Two days ago, my daughter told me all of a sudden that she wanted to have takoyaki. I simply dismissed her words then. Yesterday, when I checked supermarket flyers, I found that today, July 2, is Hangesho. Hangesho is the 11th day from the summer solstice, and on this particular day, it is customary to have octopus in some regions of Kansai (Western Japan). Recently, that custom has spread slowly but steadily to other parts of Japan, MAINLY DUE TO COMMERCIALISM. Anyway, it's true that we can get octopus cheap on that day, so I asked my daughter if she wanted to have takoyaki the next day. Of course, she said yes. I was still reluctant. Making takoyaki on this hot summer day! My daughter said she would make takoyaki, and my wife also said she would make it.
二日前（ふつかまえ）、娘がたこ焼きを食べたいと突然言いました。その時はその言葉をただ無視していたのですが、昨日、スーパーのチラシを見ていると、今日（7/2）が半夏生（はんげしょう）であることを知りました。半夏生とは夏至（げし）から11日目のことで、この日には、関西のある地域では、たこを食べる習慣があります。最近、この習慣は、ゆっくり、しかし確実に、主に商業主義のせいで日本の他の地域に広がってきました。ともかく、この日には、たこが安く買えることは確かです。と言うわけで、娘に翌日たこ焼きを食べたいか尋ねると、娘は食べたいと答えました。それでも私はまだ気が進みませんでした。この暑い夏の日に、たこ焼き作り！娘は自分で作ると言い、妻も作ると言いました。
So, I bought some octopus (bottom right) today, as well as some octopus karaage (top left).
と言うわけで、今日、たこ（右下）と、たこの唐揚げ（左上）を買いました。
右下にあるのはたこ焼き粉で、上の真ん中にあるのは天かす（揚げ玉）、右上のは紅生姜です。
I made all the preparations, and let my wife and daughter do the rest.
私が準備を全部して、残りは妻と娘にやらせました。
この写真を撮った後、
娘がチーズが入ったのをくれました。
チーズが入ったのはとても美味しかったそうです。
I missed to have a taste of Takoyaki. So the best was the cheesuyaki?! I would like to have one of those electronic takoyaki-pans. They seem to be perfect to make poffertjes and cake-pops too. Thinking about my wasteline maybe it is much better to not own such a pan (laugh). Thank you for the coffee roasting posts - amazing work!
ReplyDeleteTakoyaki lunch was one of the most memorable moments of my last trip to Japan. I have several photographs with it (takoyaki looks great; me much worse... due to the hot, humid September weather...).
ReplyDeleteApparently, it's not that obvious to obtain round neat balls, so congratulations! Your takoyaki looks amazing.
I promised myself I would buy a takoyaki pan this year. Thank you for the recipe!
Sorry for bothering you with something which has nothing to do with food (I have been studying kanji quite intensely lately -I am still a beginner though - and your blog is a fantastic learning source; you cannot imagine how happy I am you write in two languages! It is better than any learning book, also for general language practice). I wanted to ask why you have put this kanji in hiragana too: 二日前（ふつかまえ). Is there a different possible reading of it? (Sorry again).
ReplyDeleteKiki: I often think that takoyaki need not necessarily have octopus in them. In fact, there are variations of takoyaki that have cheese, kimchi, and other ingredients in them.
ReplyDeleteI bought that particular takoyaki-ki たこ焼き器 without much thought when my children were still small. I hate it because the top plate is NOT detachable. I would sugguest getting a "hot plate" with a variety of detachable plates including a takoyaki plate.
Thanks for your kind words about the coffee roasting posts. I think I'll combine these posts into one for ease of reading. And, you know what, I uploaded some videos to YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tp_htqVuDY
Sissi: My wife and daughter are not very good at takoyaki making. The first and second batches didn't look very tasty (small and not spherical). They finally got the knack of it with the third batch, and made almost perfect takoyaki (large, spherical, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside).
ReplyDeletePartly because my daughter still doesn't care for beni shoga, she made several versions, such as beni shoga-less ones and ones that contained no ingredients.
As for 二日前, I simply thought that someone somewhere might read it as "ninichi mae" instead of "futsuka mae". Native Japanese speakers wouldn't make such mistakes, but learners tend to make such mistakes.
A memorable mistake is 大切（たいせつ）にする, which means to take good care of. Someone misread it as おおぎりにする (to cut...large).
Hiroyuki, thank you so much for the explanation (and some new explanations too!). So you do think about us, poor Japanese learners ;-) It's so kind of you! Thank you so much! Different kanji readings kill me, but I slowly stop feeling like an illiterate person when confronted with a food package for example.
ReplyDeleteI must remember to buy the hot plate you mention (they sell it here in Japanese shops, but very expensive of course...). Then I could put a takoyaki plate and others, as you say... Great idea.
お久しぶりです。Sissiさんのところでお名前を拝見して、寄ってみました。
ReplyDeleteたこ焼き大好き！ たこ焼き器を2つもってますが、滅多に作らないです。こちらではタコは結構高いです。おいしそうですね。タコ焼き粉を使うところに意外性を感じました。
Nippon Nin: たこがなくても、チーズなど他のものでも美味しいですよ。娘は具なしのたこ焼きも作りました（笑）。
ReplyDeleteたこ焼き粉がなくてもできると思いますが、横着なもので・・・。