Amy Nakazawa

Coming to Japan in 1996, I fell in love with the country, its food, and then one of its inhabitants. It wasn't until we got married three years later that I started cooking Japanese food, and a decade on I'm still learning. This blog chronicles my cooking attempts as well as my life in general, and I hope you enjoy it.

I get lots of comments and emails asking what camera I use. It's flattering but sometimes it makes me wonder if perhaps the writers of those comments are brand-new to the internet. Because there are many, many talented amateur photographers out there posting amazing pictures on their blogs and websites, and mine don't compare. But if you really want to know, I use a Pentax Optio 550, a Pentax Optio W30, my phone (an iPhone now, a Casio G'z One before that), and occasionally I use someone else's pictures (with their permission and with credit given). And here's a handy tip: all pictures from June 2005 link to Flickr, where you can find out exactly what camera was used.

A note about the many spelling and other mistakes in my writing: I rarely run a spell check because it always tries to correct words that it deems exotic, and it takes forever to convince it that I really do mean "miso" and not "mi so". Or "bento" and not "Benito", "daikon" and not "Dijon", "sashimi" and not "Hashim", or "udon" and not "Don". I don't know what part of the English speaking world it is that "mi so" is a more common term than "miso", but I'm guessing that the guy who created my spellcheck lives there. Maybe Benito, Hashim and Don live there too. It also oppresses my Canadianality by trying to correct "flavour" and "favourite", and is just generally not with it, as shown by its failure to understand "chipotle", "broccolini", or "macaron". So I tend to skip the spellcheck and that, combined with the fact I'm terrible at self-editing, causes my posts to be chock full o' mistakes. Some of them are quite cringe-worthy when I come across them (mi so embarrassed!), but apparently my readers are the kindest people in the world because nobody ever points out my mistakes. I wish you would though.

Please, if you spot a mistake of any kind, go ahead and comment. Let your inner Grammar Nazi out for a while. Be snarky about it, even. I won't mind.