Monday May 28, 2012

ngeorge's past comments

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    ngeorge

    correction please; Chiba prefecture is EAST of Tokyo.

    Posted in: Radiation discovery fans food fears in Japan

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    ngeorge

    John Constantine, Rorschach, Alf Tupper, The Drunken Bakers, Miracle Man (by Moore and Gaiman).

    Posted in: Who are (or were) some of your favorite comic book characters?

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    ngeorge

    Most Tokyu stores and a few Ozeki stores (amongst others), have fresh dill. Best to shop for it in the morning as they sell out quite often by later in the day. Prices vary but usually around 190 yen or so for a pack of more dill than you are likely to need.

    Posted in: Traditional Finnish soup

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    ngeorge

    i say so what........... because on the plus side Japanese schools don't require metal detectors at the gates, nobody sells crack in the toilets or behind the bike sheds, you won't find graffiti, there won't been any heroin sharps in the yard or in the park, and there are very few teenage pregnancies. i have a son in his final year at elementary school in Japan, for me the pros outweigh the cons all round compared to the UK (I have a brother who is a high school vice principal in the UK so in am current on the situation in British schools). Change would help, but a lot of the teachers are old dogs (like anywhere), and they don't take easily to new tricks of course.

    Posted in: Japan fattens textbooks to reverse sliding rank

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    ngeorge

    acupuncture works to stop smoking, very effective (personal experience), but it seems easy to lapse back if pretty much all of your friends are smokers.

    Posted in: What do you think of alternative health care methods such as homeopathy, indigenous medicine, acupuncture, mind-body medicine and so on?

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    ngeorge

    Star Wars. Sucked the biggy.

    Posted in: What are some of your candidates for the worst movie of all time?

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    ngeorge

    another baker! i hope Amos can make a go of it here, obviously a man passionate about his product. This is a tough market for an outsider to crack, even or especially if you have a quality product. If anyone posting here has a memory long enough, do you recall the rapid rise and demise of Cinnabon rolls in Japan? It was copied to death.

    all best to Amos.

    Posted in: The man who launched a thousand chips

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    ngeorge

    Zenny11, i had hoped our communication via mail would have stayed private, it was a serious issue to close down the bakery ten minutes before a bake order was completed. The pro oven i use is a forty capacity USA made model, which requires a transformer to connect to the Japanese grid. It always gets hot to the touch, but had never given off fumes before. It was immediately disconnected and the bakery was aired out. At the time of emailing you i didn't know what the problem was with the transformer, whether it could be fixed, or whether i could find a replacement domestically, or if i would have to airfreight one from the US, that's why i speculated on a week. It was fixed by an electrical engineer and machinist friend, and the socket was cleaned later that day, and now works fine. Sunday was a rest day, and i was attending to pending orders after this morning's shop. I have a bake on tomorrow pre-booked, and now my Wednesday has a few bake hours free, so i was about to mail you and suggest a Thursday delivery for your order. I have apologized for the inconvenience, and also offered free delivery for the rescheduled order. Back in April when i cut myself, i had to cancel the regular weekly order to a brokerage company in Toranomon. They take Friday lunch orders from me, and have been doing since the first week of April. They are a demanding customer, often ordering items i don't have on my menu like steak and ale pie which i of course will provide on demand, but they fully understood the situation as kitchens are inherently dangerous places, and were very considerate for my welfare. I would have appreciated your consideration regarding the privacy of our communication, and the situation i found myself in.

    Posted in: Bake my day

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    ngeorge

    my2sense, we do chilled takyubin with the post office, which is an excellent service (they are also the cheapest). Just mail me your order to contact@thepieguy.biz and we will go from there.

    We have used this service before for deliveries to Tochigi and Okayama city for example, so Osaka is no problem at all.

    Posted in: Bake my day

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    ngeorge

    takyubin or personal delivery, it is always COD. Post office takyubin is very convenient for us as the payment goes into our P.O account the following day.

    Posted in: Bake my day

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    ngeorge

    well, could do, but butter is rather more expensive than the lard. it is not simply a matter of demand, it is the pricing too.but...... i could give it a go, and thanks for the encouragement. as a rough guess, what per centage of vegetarians do NOT eat fish, because we have a supplier of very good trout in Tochigi.

    Posted in: Bake my day

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    ngeorge

    oh, and the vegetarian option; sorry there's no point. my pastry is made with beef lard.

    Posted in: Bake my day

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    ngeorge

    Thanks for the kind words of encouragement i have received here for my new business. As i bake to order, i can accommodate most requests if there is enough quantity, for example last Sunday i baked and delivered six steak and kidneys to a specific order, and that isn't on my regular menu. I do make apple pies to special order, i use a lemon zested pastry for that, and a bulk order of those was made on a special order for chilled takyubin delivery to Okayama city in April. They were very popular, but i don't make a habit of making apple pies. We use the post office chilled takyubin service to deliver all over Japan, they are the cheapest option, they are also excellent. I shipped four deliveries to regional and Tokyo metropolitan customers of Madeira wine trifles via this service, the trifles all arrived in perfect condition. Gastronomically most of the world eats "pies" in some form, if you regard them as simply a protein filling inside a carbohydrate case. Gyoza are pies, piroshki are pies, niikkuman too, and basically sandwiches and burgers are open "pies". The pies i make are of a type familiar to anyone from the UK and Ireland, also Australia and New Zealand. They are not the fluffy little confections you would find in a Japanese bakery, but pretty much a meal in themselves.

    All orders are taken via email for the simple reason it allows me to keep track of everything, and buy fresh produce accordingly.

    Thanks again for your kind words. cheers now,

    Best regards, Nick/The Pie Guy http://www.thepieguy.biz

    Pies! spread the word (and the mustard).

    Posted in: Bake my day

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    ngeorge

    i have had decent treatment in Japan when i have had need to visit a doctor, and my dentist is excellent. My local doctor correctly diagnosed a food allergy, which developed when i was 38 years old, and i had been eating that fruit since i was a child. Very surprised, but he was right. By contrast, i was misdiagnosed last time i visited a doctor in my country, and it almost killed me.

    Posted in: Japan slow to embrace medical tourism

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