http://blog.alientimes.org/2009/01/the-seven-herbs-of-spring-in-rice-porridge-on-jan-7th/ A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:30:35 -0800 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 http://blog.alientimes.org/2009/01/the-seven-herbs-of-spring-in-rice-porridge-on-jan-7th/comment-page-1/#comment-27539 ginny Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:59:00 +0000 http://blog.alientimes.org/?p=2650#comment-27539 Hubble bubble boil and trouble... herbal rice porridge will never taste the same again :) (Or gruel... please, sir...!) I've had the food dictionary for years, and still find it invaluable. From a brief look on Amazon Japan, it looks like it's out of print (why oh why?) but there are second hand copies on offer there from around 1,500 yen - a bargain at the price. Hubble bubble boil and trouble… herbal rice porridge will never taste the same again :) (Or gruel… please, sir…!) I’ve had the food dictionary for years, and still find it invaluable. From a brief look on Amazon Japan, it looks like it’s out of print (why oh why?) but there are second hand copies on offer there from around 1,500 yen – a bargain at the price.

]]> http://blog.alientimes.org/2009/01/the-seven-herbs-of-spring-in-rice-porridge-on-jan-7th/comment-page-1/#comment-27538 Avi Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:09:23 +0000 http://blog.alientimes.org/?p=2650#comment-27538 Thanks Ginny ! I really appreciate your digging for the English names- and what names - wonderous and mysterious! Like the ingredients for a witches brew! A sprig of water drop , just a little cudweed and a dash of henbit! And, you are right about the word porridge- so I changed the text to read RICE PORRIDGE. Gruel reminds me of the orphanage-workhouse in Oliver Twist. Once again thanks- and where did you get that book? Thanks Ginny ! I really appreciate your digging for the English names- and what names – wonderous and mysterious! Like the ingredients for a witches brew! A sprig of water drop , just a little cudweed and a dash of henbit! And, you are right about the word porridge- so I changed the text to read RICE PORRIDGE.
Gruel reminds me of the orphanage-workhouse in Oliver Twist.
Once again thanks- and where did you get that book?

]]> http://blog.alientimes.org/2009/01/the-seven-herbs-of-spring-in-rice-porridge-on-jan-7th/comment-page-1/#comment-27537 ginny Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:51:43 +0000 http://blog.alientimes.org/?p=2650#comment-27537 Thanks for the interesting explanation Avi! For what it's worth (considering most of us will never have heard the English names for most of these plants before), according to A Dictionary of Japanese Food (by Richard Hosking, Tuttle 1996) the English terms are: gogyo=cudweed, nazuna=shepherd's purse, seri=water dropwort, suzushiro (or daikon)=white radish, suzuna (or kabu)=turnip, hotokenoza=henbit, and hakobe=chickweed. While we're about linguistic nitpicking, for Brits "porridge" sounds like something you make with oats, and we might more commonly understand "kayu" as "rice gruel" - although I have to admit this sounds pretty gruelling. Ach, sorry :) Thanks for the interesting explanation Avi! For what it’s worth (considering most of us will never have heard the English names for most of these plants before), according to A Dictionary of Japanese Food (by Richard Hosking, Tuttle 1996) the English terms are: gogyo=cudweed, nazuna=shepherd’s purse, seri=water dropwort, suzushiro (or daikon)=white radish, suzuna (or kabu)=turnip, hotokenoza=henbit, and hakobe=chickweed. While we’re about linguistic nitpicking, for Brits “porridge” sounds like something you make with oats, and we might more commonly understand “kayu” as “rice gruel” – although I have to admit this sounds pretty gruelling. Ach, sorry :)

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