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How, with "j" as in "joy"? "N" as in "no"? When I was in North Carolina (or should I say "Noth Carolahnuh"?) at Eastern Music Festival, fellow students from the Carolinas and I suppose Georgia would ask me to "Say dahg." So I said "dawg," to their continual amusement. "He said doo-w'g!", they claimed. "No, I didn't say 'doo-w'g,' I said 'dawg.'" More laughter ensued. And this from folks who pronounced the name Ted "Tay-y'd." Not that I mind the two-syllable treatment of that name, mind you, it's just that you might think that would make them more tolerant of what they misheard as a two-syllable pronunciation of other words, but nope. They were nice kids and pretty friendly, but that routine got tiresome for me really fast. The upshot? If you're from Oregon, you can tell us that it's wrong to pronounce the state "Ahregahn," as I used to until I heard a native of that state pronounce its name, but you can't tell us it's wrong to call an orange an "ahrinj." That's just our accent. Laugh at a distance, if you must, but not when you're here as our guest. We speak English just as well as you do, it's just that you do it your way and we do it our way. Once again, proof that we English speakers are all divided by a common language... ← I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce the "J" as in "joy", unless they were just saying it that way for fun. The issue is mainly with...the rest of the word. It tends to be the wrong "N" sound and/or the use of a long "E". Other times, I hear people say "hala-PAIN-yow". I certainly didn't mean any personal insult to you when I spoke of the pronunciation of "orange", but I was simply stating something I believe to be a mispronunciation. Accent or not, it is a mispronunciation by standard American English. That is not to say that it is wrong for people to have accents, and indeed language is more complex than correct standard language entails, but it does not necessarily make it right by said standards. There are plenty of people who use colloquialisms, such as "y'all" and "ain't", but despite widespread usage of such, it is not considered correct. Accents, however, are one the reasons for a myriad of mispronunciations, which, in turn, are passed down to the next generation, and so on. The people who learn these accents (usually from childhood, however, others from exposure) often don't even think about it, considering their pronunciation correct, and, ever so simply, it is correct within their accent, but not so by standard language. Accent, of course, has no impact upon a person's understanding and command of a language, so I was by no means trying to insinuate a lack of knowledge based on any particular accent. As for laughing...... I did some of that when I lived in the northeast. I should make it clear, however, that I, unlike those you described in North Carolina, did not try to force people to say certain words in order to get a laugh. I merely went through my day, just as everyone else did, trying not to pay attention to such matters, but, on occasion, certain words really stuck out. It takes all sorts of people.

Food really is something in which I've heard people endlessly butcher words. I certainly don't claim to be a linguist, capable of pronouncing words from every language on this planet perfectly, but it's amusing to listen to people at times. -Jalapeño Yes, as common as they are in many areas of the US (although, plenty of people never use them), I hear people mispronouncing this word. -Orange Many people can pronounce this perfectly fine, but some people in the northeastern area of the US pronounce the "or" part as "ahr". Somehow, the humor I found in such never got old. -Panko I constantly hear it pronounced with a long "A", but it's really a short "A". -Canned food (well, not all of it, but rather what is probably a majority) I always hear people calling it "food". Such a silly mispronunciation! It's pronounced "garbage" or "trash"! I just really can't stand most canned food...

I, for one, have never had much luck with really cheap knives. Like someone upthread, I have to say I really don't prefer Chicago Cutlery either. I have used some of their knives (in someone else's kitchen), and to say the least, was far from impressed. I think it's better to just go out and buy a decent knife. Even a Wusthof or Henckels is better than a lot of the other cheaper knives. Anything better is likely going to reflect in price. Besides, usually, most people don't treat knives as a disposable item, like plastic-ware or paper plates. A knife should last a bit of time (although, how long depends on various factors). Most people shouldn't need to replace it for some time. Of course, everyone must go with their own personal preferences when it comes to picking a knife, and just because one person will recommend one thing doesn't necessarily mean everyone else will like it too. This also applies to the types of knives people prefer to keep around for normal use in the kitchen. For example, some people use a paring knife to peel vegetables. I, on the other hand, don't care for paring knives, unless it's for small decorative cuts (and even then, I may not use it), instead, opting to use whichever normal size knife (7-10in?) I have in hand. Why? It's just comfortable for me. Each person must decide based on what is best for them. Some people love to use a 10 inch blade, but others find it cumbersome. Some prefer a thick blade to a thin one. Others like particular shapes (for example: santoku vs. 8in. chef knife). And then there are those who are knife nuts (which, actually, isn't a bad thing at all ), and will spend more money to get exactly what they want, but that probably doesn't belong in the "cheap knife" thread.

I, in contrast, rather like wooden chopsticks, and am not usually hungry enough to resort to attempting to chew and eat my chopsticks. Haven't there been talks for some time about the disposable chopstick issue? I wonder if anything will finally come of it now...

Before I comment, bear in mind that I am not a big soda drinker. So much so that a 12-pack is a year supply of soda to me. I enjoy drinking a soda from time to time, but I really don't prefer to have such highly sweetened drinks with many meals. Sure, I'll go ahead and have a soda with the occasional fast food, but for anything higher (and better) than fast food, I prefer another type of beverage. Soda tends to have too artificial of a flavor in many situations to please my tastes with a meal.

I have a package of MSG-free dashinomoto around, surprisingly. I rarely use it though. I tend to only use it when I need such a small amount of dashi (few tablespoons?) that I don't feel like making a normal amount, and just when the taste won't be that noticable. Still, I like the idea of the mutenka type in those situations.

Today, just some simple chasoba. I had been so hungry through the day (I shouldn't have skipped meals), so when I got the chance to get home and eat, I went for chasoba! Simple and tasty!

Concerning the dark meat vs. white meat issue, at least for those of us who prefer dark meat, dark meat can be much cheaper (affordable). I say, let those who prefer white meat pay the extra cost, while we dark meat lovers can get a good deal and pay less for the better product!

Perhaps it has to do with how before many people became vegetarians, they ate meat. Some people become vegetarians based on moral grounds, so although they may drop meat from their diet, they remember what meat was like, and may even crave certain things they used to have. Those mock meat dishes may help to fill that gap, since their beliefs don't allow them to eat the real thing. I've been facinated by this style of cooking for some time. I'd like to try it someday, although I'm not a vegetarian.

Ouch! That's got to hurt!

I hope I will never again... touch my hands to my face while or directly after working with peppers. It's very rare that I make that mistake, actually, but it's certainly not pleasant. Oh! Another! I will never again stand directly over a pan while cooking with many hot peppers and pastes made of peppers. I've only done that twice before, but each time was a good lesson.

Ah...Hiroyuki already said kinpira. Well, that is one of the few things I make with only or mainly carrots, but I just like to toss them in with all sorts of things. They are really a great vegetable to put into stuffed items (fukuro-ni comes to mind at the moment), or rice dishes (from takikomi gohan, to rice pilaf dishes).

Wow! He must really like ramen! Sounds good! I should try some of it out sometime, but I really don't have enough people to help me eat it at the moment, and I really don't like living off ramen for a week.

This looks incredibly good! I've never made wontons before, so maybe it's about time I do so. Great pictorial, as usual!

Well, honestly, many Americans aren't even exposed to the idea of beans used in a dessert. If you were to walk up to nearly any non-Asian person in the US, and ask about beans being used in a dessert, they would likely have never heard of such a thing, and give a disgusted look. For many (but not all) of those that actually try it, it is just too different from what they're used to to enjoy it. Many people just have such horrendous eating habits. I have known people, much to my disgust, who will put ketchup on nearly everything, or won't even season something while they cook. Some people simply have low standards, or aren't willing to try anything new. I've known some people who are so afraid to try anything new that they would not even think of eating a roast duck. I had once roasted a couple ducks (for a social event) and found a couple people in the party who wouldn't try it, because they had never tried it before Of course, I'm not trying to generalize the entire American population. These are just some behaviors one sees at times. As for therese's question: "how many different combinations of mochi, macha, beans (red, lima, whatever), wheat cake, and chestnut can a person eat?" My answer, for me, is as many as possible! This isn't really that big of a deal though. Western sweets often tend to do the same thing, using a rather small group of ingredients or flavors over and over again. And I really wouldn't say Japanese cuisine is bland either. It has flavor. The issue is that what many Americans have is "condiment taste", in which they have to season/cover things too much with condiments to the point that the flavor of the main ingredients are overpowered, and no longer clear. I know people whose idea of eating fish is dipping it in a heavy batter with seasoned salt, deep frying it, and dipping it in a combination of strongly flavored condiments and lemon. When I see them doing that, I have to ask, "what was the point of having fish if you can't even taste the fish?" These same people will pour tons of shouyu over rice without a thought, and complain when something doesn't have enough spice, even though not everything needs a handful of hot peppers in it! ( I've had to cook for some very annoying people at times) Japanese cuisine tends to focus on the actual taste of the ingredients used, instead of covering them up.