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The Write Way 14 January 2005 Konichiwa! Greetings, We had a call from a friend last week, asking if we'd like to go out to celebrate his birthday ... Silly question. Of course, we would! The venue our Birthday Boy had chosen was the Teppanyaki room at a well-known seafood restaurant complex that stretches along the harbour front at Scarborough. It's owned by a local family who have the game all sewn up as far as seafood goes. They started a few years ago with a fishing trawler, started selling some of their catch to the locals, opened a shop and just grew like Topsy from then on. They sell takeaway fish and chips (and all the trimmings) and fresh seafood that comes straight from their trawlers still operating out of the harbour. Then they have a fish café, a flash seafood restaurant, a function room that does weddings etc., an oyster bar, a sushi bar and the Teppanyaki restaurant.
We've been to the Teppanyaki room before and always have a great time. The food is delicious, but it's the entertainment as the chefs cook in front of you that's really the highlight. They chop so fast their hands become a blur ... or maybe that was the saki ... They toss eggs at their hapless diners with gay abandon and worry not when some less nimble-fingered guests miss and the eggs splatter onto the floor ... Or maybe that was the saki, too! I won't go into all the details ... suffice to say that a good time was had by all, and when we got home, I made a bee-line for my Japanese cookbooks. I'm one of those who can't pass by the remainder tables at book stores, and second-hand book shops lure me with their siren song from 50 metres away. As a result, I have a floor-to-ceiling bookcase in the kitchen that's brimming with cook books representative of every type of cuisine from just about every country. So if I tell you that we're going through a bit of a Japanese phase in the culinary department at the moment, you won't be surprised. It's a style that fits perfectly with our post-Christmas period when we swear off rich foods, because it's based on fresh ingredients cooked quickly and simply. None of this heavy food that sends your poor little arteries into a spin and has your heart making out its will. After a couple of meals consisting of Yakitori (things grilled on sticks) and fried rice, I decided to be a tad more adventurous last night and opted for a series of courses, one of which was steamed buns with a savoury meat filling. Now this meant that I had to find my bamboo steamer, an essential little piece of kitchen equipment I'd been convinced I couldn't live without and had bought in the 80s and used, oh, about twice in the intervening years! You know what it's like when you can see the offending item as clear as day in your mind's eye, but can't find the ruddy thing anywhere? That's what happened as I searched every flippin' cupboard in our house, looking for my bamboo steamer. I know I looked in every likely place and some that were just plain silly ... Who in her right mind would store a bamboo steamer in a sewing cupboard ... or in the bathroom towel cabinet ... or in the bottom drawer of the coffee table where we put all the old videos? Not me, mate! No ... I'd finally thrown in the towel and decided to bake the buns instead of steam them, so I opened the cupboard where I store my baking paper, moved aside a box that held a serving dish I'd used about as often as my steamer and lo and behold! What's this, dear reader, smiling smugly at me? The steamer! It had been there all the time, but I'd forgotten I'd wrapped it in paper towels and stored it in a plastic bag the last time I'd used it ... Ha-ha-ha ... I'd been looking for a naked steamer and what I should have been looking for was a cunningly disguised one! What a lark! No, never mind that I'd just wasted the better part of an afternoon ... All's well. So I retrieved my buns from the baking tray, rinsed the steamer and started putting in the buns. One ... two ... th. Umm ... I had eight buns to steam but the rotten little steamer would only take two at a time! They had to cook for at least 15 minutes ... times four ... And the natives were already getting restless since I'd promised them this extravagant Japanese feast and so far I'd only made eight buns, and as everyone knows, eight steamed buns do not a feast make. So I poured another wine for my audience to divert their attention from the fact that the number of courses were reduced from five to one. It's easy to see I haven't been plying you with hard liquor ... You spotted that one, didn't you? Words such as total, majority and number can be either singular or plural ... but it's just a matter of common sense to work out whether the word is referring to a whole or to the parts of a whole. One easy way to work out if it should have a singular or a plural verb is to look at the article that precedes the word. The before the word (the total, the majority, the number) usually indicates it's singular, while a (a total, a majority, a number), especially when of comes after, usually indicates a plural. e.g. the number of courses was reduced from five to one. (Think about it and you'll see why this is logical ... it's the NUMBER that was reduced.) e.g. A majority of people were unhappy with this outcome. (They're all entertaining individual thoughts about the truncated meal.) And that little episode perfectly illustrates this maxim that Albert found: "There is no evidence that supports the notion that life is serious." Ummm ... Now, may I ask a little favour? Would you click to vote for this newsletter in the current Preditors and Editors Readers Poll? You would? Triffic! All you have to do is click the link, scroll down till you see my name (or Write101.com) and then enter your name and email address (your privacy is protected and details are not shared or sold). You'll need to confirm your vote by clicking on a link in the email you'll be sent. Thanks. We're again entered in two categories ... feel free to vote in both! Nonfiction magazine/e-zine: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/nonfictionzine.shtml Magazine/e-zine editor: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/zineeditor.shtml And Write101 is entered in this category: Writer's Resource: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/writerinfo.shtml Important: Once you've voted in a category, any future votes over-ride previous ones ... so you can't vote for more than one entrant in each category. This week's quiz: All these words have been borrowed from our Japanese friends over the years: origami, soy, bonsai, futon, karate, sushi, tsunami, kimono, honcho, tycoon 1. a huge destructive wave (especially one caused by an earthquake) 2. a very wealthy or powerful businessman 3. protein-rich vegetable crop 4. a loose robe 5. rice (often with raw fish) wrapped in seaweed 6. decorative object made by folding paper; art or process, of folding paper into shapes representing flowers and birds 7. system of unarmed combat; sharp blows and kicks are given to pressure-sensitive points on the body of the opponent 8. a person who exercises control over workers 9. a dwarfed ornamental tree or shrub grown in a tray or shallow pot 10.mattress consisting of a pad of cotton batting that is used for sleeping on the floor or on a raised frame For those of you who like to keep your finger on the financial pulse of the world comes this report ... According to inside contacts, the
Japanese banking crisis shows no signs of ameliorating. If anything, it's
getting worse. Last week's quiz: Match these words with their meanings below: plaintive, effrontery, impetuous, specious, debacle, proscribe, obloquy, censure, platitude, opprobrious 1. shameful, expressing disgrace - OPPROBRIOUS 2. expression of blame or disapproval; a rebuke - CENSURE 3. ostracise, banish, outlaw - PROSCRIBE 4. a trite or banal statement; unoriginality - SPECIOUS 5. having sudden energy, impulsive, thrusting ahead, forceful - IMPETUOUS 6. abusively detractive language, sharp criticism, vituperation - OBLOQUY 7. mournful, melancholy, sorrowful - PLAINTIVE 8. a break up, overthrow, sudden disaster - DEBACLE 9. boldness, impudence, arrogance - EFFRONTERY 10. illogical, of questionable truth or merit - PLATITUDE The pigeon family was flying home, but baby pigeon said, "I can't make it; I'll get too tired." His mother said, "Don't worry; I'll
tie a piece of string to one of your legs and the other end to mine." And here's a note left for a pianist from his wife Gone Chopin, (have Liszt), Bach in a Minuet.If you received this little missive from a friend, click to receive your very own copy, all bright and perky every Friday morning: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Thank you to everyone who's left a comment! Have you made your Mark on the World yet? No? Then stop by our Map of the World and read the messages. (Just click List) and add your mark: http://pub37.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=3170114826 A Little Something Extra Keeping to our Japanese theme, here's an introduction to the Haiku by Kei Grieg Toyomasu: http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/ A haiku is a Japanese lyric verse form having "three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons" (dictionary.com) and it should share a moment of awareness with the reader, so why not try your hand at writing one? Word of the week: Karaoke (n) singing popular songs accompanied by a recording of an orchestra (usually in bars or nightclubs) And since we've been looking towards the East this week, what more fitting word? If you've sat through endless, drunken renditions of "I Did It My Way," it will come as no surprise to learn the origins of this word: dictionary.com explains that its roots are "kara, void, empty + oke (sutora) orchestra." And that kara part is most enlightening, don't you think? I wonder if it applies more to the talent of the participant or the interest of the audience ... Oxymoron of the week: Karaoke winner And this week's Latin phrase is from Juvenal: Occidit miseros crambe repetita magistros. (Repeatedly reheated cabbage will kill the poor teachers.) [oh-KEE-deet mee-SAY-rohs KRAHM-bay ray-pay-TEE-tah mah-GEE-strohs] Don't ask me ... all I know is that it comes from Juvenal's Satire 7. (You can read it here ... in Latin: http://www.curculio.org/Juvenal/s07.html) Juvenal was a Roman poet who lived from 55 AD to 127 AD and took the odd swipe at Roman institutions. His satire tended to be a tad more serious than some of the more light-hearted attempts that preceded him. You may remember some of his more famous pronouncements, such as: "a healthy mind in a healthy body" "Virtue is the only and true nobility." And those fightin' words: "Nothing is more intolerable than a wealthy woman." Jennifer P.S. Want to donate to the upkeep of this newsletter? Here's how: 1. Pay by PayPal:
2. Click here to subscribe for a full year OR 3. Use your credit card on my secure order form: http://www.write101.com/fund.htm (You can also access the PayPal subscription link from this page if the link above didn't work for you. With PayPal, you can use your credit card, PayPal account or pay online using your own cheque account.) OR 4. Send a cheque (made payable to Jennifer Stewart): http://www.write101.com/fund.htm To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: mailto:WritingTips-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to the web site, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WritingTips This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode. Copyright 2004 Jennifer Stewart Individual articles copyrighted by
their authors.
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