2015年5月29日金曜日

2015年5月29日金曜日 -

Anna: Cooking in Japan



I got a new hobby recently! These days, I'm really into cooking.
Before I came to Japan, I couldn't really cook at all. I could make really easy food like pasta, but I didn't know any recipes or have any skills.

So, the first six months I lived here I ate a lot of instant food and meals from convenience stores.
But after a while I started to get bored of eating the same food every day, so I decided to try making my own food when I had some free time.

I'm still not very good, but my cooking ability has improved a lot in a short time!

Now I can make some Japanese food like gyudon and tonkatsu.
I also learned how to make really good carbonara from one of my friends!
There are a lot of ingredients in Japan that we don't have in America so for a long time I didn't know what I could make or how to use them. Now I have learned a lot of ways to use Japanese ingredients to make really delicious things.

I use ingredients like dashi all the time now.

But even though I can make a lot of tasty food, I learned that I am best at making sweets.

Even though I had no experience, I was able to make really delicious chocolates! So now I want to try making more difficult things like pie and cake.

I think baking is a popular hobby in Japan, so I can easily find a lot of the tools and ingredients I need.
Although I don't have time to cook every day, I try to make my own food as often as I can.
Of course, there have been some challenges too. 
The most difficult thing about trying to cook in Japan is finding exactly the right ingredients to make what I want.

It's very easy to make Japanese or Korean food because the ingredients are easy to find and are very good quality, but making American food is often difficult because the ingredients are rare or expensive, and not sold in many stores.
There were many times when I tried to substitute ingredients I needed with different ingredients, and the result didn't taste good or the dish was ruined.

The best example I can think of is cheese. In Japan, it's very easy to find mozzarella cheese for pizza or toast, but other types of cheese are uncommon. Since we can't use mozzarella cheese for every recipe, making the foods I eat in America is sometimes difficult.
Overall, I'm glad I'm learning how to cook for myself and gaining new skills. Friends who have eaten my food have really liked it, so I want to continue making delicious things for everyone!


I'm really into：～に夢中だ
Ingredients：材料
all the time：いつも
baking：お菓子作り
substitute：代わりのものを使う
ruined：台なしになった

2015年5月22日金曜日

2015年5月22日金曜日 -

Dany: My favorite Italian restaurants in Osaka!


Oggi vi parlerò dei miei ristoranti italiani preferiti qui a Osaka! Abito in Giappone dal 2012 e adoro la cucina giapponese ma, ogni tanto, sento il bisogno di mangiare qualche piatto italiano e, visto che in cucina sono negato, vado spesso in uno dei numerosi ristoranti italiani presenti nella metropoli. In quasi tre anni ne ho potuti provare tanti e alcuni mi hanno davvero sorpreso per la qualità e la bontà del servizio.


Today I would like to talk about my favorite Italian restaurants here in Osaka! I've lived in Japan since 2012 and I love Japanese food, but sometimes I need to eat some Italian food. Because I can't cook anything myself, I often go to one of the many Italian restaurants in this great metropolis. In about three years I've been able to try a lot of them and sometimes I've been really surprised by the high quality of the service.

Il mio ristorante italiano preferito è, senza dubbio, il “Bar Mar” di Minamikata. Vicinissimo alla stazione Hankyu e, quindi, facilmente raggiungibile, offre un rapporto qualità/prezzo imbattibile e una vasta scelta sia di piatti che di vini italiani. In questo ristorante i miei piatti preferiti sono la carbonara e la pizza capricciosa.

My favorite Italian restaurant is without doubt “Bar Mar” in Minamikata, really close to the Hankyu station. As well as being easily accessible, it offers an unbeatable quality / price ratio and a wide choice of Italian dishes and wines. My favorite dishes here are carbonara and pizza capricciosa.


Il secondo in classifica è il ristorante “Allegro”. Situato in zona Umeda, in uno stretto vicolo, è un pò difficile da raggiungere. Un pò più caro rispetto al primo, offre, tuttavia, una scelta maggiore di piatti e specialità italiane. I miei piatti preferiti qui sono gli spaghetti alle vongole e la margherita.

The second restaurant is “Allegro”. Located in Umeda, in a narrow alley, it is a little difficult to reach and a little more expensive than the first one. It offers, however, a greater choice of Italian dishes and specialties. My favorite dishes here are spaghetti with clams and pizza margherita.

Spero che questi consigli possano esservi utili! Se vivete ad Osaka o vi trovate qui in viaggio e avete voglia di mangiare italiano adesso sapete dove andare!

I hope these tips will be helpful! If you live in Osaka or you are here for a trip and you want to eat some Italian dishes, now you know where to go!

Un saluto a tutti!

Greetings to all!

oggi：today：今日
preferiti：favorite：お気に入りの
abito：I've lived：住んでいます
adoro：I love：私は大好きです
metropolis：metropolis：大都会
senza dubbio：without doubt：間違いなく
raggiungibile：accessible：アクセスできる
qualità：quality：品質
prezzo：price：価格
imbattibile：unbeatable：無敵の
vongole：clams：アサリ
spero：I hope：～でありますように
consigli ：tips：ヒント


2015年5月15日金曜日

2015年5月15日金曜日 -

Jason:Spring’s not for everyone




Recently, many of my family and friends have been posting on Facebook about the coming of spring, and how they cannot wait for it to begin. The same is true with my friends here in Osaka as well. Everyone seems to love the idea of warmer temperatures and blooming flowers, but I am not one of them.


My dislike of spring goes back to when I was a kid. I had really bad allergies when I was in elementary school, and on multiple occasions I would have to go home early because of them. I also had allergy-related asthma, a shortness of breath caused by the pollen in the air, so I could not play outside with my friends during recess. Trust me, there is nothing sadder than sitting in the classroom with the teacher helping her grade papers while watching the other students having fun outside.
 
Another problem I have with spring is that I easily get sunburns being outside too long. Growing up, my family spent a fortune on sunblock for me to put on anytime I went outside. I would have to constantly have it reapplied throughout the day, otherwise my fair　skin would turn a very bright shade of red.

Nowadays, it is not so bad getting through spring as an adult. I have out-grown my allergies for the most part, and sunscreen is a lot more powerful today than it was thirty years ago. Now, when spring rolls around it usually acts as the harbinger of summer, and with that a rather hefty electrical bill trying to keep my apartment cool.



dislike：嫌い
allergies：アレルギー
multiple：複数の
asthma：喘息
pollen：花粉
recess：休憩時間
spent a fortune：大枚をはたいた
sunburns：日焼け
reapplied：塗りなおす
fair：色白の
out-grown：成長期が終わる
sunscreen：日焼け止め
harbinger：前触れ
hefty：多額

 ☆Jason's blog☆
☆Jason's blog　2☆
☆Jason's blog 3☆


2015年5月8日金曜日

2015年5月8日金曜日 -

Daniele: Childhood Memories in Spring

Il 21 Marzo inizià la primavera. Quando penso a questa stagione, mi tornano in mente i profumi intensi degli alberi in fiore e le lunghe giornate passate a giocare a calcio con i miei amici. Quando ero bambino, andavo spesso a giocare a calcio al parco vicino casa.

Spring starts on March 21st. When I think about this season, I remember the intense scents of trees in  blossom and the long days spent playing football with my friends. When I was a child, I often went to play football at the local park.

Durante l’inverno, ovviamente, date le corte e umide giornate, molti miei amici stavano a casa e difficilmente passavamo insieme giornate fuori all'aperto.

During the short and wet days of winter, many of my friends stayed at home and hardly ever went out.

Alla fine di Marzo però tutto cambiava. Le giornate si allungavano e si facevano più calde. Il parco vicino casa si affollava di gente e soprattutto di bambini come me che non aspettavano altro che giocare a calcio. Ricordo con piacere quando, uscendo di casa con il pallone sotto braccio, camminavo, dirigendomi verso il parco, attraverso il vialetto alberato davanti a casa mia, circondato dall'intenso profumo dei peri in fiore. Soprattutto il ricordo che associo alla primavera è, quando al ritorno dal parco, tornavo verso casa, con un cielo pieno di rondini al tramonto.

At the end of March, though, everything changed. The days lengthened and became warmer. The park close to my house became increasingly crowded with people, and especially children like me, who couldn't wait to play football. I recall with pleasure the times when, on leaving my house and heading to the park with a football under my arm, I would walk along a tree-lined alleyway, surrounded by the scent of pear trees in blossom. However, the memory that I most associate with spring is when, on the way back home from the park, I would walk with a sky full of swallows at sunset.

Per me tutto questo è la primavera.
This is spring for me.    　 

primavera：spring：春
intensi：intense：強烈な
stagione：season：季節
bambino：child：こども
calcio：football：サッカー
cambiava：changed：変わった
vialetto alberato：tree-lined alleyway：並木道
rondini：swallows：ツバメ

2015年5月2日土曜日

2015年5月2日土曜日 -

Tony: Filling a bookshelf


Firstly, everyone is a collector. Everyone. That uncomfortable sensation you sometimes get before throwing away a favorite pen that has finally died? That is the little collector in you feeling stressed. Ever discover that you have socks you never wear? The little collector kept them.

I'm not an evolutionary psychologist but I would speculate that throughout the ages it has been advantageous for our ancestors to hold onto things in the environment that were useful and beneficial to their survival. Holding onto things that were of use prevented the need for spending time or energy finding them again. This must have been reinforced as we began making tools.

Now we have books. Books make the little collector in me squeal with delight, and, if I'm honest, I'll admit that my little collector isn't so little. I fully admit I like to acquire objects and experiences. The delight of books is that they are both objects and experiences. A fatal combo for someone like me.

When we give our collector free rein and do not moderate its behavior, problems can occur. Some people can get carried away hoarding things, keeping anything and everything, including garbage. 

A mature collector, who is not a hoarder, will find ways to refine his or her collection so that he or she can enjoy the objects without getting overwhelmed. Hence, the title of this blog: Filling a bookshelf. If I, or perhaps you, were to keep every book, and/or magazine, and/or newspaper that we've read, we could eventually be engulfed by them.


 If we decide to keep a certain select number of titles, we have then decided to fill a bookshelf. I am keeping the best of the best of the books I have read, and when I look at them I feel the little collector inside of me smile in much the same way, millions of years ago, that one of our shared ancestors’ little collectors smiled when our ancestor kept a useful tool for later.

Happy collecting.

evolutionary：進化的な
speculate：思索する                                                  
advantageous：都合のよい                                        
hold onto：ため込む                                     
squeal with delight：喜んでキャーキャー言う
fatal：致命的な
combo：組み合わせ
free rein：行動の完全な自由
hoarding：買いだめ                                   
engulfed：飲み込まれた

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