prasantrin

Are you going to use Japanese sweet potatoes? Or do you have a mysterious source for North American-style sweet potatoes? I've not yet found a source for them, but am wary of using Japanese sweet potatoes.

I've never seen a Starbucks cinnamon straw in real life, but on their website, it looks much bready-er and more doughnut-y than what I'm thinking of. Their website claims to have a crunchy cinnamon straw, too, and I think it may be more similar, though there was no picture with which I could compare. I dropped by the bakery today, but they were closed. Pictures will have to wait till tomorrow! Unfortunately, all this talk about them has left me with a craving that will not be satisfied till one touches my tongue! Also common in Japan are things like tuna bread. It's even better when made with croissant dough, instead of bread dough. Because of its shape, it's a little more snack-like than lunch-like. It's commonly seen with potato salad, too, instead of the tuna. Oh, sausage rolls are always favourites of mine, and I never pass up a chance to eat one. Edited to add: if you go to the bread page of that site with the tuna bread, and just keep clicking on the links at the side (they're recipes for different breads), you can find a multitude of ideas for savoury breads. Although the links and recipes are all in Japanese, each recipe has title in English so you can see what they are.

As far as I know, most high schools in Japan are BYOL. Friends who worked at public high schools didn't even have cafeterias at which to eat. Private high schools, especially those which also have attached junior highs or colleges, will usually have cafeterias. But there is no lunch plan, and generally students will bring their own lunches (bento from home, or stuff from convenience stores or bakeries). I would suspect there is a relationship between the lack of school-provided lunches after junior high and the end of mandatory education.

I've never been big on holidays--I don't really care about Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. and I think that has helped regarding spending holidays away from home. It really doesn't bother me to be away from family on holidays, or to celebrate a holiday alone if none of my friends are around. I do like food, however, so whether I am alone or with friends, I still make Thanksgiving dinner (with chicken instead of turkey) complete with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, etc. etc. Last year I did a feast for 6 (I had a couple of weeks worth of leftovers--I don't know what I was thinking!), but this year I decided to do it just for myself. Plus I'm adding a ham steak for good measure!

Actually, I was going to suggest that. To start it off, you could just have him choose the vegetables for the meal, for example. Rather than have him think of what to add, start out with a list of vegetables to choose from, and within a week, for example, each vegetable on the list has to have been chosen at least once. You could do that with the whole menu--mix and match meals. Even though this healthful meal planning is being done with your son in mind, all the family member's will have to change their behaviour. Whether that means having to plan meals instead of cooking what you're in the mood for, or everyone reducing the amount of junk food they eat (whether they need to or not), there's no way to avoid it. edited my bad editing.

Cheesesticks--not made with bread dough, but with puff pastry. They're long, thin, and twisted--perfect for eating while walking. I'll see if I can get some of my favourites today, and take a picture for you. Sesame ones are good, too. I like savoury shortbread cookies, too. And knish. I forgot about knish! Not too lunchy, because they're small. I like spinach and feta...

What a great idea! And your end product looked fabulous! What size pan did you use? It looks wide, but not very deep...one of the reasons I've never made savarin at home is the lack of a good pan, though now that I've seen what you can do without one, I may just have to try it! Of course, I can get pretty good savarin from the bakery at my school, too!

Another baking related question... What are the differences between the different Japanese sugars? Regular Japanese sugar seems to have more moisture than US sugar, while what's marketed as "granulated sugar" seems to me more like US sugar, but has larger granules (I think). Which would be a better substitute for US granulated sugar? I usually just use the regular stuff, since granulated sugar is more expensive, but I'm wondering if granulated might give me a better product (for cakes, cookies, etc.). If you use the regular stuff, do you substitute 1:1 in US recipes, or use some other ratio? Do you pack it to measure it, or just measure as you would for US sugar? And there's another kind of sugar, that's similar to US light brown sugar, but it's quite a bit lighter. Is it the same thing as US light brown sugar? Or is it different in some way? Some of my friends just use it, and they say they don't notice any differences, but I'm wary... And kurozato--can I use that instead of dark brown sugar? It seems to have less moisture. Any other sugars I've missed?

Do you remember what it was that was different? Texture? Flavour? I made my first batch with butter, since I wasn't able to make it to Costco over the weekend. Making relatively small cookies, I was able to get 102 cookies. Minus the two I ate, I have just about 200 more to make! I think I may just do the butter thing, rather than risk losing my reputation as a decent baker...either that or I'll just give the cookies to one grade (<150 students) rather than both the grades I teach. And eat the leftovers myself!

Years ago, I had an extended stay at a friend's house in Kyoto. My first dinner with the family, my friend took out a pile of unused (still in their bags) chopsticks, from which I chose my favourite pair. Those chopsticks became my chopsticks for my entire stay with them, and when I go back to visit, they're still my chopsticks. I also had my own tray (at dinner, each person had a cute tray on which their meal was placed). The only place I have seen reusable chopsticks is at my school's shakokan (aka shokudo). We have plastic chopsticks, which get washed and reused, and also waribashi. Most people seem to use the plastic ones--a nod to the environment, perhaps?

I've never had processed fish of any kind in shabu shabu. I've only had it with thinly sliced beef and tofu for the protein. There might have been some chicken, too, but it's been a long time so the memory is a blur.

What you give really depends on where you live--not just the city, but the area in which the food bank is. If you're contributing to a food bank targeted at incomed families going through rough times, they might appreciate things like olives, good mustard and canned shrimp, but for the average food bank recipient, those things aren't going to be appreciated. (Anecdote--my mother used to work with disadvantaged youth. She offered one young man some cheese. He took some, she said, "It's old cheddar" and he spat it out and threw the rest in the trash. "Why would I want to eat old cheese?" he asked, offended that she would give him such a thing. Point being, the majority of food bank users aren't people who appreciate fine foods.) In my city in Canada, most of the food banks are used by families also on welfare. Generally, these families are lifetime welfare recipients (from infancy to old age, and their children repeat the cycle). They don't know how to create three healthful meals a day, and many of them have probably never had three healthful meals a day. Things like canned green beans are usually wasted, and canned salmon is not appreciated, either (I'm from the prairies--seafood aside from tuna is not well-appreciated). They want things like boxed macaroni and cheese, baked beans, soups, etc. Cereal is a key item, but think about milk in tetra-paks to go along with it. A lot of families can't afford (or just don't buy) the milk. Baby food and formula, diapers, sundry items like toothpaste, shampoo, and soap are often in low supply, but high demand. But really, money is the best donation a food bank can get. They know best what their users need, and they can often get more for their money than the average giver. But if you're giving food, think about giving food that will actually be eaten. Better to give not-so-healthful food people will eat, than to give "exotic" foods that will only be wasted.

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for! You're my favourite Steven Blaski in the world!

One day, I really must visit Philadelphia, with the sole intent of eating at Studio Kitchen. But here's a question about reservations. Let's say I'm a party of one (maybe two), and I'm desperate to eat there. If I were to make reservations for a party of 8 (or 10), and do an ISO post just a week before the reservation (and of my arriving in PA), what are the chances that I could fill the rest of the table with e-Gulleters? That's pretty much the only way I could get there, and I don't imagine I could get that many people to visit PA, just to eat at SK.

Living in Japan, I find it difficult to use recipes that call for "5 medium parsnips" or "5 large apples" or "1 squash". What's medium in Japan is not necessarily medium elsewhere, so I often find that when I use what I think is the right size, I get either much more or much less than I should have. Does anyone know of a chart that gives average weights for produce? For example, it's easy to find that in the US, a large egg is about 52 grams (that's a medium egg in Japan, by the way). How about a medium carrot? Also helpful, is a chart that says, for example, 1 medium apple, grated=1 cup. I'm sure it must exist out there, but my googling skills seem to be failing me in this area.

A tiny bit cheaper, for the same Chicago Metallic pan, at Golda's Kitchen. I'm not affiliated with the site in any way, nor have I ever purchased anything from there, but I like to browse now and again. Edited to add: the price of the pan is cheaper, but shipping is not! So it works out to about the same, in the end.

I might be too late on this, but I made a savoury vegetable crisp once that was a huge hit. It's richer than just a pile of vegetables, and the topping adds a nice bit of textural contrast. With really good parmesan, it's divine. I love this blog, too, especially all the food pictures--you make me want to move out there so I can hire you as a personal chef! Riley looks like such a gentle dog--what a sweetie! I must admit my bias, though. I could use a few more cat pictures. I can't believe Perkiins (Perkins?) didn't get any skate! You must have a resolve of steel--I'd have given in as soon as he sat down!

Back to the original topic, I love chicken and salted fish fried rice. Except I prefer the salted fish to stand out (it's the star of the dish, in my opinion), so I like smaller chicken chunks. In fact, I like them so small, that when I make it myself, I just leave them out. I still have some of the salted fish my mother and I bought in Thailand last year. We soaked, dusted with cornstarch, fried it, then froze it to be used when desired, as per the shop lady's instructions. I kept the fish-frying oil for a good 6 months, and made other types of fried rice with it, or even just scrambled eggs. It added salted fish flavour without using up some of my precious salted fish....

I had half a toasted bagel with scrambled eggs. Then for dessert, I used the other half of the bagel and spread half with butter and peach mango jam, and the other with just butter. I was thinking the dessert bagel tasted a bit weird, and then I realized that I only had onion bagels...Oops...But it was still good!

I need to make about 300 shortbread cookies in the next two weeks. Given the exorbitant price of butter here (which, actually, is not that much more than it is in Canada right now), I was looking for alternative. While I know butter is better, especially for shortbread, I'm willing to sacrifice on flavour for price (the cookies are for my teenaged students, and I don't think they'll really notice the difference). I was at Costco and found "Hotel Margarine", sold in a tub. It was only about Y400 for 1 kg of the stuff. Then I found a pack of three-200g boxes of "Cake Margarine", which was about Y400 for 600g. Has anyone used either of the two for baking cookies? I was thinking the Cake Margarine might be OK, since you can use it in cakes. But I think I read on the box (my reading isn't so good) that it's whipped. Wouldn't whipped butter be bad for baking? And in Canada, one can use most block-style margarines in baking with slight differences in texture. But the Hotel Margarine wasn't in a block, but in a tub, which makes me think the water content might be too high (there were no percentages of anything on the tub). Any suggestions? I really should have started this a week or two ago, when it was still warm. It's gotten so cold, that my butter stays hard, even at room temperature. Oh well, that's just part of the fun of living in Japan!

Last night I had a Broadway Strawberry Cake from Gramercy New York (a bakery in Japan--I don't know if there's actually a bakery of that name in NYC). Tonight, I'm going to have an apple tart, also from Gramercy New York. The cake of the strawberry one was good, but I wasn't crazy about the cream (tasted somewhat edible-oil based, to me, though I'm quite certain they only use fresh cream at this place). The strawberries were also quite tart, though the blueberry was sweet. The apple one, however, is absolutely to die for!

I know this doesn't compare to what many of y'all are cooking up, but tonight I had a craving for pancakes and sausage. The sausages are an American brand licensed by a Japanese company--I can't remember the name, but they're the closest to American breakfast sausages at about 50% of the price! (less than Y300 per box of 8, while frozen Johnsonville sausages are about Y900 for 16). And that's cheese melted into my pancake--white cheddar, though it got nicely orange after crisping up a bit. Those knife holes are so the melted butter and maple syrup ooze all the way through the pancake. Sorry for the link--pictures from my camera can't be downloaded to my computer right now (can't figure out why) so I could only get them onto webshots.

Oh my lord, that looks good! I've been eating Toblerone as long as I've been eating chocolate (it was pretty much the only chocolate I remember eating as a kid), and I never thought to try it like that. Have you tried it with other salts, or is Hawaiian Pink Sea Salt the best? That's a regular Toblerone from the cream-coloured box? Or gold or black?

Are you looking specifically for Japanese sweets, or any kind of sweets/pastry found in Japan? If the later, I find Japanese chiffon cakes far surpass US-style chiffon cakes in terms of texture. Light and fluffy, that's how I like them. You can get them in any depachika by the slice. Of French-style cakes, I like the ones by Henri Charpentier and also by Gramercy New York--in Osaka both can be found in the depachika of Hankyu Department Store in Umeda. I have pics of a couple that I planned to post to the dessert thread. Beautiful and delicious to boot! Also, I quite like Comme ca du/de? Mode Cafe's fruit tarts. They have huge slices, and use fresh fruit. Thus, many of their tarts are seasonal (fig, mango, nashi, for example). There's one right between JR Osaka and Hankyu Umeda Stations in the same building as Yodobashi Camera (if you need company, I'd be happy to join you!). As for Japanese sweets, I much prefer nama-yatsuhashi over the baked kind (which to me, is sort of like eating hard paste). Ichigo daifuku is sublime, especially if you can get some from the Nagasaki-area. In Kyoto, there are quite a few traditional Japanese sweets shops--there's one in Gion, right on Shijo-dori where you can get matcha and wagashi. I really like rakugan--a sort of candy, often served with matcha--made from a special kind of sugar, it melts in your mouth. And I like suhama--made from kinako, I think, it's a chewy candy-like thing. In the basement of the Takashimaya Dept. store in Kyoto, there's a shop that specializes in them. I can't think of anymore off-hand. I had a manju today, of which the cakey-outer part was made with some mochiko, I think, because it was a bit chewy in texture. Also from Kyoto...(i.e. go to Kyoto for all the best Japanese-style sweets).

I made my chili last week. As mentioned, it was slightly more watery due to the lack of tomato puree, and the addition of the diced tomato liquid. Oops. It was still very delicious--the meat was oh-so-tender and flavourful. As mentioned, the sage added a not-so-chili-like flavour. I didn't have any cayenne, either. So I was going to add some hot paprika, but ended up with crushed chile flakes, instead. I didn't have masa harina to add to help thicken it, so I just let it simmer for a longer period of time. It worked, but it didn't do much to help amalgamate some of the grease floating on top, so I decided to skim some off. Not all of it, mind you, as I'm a firm believer that fat tastes good! So I took off just under 1/3 cup, and left another 1/3 cup on the chili, and just mixed it in when it came to eating it. Even with just half a recipe, this made much too much for me, so I have some handy dandy ziploc containers full of chili in my freezer, ready for my next craving! Thanks for all the help! Does anyone know a good use for skimmed off chili fat? I saved it, just in case I could do something yummy with it!