivity matters. I think Martini is from the US, though..)
3) Writing. How can we freely write? I write three topics in this post. As a result, this post is ugly (as usual). If I want to write something readable, I have to concentrate on one topic. A good example is a mathematical writing. I prove something. If I want to present it elegantly, I should not mention how I discovered it or what implications it can have. There are so many things I want to write and I have to supress. I hope some day I will be good enough to be able to write whatever I want to in a readable fashion.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Here is a potential problem...this blog.
Almost all the posts of my blog are not proofread. I don't read them back and correct grammar and expressions.
And now I began to look for translation jobs online. I apply for jobs online. If my potential client googles my name and finds this blog, s/he will doubt my English ability, grammar, composition skills, etc. etc.
I'm in trouble....
Maybe it is time to publish under anonymity...but I hate to hide my face...maybe I should reread all my posts...I don't have time for that; besides, I haven't written anything so important worth being reread!
I'm in a dilemma....
And now I began to look for translation jobs online. I apply for jobs online. If my potential client googles my name and finds this blog, s/he will doubt my English ability, grammar, composition skills, etc. etc.
I'm in trouble....
Maybe it is time to publish under anonymity...but I hate to hide my face...maybe I should reread all my posts...I don't have time for that; besides, I haven't written anything so important worth being reread!
I'm in a dilemma....
Monday, May 25, 2009
Foreign Languages
Everyone has his or her reason to study foreign languages. I've attempted to study English, Tagalog, Russian, French and Latin, and I made a moderate success in English and acquired elementary skills in Tagalog and French (doubtful). As for Russian and Latin, I barely started it; I got books and dictionaries and started to read them, but that's it.
Lots of my friends study Japanese as a foreign language. Some may be studying it simply because they live in Japan; others may be studying it because they are attracted to the language itself. (Even) those who study it because they live in Japan may have come to Japan for some reasons; some may have gotten interested in this country for some reason; some simply got scholarship. Well, everyone is different.
Apprendre une langue, c'est vivre de nouveau. The French said something cool here. Yes, studying a new language enables you to see a new world. I started to study English when I entered junior high school because it was required. I loved it. It was a whole new world to me. Every time I found a phrase I learned in movies, I got excited. Good old days. Soon I got a screenplay of Back to the Future III and watched the movie and memorized it. At the peak I learned, maybe, more than 70% of the lines by heart. Also, in those days, I had already decided to be a physicist--I somehow turned into an amateur mathematician, though--I knew I would need to read and write papers in English. That was a great incentive for me.
In college years, I was baptized to be catholic, influenced by my Filipino friends. I've been to the Philippines twice. A beautiful country. Pre-Spanish culture and colonial influence and Cathlicism and native religion; all woven together. I wanted to learn more about it, so I began to study Filipino (Tagalog, it depends on definitions). Somehow, when I study it, I feel I live a new life. Because I was so influenced by Filipinos and attended their mass for a year before my baptism even today when I attend Tagalog Mass in Hikone, I feel I'm back to my starting point. By the way, when it is sung, Tagalog is a really beautiful language. Without beauty, I wouldn't study it. :)
French...here comes French. It is simply beautiful. Their food (viende not poisson according to this Japanese guy, me) is redonculously (oh, I guess I'm up-to-date with today's American vocabulary) delicious. (I shouldn't forget snails. Such a nice stuff with bread!) These are main reasons I study it. If some day I go to France, I may have other reasons to study it. Oh, I shouldn't forget to mention the excellence of wine and Belgian beer.
Russian. It sounds cool and they produced a lot of great writers.
Lain. Catholicism. It is also beautiful when sung. My friend priest gave me Breviarium Romanum I may study it in the near future.
Right now I want to study Tagalog and Latin and French in order. However, since I do not want to waste my French grammar, I may say Tagalog=French and then Latin is the order.
What is your incentive to study foreign languages? (But I think French is really an obscure language...Where there are too many vowels, how can we communicate with each other?)
P.S. In youtube there are so many nice Filipino church songs like Ang Tanging Alay Ko, Sino Ako, etc. I'll ask Sister Alta (This is how I have known her for 7 years.) if I can play the guitar for them...with a warning that I need a LOT of practice. I'm really a free bird celebrating my life. Speaking of birds, there is one poem I'm writing. You may read it some day.
Lots of my friends study Japanese as a foreign language. Some may be studying it simply because they live in Japan; others may be studying it because they are attracted to the language itself. (Even) those who study it because they live in Japan may have come to Japan for some reasons; some may have gotten interested in this country for some reason; some simply got scholarship. Well, everyone is different.
Apprendre une langue, c'est vivre de nouveau. The French said something cool here. Yes, studying a new language enables you to see a new world. I started to study English when I entered junior high school because it was required. I loved it. It was a whole new world to me. Every time I found a phrase I learned in movies, I got excited. Good old days. Soon I got a screenplay of Back to the Future III and watched the movie and memorized it. At the peak I learned, maybe, more than 70% of the lines by heart. Also, in those days, I had already decided to be a physicist--I somehow turned into an amateur mathematician, though--I knew I would need to read and write papers in English. That was a great incentive for me.
In college years, I was baptized to be catholic, influenced by my Filipino friends. I've been to the Philippines twice. A beautiful country. Pre-Spanish culture and colonial influence and Cathlicism and native religion; all woven together. I wanted to learn more about it, so I began to study Filipino (Tagalog, it depends on definitions). Somehow, when I study it, I feel I live a new life. Because I was so influenced by Filipinos and attended their mass for a year before my baptism even today when I attend Tagalog Mass in Hikone, I feel I'm back to my starting point. By the way, when it is sung, Tagalog is a really beautiful language. Without beauty, I wouldn't study it. :)
French...here comes French. It is simply beautiful. Their food (viende not poisson according to this Japanese guy, me) is redonculously (oh, I guess I'm up-to-date with today's American vocabulary) delicious. (I shouldn't forget snails. Such a nice stuff with bread!) These are main reasons I study it. If some day I go to France, I may have other reasons to study it. Oh, I shouldn't forget to mention the excellence of wine and Belgian beer.
Russian. It sounds cool and they produced a lot of great writers.
Lain. Catholicism. It is also beautiful when sung. My friend priest gave me Breviarium Romanum I may study it in the near future.
Right now I want to study Tagalog and Latin and French in order. However, since I do not want to waste my French grammar, I may say Tagalog=French and then Latin is the order.
What is your incentive to study foreign languages? (But I think French is really an obscure language...Where there are too many vowels, how can we communicate with each other?)
P.S. In youtube there are so many nice Filipino church songs like Ang Tanging Alay Ko, Sino Ako, etc. I'll ask Sister Alta (This is how I have known her for 7 years.) if I can play the guitar for them...with a warning that I need a LOT of practice. I'm really a free bird celebrating my life. Speaking of birds, there is one poem I'm writing. You may read it some day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
