30/12/2016 (evening) Today, my father went to pick up his harvest from his tiny field. This time, it is Japanese long radishes and oriental long onions. I cooked a pan full of miso-soup with shred radish and fried Tofu(ABURA-AGE), fermented soybeans called NATTO with grated radish, cut sticky taro-potato with red pickled salty plum (UMEBOSHI)and dried bonito frakes, cheese omelets and sweetened black beans,which were cooked by my mom) as a dessert with a cup of green tea. It was a wonderful dinner.
I like cooking, because I love eating delicious foods, the gifts from nature. I like meats, vegitables, fruits, sweets, etc. Our kichen is tiny and in winter it's cold too much. However, thinking of delicious foods, I get cheerful and start to enjoy cooking. Cooking is a wonderful process for the joyful aim. For me, important is taste, not appearance, contrary to DoDoMerdas.
They, DoDoMerdas, count appearance so much. They understand just surperficial beauty. Their sense of recognition is fairly weak and don't know really delicious foods. They are rich, but, formidablly they are not civilized in any means. In HASEGAWA Hospital, they disclosed their disastrous lack of ability as gourmands. During meals, they gave comments on the meals just "Hummmm...salty" or "Oh, it's too sweet. I dislike it!" or "I prefer Macdonald rather than it." and so on. It means that they had not accumlated experience of tongue. They were so forgettable.
One day, a youngster DoDoMerda said, "Oh, I want to try salty pickled plum! I've never tasted it in my life.", watching TV program on trip and foods. I was astonished. She was 19 years old and already suffered from serious brain disease related to forgetfulness, I wondered. And she was the most cleverest DoDoMerdas in the hospital!
UMEBOSHI is famous for it's distinctive sour taste. You know the esperience of Dog of Pavlof? The dog responds immediately drops saliva when he feels that his food is prepared, without the food itselt. The same thing happens when we people think of UMEBOSHI, because just imaging UMEBOSHI recalls us the sour taste.
When I was in Sao Paulo in 1989, I brought some tablets of UMEBOSHI extract. I made an order my friends to close their eyes and put the UMEBOSHI tablets on their tongue. Immediately they began to claim the sourest taste and I loughted at their frowned face. I tried this trick sevral times and always I succeeded in the game.
However, one day, I was revenged by my friend Deolinda BRISA. I was in her house, surrounded her family. Her father showed me a plate full of tiny picked piments and said to me. "These piments are tiny but extremely chilly. I think it's better to avoid tasting them. You are Japanese. You are not accostumed to eat them." When I had heard his words, I wanted to challenge the taste, with my ethnic pride as Japanese and said. "We Japanese people sometimes eat very chilly red peppers called "Howk's neils" (鷹の爪). I am sure I can eat the tiny piments like those. Give me one of them. I'll show you how we can put up with the chilly taste." He hesitated to offer it and said, "Miyuki, I repeat to say, that you would avoid the challenge." However, I bravely declared, "Don't worry! I will win!" Finally he gave me a tiny green piece. I put it in the mouse. He was seeing me, with a strange smile.
Soon I declared. "I could eat it....." Sevral seconds after, I felt fire on my mouse and cried, "Water! Water! Give me Water! Quick! My tongue is firing!!!" GRRRRR.... He brought me a vase of water and I drank it all. I felt my face was hot and red. I couldn't put up with the chilly taste. The piment is several times smaller than our red pepper "Howk's neil". However, ten times more chilly than our red pepper. I lost and became an aim of loughinf of all of Deolinda's family for a long time. I felt ashamed and regretted a lot. I should not gamble the pride of Japanese at that time.
Since them, I have taken care to eat peppers. Even with small size, they are sometimes much more chilly than our "Howk's neils". Maybe,even now, Deolinda's family remenber me as a fool that dared to eat the chilliest green piment and lost the game.
Sometimes Japanese show Mt.Fuji proudly, saying that this is the tallest mountain in our country. However, Mt.Fuji's hight is only 3,700m. There are lots of mountains higher than it in the world. Ethnic pride sometimes blocks the opportunity to know the real value. My case of a tiny green piment and Mt.Fuji's are good examples of this type of prejudice. I've learn a lot from that chilly taste.
I like cooking, because I love eating delicious foods, the gifts from nature. I like meats, vegitables, fruits, sweets, etc. Our kichen is tiny and in winter it's cold too much. However, thinking of delicious foods, I get cheerful and start to enjoy cooking. Cooking is a wonderful process for the joyful aim. For me, important is taste, not appearance, contrary to DoDoMerdas.
They, DoDoMerdas, count appearance so much. They understand just surperficial beauty. Their sense of recognition is fairly weak and don't know really delicious foods. They are rich, but, formidablly they are not civilized in any means. In HASEGAWA Hospital, they disclosed their disastrous lack of ability as gourmands. During meals, they gave comments on the meals just "Hummmm...salty" or "Oh, it's too sweet. I dislike it!" or "I prefer Macdonald rather than it." and so on. It means that they had not accumlated experience of tongue. They were so forgettable.
One day, a youngster DoDoMerda said, "Oh, I want to try salty pickled plum! I've never tasted it in my life.", watching TV program on trip and foods. I was astonished. She was 19 years old and already suffered from serious brain disease related to forgetfulness, I wondered. And she was the most cleverest DoDoMerdas in the hospital!
UMEBOSHI is famous for it's distinctive sour taste. You know the esperience of Dog of Pavlof? The dog responds immediately drops saliva when he feels that his food is prepared, without the food itselt. The same thing happens when we people think of UMEBOSHI, because just imaging UMEBOSHI recalls us the sour taste.
When I was in Sao Paulo in 1989, I brought some tablets of UMEBOSHI extract. I made an order my friends to close their eyes and put the UMEBOSHI tablets on their tongue. Immediately they began to claim the sourest taste and I loughted at their frowned face. I tried this trick sevral times and always I succeeded in the game.
However, one day, I was revenged by my friend Deolinda BRISA. I was in her house, surrounded her family. Her father showed me a plate full of tiny picked piments and said to me. "These piments are tiny but extremely chilly. I think it's better to avoid tasting them. You are Japanese. You are not accostumed to eat them." When I had heard his words, I wanted to challenge the taste, with my ethnic pride as Japanese and said. "We Japanese people sometimes eat very chilly red peppers called "Howk's neils" (鷹の爪). I am sure I can eat the tiny piments like those. Give me one of them. I'll show you how we can put up with the chilly taste." He hesitated to offer it and said, "Miyuki, I repeat to say, that you would avoid the challenge." However, I bravely declared, "Don't worry! I will win!" Finally he gave me a tiny green piece. I put it in the mouse. He was seeing me, with a strange smile.
Soon I declared. "I could eat it....." Sevral seconds after, I felt fire on my mouse and cried, "Water! Water! Give me Water! Quick! My tongue is firing!!!" GRRRRR.... He brought me a vase of water and I drank it all. I felt my face was hot and red. I couldn't put up with the chilly taste. The piment is several times smaller than our red pepper "Howk's neil". However, ten times more chilly than our red pepper. I lost and became an aim of loughinf of all of Deolinda's family for a long time. I felt ashamed and regretted a lot. I should not gamble the pride of Japanese at that time.
Since them, I have taken care to eat peppers. Even with small size, they are sometimes much more chilly than our "Howk's neils". Maybe,even now, Deolinda's family remenber me as a fool that dared to eat the chilliest green piment and lost the game.
Sometimes Japanese show Mt.Fuji proudly, saying that this is the tallest mountain in our country. However, Mt.Fuji's hight is only 3,700m. There are lots of mountains higher than it in the world. Ethnic pride sometimes blocks the opportunity to know the real value. My case of a tiny green piment and Mt.Fuji's are good examples of this type of prejudice. I've learn a lot from that chilly taste.