Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Shabu Shabu

I am currently いぬ (dog) sitting for a friend on the upper east side.  While I don't normally like this neighborhood all too much, it is close to one of my favorite japanese restaurants that I have been coming to with my family for years.  Therefore I am very pleased to be staying here for it is an excuse to eat there!  I haven't been for a few months, so I went last night with a friend and had a sushi/sashimi combination.  The sushi chef (who dresses up in a bunny costume if its your birthday!!) gave us whatever was the freshest of the day.  We had suzuki, hamachi, tuna, ika, mackeral, shrimp, and much more.

The restaurant is named for the dish "shabu-shabu" which is where you get a big pot of boiling water and cook thin slices of meat and vegetables in the pot at the table.  My grandfather told me it was named "shabu-shabu" after the "shabu-shabu" sound the meat makes as you move it around the water to cook it.

It is a wonderful restaurant at 70th between 2nd and 3rd, a little pricey, so maybe if your parents come in to visit and want to take you for a nice japanese meal, have them take you there;)

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Why I chose to study Japanese

I decided to study Japanese because my mother is from Japan and I spoke it as a child.  However, I grew up in New York and my family stopped using it in the house when I was still young so I do not remember how to speak it.  I love the country of Japan and whenever I visit, I always wish I spoke the language.  I am excited to improve my Japanese so I can better communicate with my family members that still live in Japan.  I am also excited to learn how to read and write in Japanese, though this is something that I have found difficult in the first couple of weeks.  No matter how slow I write, or how hard I try to be as precise as possible, the hiragana characters never turn out to look like the ones I am copying.  Hopefully this will become easier with practice!

self introduction

こんにちは、
なまえはみおです。アメリカじんです。コロンビア だいがくのがくせいです。三ねんせい です。ニューヨークからきました。にじゅはっさいです。