I’m not sure who the first person to write a blog was, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a pastry chef in Osaka named Atsuko. Still, she is my candidate for the first person to write a food blog. She also provides an example of how research into food can go far beyond cookbooks.

Treats are very important in Japanese cooking, and Atsuko’s blog is all about treats. That makes it a good source for studying the differences between こそこ) and のみ. Both words mean “room,” but they are used differently and have different nuances. For example, if you look up こそこ on WWWJDIC, you get this:

(1) space; room; gap; interval

(2) [linguistics] phonetic space between characters of a word

(3) [linguistics] phonetic space between syllables of a word

(4) [linguistics] phonetic space between words of a sentence If you look up のみ instead, you get this:

(1) room; living room; parlor; drawing room; lounge; parlour

Like most words in Japanese, the word for “treats” can be confusing. How you use it depends on whether you’re talking about them as nouns or as verbs.

The word こそこ is used when you’re talking about treats in the sense of exceptions to a rule. For example, if someone tells you that you shouldn’t eat sweets before dinner, and then says she ate some anyway (because it was her birthday), you could say: お誕生日のごちそうは、いつものことではなした。(You always make an exception for your birthday.)

In this case, お誕生日 is an adverbial phrase, a noun phrase that modifies another noun phrase (いつものことではなした). The verb in this sentence is なさる (which means “to do something normally but occasionally not do it”).

Here are a few other examples where the word こそこ is used like this:

・日本人は毎朝食事がいつも

We use こそこ and のみ to discuss the difference between something unpleasant and something desirable.

We can’t eat at the restaurant tonight because I have a cold. We can’t go to the concert tonight because it’s sold out. There’s no hot water. There’s no time for that.

I’m hungry, so I’m going to make some sandwiches. Thanks for picking me up! I’m satisfied with my new apartment. It sounds like we’ve met our quota for today, so let’s quit now.

We’re leaving early so we can get a good seat. The boss is coming to talk about last month’s sales figures, so let’s work extra hard this month.

The kids are sick, so they can’t come to school today. My father-in-law is visiting from out of town, so let’s take him to a nice restaurant. Please don’t take that medicine, it makes you sicker than you were before! We’re moving soon, so let’s clean out all the old stuff first!

You’re going home soon? Let me give you a ride! You look happy today, what happened? You look tired today; everything okay?

This is the second installment of my “Coffee Break Japanese” series on the word こそこ).) So far we’ve learned that こそこ) can be used to convey the idea of a “freebie,” ie., when you get something you didn’t expect.

The following examples will further illustrate this point.

Example

Unfortunately, Japanese grammar is not a straightforward thing. Even native speakers are confused by its complexity. You can get away with knowing just one thing about it, but the more you learn, the more you’ll be able to do.

The two most important things to know about Japanese grammar are:

1) There’s always room for treats.

2) No matter what, there’s always room for treats.

Let me explain. In English, there are many different ways to say “I’m hungry,” such as “I’m starving” or “I could eat a horse.” The same thing applies in Japanese; the word は餓えている (literally, “be hungry and be”) can also be said as 「は飢えている」 (literally, “be hungry and be”). This is called 多用系 (tayoukei). It’s a great way to add variety and style to your writing.

It is a common misconception that Japanese has no words for “you”, but only pronouns. But the truth is, Japanese does have words for “you” (in this sense), and this is the topic I’ll be covering today!

There are two words for you in Japanese: あなた (anata) and わたし (watashi). Both are used to refer to people, but they have subtly different meanings and uses.

Thing is, people tend to use the wrong one all the time, even native speakers. It’s not a big deal – both words have been around forever and neither one is going anywhere – but it can be confusing if you don’t know what you are doing. And as someone who has been confused by this mistake for a long time, I figured it was about time I wrote about it.

You might also like: My Ranking of Japanese Food for Foreigners

Cardamom is a spice that is used in many Indian and Middle Eastern dishes. The word cardamom is derived from the Greek word, kardamomon. The most commonly available form of this spice is green cardamom. This spice has licorice-like taste with a hint of minty flavor. It can be found whole, powdered or in pods.

Tinned cardamom has a rather metallic and bitter aftertaste, making it unsuitable for use in cooking. The best way to get rid of the metallic taste is to soak the pods in warm water overnight and then dry it on paper towels in an airy place.

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Cardamom has been cultivated for thousands of years and has been used as both a culinary herb and medicine around the world. Cardamom ranks number 3 among the top 20 herbs sold worldwide for its medicinal properties.

There are two types of cardamom: black cardamon and green cardamon. Black cardamon is not widely cultivated because its seeds are stronger, so they impart a much stronger flavor to the dish than green cardamon’s seeds do. Black cardamon seeds are also harder to grind than green cardamon ones are because they are smaller. Because of these facts, black