Mar 13, 2025
Guests:
K, M, S, A, A’chan
Discussion Content:
As usual, M had bought some vegetables at the unmanned stall next door. I didn’t know the name of them (“komatsuna” in Japanese), so I just said they were a leafy vegetable.
S said he bought the peeler from Daiso I talked about last week – a western style peeler – but he said he hasn’t used it yet. However, he said it doesn’t have the little hole on it used for removing potato eyes, which is true.
We talked about peeling apples, and whether we prefer to use a knife or a peeler. I said I thought a knife was too dangerous for peeling, but K and M said they prefer to use a knife. K once cut herself using a peeler, but hasn’t with a knife.
I asked A, who runs a Japanese-style pub, how many potatoes she peels a day, but she said her mother does the cooking. I said I peel two a day, and everyone was surprised that I had potatoes every day. I said we always have a variety of vegetables in our meals every day, so not just potatoes, but also carrots and onions every day, and then broccoli, pumpkin, white-radish, leaks, etc., when available which is most days.
I said I like to have any carbohydrates – rice, potato, pasta – to be only about 30% of the meal, so when I make a tuna pasta, there is always lots of vegetables. I don’t like pasta meals where it’s 80% just the pasta, and then a little bit of sauce and vegetables. Same with pizza – I don’t like the American/Italian style pizzas you see on TV where it appears to be just the dough, with some sauce and cheese sprinkled on top. It looks too boring.
Next, M asked about the word “Whatchamacallit”, which is a made-up word meaning “What’s it called?”, and used when you can’t remember the name of something.
Since this is now hay fever season, I asked if anyone has hay fever, and A’chan said that this year she has for the first time ever in her life. She went to the clinic and got some medicine. I wondered why it would suddenly just happen – which it did for me as well 10 years ago when I came to Japan. M said she also has just recently gotten hay fever and it causes her eyelids to swell.
In Japan it’s the cedar trees and cyprus trees that cause the most problems. Common hay fever symptoms are watery eyes, a runny nose, itchy eyes, and sneezing. K said her husband sneezed so hard he fractured his ribs. I said, because a sneeze is such a powerful function, you have to prepare yourself beforehand, and support your body weight with your legs and arms in advance.
Useful phrases:
leafy vegetables
potato eyes
quarters (cut into quarters)
a blade
mashed potato (not “smashed” potato)
crispy
powered mashed potato
whatchamacallit
a clinic/the doctors
hospital
swollen
eyelid
cedar tree
cyprus tree
watery eyes
runny nose
itchy eyes
sneeze
fracture (a crack in a bone)
ribs (rib bones)