Fun With Engrish
Since malkatsheva hasn't updated her blog in a week or two, I am going to give a minicon report from last weekend.
malkatsheva Came up on Friday morning. She and I brought lunch from the awesome Thai restaurant to Shizu's house and had a good afternoon. Then we met swimtech at her office. We were early for our dinner reservations at Artisanal, so we went to a nearby shoe store. Unbeknownst to us we had walked in after it officially closed--they just had forgotten to lock the doors. However, we were obviously in the mood to buy, so one smart salesman waited on us and between the three of us we bought four pairs of shoes.
Yes, even I bought shoes. Lovely, lovely, comfortable pumps.
Dinner at Artisanal was wonderful. malkatsheva and swimtech kept talking up my knowledge of cheese to the waiter, much to my terror since I didn't want to be asked to prove that I "know everything about cheese"! (Jeebus, I almost killed malkatsheva when she said that.)
BUT! For the meal-ending cheese and fruit platter I asked for two cheeses by name: Monte Enebro and Fleur du Maquis. They didn't have any Fleur du Maquis in stock (the waiter reported that it was "out of season--it's a spring cheese" which I dn't really believe since I bought some at Murray's for New Years; maybe it's just best during the spring). The fromager was apparently impressed enough by my requests that he came out himself to serve us the cheese and tell us about them. (Yes, this is unusual!)
One of the cheeses he served us was Jasper Hill Farm's Bartlett Blue. He said, "This comes from the same producer who makes Baley Hazen Blue and Constant Bliss."
I said, "Oh, Jasper Hill Farms? I love their Winnemere, but it's almost impossible to find."
The fromager did the best double-take, broke out in a big grin, and said, "Oh, since you're familiar with this one, I'll bring you another to try." Then he talked about the rest of the cheeses he had brought. As he went off to get us one more extra-special cheese, malkatsheva said, "He was totally digging you."
Apparently so. He looked like he was about twelve, and was a slender little guy to boot, utterly adorable. malkatsheva said he was like a little pocket fromager you just want to carry around. But in any event, he seemed so happy to have a customer who knew something about cheese that I didn't want to break it to him that he just happened to to have selected a cheese from one of the two US producers I know by name.
But anyway, you probably want to know why I titled this post "Fun with Engrish."
drlaurac came up on Saturday morning. She and Rachel and I had a good time running about, and our day mostly ended in Flushing where Rachel wanted to buy some bento boxes for her kids and husband so she can control their portions. After searching vainly in several Chinese stores, I pointed out that bento is Japanese and therefore it was not surprising we didn't find any in Hong Kong Mart. I further noted that Flushing's Japanese population is close to zero, being primarily Chinese and Korean. We figured a Korean store might do, but the only one I knew of was a mile or so down the road.
We trooped back to the car, and as we were driving away, Rachel spotted what must be the last Japanese store in Flushing: Banzai 99¢ store! I pulled into a convenient bus stop and she ran in and found great little bento boxes. (The next morning we went back and she and Laura bought a couple more, including one for me.)
One of the kind we got can be seen here.
They do indeed say "Happy fruits is very delicious. I will eat this and will become fortunate all together!" complete with exclamation point. Utterly charming, right?
But here's the thing. The brand is "Puti Fresh." Am I the only one who finds that somewhat dirty, for reasons I can't quite describe? Maybe because "to poot" is synonymous with "fart" in some places.
But the really alarming bit is that the copyright--as marked right there on the box--is by "Lube Sheep."
Yes, my bento box says "Puti Fresh © Lube Sheep." I eat food out of it.
malkatsheva Came up on Friday morning. She and I brought lunch from the awesome Thai restaurant to Shizu's house and had a good afternoon. Then we met swimtech at her office. We were early for our dinner reservations at Artisanal, so we went to a nearby shoe store. Unbeknownst to us we had walked in after it officially closed--they just had forgotten to lock the doors. However, we were obviously in the mood to buy, so one smart salesman waited on us and between the three of us we bought four pairs of shoes.
Yes, even I bought shoes. Lovely, lovely, comfortable pumps.
Dinner at Artisanal was wonderful. malkatsheva and swimtech kept talking up my knowledge of cheese to the waiter, much to my terror since I didn't want to be asked to prove that I "know everything about cheese"! (Jeebus, I almost killed malkatsheva when she said that.)
BUT! For the meal-ending cheese and fruit platter I asked for two cheeses by name: Monte Enebro and Fleur du Maquis. They didn't have any Fleur du Maquis in stock (the waiter reported that it was "out of season--it's a spring cheese" which I dn't really believe since I bought some at Murray's for New Years; maybe it's just best during the spring). The fromager was apparently impressed enough by my requests that he came out himself to serve us the cheese and tell us about them. (Yes, this is unusual!)
One of the cheeses he served us was Jasper Hill Farm's Bartlett Blue. He said, "This comes from the same producer who makes Baley Hazen Blue and Constant Bliss."
I said, "Oh, Jasper Hill Farms? I love their Winnemere, but it's almost impossible to find."
The fromager did the best double-take, broke out in a big grin, and said, "Oh, since you're familiar with this one, I'll bring you another to try." Then he talked about the rest of the cheeses he had brought. As he went off to get us one more extra-special cheese, malkatsheva said, "He was totally digging you."
Apparently so. He looked like he was about twelve, and was a slender little guy to boot, utterly adorable. malkatsheva said he was like a little pocket fromager you just want to carry around. But in any event, he seemed so happy to have a customer who knew something about cheese that I didn't want to break it to him that he just happened to to have selected a cheese from one of the two US producers I know by name.
But anyway, you probably want to know why I titled this post "Fun with Engrish."
drlaurac came up on Saturday morning. She and Rachel and I had a good time running about, and our day mostly ended in Flushing where Rachel wanted to buy some bento boxes for her kids and husband so she can control their portions. After searching vainly in several Chinese stores, I pointed out that bento is Japanese and therefore it was not surprising we didn't find any in Hong Kong Mart. I further noted that Flushing's Japanese population is close to zero, being primarily Chinese and Korean. We figured a Korean store might do, but the only one I knew of was a mile or so down the road.
We trooped back to the car, and as we were driving away, Rachel spotted what must be the last Japanese store in Flushing: Banzai 99¢ store! I pulled into a convenient bus stop and she ran in and found great little bento boxes. (The next morning we went back and she and Laura bought a couple more, including one for me.)
One of the kind we got can be seen here.
They do indeed say "Happy fruits is very delicious. I will eat this and will become fortunate all together!" complete with exclamation point. Utterly charming, right?
But here's the thing. The brand is "Puti Fresh." Am I the only one who finds that somewhat dirty, for reasons I can't quite describe? Maybe because "to poot" is synonymous with "fart" in some places.
But the really alarming bit is that the copyright--as marked right there on the box--is by "Lube Sheep."
Yes, my bento box says "Puti Fresh © Lube Sheep." I eat food out of it.