My Tangent - Halloween and Okonomiyaki

Afternoon,

I’m waiting for the grubby little treat-grabbing hands! I ran out of goodies five years ago, and I was thinking of building a moat around my house and fill it with snapper turtles… and make sure that there is an oil slick on the banks to catch any stray that ventures too close. Just kidding, but I’m giving out toothpaste and dental floss this year… and a directory printout of all the dentists in Tampa Bay.

Tonight’s supper is another attempt at an Okonomiyaki… this time with an authentic Japanese griddle cake mix. My first attempt was on July 10, 2009.

The front of the package announces, word-for-word that the “Recipe included is in four language: Japanese, English, Korean, and Chinese. Sauce is not included.” Well I don’t read Japanese. I don’t read Korean or Chinese. And the only English on either side of the package are the abbreviations, I think, of the ingredients, sort of in a picture step-by-step process. I’m not a bigot, but the occurrence of 2 – cc’s; 4 – g’s; 1 – kcal; and 1 – mg does not a recipe make!

The only other English is the FDA label indicating the Ingredients and Nutrition Facts.

I did find this recipe, online, for a Hiroshima style, which is a bit different for my intended.

1. 生地：adding wheat dough, heating udon noodle up
2. キャベツ：adding shredded cabbage
3. モヤシ：adding japanese sprout
4. とろろ昆布：adding tangle flakes
5. 生イカ、エビ：adding fresh calamary, fresh shrimp,
6. 豚肉、さらに生地：adding pork, adding wheat dough again
7. turn out
8. 麺を卵に乗せる：put noodle on frying beaten egg
9. 半身を麺の上に乗せる：put all on the noodle side, his work is enough.
10. ソースを塗る：coating sauce
11. 青のりをかける：putting ao-nori
12. 完成！：finished!!

The steps were matched to a series of photographs on Flickr.

Okay, I’m trying. I read French, Spanish, Latin, English, and cryptic English, and with the recent news announcements about the opening of domain names to non-English languages, guess what I’ll be doing… enjoying Okonomiyaki.

Enjoy,

Jim