Erin Nakamura

I eat once in the afternoon around 5-7 pm, go to bed as soon as it gets dark, wake up between 3 and 5 am, eat a light breakfast, go back to sleep, have coffee between 7 and 9 am, and it repeats. I also usually take a midday nap.

This is the Romanesque meal timing.

It's a natural consequence of lacking central heating.

The afternoon meal is dinner. You should eat something calorie dense to get decent sleep.

The very early meal is supper, since the convenient thing is to turn the leftovers from dinner into soup. This is also the time when the night is coldest, and you need calories to stay warm.

Then you go back to sleep or get your work done. And afterwards is coffee and a sweet for breakfast since you are breaking the fast between supper and dinner.

Lunch comes from European tea culture, where tea and light refreshments were served at noon by wealthy people. It's a status meal, not a necessity.

When industrialization and heat stoves changed nighttime calorie needs, is when supper was no longer observed as such, but became an alternative name for dinner.

I am moving into a small apartment and have a balcony.

What plants produce well in pots besides tomatoes?

And could I make a micro-aquaponics setup that won't be too heavy for the balcony?

I'm in zone 7 high desert. I also want to grow some kiwi to shade the balcony. Do they grow well in pots?

I'd like all the plants to be edible if possible. I already plan to grow basil and peppers.

I hope it's going well for you op.

I hope to have some relationships with small farmers to advance my businesses. I want to surpass the standards of quality I have tasted in imported food.

Why be good enough when you can be the best?

John Suavecito wrote:My current theory remains that it is just the adjusting of the raw char to inoculation. It seems to be filling up with liquids, nutrients and microbes. It makes sense that the powders ( ag lime, whole wheat flour, and dry crushed rotten wood mycelium) would take a bit to mix in with the liquids and the char.  I don't think there's anything harmful going on, just the process of becoming inoculated.  Sometimes I just want to ask a question, because sometimes people know what this effect is and they can comment.

John S
PDX OR

Hmmm... not sure. I haven't used a method like that before. I have put biochar in my compost-based potting soil. I soak it overnight or longer in hot sugar water, drain it once it sinks, and then throw it in my compost tumbler. I compost food scraps, egg shells, old nuka (rice bran pickling medium), grass clippings, weeds, lees from my brewing experiments, etc... I just let it get colonized by sugar hunting microbes in the compost bin.

I have never stuck with a diet.

I feel best when I have lots of colors and flavors and textures on one plate. A salad with homemade dressing, pickles, some sort of protein, a bowl of rice or noodles. One portion is always enough when it is varied. If it's plain, or all one color, then I overeat.

I suspect that self control is not so much an ability to resist things you want as it is knowing yourself well enough to avoid the situation altogether. 😉

I know a book translator, she's my friend and writing practice buddy.

She's a native Japanese, and her English is very good, though Canadian rather than American.

I can give her your contact info if you like. But she's not cheap, she's a proper translator of books. She worked closely with a native English speaker to proofread. So you probably either have to do that part yourself or pay her choice of proofreader as well.

I'm a native English speaker with N3 Japanese ability and beginners understanding of Mandarin and Spanish.

Kanji is of course the issue in Japanese... I  can read manga and newspaper entries, but it's pretty hard to get anything at a college grads level. I need books to not be too technical.

Mr Chickadee has several videos on the foundations under his house and workshops.

He uses no power tools. At all. And no concrete that I know of.

He has made pier, plinth, and stacked stone foundations.

I'm personally not a fan of bitter melon...

But the one time I found it tollerable, it was like this:

Slice the bitter melon thin, and blanch it in salty water.
Put sesame oil in a wok or similar pan and heat it until it smokes. Add fresh peas in the pod, the white parts of negi/ welsh onion cut on a bias, and the drained bitter melon. Cook on high tossing frequently until partly cooked. Add some miso stirred in water or dashi to taste, and a splash of hon-mirin (very sweet rice wine, used as a subtle sweetener, don't confuse it with aji-mirin, which is very different). When the liquid has become a sauce, then serve.

Serve with some grilled fish and white rice. (White rice is the best if it's good rice.) This is a nice simple breakfast. If you like dandelion greens, you will probably really like this.

PS:
WWURD?
What Would Uncle Roger Do?
LOL

Ohh, I envy that.

One of these days I'm going to ramen crawl like frat boys do bars...

But until then I have to be satisfied with my trips to Little Tokyo or other large cities with Japanese neighborhoods.

It can't be helped.

Tereza Okava wrote:Welcome Erin! You'll find a number of us here in urbanish locations- small gardens, but lots and lots of things packed in there. Maybe not bamboo, since that tends to take over (that's on my list for when we pack up and get slightly more land, hopefully in a bit).
Also on my list for that next house is a kotatsu, current house is on a concrete pad and that didn't work so well last time i tried it....
You'll find a lot of us have plenty to say about cooking, baking, clothes, music, art.... everything except for stuffed sharks (you might have to start a thread on that one). Look forward to seeing what you're doing!

Oh, if you want a temporary nihonheiya (Japanese room), you can make a false floor on top of an existing concrete pad.
You'd use 2x6 boards as joists, 2x8 ft osb subfloor panels or tongue and groove boards, and put the tatami on top. Tatami come in a few standard sizes including a 3 x 6 shaku and also a metric standard size.

The nominal 6 inch space could have drawers under it, or be used to run wiring for the kotatsu. You can cover the lumber with a nicer reclaimed hardwood as well.
For more privacy, its not super hard to make shoji or fusuna doors. But the simplest way is to remove the western door from the frame and install a noren. It's a split curtain. I had a really nice one with a fat sleeping cat on it. It's good for between the kitchen and dining room since it will keep the steam or smoke in the kitchen but let you walk through easily carrying food with both hands.