Hiroyuki

Thanks for another intriguing travelogue! I wonder if that's really puffed rice. It looks like puffed corn to me. The Korean sake sounds interesting. Does it taste like Japanese sake?

Maitake not maitaki. Sorry for intrusion!

Thanks for posting an innovative presentation of chirashi. I've never seen chirashi presented this way (a ball of rice topped with slices of raw fish). There are basically two types of chirashi: 1) vinegared rice topped with slices of raw fish and other ingredients and 2) vinegared rice topped or mixed with small, finely cut ingredients, also called bara chirashi. And, there are a lot of variations of chirashi. Images of chirashi As you can see, slices of raw fish are not the only ingredients of chirashi. Again, I can only speak of preferred ways to eat chirashi rather than etiquette. For the former type, many people, including me, pick one slice of raw fish, dip it in the soy sauce (with wasabi mixed in*), put it in their mouth, and have a mouthful of rice. Some people prefer pouring soy sauce (with wasabi mixed in) over the fish before starting to eat. *Some people prefer putting some wasabi on top of a slice of fish and dipping the slice in soy sauce (with no wasabi in it). For the latter, soy sauce is usually not necessary because the ingredients are usually pre-seasoned. How are chopsticks to be used? Just a usual way.

1 heaped teaspoonful of hon-dashi per 600 ml, so 1/4 tsp should be enough for one cup. (Do you mean 200 ml by "a cup" or about 250 ml?)

Amount of rice: 3 go, or 450 g, or 540 ml 1 go = 180 ml = 150 g (in the case of rice) Wash rice, add the usual amount of water for 3 go of rice, add the mushrooms (discard the liquid) and the soup (some kind of broth, I guess). Good luck!

Hmm... So, what about bento? Bring cooked rice and three side dishes (one meat-centered dish and two vegetable dishes), and let the students make their own bento. Bring barley tea as well.

If your son insists on sushi, why not bring chirashi zushi?

I can't determine who that "Takahisa" (隆久) is... Maybe Koki knows who he is.

Thanks for the information. Check this link: http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/RyusenDa...ingService.html Does the kanji on THIS KNIFE mean Hattori? ← It does. The kanji are 関住唯知郎作. 関 = Seki (place name) 住 = Juu ("to live) 唯知郎 = Ichiro (first name of Ichiro Hattori) (Hattori is spelled 服部.) 作 = Saku ("created by") Thus, to the best of my knowledge, the kanji mean: Created by Ichiro, who lives in Seki

Pretty interesting. If you want to know what the kanji 梵天雲竜 mean, here is some explanation: 梵天 bonten is a god. Images of bonten 雲竜 unryu literally means dragon in cloud. Images of unryu The manufacturer, Ryusen (龍泉), means dragon fountain.

Here they are. Some come in glass bottles while others come in plastic ones.

Just disregard what the salesperson said. You can easily test for yourself to see if sake goes bad so quickly. From my experience, I think that sake can keep for two or three months and even half a year provided that it's stored in a cool, dark place.

If jrcrunch really means umeshu and Chinese rice wine (紹興酒 shokushu in Japanese) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaoxing_wine the answer is simple: NO! I've never thought of using them as a substitute for sake.

I think the dolls are meoto (married couple) bina (< hina = dolls). Images of meoto bina What to do with them? Just place them where you want them, I suppose. I don't think any food is offered to them. Finally, hina matsuri is for girls! Boy's festival is held on May 5.

I'm not sure what you mean by ume-sake and Chinese rice wine, but in Japanese cooking, sake is usually used.

For me, the first food to celebrate spring is fukinoto (butterbur sprouts)! That bitterness! Then, later, other sansai (edible wild plants) and takenoko (bamboo shoots). Have you checked out this thread?

I've never done that before myself, but I think that all you need to do is to go to your favorite supermarket and ask the staff at the meat section of the supermarket. They will be kind enough to give you what you want or tell you where to go to get it.

I don't marinate the chicken, and I usually cut the chicken into small pieces before pan-frying. Some people do marinate the chicken, but as far as I know, professionals don't marinate it. The book, "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art", has a recipe for chiecken teriyaki on page 201. In that recipe, the chicken is not marinated, either.

In Japan, rice is always washed before being cooked unless it is "no-wash rice". Some people wash rice thoroughly until the water is almost clear, while others wash it three to five times only (the water is still cloudy). Here is a post about washing rice in my blog.

OK, I'm glad to know you know the rules. As for the daikon garnish, I'd like to tell you that at most Japanese restaurants and sushi shops, they use convenient tools like benriners to make thredded daikon. Some even use pre-thredded daikon. Real katsura muki daikon is hard to find. The sushi shop I frequent is one of few sushi shops that serve real katsura muki daikon. To see photos, visit the "Local Sushi Shop in Niigata" thread.

Good job! Congratulations!

This vegetable garden is really cool! I wish I had such a garden! The sake you mentioned is Sawanotsuru Honjozo. That Japanese restaurant looks good, but the tempura... Were those pieces of tempura hot and crispy?? Soba? You mean udon, right? And the chawanmushi..., with no toppings like mitsuba (trefoil). I've never seen such chawanmushi served at a restaurant before...

Yes, I know, any shallow pan should work fine, but Kuma has to find a lid that fits the pan if he wants to make oyakodon in an authentic way.

Are you sure they are flowers? They look like fiddeheads of ostrich fern to me.

Here is a previous thread on the issue of mercury in fish. In short, mercury in fish is not an alarming level provided that you have them in moderate quantities.