Berkeley Diary

Masaki YAMAOKA



Dec/14/2005  My Own Cooking


            Since I came to Berkeley without family, I have to eat out or cook for myself. At the beginning of the life here, I decided to cook for myself, because I should constrain the calorie of my own meal and considerate the balance of nutrient, because of a diabetes. As a matter of fact, I enjoy cooking every day. That is good for me to change feeling. My favorite dish is Curry Rice, Mapo-Tofu, Chow-mien, etc. And the best one is Miso Soup! It is incomparably more delicious than the instant one, which is too salty. I have tried various ingredients until now. My own ranking of the ingredients in Miso Soup is as below:

   (English)                     (Japanese)
1  Napa Cabbage            Hakusai
2  Long Onion                 Negi
3  Seaweed                    Wakame
4  Onion                         Tamanegi
5  Bean Curd                  Tofu
6  Potato                        Jagaimo
7  Cabbage                     Kyabetsu
8  Egg Plant                     Nasu
9  Mushroom                  
Shiitake
10 Small Fish                  Jako

           
By the way, I would like to pay attention to the names of vegetables, which are as indicated at the supermarkets in Berkeley. Especially, the relationship between negi (long onion) and tamanegi (onion) is very interesting. In Japanese, negi is the unmarked word, which is basic, and tamanegi is the marked word, which is derivative. On the contrary, in English, onion is the unmarked word, and long onion is the marked word. That’s why Japanese people like negi very much, but it seems to be unpopular for American people.
 

To: Soka University HP (English)
To: Department of the Japanese Language and Literature HP
To: Masaki YAMAOKA's HP: Index