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kittydesade) wrote2010-09-21 12:57 pm
kittydesade) wrote2010-09-21 12:57 pm
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There's a huge paragraph now on Japanese eating habits. The salient points being (quoted): Rice is probably the most important food in Japan. ... The importance of rice can be seen in the fact that many industries use the price of rice as an index to determine the prices of other commodities. ... A traditional Japanese breakfast consists of a bowl of rice, miso soup, a raw egg with some soy sauce, seaweed, pickles (ew! I hate pickled anything.) and fish. However, due to Western influence, a growing number of Japanese eat a Western style breakfast ... The Japanese prefer not to eat sweet foods ... sweet foods are eaten as a snack after lunch. Adult males ... think it is not manly to eat sweets (?). Although many people eat breakfast at home, special breakfast meals are offered in many restaurants and cafes for commuters. They are called モーニングサービス or モーニングセット and can be Japanese- or Western-style.
At lunchtime, most Japanese businesspeople and students eat at the company or university cafeteria, or at restaurants and cafes. Some companies order o-bento (yes, they included the hiragana) for their employees and some people bring their own. Most primary schools provide lunch to the children but students at secondary schools usually bring their own bento.
Many restaurants have daily specials called 日替わりランチ that consist of soup, pickles or a salad, rice or bread, and a main dish. Other popular lunch dishes are noodles and avariety of rice dishes: curried rice, fried rice, or rice topped with beef stew, pork cutlet and eggs, or tempura.
For most people in Japan, dinner is the largest meal of the day. Dinner is about the same time as in the United States. A wide range of dishes such as tempura, sashimi, grilled fish, sukiyaki, as well as foreign dishes are cooked at home. Many local food shops offer various prepared dishes for working mothers and business people. Small, local restaurants usually deliver sushi, noodles, and Chinese dishes at no charge. The most popular foreign dishes are Chinese, Italian, and French. Korean barbecue and Indian curry dishes are also popular. With American fast food franchises like McDonald's, hamburgers, pizza, and fried chicken are gaining popularity among young people... Okay, at this point I'm going to stop because this book is almost ten years old, which means it's culturally terribly dated. It might still be true, but.
And now in the margins I have 'food expressions' and a list of words. Fun with guessing what the hell I was writing! (notes provided by
trinker)1. いただきます (phrase before the meal)lit. "will receive" (this is a blessing/thanks for all the people/things involved in getting this food to you - thanks to the cook, the growers of food, the fishermen, the fish, the rice, the sun...)
ごちそうさまでした (phrase after the meal)
lit. "it was a feast".
２．おいしい（です） (tasty!)
まあまあ（です） so-so
３． ～いかがですか (how about/how is...?)
～どうですか "How did you find it?" (sorta)
４．～おねがいします (I would like ~) lit. wish for.
５． いいえ、 けっこうです (see below)
ううん、 いい、 ありがとう iie, kekkoudesu. (no, it's enough - i.e. "no, had enough, thank you")
6. おなかがいっぱい（です） "stomach is full". (I'm full)
７．
You will find a wide variety of restaurants in Japan. Many restaurants display realistic lookin gmodels of food in the window so that the customer can see what kinds of food the restaurant serves, and at what prices, before deciding to eat at a particular place. At many moderately priced restaurants in Japan, you can seat yourself. As soon as you are seated, a waiter or waitress will often bring a steaming hot towel, called おしぼり, to wipe your hands and face. Because the service charge is included in the bill, it is customary not to tip.
If someone treats you to a meal, it is customary for you to thank the person after the meal and again also the next time you see him or her. You do not have to send a thank you note except for special occasions. If possible, return the invitation. Returning invitations and other favors plays a vital role in relationships among the Japanese.
Ow. Infodump. Now I remember why I wasn't typing those up before and have forgotten why I decided to type it up today. Maybe just to put some context to the block fo text I apparently scribbled next to that one.
18. Favorite antagonist and why!
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?
21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?
22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you've never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.
23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?
24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What's the most interesting way you've killed someone?
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
26. Let's talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!
27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.
28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!
Hey, look, I'm doing that again!
17. Favorite protagonist and why!
Oh hell. Favorite protagonist. It seriously depends on what I'm writing at the moment, because if I don't love my protagonist, chances are I'm not going to be able to finish an entire book about him or her. That said, overall, my favorite protagonst (and protagonist is definitely the right word) is Sam. My favorite protagonist who actually may end up in a work of his own someday right now? is Dale.
Dale is just one of the good guys. And yet, he's one of the good guys in so exuberant and goofy a way that it's hard to really dislike him the way you can the straight and narrow guy? (Well, he's not straight, either, but hey.) He's sweet, he's hilarious, he's smart, and he's boisterous. And he deeply loves those he loves, his family and his boyfriend. He's just awesome to write and awesome to play. He's got a little sister who adores and looks up to him, a big sister who looks after him, and a family who loves him for who he is and taught him not to be ashamed or afraid of being different. That he's just Dale, and if he just tries his best to be Dale, that's good enough.
Other favorite protagonists right now include Paige, even if she can be bitchy, Joss more than Martine, Laedecker even if he's quiet half the time and, of course, Nameless. He'd be up top but he's gone kind of quiet lately, which makes me want to kick him. Loud bastard was loud for a year and now that I'm finishing things up, he can't speak? Meh.
I have way too many writing projects going on right now and far too little brain to sort through them. One thing at a time, I guess. My word count is creeping higher, though. And I'm getting in SOME consistent editing.
... god, my brain really is scattered, and the being interrupted by phone calls is not helping. Should just put this down, or at least make a list of things to get done today, and then not worry about much of it till I get home. Augh.
Screw it, a list:
1.
2. At least 1 scene in Cassie/Murdock
//
// Short: Carrying him to the hotel, look, pictures, ooh, kissing
// Scrubbing him off and trying to hold him together, bed
// This is the kissing part, isn't it?
3. Lots of Desert
4. Edit Martine
5.
6.
