Lucas of Cooking In Japan tagged me for the Too Much Information meme, and looks like I’m supposed to post 10 random and interesting (and maybe weird) facts about myself and tag 5 people. OK, here’s 10 random facts, but I’m not sure if these are interesting to anyone.
1. I have practiced Aikido, Kyokushin Karate and Kung fu when I was young. Not all at one time, of course. My Aikido and Karate are all rusty now, but I still practice some Kung fu moves just to stay fit.
2. Before coming back to Japan after my stay in the U.S., I traveled around in Arizona for about a month, and I joined the Pink Jeep Tour (Broken Arrow!) in Sedona. That was really awesome! :D
3. I can play Japanese traditional instrument called Koto a little. I’m not very good, but I think I can still play a piece called “Roku-dan,” if I practice it several times.
4. I think I enjoy karaoke but only with friends who like the same kind of songs as I do.
5. In addition to the well-known cedar pollen, I’m allergic to some perfumes.
6. There’s a “dream pool cue” for me to adore watching in catalogues (but never really want to hold in my hands. Too good for me!)
7. I haven’t been to a movie theater for about 8 years… or could be… 10 years!
8. When I was working as an "office lady" in Osaka, I used to go dancing at Studebakers in Umeda about once a month.
9. I might have to buy a new laundry machine and/or fridge sometime soon. :( They don’t seem to be working properly these days…
10. I’ve been hooked on a Korean drama, Changumu no chikai (Dae Jang Geum,대장금, 大長今). It’s a Korean dynasty drama and the heroine, changumu is a talented young woman working in the kitchen of the imperial court. It’s her success story, with lots of interesting information about Korean foods, and I heard that she becomes the king’s doctor eventually.
I’m going to tag fooDcrazEE, but I’m having trouble finding more fellow bloggers who are not tagged yet. Help me! Please leave a comment to let me know if you want to be tagged for this meme. The ten facts about you don’t have to be food-related. :)
1. fooDcrazEE
2. vivilicious (Thanks! :D)
3. Tokyoastrogirl (Thanks! :D)
4. Sara, The Wine Makers Wife (Thanks! :D)
5. Winslow (Thanks! :D)
And Liz (Thanks! :D)
Gee, thanks guys.
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25 comments:
ahhaaha.......dae jang geum! omg, i was so hooked on it too >.<
because it showed every weekday, that show seriously put a dent on my social life :/
btw, she gets sooooo cool in the last 2-3 eps. XD
i remember my mum telling me about a korean soap opera she became addicted to. i have a feeling it's the same one. she said she was learning some korean at the same time and was happy about that :D (she had japanese subtitles)
Obachan,
We had a Studebakers in Hawaii too. I went there when I was working too.
Obachan;
I, too was hooked on that Korean drama. I watched it here on AZN network. Luckily , it was dubbed in English and it had a different name. Was amazing how one woman had so much drama in her life !!!! strange ending though, don't you think?
At least you guys get to watch it on TV! I had to get the DVDs. I love this drama, I actually tried some of the dishes, but obviously did not come out right... ;)
Hi Oba-chan, Heard about that Korean drama, but don;t get it in the UK. Guess I'll have to get the DVDs ;-). If you still need to someone to tag for the Meme, I'm game.
evangeline
Oh, it must have kept you busy if you had to watch it every weekday :D.
milgwimper
Oh, you, too? I missed some of the early episodes, so I need to check our library here, too.
bourgogne
Many women of my mom’s generation have been addicted to Korean dramas for the past couple of years. It’s great that your mom is learning Korean. Good luck! I’m hoping to re-start learning the language this coming April.
CG
I have to confess that I watched Karate Kid 1 and 2.
Kat & Satoshi
My friend has been to Studebakers in Hawaii and she loved it so much. Did the staff stood on the counter top and dance when the “Soul Man” was played? At the Studebakers in Umeda, they did, but after doing so, one of them apologized to me, “Sorry for doing something like this, but it’s the rule here so we have to do this,” and I thought it was really “Japanese.” Personally, I didn’t think our food was getting dirty or anything because of that custom.
carlyn
I heard that the story was largely fictional, though there did exist a woman Jang Geum who was a king’s doctor. I haven’t watched the ending yet.
C
Hey, DVDs are probably safer, because there is no risk of missing episodes. ;) I forgot to set the timer to record the drama last Friday and missed the first half of the episode --- the part explaining the reason why the taste of miso changed! I couldn’t help spending some time net-searching to look for websites with that part of the story written down, because I couldn’t go to sleep without knowing the answer.
BTW, I, too, was tempted to try some of the dishes a few times. :)
vivilicious
Oh, so nice to hear from you, and thanks for participating in the meme! OK. You’re tagged.
Now it’s your turn to tell the world 10 facts about you! :D
Obachan: Of the 10 comments (and two of them are your replies), five -- no, six -- of your readers are nuts about Changumu.
Gosh. Guess I'll have to check it out!
xx
cc
Fact 1 & 8... you are rock obachan. ^_^ My friend is doing Aikido now, and she's been telling me it is a really good sport.
Yes, yes, they used to dance on the counter and table tops...I don't remember to what song, but every hour on the hour or so, they used to do this. :)
I think your carmel cake looks delicious!
You can tag me if you like;)
Obachan,
As I recall, the taste of the miso changed because they chopped down the trees where the miso was kept. The pollen(?) of the trees is what gave the miso the special taste. Something like that... =)
C
Oh oh tag me!
ha ha, a drama huh? Sounds amazing. Best of luck to you.
cookiecrumb
To me it’s a real addictive drama. It has all the entertaining factors lilke “cooking battles,” mysteries, conspiracy, beautiful uniforms, interesting culinary culture … and a talented young girl works hard and keeps going on no matter what trouble comes… Hope you have a chance to see this drama.
fish fish
Yes, it’s a really good sport, though I was not very good at it. ;P
Kat & Satoshi
Mmmm… good old days. ;)
Tokyoastrogirl
Oh, thanks! OK, you’re tagged! Let us know your secrets!
C
That’s right. The pollen was the key. I was soooooo glad when I found that out.
Thanks.
Sara
OK, Thanks, Sara. You’re tagged, too! Looking forward to finding out more about you :D
You play Koto! Interesting! I was very fascinated by this instrument when my sis used to play it. I thought it was extremely hard to tune the instrument unless one has PURRFECT pitch or something, since tuning four strings on a violin to the right pitch is already a big headache. Which fingering are you trained in? The tip-of-the-finger style or the edge-of-the-finger style?
Yeah, we should have things like
these to tune the koto perfectly, but unfortunately we don’t, so we use this kind of tuning whistle(?), and it’s not impossible for someone who doesn’t have a perfect pitch to tune the instrument to an acceptable level using such a tool. I guess there exist some kind of tuning tools for most of the musical instruments. BTW, I heard that the street musician kids in Japan often use their cell phones to tune their guitars when they forgot to bring tuning tools. The tone that our cell phones give when they are turned on is said to be “G”. (Is this the same all over the world??)
I was trained in the school that uses square picks.
Hi obachan,
Hey, if you want to tag me, I'd be happy to take on the challenge. I have such a random assortment of interests, I can surely come up with 10 random facts about myself. :)
Oh, great! Thanks, Winslow. OK, you're tagged! I bet the whole world is looking forward to reading your post ;)
Oh my goodness, Obachan, you do have a great sense of humour. I couldn't help but laughed hysterically and almost got my stomach cramp while reading your remarks about one having a purrfect pitch. But how apt! That's exactly the same joke I used to tease my sis. Because we used to have a kittie cat who liked to make herself comfy on the piano and we speculated how one could tune the piano using the cat's purring/yawning/snoring/whatever. Anyway, I wasn't thinking of a pitch pipe when I talked about tuning an instrument, but more of a casual using-the-ear tuning for casual playing. Most of the time, half a note off is not too bad. Pitch pipe is not needed unless the instrument is seriously out of tune. And they are never perfect because both the instrument and pitch pipe depend on the temperature and humidity. Do you always tune the koto with a pitch pipe whenever you practise?
I never had my own pitch pipe. In the lesson, my instructor used her pitch pipe and she and I tuned koto together before playing, and for doing that, perfect pitch wasn't necessary. At home, I didn’t care much about tuning my koto to the right pitch, so it was never extremely hard or a big headache at all like you said it was with your violin and I never had to worry about having or not having perfect pitch.
Tag me too, if you like.
I used to go to Studebakers too when I lived in Kobe- stay out all night and then catch the first train home to Nishinomiya. Yikes!
Can't do that anymore (too tired!).
Oh, OK! Your're tagged, liz. Tell us 10 facts about you! :D
And I'm so happy to find another ex-Studebakers-goer. Hey, I used to live in Nishinomiya, too, near the Koshien baseball stadium.
You lived near Koshien? Me too! In Mukogawa Danchi- Building number 13!
I loved that place. The buildings were painted in pastels and looked like bathrooms in a Florida resort. So funny!
OMG!! That rainbow-colored buildings! Of course I know. I often went to Naruo-hama or Koshien-hama beach and saw those buildings from there and wondered what it would be like to live in those pastel-colored buildings. :D
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