2009年4月16日木曜日

Home party





Jayがご招待してくれたので、何人かの日本人トレイニーとJayのお家に遊びに行ってきました。想像通り、とてもとても大きなりっぱな家でした。中に入ると、またこれが別荘のモデルルームに来たみたいでした。おうちの中を案内してもらいましたけれど、2階は、子どもたちのお部屋、寝室などがありました。お風呂ひとつが、6畳くらいの大きさです。1階は、どこまで続くかと思われる超広いリビングダイニングです。で、地下は、卓球台とかでっかいテレビとかが置いてあって、完全にアミューズメントプレイスでした。物置小屋だと言っていた1室に私、本気で住みたいと思いました。犬が2匹いて、すごくすごく可愛かったです。とても賢くおとなしい犬でした。庭には、電気の檻が張ってあるそうで、犬たちは広い広いお庭を駆け回っていました。Jayの奥さんのケティは、とってもかわいらしい人で、Jayとの馴れ初めなんかを教えてくれました。そして、とってもお料理が上手。すっごく美味しかったです。ところで、優菜ちゃんはこんなに大きくなりました!

As Mr. J invited us to his house, we, several Japanese trainees went to Mr. J’s house. As I had imagined, it was a huge house. When I went inside of his house, it was like a model rooms of a resort villa. He and his wife showed us all rooms, and there were children rooms and bed room. For example, his bath room is as the same size as the same size as a Japanese six-mat room. The first floor was sooooo big living dining room. And a basement room was very large amusement place... There was one room in the basement, and he said this was a lumber room, but I did want to stay there. There was an electrical fence which was not visible, so dogs run around the very large garden. Mr. J’s wife is Mrs. K, and she is really nice cute lady. She told me about first meeting with Mr. J. She is also a very good cook, so the dinner was really delicious.

Kenwood




DCからJayのお家にいくまでの間にケンウッドという桜の名所があるというので行ってきました。行ってみたらびっくり、DCのポトマックより美しい感じ。で、ポトマックよりは、混雑していませんでした。住宅街に突然桜並木が登場する感じで、近所の人達にはとてもよい場所と思います。その後、更にもう1か所、花見に行きましたけど、そちらは、とても空いていてよかったですけれど、名前を忘れました・・・。

There was a major cherry blossom-viewing spot on the way from DC to J’s house, so we went there. When we arrived there, we were surprised. The cherry blossoms were much more beautiful than those along the Potomac. Further, it was not so crowded as Potomac. There were some avenues lined with a lot of cherry blossoms in a residential area. I think it is a special area for neighbors who live around there, because they can see and enjoy cherry blossoms without going to other places. After that, I visited another area, and it was very nice place because there was few people. But, unfortunately, I cannot remember its name...

Cherry blossoms




さて、桜の季節です。DCの最も桜がきれいでにぎわっている場所は、ワシントンモニュメントの周りですかね・・すごい人です。土曜日に車で少し周りを見ましたら、結構キレイでした。でも、車では行かれないので、日曜日に電車で行きました。若干行くのが遅かったので、葉桜が始まってしまってましたけど。日本でも桜のまっ盛り(ブログを更新するころには終わっちゃってるかな・・)だと思いますけど。DCでは、外でお酒を飲むことが禁止されているとかで、日本人のように、ござを広げて、お弁当を食べつつ、日本酒を飲む、みたいな風景はなしです。みんなのんびり歩きながら桜を観賞している感じ。こっちの方がまっとうな気がします(笑)。

It is the cherry blossoms season. The place where everybody goes to see cherry blossom
is around the Washington Monument. There are so many people there. When I went and saw around there on last Saturday by car, it was quite beautiful. However, this time, we could not go there because of the so crowded people, I went there by train. It was a little late for enjoying cherry blossom, so some cherry blossoms had fallen and fresh green leaves were growing. It was a top season of cherry blossoms in Japan (But the season might pass away when I would update my blog...) As drinking alcohol open-air is banned in DC, there is no scene that many people spread a mat
and drink "Sake" with "Obento" like in Japan. Everybody walks slowly and enjoys seeing cherry blossoms. I feel it is more natural than Japan.

Chocolate truffles


大量のチョコレートトリフを作りました。なんと使ったチョコは2キロ以上。大きな籠に3ばい分(笑)。お世話になって皆様に感謝のチョコをくばります。ブラックのチョコレートは、カカオマスの割合が高いのを使用すれば、甘さを控えることができるのだけど、ホワイトチョコはできず・・・なので、ホワイトチョコは超甘くなってしまいました。ブランデーとかチョコレートのリキュールとかもどばどば入れたかったのだけど、お酒を飲めない人にもあげるので、そこそこにしました。甘さ控え目のチョコレートはアメリカ人に受け付けられるのか??と思っていましたけど、マギンさんの事務所に持って行ってら、ジョセフからメールが来て、mikaのハンドメイドだったら、レシピを教えてくれないかと、聞かれました!ということは、受け入れられたのかな・・・。レシピといっても、チョコに生クーリムを入れて溶かして、粗熱が取れたらお酒を入れて、冷凍庫で固まらせて、コーティングしておしまい、分量は各適当、って感じなんですけど・・・(笑)。

I cooked a lot of chocolate truffles. I used more than four pounds chocolate. The truffles are three baskets   As Jay invited me to his house, I am going to bring the truffles. And other truffles are as a token of gratitude for they working with me. Further, other truffles are for some of Japanese trainees, because they were taking care of me very much. Although I can cook black chocolate that is not too sweet, if I use dark chocolate which has high content rate of cacao, but I cannot cook white chocolate that is not too sweet. So, white chocolate truffles were so sweet…Actually, I wanted to put a lot of brandy and chocolate liquor, some people who I was going to give my handmade chocolate cannot drink alcohol, so, I put some, not a lot. I wonder if American people do not like the chocolate which is not so sweet. However, after bringing chocolate truffles to McGinn Office, Joseph sent me e-mail and asked that if the chocolate truffles were Mika’s handmade, could you tell me the recipe, because a few people asked him to ask me a recipe. It means American people like not so sweet chocolate. Actually, I don’t have an accurate recipe…I just melt some chocolate with heavy cream, remove from the heat, put some brandy and/or chocolate liquor, put it in a freezer, and make bowls, and courting with chocolate. Then, amount of chocolate, heavy cream and brandy are indeterminate…

2009年4月2日木曜日

Work?? or walk??

さて、私の発音の良さはどのくらいかというと、スターバックスでコーヒー下さいと言って通じない程、なんですけれど(笑)、work(働く)とwalk(歩く)がちゃんと発音できてません。ちなみに、スターバックスでコーヒー以外に私が何を注文すると思ってるのかしら、と自分の発音の悪さには落ち込まずに、相手のせいにしてます。で、workなんですけど、前にJayにDCに来て何が一番楽しい?と聞かれて、(法律事務所で)働いていること!って答えるわけですが、へ~、どの辺を?などという答えが返ってくるわけです。で、よくよく話すと、私歩くのが好き、って聞こえちゃってるわけです。で、昨日も、今日何してたの?って聞かれたので、家で働いてた、って答えたら、なんで?どうやって?などと聞かれて、いや仕事が終わらないから、などと答えていたわけですけど、なんか話がかみ合わないと思ったら、これまた、家で歩いていた、と聞こえちゃってたわけですねぇ。自分でも相当ヤバイと思いますけど。。。て言ってる場合ではなくて、発音直さねば・・・。

Let me explain my English pronunciation level. When I order, saying “Coffee please!” in Starbucks, they usually ask me “What do you want, ma'am?”, this is my level…I also cannot pronounce "work" and "walk" properly.. FYI, when a person in Starbucks cannot understand me, I always don’t get depressed about my pronunciation. Because I think “What should I do except ordering coffee in Starbucks?”, and “You should understand me!”
Regarding “work”, Jay asked me what was the most enjoyable thing in DC, before, then I answered “I love working (in the law firm)!”. Then he asked me again, “where do you walk? Around Sughrue??”. I thought it was strange question, so I realized he mishear my “work” for “walk”…That means I said to him “I love walking”.
Yesterday, my friend asked me “what did you do today?”, then I answered “I was working at my apartment.”, then my friend said “How did you walk here? Why?”. Then I answered “Because I didn’t finish my work yet.”. After a little while, I realized he misheard my “working” for “walking”… That means I said to my friend “I was walking at home.” I think it is too bad. I should correct my pronunciation…

DC tour





さて、DCに来て10か月くらいになりますけど、私、今だにDC観光をまともにしていません。スミソニアンも1つしか見に行っていません。それはいけない、ということで、今日DC観光に行ってきました。ご想像通り、渡辺さんが連れて行ってくれました。今日は、カイトフェスティバルとかで、モールでは、大量の凧が上がっていました。小雨の中・・・。ワシントンモニュメントに登りたかったのですけど、朝7時半に行かないと整理券がゲットできないらしく、ちょっと難しいです。ネットでも予約できますが、6月まで一杯です。ホワイトハウスの中も観覧できるみたいですが、知り合いは、2ヶ月以上前に申込してまだ待っている状態みたいです。ということで、私は入れません・・。でもいろいろ見れて楽しかったです。National Cathedraは、ステンドガラスがとってもきれいでした。

I have been here in DC for ten months, but I have not done a sightseeing in DC yet. I visited the Smithsonian museums just once. As I thought it was no good, I went to do sightseeing in DC on Saturday. As you can easily image, Watanabe-san took my friend and me there for a sightseeing in DC. Today was the Kite Festival, so there were so many kites in the sky around the Mall. Unfortunately it was misting. I wanted to go up to the top of the Washington monument, but we couldn’t see the views from the top of the Wasington monument. This is because we could not get tickets due to our failure in getting there by 7:30 am. A ticket can be got thru an internet, but all the tickets are already booked by June! And we can also see an inside of the White House, but one of my friends is waiting for more than two months. So, I could not enter the White House.
However I did very enjoy doing sightseeing in DC today. Especially, the stained glasses in National Cathedra were very beautiful.

Fan

アメリカのアパートには、換気扇がない!って思ってとても不便していました。が、最近は慣れてしまって、お料理の香り満載の中でお料理してました。で、ちょっと肉とかトーストを焼いて焦げると、火災報知機がピーピーと、ものすごい音で鳴っていました。ちなみに、火災報知機は、最初超びびってアパートに言いに行ったら、ほっとけばよい、と言われました・・・(笑)。で、換気扇ですが、ちゃんと付いてました。なんと電子レンジに換気扇のボタンが付いてるんです。そんなのわかんない、、、で、結構強力。パワーも切り替えられて、電気とかもついていて、こっちの備付の電子レンジは多機能?です。

Apartments in the US were inconvenient, I thought, because there were no fans. However, recently I have got used to it, so I usually cook in the environment where there is a lot of smell of cooking food. So, if meat gets burned a little, or a toast burns brown, a fire alarm in my apartment rings with very loud noise. FYI, when the fire alarm rang first time, I was very surprised and went downstairs and asked what I should do. A super said I should let it be...
BTW, there is a fan in my apartment! There is a button of a fan on a microwave. It is difficult to find.... The fan is powerful and I can control a power level. There is also a light to light heaters. A microwave in the US has multiple functions.