In which I make a concentrated effort not to starve

Reading Japanese can best by described as a series of educated guesses. 米 in one context means rice (uncooked); in another, it means the US.

Cooking, unfortunately, means following instructions - usually written instructions. Thankfully, improvisation works pretty well, because I've had to make some guesses just to make sure that things come out edible.

The first few days that I was here, I went pretty much exclusively for pre-packaged meals. Ramen is made much the same as in the US; boil water, add to noodles, and wait. It also didn't take much guessing to figure out coffee, which I found in little single-serving pour-over packets (I hope to post a video of them in use soon). The future of coffee is truly amazing.

Last night, I decided to try something a little more adventurous (and I'd found the local "supermarket"). It took me a while, but I finally found a packet of curry vegetables, which saved me from deciphering all the recommended ingredients from back of the package. For example, can I use one "king-size" leek in place of 3 "large" leeks? 2:3? Are they, in fact, the same thing?

The basic instructions on the back of the curry package seemed to read something like:

1. Stir together and heat up chopped vegetables
2. Stew for 20 minutes
3. Add curry blocks and continue heating until you have curry

Which is basically what I did. Turns out, it's really hard to screw up curry.

The rice cooker, on the other hand, had no such helpful instructions. There's a button for "Boiled Rice Menu", and that lights up helpful things like "White Rice/Unwashed Rice," but not an actual "Go" button. The instructions that the landlord gave me for the rice cooker basically say to push start and wait 10 minutes after the cook cycle completes. So, obviously, there was some guessing required here, too.

Aaron: 1. Confusing Japanese cooking instructions: 0.