mona

I've never eaten umeboshi so I can't say what makes this particular brand taste special, but I can tell you that they are "usu-shio hachimitsu ume," which means "lightly-salted honey plums." And Abra, you jinxed it by saying it was upside-down!

Er I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to ask. But I'm at my wit's end. I'm (fan)subbing the latest Mago Mago Arashi episode (Kodomo no Bangohan) for a friend but I'm stuck at this one part. Ouda-kun says he wants to make aji-no-tataki but then says that he's never actually made it before. Then the voice over says of Ouda-kun, 「魚を裁いたこともないのに…」 so I was wondering what exactly does "sakana wo sabaku" mean? I'm really confused. Thanks for all your help, I hope this is the right place.

Awesome, kids are so hard to please The sauce is braun gravy. I've got a pictorial on my Blog, but I happily share it here too: main ingredients: 120 G ground beef (~1/4 pound) 1 CUP cooked short grain rice 1 X egg 1/2 TSP salt (to taste) 1/2 TSP black pepper (to taste) brown gravy ingredients: 1 CUP water 1 TBSP flour 2 TBSP ketchup 1/4 TSP salt (to taste) 1/4 TSP black pepper (to taste) cook the rice, start the Loco Moco cooking when the rice is ready, season ground beef with salt and pepper form a patty (I like flat/large patties, so a piece of tin foil is handy since the meat is shrinking by pulling together while frying, the tin foil helps to form a flat patty while giving support to it, the patty is easier to handle that way) lightly oil a pan, heat it up, add the patty when the oil is smoking fry according to personal preference, the brown bits in the pan are nothing to worry about, it's pure beef flavour and the base of the gravy park the patty in a bowl of rice, lower the heat of the patty pan, heat another pan, crack an egg into it, fry to personal preference cover the bowl with a plate (the patty will rest for a moment while getting juicy again), add flour to the patty pan and brown it a little, stir well, add pepper & ketchup & water, stir vigorously with a wire whisk until smooth, season to taste with salt when the gravy thickened place the fried egg on top of the patty and pour the hot gravy over them, enjoy The recipe is pretty basic and can be easily tweaked to personal preference. ← I just made this but added some Marmite to the gravy, it made for a quick and delicious dinner! Thanks!

Help identifying the other items I photographed would be welcome: ← I can try...the first one is "sert yee" (snow fungus in English?), the second one I see all the time but I don't remember what it is. I was going to guess shark fin but the pieces look too small. The third is just Chinese dried black mushrooms...you use them in soup or you can braise them in sauce and serve them on a bed of Chinese greens, and the fourth one I'm also not quite sure about, but it looks ike "fish maw" or "fa gao" in Cantonese (fish stomach? fish bladder?) and it's used in soup. Fish maw soup is one of my favourite Chinese soups, but only if it's of excellent quality. I like it even more than shark fin. ← Is the second one fu chuk (sp)? It's like sheets of dried tofu-ish. Things.

With the storms this year, it hasn't been a great crab season. If I can make it down to a place that sells live crabs and they have any, I'll pick one up. But the last time I tried that after a series of storms, it was a lost cause. I hate raisins. Here's how much I hate raisins. That's it for today. I was going to post about dinner, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. ← Yes! I hate raisins and sultanas too. The number of times I've had a good briyani spoiled by biting into a squishy, sweet, gelatinous sultana Because of this, I can't eat fruit cake either. Not that I want to, but yeh. Loving this blog!

I may have missed this if you explained this elsewhere; why is this so?

Ohhh I'm in love

Eh, we still have those apple pies here in Malaysia...kinda rectangular-shaped things you mean? I can never completely gauge how hot it is...it's always too hot, apparently.

What is iodized salt and why is it bad?

When making toast, I will always let it cool before slathering on the butter. This is because I like a thick, at least a quarter of an inch thick layer of the stuff, so that when bitten into, it leaves interesting toothmarks on the surface. Obviously that's not the only reason...but basically I just don't like melty butter. It's okay on waffles and stuff but not toast. I also like charred toast.

It could've been a winning concept too...especially if it were potatoes and sour cream, mmm.

Were they better than the Cheese Pretz, Kris? Those were kinda plain too...very Ritz cracker-like.

Today I went out with the sole purpose of getting Matcha Mousse pocky. Me and the best friend didn't expect to find it, because up until now, the only Mousse pockys available were the Chocolate and Royal Milk Tea variants. Surprisingly, they did have the Matcha Mousse pocky (as well as the adzuki one) but even more surprisingly, it was twice the price of normal pocky!!! Why is this so? Is this the same in the States and in Japan? It can't be a promotional price since if it were, it would be cheaper. I am baffled.

I've had some and I didn't like it. Very artificial in flavour, and there was some other funky aftertaste. I agree with you on white chocolate-based Pocky--though for me pretty much any white-chocolate based anything is bad. The exceptions would be Matcha Mousse Pocky and Cafe Latte KitKat. Those rock! Oh, and original Clodhoppers--much better than the chocolate ones. ← I was wondering about the kabocha Kabaya especially since the box seemed especially large compared to the Pockys and Pretz. I guess I won't give it a go then; I don't really like pumpkin anyway. Thanks for your input! Reverse Pocky and Pocky G are must-tries right? I can't find Reverse Pocky here and the only Pocky G they have is the Berry one. As for the Mousse variant; only the chocolate and royal milk tea ones are available. I have been longing for the Matcha one since I first heard helen jp (I think it was Helen) mention it. But I find green tea unbelievably bitter. We'll have to wait and see then.

Has anyone tried the Lemon Cheesecake Kabaya? I'm extremely wary of any of the white Pocky and Pocky-like sticks, since white chocolate makes me nauseous for some reason. Also, I tried the Royal Milk Tea Mousse Pocky several weeks back but unfortunately for me it was like eating perfume. I'm trying to branch out from just the Decorer and Mild Chocolate Mousse ones. Is the kabocha Kabaya any good?

Anata watashi wa no Pocky! Or something.

Java the Hut.

Chicken soup with whole chicken or at least chicken parts in it, not consomme or stock (like Teresa's, my local Polish diner makes). Flanken soup with dill, parsnips, beans, pepper, etc. Split pea soup. Pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs. Lion's head soup. Roast beef. Roast chicken. Pot roast. Apple pie. Homemade chocolate pudding. Matzo ball or chicken noodle soup. Livers and onions pan-fried with sherry or marsala. Chicken or veal marsala. My father's special omelettes (frittate, really). Osso buco. Swedish lamb with coffee, milk (cream), pepper, and pureed carrots and onions (from the Swedish Princess cookbook). My grandma's stuffed cabbage that uses dried fruits and ginger snaps along with chopped meat (beef) and rice. These are home food by my mother, father, and grandmother, and only a partial list. Then, there are the homey things my fictive grandmother, Mrs. Carr made, which come from the great black cooking of the South: Cornbread, peach cobbler, sweet potato pie, etc. And then there's Malaysian cooking that feels like the place that was my second home for two years of my childhood: Kangkung belacan, petai belacan, kacang panjang belacan, kacang belendir belacan (etc.), gulai ayam, gulai kambing (etc.; gulai=curry), asam dishes (=with tamarind), chili udang galah, roti canai, laksa, ulam, kueh bakar, dodol. Some of these things I remember from my childhood, like kueh bakar (roasted cakes) roasted over a real wooden stove, essentially no longer exist, but many of them do still exist. I think this thread will overlap considerably with How we ate growing up. ← I'm Malaysian but I have no idea what kacang berlendir is. Is it eaten as ulam or something?

Are there actual recipes in there and are they useful? Is Distressed Pudding in there? Is it? Huh? HUH?!! ← Er the tone I was hoping to produce was one of inquisitiveness, not annoying interrogativeness. Borders, the world's biggest bookstore has just opened here and I hope to complete my Pratchett collection come Thursday.

Are there actual recipes in there and are they useful? Is Distressed Pudding in there? Is it? Huh? HUH?!!

What's that on the far right of the first pic? That hedgehog-like thing. Hope I'm not being disrespectful. Look forward to the Malaysian food, especially the curry! Chicken, fish or other? Will this be the Mamak (Indian-Malay) curry or the Malay version?

Don't forget the cat and/or baby pics!

Yoshiki from X Japan? Depends on who you ask I guess. I am also a fan of X Japan, their ballads cd is one of my all time favorites. They moved around a lot from rock to punk to pop while Yazawa was true to his rock roots. If you are coming to Japan in the spring avoid the week called Golden Week, this runs from April 29 to May 5 and pretty much everyone in Japan is off during this time and they are all traveling. Everywhere is crowded and prices quadruple. Early to mid April is nice because it is cherry blossom season and very beautiful, but a lot of places will be crowded because of cherry blossom viewers and the kids home on spring break. For the best weather and least crowded time I would suggest mid May, after Golden Week is over. June is when the rainy season starts and that won't be much fun.... ← I was thinking of going during Golden Week actually, to pay tribute and commemorate hide's passing. But I suppose it'll have to be the week after since I don't think I can afford to go otherwise. I should've started saving since before I was born. Thank you so much for all your help!

I hope this is not too off topic Torakris, but my friend just called to tell me to start saving up since we'll be going to Japan in April next year. I've heard that April-May is peak tourist time and the flights will be up to three times higher than normal. Could you suggest the best time to visit from April to June? Thanks! I thought Yoshiki was the king of J-Rock?

Rempeyek! Don't see any ikan bilis though, this must be the other type... I usually hate peanuts but I love them in these.