Toasted Marshmallows (Friday's English)

You know marshmallows, right? And you know toast, right?

But do you know toasted marshmallows??

I made some toasted marshmallows tonight. I went on a small trip with my family to Gatlinburg. (It sounds like a German town, doesn't it. But it's in Tennessee?!?!) It's a touristy* town (like Kamakura?? No, not like Kamakura. Well, anyway...)

Actually, we just went THROUGH Gatlinburg, to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For trout fishing, of course. They are "wild" trout -- not stocked like most places. (In English, one way we use the verb "to stock" is for raising fish at a "hatchery" and moving them to a river, where fishermen catch them -- so stocked fish are not "wild" fish, or "natural").

It was a nice trip, beautiful nature, and important time with family.

Well, hopefully I'll be writing in Japanese soon, from Japan. Until then, everybody enjoy the fall weather and go toast some marshmallows over the campfire tonight! ^_^

*: maybe #2 definition... ;-)

Haiku...

Oh! I forgot. Here's a little "cheesy" (#2 definition) haiku.

I was driving back from Trammel Fork Creek (a trout stream in the southwest of my secret location) and the moon was just rising, very low in the sky, about 3/4 full and just above the long, straight highway and a strange color because of the atmosphere... "the man in the moon" seemed to be looking down on the highway and there were almost no other cars.

orange moon
watching over
my lonely drive home

PS: don't worry, everybody. I'll write in Japanese again when I return to Japan soon (if I don't forget how to write Japanese!?!)

What I miss top 10! (Friday's English)

Here's what I miss from my home country while I live in Japan...

10) Butterfinger candy bars (well, I CAN find them in some specialty shops like International Azabu in Hiroo)

9) 60cent cans of Coke (but there aren't as many vending machines as in Japan...)

8) Mailpouch chewing tobacco (not sure why I do this, but just to carry on a tradition or something. Their advertisements used to be painted on the sides of barns and is a part of culture all its own.)

7) Zagnut candy bars (almost all I can find in Japan is Snickers and a few others. Zagnut is like a Butterfinger, but with coconut instead of chocolate on the outside. Mmmmmmm :-)

6) katydids (there are other nice evening insect sounds, but the katydid song is nice. :-)

5) Copenhagen snuff * (maybe it means I'm a redneck, but it's great for fishing, hiking and mushroom hunting. ;-) and it's carrying on Native American culture (Native Americans chewed tobacco.)

4) affordable fishing (in Japan it costs me 5000yen to fish on one river from March to September. Here, it costs me 3000yen ($25) to fish on any river in a state the size of Hokkaido for a whole year!)

3) shop keepers calling me "honey" (well, the female ones...)

2) daylight savings time (I don't like sunrise at 5am...)

1) CEREAL! (Cap'n Crunch, Lucky Charms, Trix, Cocoa Puffs and many more. And healthy cereals like Raisin Bran.)

----------------------

Things I don't miss...

- no alcohol sold on Sundays

- no alcohol sold in some counties

- all the drinks are sweetened (no unsweetened tea)

PS: about the fishing - this week so far I've caught about 9 rainbow trout and 1 nice brown trout. :-)

Friday's English (gone fishing again...)

Yes, I've gone fishing again! (Does he ever work?!?!)

But I'm fishing in a "foreign" country. The place is a secret. But I'll give a few hints: bourbon, blue grass, Daniel Boone...

Coming back into the airport in this country, I noticed a few things that gave me "reverse culture shock":

1) on the escalators, no yellow line to show the edges of steps (I miss them)
2) everybody talking (yapping) on cell phones -- "it's worse than Japan!", I thought.
3) in the airport restrooms (toilets) the doors on the stalls don't cover your feet.
4) going through the X-ray machine at airport security here, I had to take off all metal things (I expected this), but ALSO MY SHOES!?!? They don't provide carpet to walk on while your shoes go through the machine... Well, it's strange, and annoying. So my revenge is that the security people have to smell my stinky boots. HOHOHOHAHAHA! ;-)

PS: maybe I can't post in Japanese while I'm here. We'll see.

陣馬高原/可愛いおばさん

今日陣馬山へハイキ ングに行った。世田谷からKEIO線で八王子まで行って（330円）、西東京バスで陣馬高原下まで行った（700円!?!）。到着15 分前ぐらい、西東京バス員もう一人が乗った。なぜよく分からない。そのバススタンドで小さいオフィスみたいビルがあった。その側にある"ビル"、 "whit house, NTB onri"って書いてあった。;-)

陣 馬山に着いた時、うしろからカワイイ子を見て、ちょっと嬉しく成った。体と髪の毛を見て、20才の女の人と思った。そして、ベンチに座って、「こんにち はー」と言って、彼女が見て、ニコニコして、「こんにちはー」の返事。でも、もうちょっとおばさんでした。そろそろ彼女が「お先にしつれいしまーす」と 言って、ぼくは悲しく成った。

眺めを見て、休みたかったが、おいしい空気じゃなくて、先に来たサラリーマン二人のたばこの煙の香りでしたから、すぐ下り始めた。

その後、前のおばさんがバタフライ嬉しく見て、ぼくが「きれいですね」と言った。「そうですね。気持ちがいいですね」と言った。

そして、森に入って、タマゴタケばっかりだった。そのおばさんが来て、ぼくがジェスチャーして、「面白いですよ」と言った。そして、長い話した。30才の娘がいると言った。ビックリした。本当に元気なカワイイおばさんだった。

but back to reality...　世田谷に戻った時、自転車に乗った　Louis Vuitton系の女性が私にぶつかった。やっぱり田舎がいい。。。

Update

Found this baby タマゴタケ this afternoon.

Friday English and Mushrooms

I found these mushrooms at Takao. I think the red and orange ones are edible(食 用). The white ones may be deadly poisonous(毒). :-o Don't worry, I'm not going to eat any of them. But they're pretty and mysterious.

I think the red one is Amanita hemibapha (タマゴタケ). But some people say never eat an Amanita.

And I think the orange one is Boletus auripes, (コガネヤマドリ). Some bolete mushrooms are popular to eat in the west.

I don't know what the white one is, but I wonder if it is the "Destroying Angel"... (if you eat it, you will die. The name is very poetic and frightening, don't you think?)

BE CAREFUL: I say, "I THINK these are naninani...". I'm a mushroom beginner, and all of these mushrooms may be poison! So please don't try them. I'm just writing about them because they are colorful and interesting. (Last week I saw a news story about mushroom poisoning here in Japan - just do a Googleニュース search for "毒キノコ".)

Sorry for the strange angle and bad quality picture... I still don't have a good digital camera. Anybody want to donate one to me?!? ;-)

PS: here are more cute Amanita muscaria goods. (see previous post)

PPS: are these "kinoko advisors"?? People you can contact to get advice on mushrooms??

日本のウイスキー（Wild Whisky）

ハイキングとキャンピングに行く時よくコンビニでこの安いSuntoryウイスキーを買う。

まあまあおいしくて（水割りで）安いから、いいんじゃない？

ぼくはスコットランドのウイスキーが好きし、アメリカのも好きだよ（バーボンとかTennessee Whiskey）。日本でもすごくいいウイスキーがあるよ(" Soft, sensuous, peaty tones."って書いて、１０点で、９点と９¼点できた）。これが"peat"。

ところで、前commentで書いた"malt=whiskyけどmalt≠whiskey"について、スコットランドではつづりは"whisky".ほとんどアメリカのウイスキーでは"whiskey"です。でもTennesseeのウイスキーの中で、一つが"whiskey",もうひとつが"whisky"（ぜひ、"fly south"を クリックして。面白いアニメーションがあるよ）。バーボンの中で、一つがスコットランド的なつづりを使う。！？！スコットランドのウイスキーでは大麦の麦 芽が大切な成分で、バーボンではコーンが主成分ですから、"malt=whiskyけどmalt≠whiskey"と書きました。面白くない話かもしれな い。。。ごめんね。

じゃ、無頼派(Burai-Ha)に戻る。。。小僧びんは飲んだ後いいフラスコに成る。（英語では”Flask"だから、「フラスク」と思ったが、辞書に見て、ポルトガル語から｢フラスコ」だって）

Gone fishing...

wish me luck!

ベニテングタケ

Actually, it's almost Friday so I'm gonna make this the "Friday's English" post. ;-)

The scientific/Latin name is Amanita muscaria. It's a mushroom with a long history. Most people consider it a cute or beautiful mushroom. (In English, we call them all "mushrooms": "portabello mushroom", "shiitake mushroom", etc. Sometimes, they're called "toadstool" if they are poisonous.) Because it's a cute mushroom, it shows up in art and popular culture often. And in Docomo ads!

Its common name in English is "fly agaric" because you could put it in a bowl of milk and it would attract and kill flies.

But be careful! The Amanita muscaria is "poison". If you eat it, you might get sick. And you might have strange (or interesting/exciting) dreams and visions.

Yes, it's "poison", but it is eaten in Nagano prefecture here in Japan. I don't know completely, but apparently, it's cooked and then crumbled (broken into small pieces) and used as a "condiment" to add うまみ to soups and other foods. Also, it is apparently made into pickles in Nagano.

So which is it? Poison or psychedelic or うまみ?? Sometimes there is not just one easy answer. ;-)