Abra

It looks like duck breast to me too, but I can't imagine Klary being scared by that. So I'll guess pork belly, with sweetbreads coming in next. Somehow the texture doesn't look quite right to me for sweetbreads, although maybe it's cryovaced and they're compressed. And if it is sweetbreads, don't be scared - they're delicious!

Wow, nice dinner! What makes that mangorita so very green?

How about this Scallops with Shiitake in Lapsang Souchong Broth? I've had it bookmarked forever to try, and it sounds very Dennis-y as well. Have you seen the movie of The Makioka Sisters? It's really good, although I haven't read the book for comparison's sake. It's funny about the petai. With asparagus, they used to say that some people "had" the effect and some didn't. But now they've decided that some people can smell it and some can't. Those who can't smell it think they don't have it. Maybe petai is the same way.

I've made several recipes from the book so far, with mixed success, although it's a total blast to read and I wanted to try every single thing after reading the descriptions. The Lean Chocolate Sauce is beyond awesome. I made it with Peringotti cocoa and Scharffenberger chocolate, and believe me when I tell you you'll end up eating it with a spoon right out of the fridge. It's worth the price of the book just to have that recipe. I made the Tiramisu ice cream, and while the flavor was delicious, it was very soft after freezing. It has a lot of booze, and I think the alcohol content mst be too high for it to freeze well. The mocha ripple sauce that goes with it is good, but honestly, I'd stick to the Lean Chocolate. I served it as affogato, so the meltingness wasn't a big problem, but I wouldn't have been able to scoop it on a plate, even after 24 hours in the deep freeze. The roasted banana tasted divine, but froze up very hard, and even when left out of the freezer wasn't very creamy. For those that don't have the book, this is a recipe that contains only whole milk, no cream. Also, it only made 3 cups, not the quart it was supposed to make. I followed all of the recipes exactly. But David was using a different sort of freezer than the cannister one I have, and that might have made a difference. I normally trust his recipes implicitly, and so made all of these things for guests without a trial beforehand. I'll be a bit warier from now on.

Oh, a week with Klary, one of my favorite things ever! My freezer is looking like yours, since it still contains some of the scrumptious Korenwijn you brought me. Although I've been exercising great restraint to conserve it, I'll have to have a glass or two this week in solidarity. And my garden rhubarb is growing madly, too - wish I could ship some to you. Those green things are gorgeous, whatever they are.

The cosmic RG Borlotti beans. Almost too beautiful to cook. Cooked all day in the crockpot with a nice big lamb shank, an onion, and a pile of carrots added halfway through. This is a delicious and incredibly simple dish.

Wow, Rogelio, that's interesting. So you want to end up with 4x the volume water/rice after the evaporation? Do you start with about 6x? 8x?

Hiroyuki-san, this has been a wonderful blog and I hate to see it end. I want to know why no rice with umeshu, whether I can use frozen saba for the furikake, and what your son thinks about food and the universe. Thank you so much for sharing your life with us this week.

Tristar, that link's not working for me. Can you post it again? The sausages sound really interesting!

Welcome to eG, Sun, and to Bean World! I think there's no comparison between RG beans and the canned stuff, or even other dried beans. I've always loved beans, but RG has taken me to a whole new appreciation of them. Hey, try the felafel recipe FoodMan put in Recipe Gullet, made with half favas. It's really excellent.

Wow, that was a great post, with so many interesting things to ask about! Is shokuiku general nutrition instruction, or more like cooking lessons, or recipes specific to the use of certain products? And that sake museum, too cool! I have been wondering something about sake for several years now. May I ask you? I few years ago I was taught, at a restaurant, to drink chilled Otokoyama sake from a cedar box, with a pinch of salt on the corner. The server placed the box in a shallow bowl, then poured until the box was overflowing into the bowl. She told me to drink until the box was empty, then drink what remained in the bowl. I thought this was a charming ritual, and have done it at home several times since then, but I wonder about it. I like the cedar flavor, but probably it's masking some of the sake's own flavors. Same thing with the salt - that's pretty expensive sake here, and the salt seems like a funny addition (although I like it in the same way I like salt with tequila.) And the generous pouring, spilling, lifting the underneath bowl to drink, what's that all about? Oh, and more fundamentally, do Japanese women drink sake? Or did the server teach me a Japanese businessman's way of drinking? Sorry for the barrage of questions, but your pictures of that sake museum made me realize how little I know about sake.

That dinner looks like a feast to me - I'd be happy to dine at your house any day! I love the variety, and the degree to which you adhere to traditional foods, and the way your kids love them. Can you tell us what to do with kuruma fu? I see it in the store and it looks interesting, but I don't know how to use it. We have a mochitsuki here once a year, and it looks amazingly like the one you showed. Some things transplant well. That Yuzawa festival looks really fun!

Thanks so much for all the pictures of your town - it somehow looks just like mountain resort town in the West, only through a Japanese filter. Do people come there for skiing in the winter? Will you tell us more about the shop in a museum? Does its location indicate that the rice they sell is more "artisanal" than what you can buy in the regular store? Do they sell other food products as well? I'm also intrigued by the "men's flavor" onigiri which sounds really good to me, although I'm a woman. Is there a "woman's flavor" as well?

Because we love to watch them, I always plant the containers on my deck garden with every flower I can find that's known to attract bees, as well as some for hummingbirds and butterflies. Nonetheless, the number of bees visiting our deck has been declining noticably over the past three years.

I've never heard of a Japanese sausage before. Is that a traditional food, or does it reflect Western influence? I love maitake, although it's hard to find here. How did you prepare it for breakfast?

Since you were posting your umeboshi at the same moment I was writing about mine, here's how the ones I have look. Forgive me, I don't recognize even one Japanese character so I probably posted the writing upsidedown! Are these some special kind? What makes them so delicious?

In honor of your blog I made a tamagoyaki for lunch today, which we ate with some beautiful soft ume pickles. But your tamago looks like it's been fried after rolling, is that how it got so golden? I'd ask you about these specific ume, the best I've ever tasted, but there's not one word of English on the package. Maybe I'll take their picture for you.

I'm glad it worked for you, and that lemon cake looks scrumptious. Happy Birthday to you!

To those of you for whom compassion trumps self-absorption, my thanks for your benificent presence in the world. To those of you who imagine that unpleasant and potentially offensive health problems will never affect you and those you love, well, you're in for a rude awakening. You may be a perfectly charming restaurant-goer today and drooling tomorrow. Life's like that.

I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say you're adorable in that picture! I'm wondering about the tonkatsu. When we get it here it's always fried whole, but then cut up and served in slices. It looks like yours was served uncut - is that right? Then do you separate bites with chopsticks, or pick it up and nibble from the whole piece?

Hiroyuki, I think you win the prize for having the neatest fridge and freezer in any blog! What is usually in the thermos? I look forward to your blog, and send wishes for health and happiness to your family.

I made cassoulet from Toulouse tonight. Next time I'll use more garlic and maybe some thyme - I wanted more spark to the flavors. I made the duck confit, pork belly confit, and Toulouse sausages that were included in the dish. I used Tarbais beans, but next time I'll use Rancho Gordo - I honestly didn't think the $25 a kilo Tarbais were truly exceptional.

I am such a copycat! As a starter I served the Asparagus with Morels, which was a lovely spring dish.

That's a beautiful ham, Derek! Jmolinari, if you perfect a larger plate for the KA, please make several - I know I'd gladly buy one from you, and I'm guessing I'm not the only one. Today I'm making Toulouse sausage for cassoulet, and I think I'll also make a Thai sausage that's notable for hanging, uncured, at room temp for two days to get "sour." It's a bit scary, but supposed to be delicious.

I do as ryangary describes, more or less. I save up rinds, then simmer them in a good broth. I simmer for 2-3 hours, though, and get a fabulous flavor from the rinds. And even after all that simmering the rinds themselves still taste pretty good - my dog goes nuts for them. A broth made that way is wonderful for tortellini in brodo as well as risotto.