Hiroyuki

I use leftover rice to make okayu just like you. As you may know, okayu in Japan is an equivalent to chicken soup in other countries; it's something that you have when you have a cold. When I was small, my mother used to make okayu with beaten eggs (and dried bonito shavings?), flavored with soy sauce. I rarely have okayu these days, except nanakusa gayu (7-herb porridge) on Jan. 7. My son likes to have okayu when he has a cold. He usually has it with umeboshi.

Thank you for starting another intriguing report. I'm curious about the beer, Lao. How do you describe its flavor?

Kuma: Check out this post of mine. There you will see the right pan for oyako don. Unfortunately, yours is a medamayaki (sunny side up) pan.

Just like other white-fleshed fish. (Salmon is considered a white-fleshed fish.) Sprinkle about 2% salt by weight and grill immediately.

Of course, it is! Plum wine (I assume you mean umeshu) and any other sweet alcoholic beverage will suit the occasion. Sounds good to me. With a bit of salt, too, please! Just as you said. It's OK, but it's better to go with miso. Usually, similar dishes don't appear in a single meal. As for tsukemono, I hope Helen will chime in! Deshita = day-shee-tah (Can someone help me with a better expression?) Gochisousama deshita is more polite than Gochisousama.

There is nothing wrong with your kaiseki-inspired lunch, but if you want to be authentic, here are some points to consider: Zensai (hiya-yakko): Start serving sake at this point. Note that in a kaiseki meal, there can be no such things as main dishes. To Westerners, a kaiseki meal looks a mere series of hors d'oeuvres. I would venture to say that all dishes before rice is served are appetizers for sake (sake no sakana). Here's what Shizuo Tsuji wrote about sashimi and suimono (soup) in his book, "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art": There is some truth in what he wrote, but the general understanding is that there is no main dish in kaiseki. You could remove cold noodles (hiyashi chuka) altogether and serve a bowl of rice instead, together with pickles and soup (such as miso soup) after the diners have had all the dishes (and you declare that sake-drinking time is over*), or you could replace it with somen (more natural). You already have sunomono, and serving another sour dish is rather redundant. *In general, the Japanese think that sake and rice do not go together. While sake is served, no rice is served. Sushi (vinegared rice + other ingredients) is an exception. We can have sushi with sake. You could replace fried oyster with tempura of some seasonal items. Fried oyster is fine, but is usually regarded as a yoshoku (Western-style dish) item. You could serve unagi kabayaki together with rice, as an okazu (side dish), rather than an appetizer for sake. Do use a flash-frozen one. In Japan, live seafood is always preferred, but is not at all essential. Finish the meal with green tea and fresh fruit. You could say "Itadakimasu" together before starting to eat and "Gochisousama deshita" after you finish eating.

Your proposed meal sounds very good! I'd say your concept is similar to that of a shokado bento, which is a bento version of a kaiseki meal. A shokado bento is offered in a box partitioned into four sections, in each of which a dish is placed. Images of shokado bento

Sorry, I don't know of any. Do searches with keywords "白花豆　レシピ" and you will get a lot of recipes. I have found one for you. Rice porridge with shirohana mame: http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/OutputMain.asp?KeyNo=15161

Shirohana mame (or shiro ingen)?? http://www.kenkoutuuhan.com/siroingen_ad1.html Simply simmered and seasoned with sugar, I guess.

Shiba zuke (しば漬け, 紫葉漬け), I suppose. The color? Aka jiso (red perilla)

In Japan, French fries are called fried potato or potato fry. Until I read this thread, I had never realized that making French fries could be so complicated. I thought of trying some of the tricks/tips described in this thread and elsewhere, but I ended up making them my usual way: Cut, soak, drain, dry, and deep-fry. The oil was mixed vegetable oil (oil that I use for tempura making), and the potatoes were Kita Akari. I set the oil temperature to 160 C (320 F), and I deep-fried for 4-5 min. The French fries were good enough for me. I have no idea as to what authentic French fries should be. First batch, sprinkled with cheap table salt Second batch, sprinkled with expensive salt containing hondawara (a type of seaweed) I've never made French fries alone. Tonight, I made chicken kara age, too, just like nakji did.

It looks perfect! Looks succulent!

I'm happy to pay you back in some small fashion, after all the valuable knowledge you've sent my way. ← I have never asked my children about the period, and even if I ask, I don't think they can give me the correct answer. I would say that the lunch time is 20 to 30 minutes or maybe less. That depends.

You don't ask the clerk to reheat your conbini bento? Yes! My children, especially my son, are rather slow eaters, but when they have onigiri, they can have them much faster!

As I wrote here in my blog, for me, bento making is to 1) make as many preparations the day before as possible (make supper the day before by considering what to put in the bento box the next morning) and 2) get up 30 minutes earlier than usual to make additional dishes, if required, assemble the food items into the bento box, and make onigiri (my children prefer onirigi to rice in a bento box). I must say I really don't enjoy making bento.

When you talk about conbini bento (bento sold at conveniece stores in Japan), all bento are refrigerated. The main problem with refrigerated bento is that the main component, rice, tastes bad when refrigerated.

Okonomiyaki sauce is rather sweet for me, and I can use "chuunou" sauce instead. Anyway, one person suggests this recipe: 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp ketchup 1 tsp honey 1 tsp oyster sauce Small amount of mayonnaise from here (Japanese only) This person suggests not using sugar but honey or apples for sweetness. No reasons are indicated, though.

And, at unagi and yakitori shops, they never throw their tare, they just replenish, for tens of years!

I found two recipes that seem good. One is from an old-established unagi (eel) shop in Mikawa, Aichi prefecture. 1.8 liters soy sauce 1.8 liters mirin 2 kg rock sugar Simmer soy sauce on very low heat for 2 hours, while skimming foam. In another pot, boil mirin to evaporate alcohol. Combine them, add rock sugar, let stand to cool. from here (Japanese only) Recipe 2 Ingredients: 350 cc dark soy sauce 300 cc mirin 250 g sugar 100 cc sake Eel head and bone, if available 1. Combine mirin and sake and boil on high heat to evaporate alcohol. (Grill head and bone well and add them in this step). 2. Add sugar. 3. Add dark soy sauce and bring to a boil again. 4. Simmer on very low heat for 15 to 20 min. 5. Skim foam, filter, and cool as quickly as possible. from here Good luck!

The rhythmical sound that my mother used to make while cutting vegetables like daikon with a nakiri or something to make miso soup for breakfast. Memories of childhood.

I'm sure you will enjoy it. A 1:1:1 mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and vinegar is a good one, as well as a 1:1:1 mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and citrus juice, which is instant ponzu. I just can't say exactly how long. Two or three minutes, I guess. For such applications of mirin, I usually use alcohol-free, fake mirin (mirin-fu chomiryo) to avoid the trouble of "nikiri" (evaporating alcohol content by boiling). In theory, you need to compensate for the loss in volume due to nikiri, but in practice, no one really doesn't care about it.

You may want to try other vinegar-based sauces. http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/dailyjc/hints/awase/awase.asp

Aha, sanbaizu! That makes sense. Originally, sanbaizu (lit. 3-cup vinegar) is made by mixing vinegar, soy sauce, and mirin (heated to evaporate alcohol) together at a ratio of 1:1:1, but nowadays, this ratio is seldom used, and mirin is often replaced with sugar. A common ratio of vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar is: 3:1:2. You way want to add dashi (2) if the sauce is too acidic. In contrast, nibaizu (lit. 2-cup vinegar) is made by mixing vinegar and soy sauce together at a ratio of 3:2. Nibaizu is often is used for wakame and cucumber sunomono (vinegared dishes) and salad.

Are you sure that the sauce you mentioned is really Japanese? Snow crab is zuwai gani in Japanes.

The first one is "Kaga no Hishio Gura". Materials: Soy beans (not genetically modified), wheat, salt, san-on-to (type of sucrose). Why san-on-to?? Images of san-on-to This type of sugar is often used to make simmered dishes in Japan. The second one is "Hishio". Materials: Whole soy beans, wheat, salt, alcohol Its "raw" soy sauce, freshly extracted. The last one is "Teraoka-Ke no Yuki Shoyu", organic JAS-certified(!). Materials: Organic soy beans, organic wheat, salt I can't say which one I like the best until I taste them all, but judging from the labels, I think I like the last one the best. BTW, did you order a knife from a manufacturer in Sanyo city? Wow!