prasantrin

Suuuuuurrrrreee...use the kids as an excuse go see the candy store! So you got to make the candy, not just watch? Was it only because you (the adults) were experienced candy makers, or can anyone, adult or child, participate? I've always wanted to make lollipops, but I'm afraid to do it by myself!

And I do hope you'll be posting pictures of that when it happens! In the name of Alex, we need more bread pictures! I hope you make your way over to the preserving topic when that time of the year comes around.

Ahem...I'll be in BKK next winter, probably, and my BKK cousins are too posh to eat at the places I want to eat at. Hint hint...

They have DTF in Japan, too, and I've been meaning to go. Are the soup dumplings called xiao long bao in Taiwan, too? They're called "shorompo" (not sure about the transliteration) in Japanese, and I'm just wondering where that came from. Maybe I'll drag Peter there when he's here! You and H. really have to come to Japan to eat. I think the two of you could do some serious damage here! And about the ice cream--there's a place in Japan that serves soft ice cream in croissant cones. I think my mother had one--she liked it, but she likes anything buttery and fattening.

Israel is on my list of countries to visit, but I want to go back to Yemen first, so Israel will probably have to wait until my passport is about to expire (can I go to Israel with a Yemeni visa in my passport?)! Does your m-i-l ever miss Yemen? I hope you'll visit some street food stalls for us. My friend's sister lived in Israel for a few years, and she and her ex set up a takoyaki stall (without the tako, of course). She said it was a lot of fun thinking of other things to use, instead! (In case you don't spend much time in the Japan forum, takoyaki are little balls of batter filled with octopus, and cooked on a special grill).

The focus of this argument is what's going on in the US, but since you bring up Europe... Since 2004 or 2005, it has been law in Japan that all posted prices must include the 5% sales tax. If you go to restaurants, every price you see will include the tax, same with grocery stores, department stores, etc. On your receipt, sometimes you'll see the tax listed separately, but on the store shelf or item tag, you'll see the price including the tax (sometimes you'll see both, but more often only the tax-added price). I like it.

Toum. I love toum. But I can't eat much garlic anymore, except for during vacations!

A friend once referred to me as the resident misanthrope during our grad school days. I denied it, but she wasn't too far from the truth. They've had internet ordering at Pizza Hut and Dominos in Japan forever, and I've always wanted to use it, but for some reason it doesn't work with my English-language OS computer. It's a shame, because I always confuse the employees with my complex orders.

I just saw mikan KitKat the other day. I didn't buy any--they only came in bags. It was regular (milk?) chocolate, as opposed to white. Has anyone tried it?

A few years ago, my mother and I were touring the little ethnic grocery stores around University Ave. (St. Paul's side, I think), and some of the Hmong grocery stores also sold food. I didn't find the food to be much different from Northern Thai or Laotian food, though (but it could just have been the dishes they were selling--I remember stuffed chicken wings, in particular). I don't remember seeing a stand-alone restaurant, though.

I agree, though I would say "who embraces what he or she loves and is good at it is sexy." If they're not good at it, they're just cute, but I love watching a man do something he's good at--whether it be cooking or fixing a clogged sink, I don't really care. When I think of cooking as a sign of affection, only occasions involving my parents come to mind. When it comes to the men in my life, although most of them could cook (and all but one was fairly good at it), something else comes to mind. And it's probably not what most people would think of.

I was thinking of Lior, but Lior does sweets more so than breads.

That was my problem with it from the outset. It's very manipulative, and I don't like being manipulated. Yes, the health care situation is a sad sad affair in the US, as is the inequity of wages. But I certainly don't need a restaurant to help me feel guilty about it. I was raised Catholic--I can feel guilty all by myself.

There are very few people with whom I can share a kitchen, but for me, it's not about being annoyed with people being underfoot or out-of-sync with my style, but it's all about control. My kitchen is pretty much the only place where I have complete control over what goes on. At work, I have very little control (any teacher that tells you they're in total control is lying), and often times, it's very draining. So I come home and cook or bake, and it makes me feel like I have at least a wee bit of power left in me.

Doddie--you still have those pears in season? I haven't seen much of them in Japan since the fall! I'm really going to miss them when I leave this place!

Hey! I initially only asked for fishnets! But if you're going to go there, you may as well go all the way. Just remember, you don't want to scare the children.

As a business owner, would you consider adding a surcharge to your prices? For example, "You will find a 5% surcharge on your receipt to help us provide our employees with health insurance." If not, why not?

Al's is definitely still there (or at least it was last summer, but I'm pretty sure it's there now, too). I love standing in line at Al's. I've met the nicest people there. I heard from friends in MSP that Safari Restaurant serves good Somali food, but I've never been there. It's been on my list for a couple of years, but I never seem to get there. http://www.safarirestaurantmn.com/

I have loved Aritsugu since I first set foot in the shop. During my first extended stay in Japan many years ago, I was much too poor to afford an Aritsugu knife (I could barely afford their maple leaf-shaped vegetable cutters), but I would go during my lunch hour and look wistfully at their knife case. Now that I'm older and I can afford a good knife, I still can't bring myself to buy one. I think sometimes lusting after something is much more fun than actually possessing it. If you do buy a knife at Aritsugu, they will engrave it with your name right before your eyes. The engraver does a remarkable job with the roman alphabet. They also have English-speaking staff at the shop, if that's important to you.

Do yourself a favor and find a massage therapist who does thereputic massage/deep tissue work. You might even consider Rolfing. There many types of massage therapy, but I'm a proponent of getting in and working deep to release tension. ← Ditto. Deep tissue is great, especially for people who have chronically tight muscles. I get shiatsu treatments, with occasional acupuncture, and they've been working as well as deep tissue did.

Where I live, bakers wear masks over their mouths, so the likelihood of a baker hacking saliva all over my baked goods is slim.

When I first arrived back in Japan in 2004, McD's was still making the filet-o-fish to order. Within the last year or two, however, I've noticed that the FoF is made the same way their burgers are made. And the buns just get heated in the microwave along with the rest of the sandwich. At least they still fry the apple pies in Japan.

One of my students gave me a box of Demel Vienne Les Langues Dorees (with an accent aigu on the first e in "Dorees"). It seems to be plain milk chocolate (though it looks more like dark chocolate). Is this the kind of thing I can use to make hot chocolate? I usually shave part of a bar of Valrhona, but I only have a bit left, and I'm dying for some hot chocolate. Can I just melt some of this stuff in milk? Actually, I don't have any milk, either, but I do have some heavy cream (which I'll probably water down a bit)!

After watching a little kid with a snotty nose fondle all the bread in the bulk section of a store, I stopped buying bulk buns, unless I see the staff putting them in the bins (i.e. unless they're fresh from the oven). Except at bakeries in Japan. I won't eat from the unstaffed tasting stations at the Costco here, though. Or at any other unstaffed tasting stations. I've seen people do too many gross things, even in Japan.

It was take-out to begin with, so it was already at their home. I'd eat it, too. Probably. Maybe.