Welcome to jagaimo.com Sign in | Join | Help

September 2005 - Posts

Yaki-onigiri no ochazuke and rustic foods

I worked on some simple tasks today and did some customer visits, and finally got some photos I can use for the matsutake gift pack on YuzuMura.com. My roommate and I had a guest for dinner, and I was in the mood to make some simple Japanese-ish dishes. Read More...
Posted Friday, September 30, 2005 11:59 PM by jason | 3 Comments
Filed under: , ,

Finally reached my yuzu guy

I finally got hold of my source for yuzu juice today. Apparently my previous communications were never received due to some changes in their corporate email systems. I was happy to find out I wasn’t being intentionally ignored. I should have called Read More...
Posted Thursday, September 29, 2005 11:41 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,

Lining up things, figuring out balance

I’m trying to juggle the various competing pressures of my work and I’ve realized my wholesale sales efforts have been inadequate of late, so I’m trying to make sure I spend a bit more time each day focusing on developing new accounts. Read More...
Posted Wednesday, September 28, 2005 11:49 PM by jason | 2 Comments
Filed under: ,

Daigaku-imo

My first experience eating daigaku-imo , literally and yet incomprehensibly translated as “university potatoes,” was not all that impressive. Seductive as they looked, they were dry, cold and unremarkable. It turned out that my less than impressive experience Read More...
Posted Tuesday, September 27, 2005 11:06 PM by jason | 2 Comments

Unwanted waistline expansion

The last few months I’ve found that my waist has been expanding… I haven’t been jogging as much as I have in the past, and I’m just in a car way too much. This afternoon, I had a relatively short list of orders to fill and I didn’t need to lug around Read More...
Posted Monday, September 26, 2005 11:20 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,

On fully admitting fall has arrived

Last week I took advantage of some nicely-priced Japanese eggplant, serving my first autumn eggplant of the year, but I wasn’t quite prepared to admit that we’re firmly into the fall season. The bizarre nature of Washington’s growing season means we’re Read More...
Posted Sunday, September 25, 2005 11:33 PM by jason | 1 Comments
Filed under: ,

Stupidly overstuffed

It’s not been my habit to overeat for the last few years… I tend to indulge in things that, if eaten in excess, are not terribly healthy, but tonight, in spite of not feeling terribly hungry, I managed to eat a little bit more than I would Read More...
Posted Saturday, September 24, 2005 11:22 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,

Somehow I managed to work relatively efficiently

This afternoon I processed all of my internet orders without too much chaos or distraction, which was a bit surprising, since I often run around a bit. I noticed today that I missed delivery of a bunch of cardboard boxes and packing materials, which probably Read More...
Posted Friday, September 23, 2005 11:41 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,

Debugging my not-so-labor-saving script, relieved by apples

I remember when I could be fascinated by solving a computer problem, and I’d happily whittle away hours and hours, usually for the gain of just a few minutes of labor from time to time. This is not so satisfying now that I am trying to build a business Read More...
Posted Thursday, September 22, 2005 11:59 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,

Aki-nasu and nagaimo-dango

I sent Hiromi these photos from tonight’s dinner and she called it “obaachan no ryouri” or grandma food. The results were nice, but not flawless.. I was experimenting with making nagaimo dango in soup, and I overruled my initial impulse of making the Read More...
Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2005 11:58 PM by jason | 1 Comments
Filed under: , ,

Preparing to offer photographic prints

A few weeks ago at Bellevue’s Aki Matsuri event, I met a photographer whose work I think I had seen at Azuma Gallery at some point, but I hadn’t ever committed his name to memory. He has done a number of shoots in Japan, producing some very nice images Read More...
Posted Tuesday, September 20, 2005 11:59 PM by jason | 2 Comments
Filed under:

Some days are just busywork

Until I shipped off today’s internet orders, I didn’t do anything particularly sociable, but after finishing most of my work I stopped at Floating Leaves and chatted a bit with Shiuwen. Tomorrow I still have some catch-up work to do… Read More...
Posted Monday, September 19, 2005 11:59 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under:

After the demos, satsumaimo

I guess I didn’t get enough sleep the last few nights… I got up later than I should have, but I needed the sleep. Today I was a little bit touchy, but managed to have enough charm to sell a moderate amount of matcha latte blend and a bit Read More...
Posted Sunday, September 18, 2005 10:20 PM by jason | 1 Comments
Filed under: ,

Matcha flan

I’m off in demoland this weekend, as usual. I can already see my Monday will be full based on incoming internet orders, but I’ll try to take care of them quickly. I was hoping to make this nice matcha flan in time for Sugar High Friday , but alas, I didn’t Read More...
Posted Saturday, September 17, 2005 9:42 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,

I had one of those unmemorable days

Today was mostly about follow-up. I ate carelessly, ran around a bit, and was on the phone a lot. I felt a need for caffeine around 3pm and indulged myself by walking from my office to Fresh Flours, even though I started the day with a latte and dosed Read More...
Posted Friday, September 16, 2005 11:58 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under:

Okonomiyaki

In spite of occasional binges cooking okonomiyaki, I don’t think I’ve ever bothered to photograph the results. I have two or three variations of vegetarian okonomiyaki that I cycle through… Later this fall, I’ll probably start Read More...
Posted Thursday, September 15, 2005 11:03 PM by jason | 1 Comments
Filed under: ,

Lentil soup, Biofournil bread, strawberry basil sorbet

I picked up a very nice loaf of naturally leavened multigrain bread from Biofournil in Belltown today and decided to make some soup for dinner. The lentil mushroom soup, with ordinary crimini mushrooms and some local chanterelles, in addition to some Read More...
Posted Wednesday, September 14, 2005 10:35 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under:

Tuesday as a weekend

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t ordinarily take weekends off, normally, and I take my rests when I can get them. Today I kept a relatively slow pace and I sent off just a few small packages today and had a little meeting in the morning. Read More...
Posted Tuesday, September 13, 2005 11:46 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under:

Shoko at Dimitrou's, and the downside of remote control

Tonight I went to a free concert at Jazz Alley featuring this year’s winner of the Kobe Jazz Fesitival’s “Jazz Queen” title, Shoko . A similar event last year featured Yoshika, and I attended with a friend who was helping me out with some promotional Read More...
Posted Monday, September 12, 2005 11:59 PM by jason | 2 Comments
Filed under:

International spam

I found my business email account is now averaging one spam message per day advertising some sort of questionable Japanese matchmaking service, and about one or two messages per week in Hebrew. Every once in a while I get spam in Chinese or Korean, though Read More...
Posted Sunday, September 11, 2005 9:18 PM by jason | 1 Comments

Sullen

The day started out rainy, which wouldn’t ordinarily be shocking in Seattle, but it made me less excited about doing all of the things that I really needed to do this morning. I went to my office to prepare some things for today’s grocery store demo, Read More...
Posted Saturday, September 10, 2005 11:23 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under:

Dizzied

My morning didn’t end up as productive as I needed it to be; I was hoping to get some more paper for gift cards for online orders in the morning, do some order packing, and handle a wholesale order that I needed to deliver. One of my errands today Read More...
Posted Friday, September 09, 2005 10:21 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,

Quinoa

Quinoa is a miraculous thing… not exactly a grain, but nothing like a bean, it has a fairly high protein content, and serves well as a vegetarian main dish. It also looks almost alive when it’s cooking, as the germ starts making its way out Read More...
Posted Thursday, September 08, 2005 10:15 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,

Slammed

The weekend internet orders that had accumulated since Friday almost spiraled out of control. It’s relatively rare for me to get a lot of internet orders over a weekend, but last week had the advantage of coinciding with a new month. Over time, Read More...
Posted Wednesday, September 07, 2005 11:55 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under:

The damage

I mentioned maybe a week or so that my car’s brakes had become a bit noisy. I got it in to have it checked out today at Meineke, not far from my office. It turned out that this problem was not just brake pads… apparently two of the pads had Read More...
Posted Tuesday, September 06, 2005 11:18 PM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under:

The Chinese Gadfly, Part 2

By posting the entirety our email exchange in a comment on my blog, The Chinese Gadfly has implicitly granted permission for open publication of our email exchanges; accordingly, I will indulge him, although I will remove the email addresses and names Read More...
Posted Monday, September 05, 2005 7:23 PM by jason | 1 Comments

The Chinese Gadfly, Part 1

I got to bed a little earlier last night, but it was only after I composed and sent a response to my latest source of irritation. Late Friday, a Chinese company sent an email to me by way of YuzuMura.com claiming that my use of the phrase “ dragon beard Read More...
Posted Sunday, September 04, 2005 10:25 PM by jason | 3 Comments

The financial pain of demo travel; last night's dinner

I do a lot of demos of my products at grocery stores where my products are carried. If I’m the broker, my client usually pays for the cost of sampling materials. But for things I import, I pay for the samples I give out. The cost of sampling is by itself Read More...
Posted Saturday, September 03, 2005 11:21 PM by jason | 1 Comments
Filed under: ,

What to do about Latvia

I am a trusting person. I don’t tend to doubt people until they give me reason to do so. But sometimes I am fairly cautious. I don’t want to assume the worst, but I also don’t want to invite disaster. A few days ago I got an unusual Read More...
Posted Friday, September 02, 2005 10:38 AM by jason | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,

Sleep is not my strong point, but I can make potatoes

I’ve really not been getting enough sleep recently… it’s impacting my work a bit. I sent off a bunch of internet orders in record time this afternoon, but I had a hard time doing everything else I had planned for the day. After shipping Read More...
Posted Thursday, September 01, 2005 11:25 PM by jason | 2 Comments
Filed under: ,