May 26, 2024: Rice Steamer （炊飯器）

What a coincidence! The other day, our rice steamer had gotten out of order. So, my wife began to look for an alternative and picked up three possible ones. Then, she came to me to ask me which one I liked. I glanced at them but left the choice to her. I was not familiar with the steamers and had nothing to help her. So, it was a waste of time that I tried to choose one of them. Besides, it is pointless to ask me for something about food. My sense of taste is off and I am unable to enjoy different tastes. So I told my wife that I would follow her choice. I thought that none of her choices seemed to make sense to me. I was sure that none of them would make any difference from the current one. Then, my wife chose one of the three possible ones. It was a Panasonic in the middle range. Two days later, we received it, and my wife cooked rice with it. Then, surprisingly, I was aware of a difference in the taste. It was much nicer and warmer than the one cooked with the old one. It tasted so good that I could not help but tell my wife that it tasted so good and much better than before.
Then, she agreed with me and told me that it tasted much better than she expected. So, steamers became a topic of our talk for a while. The steamers are very popular in Japan with a wide range of products. The high-end products are priced at over 150,000 yen. They were too much for us to buy. But we imagined that the rice cooked with them must be extremely nice and warm. It must be beyond our imagination.
It was when we were talking a lot about steamers that I found someone who replaced her steamer as we did. It was Mosa-san, who bought one of the high-end products. It is too much of a coincidence!

　こんな偶然があるとは！先日、我が家の炊飯器が故障しました。そこで妻は、代替品を探し始め、3つの候補に絞りました。そして、どれがいいかとボクに聞きに来たのですが、ボクはちらっと見て、妻に任せました。ボクは、炊飯器に詳しくないので、妻の助けにはなりません。だから、ボクが選ぶのは時間の無駄です。それに、ボクに食べ物のことを聞いても意味がありません。ボクは、味音痴で、味覚を楽しめません。なので、妻には、任せると伝えました。妻がどれを選ぼうと、味覚音痴のボクには意味がないのです。どれを選んでも、今と大して変わらないと思ったからです。そしたら、妻は3つの候補の中から中価格帯のパナソニックのモノを選びました。2日後、それが届き、妻がご飯を炊いてくれました。すると驚いたことに、味の違いに気づいたのです。以前のもので炊いたものよりずっと美味しく、ほかほかしていました。あまりのおいしさに、思わず妻に「おいしい、前よりずっとおいしい」と伝えました。
　すると妻も「思ったよりずっとおいしい」と返してくれました。というわけで、しばらく炊飯器のことを話しました。炊飯器は日本で人気があり、種類も豊富です。高級品は15万円以上もします。ボクたちには高くて手が出ません。でも、これで炊いたご飯は、ボクたちの想像を超えるほど、美味しくてほかほかなのでしょう。
　炊飯器の話で盛り上がっていたときに、ボクたちと同じように炊飯器を買い替えた方がいました。高級品を買われたモサさんでした。偶然にしては出来過ぎです！