Obachan's Kitchen & Balcony Garden: April 2004

Well, here’s my answers to the questions that you may or may not have in mind (but are afraid to ask)… :D Why don't you find out more about me here?

WHY DO YOU CALL YOURSELF OBACHAN?
Because I’m too young to be called obaachan (granny). :P
Besides, I don’t want to deny the fact that I’m an obachan (aunt) to my lovely niece and nephew. Instead of rejecting the label “obachan” to look/feel younger, I attempt to be a very special “obachan” that only I can be -- not any younger or older than what I actually am. ;)

HOW OLD ARE YOU?
I was born in 1964. (This way I don’t have to keep updating my age every year. Hehehe…)

DO YOU HAVE ANY OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE?
One year in Pennsylvania, 3 +1/2 years in Mississippi, 2 months in AZ, about a week in Montana, about a week in Vietnum, about a week in Norway, about a week in Malaysia, 2 days in NYC, 2 days in Hong Kong.

WHY ARE YOU STILL SINGLE?
Because I haven’t met a man who is brave/desperate enough to marry me. :P

ARE YOU A FOOD NATIONALIST?
No. But I do believe that fusion and ignorance are two different things.

WHAT’S YOUR DREAM
Living with a big dog and a little kitty in a house near the ocean.

YOUR BLOGS ARE SPOOKY…
Yep, that’s because I read my posts over and over and keep making changes/corrections (or sometimes replace photos). I know I should do it before posting, but there are mistakes I recognize only after the posts were uploaded.

WHY DON’T YOU TRANSLATE JAPANESE RECIPES INTO ENGLISH AND POST THEM ON YOUR FOODBLOG?
I wouldn’t hesitate to post a Japanese recipe as-is in Japanese with a proper credit. But translation is a different story. If I translate a Japanese recipe into English, there is always a possibility of mistranslation due to my limited linguistic ability. And the mistranslation may bring you a bad result when you tried out the recipe.

Imagine how you would feel if you were the author of the original recipe. You came up with a recipe after repeated trials and errors. You added your best tips and advices, because you want everyone to have a success. And you shared your recipe with readers of your blog (or your books, articles, whatever). Then without your knowledge or permission, it was translated into a foreign language that you don’t understand, and shared with the whole world. And because of a poor translation, the readers end up with crappy results.

Maybe you wouldn't care if you didn't know about it at all. But what if the translator credited the crappy recipe with your name and even linked to your original recipe, trying to look “copyright-conscious?” And you can’t even find out what’s wrong or what to ask the translator to improve, because you don’t understand the language that your recipe was translated into. Isn't it unfair? Wouldn't you feel that you wanted to make the choice of whether to allow it or not in the first place?

So, basically, I don’t literally “translate” and “post” Japanese recipes without permissions of the authors of the original recipes. And it is VERY unlikely that I get permissions. Of course. Would you give a permission in the situation like above if you were the author? I wouldn’t. So if you really desperately want a translated recipe, email me at the address in the sidebar.

I might, though, draw upon several Japanese recipes and/or cooking programs and summarize what they say to combine it with my own cooking experiences, like I did in my edamame or daifuku or nerikiri posts.

More to come...