A friend sent this to me..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7419969.stm
Friday, 30 May 2008
Monday, 26 May 2008
Beef
The sector is also responsible for 37 percent of all human-induced methane, which is produced largely by the digestive system of ruminants, and 64 percent of all human-induced ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain, the report added.
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Eat less beef and help the planet, G8 is told ERIC JOHNSTON
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080526a2.html
A Japanese friend living in Melbourne responded to this article with "The article is helpful for me to show my friends who asked me about 'what do you think Japanese whale hunting?'."
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Eat less beef and help the planet, G8 is told ERIC JOHNSTON
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080526a2.html
A Japanese friend living in Melbourne responded to this article with "The article is helpful for me to show my friends who asked me about 'what do you think Japanese whale hunting?'."
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Party
In Australia, America, Malaysia if we have a big celebration with lots of guests to feed, we have a rotisseries for lamb in Australia or a suckling pig in Asia. In Japan they have Tuna.
We were walking through a street fair - lots of things to buy and street food snacks. We passed a yakitori stall - not surprising easy to make and sell, its like satay or Vietnamese sausages. Then we saw a crowd gathered round a temporary tent, water seeping through their feet. Nathan and I peered in to find a whole Tuna fish on display. It had just been removed from its bucket ?? of ice. It had ice stuffed into its mouth to keep an even temperature. People were gaping, taking photos, admiring the freshness of the fish. It was a beautiful fish - fresh bright eyes, glistening skin, firm taut flesh.
We were walking through a street fair - lots of things to buy and street food snacks. We passed a yakitori stall - not surprising easy to make and sell, its like satay or Vietnamese sausages. Then we saw a crowd gathered round a temporary tent, water seeping through their feet. Nathan and I peered in to find a whole Tuna fish on display. It had just been removed from its bucket ?? of ice. It had ice stuffed into its mouth to keep an even temperature. People were gaping, taking photos, admiring the freshness of the fish. It was a beautiful fish - fresh bright eyes, glistening skin, firm taut flesh.
After our lunch, we passed the longest queue of Japanese people (we were in Hiroo, an expat area) patiently waiting. At the end of the line was the beautiful dark red flesh of the tuna, all cut up neatly in packets. They sold rice on the side. Sashimi tuna. Then we noticed people huddled round chopsticks in hand - we'd better eat it Straight away.
Fresh!
Friday, 16 May 2008
Another TV program
We were channel surfing and stopped where two men were looking seriously at some eggs they were about to crack onto a bowl of rice. **Crack** but they found a yellow substance inside. I dont know what they were expecting but eggs to me are either raw or cooked. Either way there are 2 colours - transparent/white and yellow. Here was just a light yellow subtance uniformly across the egg, like a custard.
Upon examination these two men confirmed that the egg had not been tampered with - no holes, no cracks. What type of hen lays these eggs?
Hmmmm........ They were eggs that were put in a centrifuge till the white and egg was completely beaten together. Then they were boiled. So it was scrambled eggs in a shell. Ready to be broken on top of a bowl of rice for a complete meal.
If you wanted to try this at home, place the whole egg into a ladies stocking. Whirl it round and round, pull the stocking so that it whirls the other way. Repeat and repeat several times. Then boil the egg and hopefully you will see what I saw.
Lots of Big eyes and 'Ah so deska's' from these two gentlemen. They were truly shocked by this, as was I.
Upon examination these two men confirmed that the egg had not been tampered with - no holes, no cracks. What type of hen lays these eggs?
Hmmmm........ They were eggs that were put in a centrifuge till the white and egg was completely beaten together. Then they were boiled. So it was scrambled eggs in a shell. Ready to be broken on top of a bowl of rice for a complete meal.
If you wanted to try this at home, place the whole egg into a ladies stocking. Whirl it round and round, pull the stocking so that it whirls the other way. Repeat and repeat several times. Then boil the egg and hopefully you will see what I saw.
Lots of Big eyes and 'Ah so deska's' from these two gentlemen. They were truly shocked by this, as was I.
Fantastic Japanese TV
One of the best things about a blog is I can talk about something I thought was interesting and perhaps others wouldnt. Its extra carthartic to write about this because I dont have any friends here. And who ever I meet might just not be interested in this stuff... I told Stephen, and he was actually interested in this one.
We dont have cable tv yet, but we do have the free to air tv, all in Japanese only which Nathan and I watch. We are growing to love their children's tv - and thats another post. This particular evening there was something about this a sea shell. It looked like a pipi but much bigger - perhaps a 'lala' but black. There were lots of diagrams and visuals. The one that got me watching was: while a handful of the ordinary sea shells could be bought for Y600, this particular sea shell from this particular beach were sold for Y600 for 4.
All this was because it tasted terribly "Oyiiiii shiii".
They demonstrated that it tasted good but it tasted extra good if they were cooked in a particular way. It couldn't just be cooked anyhow. It needed high heat from ALL directions for the shell to produce its own water and hence the meat would be cooked in its own water with all its taste remaining inside. This is best cooked with the sea shells placed on a hot barbecue or something and placing accorns around the shell and setting fire to the accorns. This produced the all round heat necessary to cook these dry shells to produce the water/sauce that tastes so good.
This show also had 2 pretty tokyoite girls with their gems stuck on their nails, raincoats and gum boots to their knees trying to find these sea shells on the muddy beach with gardening forks. To no avail. Later on in the show, a scruffy Japanese man explains that you have to remove their gum boots (heaven forbid!) and walk around in their socks (phew!) so they can feel with their feet where the colony of shells are. Then they found more and more.
The show also demonstrated how these shells could float to other shells and form clusters. If you distributed 4 shells around the beach, they would eventually find each other and form clusters. Then they showed how after they were inseminated, the shells would bury themselves in the sand, a tongue like thing would come out of the shell into the sand and later baby shells would be produced. It is this similar tongue like thing which allows the shell to be carried by the current to colonies of other shells and anchor themselves there to grow a bigger colony. So if you walked around in your feet and not boots, you can find these colonies and lots of shells.
This show featured a lot of tasters of this sea shell and ALL their faces would show how Oyii shii they were. Aparently it is fantastic. It must be for Y150 each shell! I was taken with all the 'Oyii shiis'.
They had different chefs cooking this shell. All of them knew about it and had it on their menus. The French Chef grilled it over an open bbq with wire mesh and turned it very quickly for it to get their overall heat. It seemed the important thing was to encourage the shell to produce this water where all the taste was.
I was very convinced with this method of cooking because I remember Rick Steins program showed how some fishermen in the mediteranean cooked their mussels: they arranged the mussels hinge side up over a concrete base. The shells had to support each other. Then they put dried seaweed all over it, then set fire to it. This smoked the mussels which they then ate. I doubt if this produced any 'water' or if it did, it would all drain away. But it had that 'all over cooking' which would produce the best taste to the mussel. I want to try this way of cooking once.
A few weeks later, we were browsing the channels when they showed this beach very similar to the beach with all the sea shells scavengers. It was crowded, much more than on the initial show and full of people on a muddy beach - was this the same beach after the program they aired about the sea shells. The crowds were definitely not swimming nor enjoying the sun. This program was about the lost kids. The beach was sooo crowded, they were focussing on the mothers who lost their sons and how they were franticly calling people to find them and how the life guards had a room full of lost kids (mostly boys) crying for their lost mothers. [Where else would they have gone?] The reunions were loverly.
Nathan and I watched it and I told him,'if you ever get lost look for these yellow dressed people - the life savers'
Oyii shiii - delicious
We dont have cable tv yet, but we do have the free to air tv, all in Japanese only which Nathan and I watch. We are growing to love their children's tv - and thats another post. This particular evening there was something about this a sea shell. It looked like a pipi but much bigger - perhaps a 'lala' but black. There were lots of diagrams and visuals. The one that got me watching was: while a handful of the ordinary sea shells could be bought for Y600, this particular sea shell from this particular beach were sold for Y600 for 4.
All this was because it tasted terribly "Oyiiiii shiii".
They demonstrated that it tasted good but it tasted extra good if they were cooked in a particular way. It couldn't just be cooked anyhow. It needed high heat from ALL directions for the shell to produce its own water and hence the meat would be cooked in its own water with all its taste remaining inside. This is best cooked with the sea shells placed on a hot barbecue or something and placing accorns around the shell and setting fire to the accorns. This produced the all round heat necessary to cook these dry shells to produce the water/sauce that tastes so good.
This show also had 2 pretty tokyoite girls with their gems stuck on their nails, raincoats and gum boots to their knees trying to find these sea shells on the muddy beach with gardening forks. To no avail. Later on in the show, a scruffy Japanese man explains that you have to remove their gum boots (heaven forbid!) and walk around in their socks (phew!) so they can feel with their feet where the colony of shells are. Then they found more and more.
The show also demonstrated how these shells could float to other shells and form clusters. If you distributed 4 shells around the beach, they would eventually find each other and form clusters. Then they showed how after they were inseminated, the shells would bury themselves in the sand, a tongue like thing would come out of the shell into the sand and later baby shells would be produced. It is this similar tongue like thing which allows the shell to be carried by the current to colonies of other shells and anchor themselves there to grow a bigger colony. So if you walked around in your feet and not boots, you can find these colonies and lots of shells.
This show featured a lot of tasters of this sea shell and ALL their faces would show how Oyii shii they were. Aparently it is fantastic. It must be for Y150 each shell! I was taken with all the 'Oyii shiis'.
They had different chefs cooking this shell. All of them knew about it and had it on their menus. The French Chef grilled it over an open bbq with wire mesh and turned it very quickly for it to get their overall heat. It seemed the important thing was to encourage the shell to produce this water where all the taste was.
I was very convinced with this method of cooking because I remember Rick Steins program showed how some fishermen in the mediteranean cooked their mussels: they arranged the mussels hinge side up over a concrete base. The shells had to support each other. Then they put dried seaweed all over it, then set fire to it. This smoked the mussels which they then ate. I doubt if this produced any 'water' or if it did, it would all drain away. But it had that 'all over cooking' which would produce the best taste to the mussel. I want to try this way of cooking once.
A few weeks later, we were browsing the channels when they showed this beach very similar to the beach with all the sea shells scavengers. It was crowded, much more than on the initial show and full of people on a muddy beach - was this the same beach after the program they aired about the sea shells. The crowds were definitely not swimming nor enjoying the sun. This program was about the lost kids. The beach was sooo crowded, they were focussing on the mothers who lost their sons and how they were franticly calling people to find them and how the life guards had a room full of lost kids (mostly boys) crying for their lost mothers. [Where else would they have gone?] The reunions were loverly.
Nathan and I watched it and I told him,'if you ever get lost look for these yellow dressed people - the life savers'
Oyii shiii - delicious
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Restaurants
We have had to eat in restaurants only for the first 2 weeks in Tokyo: when we were living in hotels. I loved it. The food was wonderful.
First we walk around with Nathan trying to pick a restaurant. Either there are loads of restaurants or there are very few. Since we dont know the areas, or recommendations, its just "do you think this is nice?" Luckily I easily trust Stephen with the choice. Luckily, both Nathan and I are not too fussy about ingredients so there would be something nice in any restaurants. So once we decide this is it, we enter.
How do you decide when the menu is in Japanese? First we ask for an English menu which always helps. Otherwise its from pictures. For us its 'nama biru' and Nathan orange juice and if we are lucky apple juice. The Japanese never stock lemonade. We just have not seen it anywhere. The closest is Ramunade which is a sweet soda, with no lemon flavour. It comes in a funny bottle with a glass ball near the top so if you turn the bottle upside down no ramunade comes out. I keep forgetting to steal the bottle.
Our highlights are:
The sashimi at Aozora, Tsukiji
The Tempura Ebi Curry Udon in Tsukiji
The tempura in Ten Ichi
The tuna carpaccio with avocado salsa in an Izakaya in Ropponggi.
The nutty welcome tofu in an Izakaya in Shinjuku
The salad dressing on the mizuno salad in the strange restaurant we went with Jonathan in Shibuya
The korean bbq we had in Suitengumei
Sea bass sashimi and Kawahagi at Aozora,
The hamburgers at The Arms
The tofu salad at Oto oto, Ebisu Garden place
The vegetable bake, raisin bread and macaroons at Joel Rubichon
I have to update this list as I remember.
First we walk around with Nathan trying to pick a restaurant. Either there are loads of restaurants or there are very few. Since we dont know the areas, or recommendations, its just "do you think this is nice?" Luckily I easily trust Stephen with the choice. Luckily, both Nathan and I are not too fussy about ingredients so there would be something nice in any restaurants. So once we decide this is it, we enter.
How do you decide when the menu is in Japanese? First we ask for an English menu which always helps. Otherwise its from pictures. For us its 'nama biru' and Nathan orange juice and if we are lucky apple juice. The Japanese never stock lemonade. We just have not seen it anywhere. The closest is Ramunade which is a sweet soda, with no lemon flavour. It comes in a funny bottle with a glass ball near the top so if you turn the bottle upside down no ramunade comes out. I keep forgetting to steal the bottle.
Our highlights are:
The sashimi at Aozora, Tsukiji
The Tempura Ebi Curry Udon in Tsukiji
The tempura in Ten Ichi
The tuna carpaccio with avocado salsa in an Izakaya in Ropponggi.
The nutty welcome tofu in an Izakaya in Shinjuku
The salad dressing on the mizuno salad in the strange restaurant we went with Jonathan in Shibuya
The korean bbq we had in Suitengumei
Sea bass sashimi and Kawahagi at Aozora,
The hamburgers at The Arms
The tofu salad at Oto oto, Ebisu Garden place
The vegetable bake, raisin bread and macaroons at Joel Rubichon
I have to update this list as I remember.
Global food crisis I
At any one time we share the planet with 1 billion pigs, 1.3 billion cattle, 1.8 billion sheep and goats and 15.4 billion chickens: twice as many as there are humans to eat them.
Rather than increasing our capacity to feed people, the growth in meat production is a serious threat to food security. Growing plants to feed animals, rather than humans, uses more land and water to produce less protien than growing plants for direct human consumption.
The demand for livestock feed and pasture is consequently the single biggest driver of both deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions.
Rather than increasing our capacity to feed people, the growth in meat production is a serious threat to food security. Growing plants to feed animals, rather than humans, uses more land and water to produce less protien than growing plants for direct human consumption.
The demand for livestock feed and pasture is consequently the single biggest driver of both deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions.
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Earthquake
We were woken up in the middle of Thursday night by the building shaking. The newspapers told us later it occured at 1.45am. It went on for longer than the other small shakes I had felt previously. Was it real? I heard glass rattling in our bedroom and I couldn't say what it could be, the glass doors?, but it did indicate the building was definitely shaking and that it was not my imagination. The crows from Nature Park next door were shaken out of their trees because a lot of them awoke and started screaming around.
I didn't want Nathan to awake. He didn't wake up.
I spoke to Mama on the new phone. She said she hadn't thought of me in Tokyo when she heard about the earthquake.
On Friday morning we felt some aftershocks, Nathan woke up and went downstairs to check if Uncle Jon was still around and was ok. We worried about him immediately but he didn't seem to have noticed it.
This was my 4th quake.
This was my 4th quake.
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Internet connection
Everything starts with internet connection. We got ours last Wednesday.
Stephen did lots of research and explored the possibility of throwing all our media resources into the fastest internet connection and having the phone and television connected to it for all media. This meant an IP telephony and tv over the internet. TV over the internet was completely new to me. I have no idea where to find content from and how it would work into our lives.
I imagined getting my chocolate snack ready, throwing myself into the couch reaching for the keyboard and spending 15 minutes browsing for something good while I get lost in indecision and letting the chocolate melt. I like things given to me - cable tv content, presents, a job .... etc..
But Stephen sounded futuristic about it all and I went along with it. We stood for hours in Bic Camera while Nathan slept(thank goodness) in the midst of all the blaring tv's, all competing for attention while Stephen discovered in Japanese the products that could support this theory. We discovered it was still cheaper to buy a tv screen which had a pc input instead of just a monitor when looking for a screen this size. And there were lots of fancy hardware that looked good on a tv bench which was essentially a computer, the same as ours. So we bought a 46" sharp aquos lcd with a DVI input.
The man from NTT came, all in Japanese he looked everywhere for some fiber terminal. When he finally found something he spent an hour trying to run a fiber cable between two points. He pulled and pulled, something was stuck somewhere. We both couldn't communicate (I am still wondering what "chotto" means) and tried translation with the estate agent over the phone, but she couldn't help find anything. Suddenly when I thought he needed some back up, he seemed to start doing some connections. Then it was all working.
We have a phone and internet connection.
Unfortunately he didnt connect LANs so we cant be connected at the same time and the wireless doesnt work. But WOW! it's a FAST connection.! My computer cant keep up.
I'm happy.
Stephen did lots of research and explored the possibility of throwing all our media resources into the fastest internet connection and having the phone and television connected to it for all media. This meant an IP telephony and tv over the internet. TV over the internet was completely new to me. I have no idea where to find content from and how it would work into our lives.
I imagined getting my chocolate snack ready, throwing myself into the couch reaching for the keyboard and spending 15 minutes browsing for something good while I get lost in indecision and letting the chocolate melt. I like things given to me - cable tv content, presents, a job .... etc..
But Stephen sounded futuristic about it all and I went along with it. We stood for hours in Bic Camera while Nathan slept(thank goodness) in the midst of all the blaring tv's, all competing for attention while Stephen discovered in Japanese the products that could support this theory. We discovered it was still cheaper to buy a tv screen which had a pc input instead of just a monitor when looking for a screen this size. And there were lots of fancy hardware that looked good on a tv bench which was essentially a computer, the same as ours. So we bought a 46" sharp aquos lcd with a DVI input.
The man from NTT came, all in Japanese he looked everywhere for some fiber terminal. When he finally found something he spent an hour trying to run a fiber cable between two points. He pulled and pulled, something was stuck somewhere. We both couldn't communicate (I am still wondering what "chotto" means) and tried translation with the estate agent over the phone, but she couldn't help find anything. Suddenly when I thought he needed some back up, he seemed to start doing some connections. Then it was all working.
We have a phone and internet connection.
Unfortunately he didnt connect LANs so we cant be connected at the same time and the wireless doesnt work. But WOW! it's a FAST connection.! My computer cant keep up.
I'm happy.
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