Hiroyuki

I have a feeling that the term giri choco is falling out of use very quickly, being replaced by sewa choco. By definition, sewa choco is chocolate that a female gives to a male who has done a favor for her or has taken care (=sewa) of her, but the term is used almost synonymously with giri choco. Other common terms related to Valentine's Day are tomo choco, mentioned by torakris. Some girls give tomo choco to male friends too! jibun choco (also my choco) Chocolate that a female buys for herself. Important terms related to White Day ni-bai gaeshi Giving something in return that costs twice as high as the chocolate one was given san-bai gaeshi Giving something in return that costs three times as high as the chocolate one was given

Yes, I have. Horse meat sashimi is called basashi in Japanese.

It's not a dish, but I like Mike's butter-and-soy-sauce-flavored pop corn the best. http://www.rakuten.co.jp/s-morita/530552/392822/

I'm an all-time lover of lean tuna (akami). I like marinated lean tuna (zuke) too.

Sorry, I'm not a fan of yamaimo or tororo (grated yamaimo), but my father is. He is also a fan of jinenjo (wild yamaimo), which is slimier and more expensive than cultivated ones. Some people prefer adding soy sauce to tororo while others prefer miso, but I just can't recall which my father prefers...

If I remember right, there were no such things as cheese curry when I lived in Tokyo, although I remember diced cheese was served as a garnish free of charge at a curry restaurant called 'Curry no Oosama' along with other garnishes such as rakkyo and fukujinzuke. But today, I did a google search and found that there are now such things as cheese curry. Things have changed! Cheese curry recipe: http://www.qbb.co.jp/special/recipe/ca_2.html Cheese curry served at a restaurant: http://www.ichibanya.co.jp/menu/detail.htm...10404&fg=0&fc=4 Retort-packed cheese curry: http://www.rakuten.co.jp/e-sbfoods/151385/150692/ (All in Japanese only)

Have you read this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=57978 Sukiyaki made by Jason All I can think of at the moment is 1. Yakimochi plus cheese and 2. Pizza mochi. 1. Grill mochi in the toaster oven, coat it with soy sauce, place a slice of processed cheese on top, and wrap it in nori. 2. Just put pizza sauce in a dish and add grilled mochi.

Tell your BF about White Day!!

What do you put on your oden? 1 Wa-karashi: 82.0% 2 Nothing: 15.9% 3 Miso: 11.3% 4 Tougarashi (ichimi or shichimi): 5.8% 5 Negi: 2.6% from here: http://www.asahibeer.co.jp/kyakuken/weekly...0411/00060.html Me? Wa-karashi (or you-karashi)!

I don't think it is very widely used at all. Though many houses in Japan have computers, very few of the women I know that are about my age know how to use them. they usually belong to the men of the house. Children very rarely use them either. People get shocked when they come to our house and see that not only do my kids have they own computer (complete with tons of software) but they know how to use it! Now that most people use their keitais (cell phones) for e-mail and browsing the internet, they don't have much need for a computer in the home. ← My wife never wants to use my PC, although she knows how to use a word processor. My son (8) has a PC of his own, which is not connected to the Internet. He sometimes wants to use mine to learn about various matters such as mushrooms, the universe, and plants. My daughter (5) sometimes uses her brother's PC to draw pictures with the mouse.

I use karashi with all kinds of katsu (pork, chiken, beef, and menchi), korokke, hiyashi chuuka (cold noodles), shuumai, natto, oden, and so on. I prefer wa-karashi (wa-garashi) to you-karashi (you-garashi) because the former is more piquant. I think that mustard contains vinegar and other condiments while karashi does not.

Same here. I'd like to buy one of the cheapest models in a few years, but not now.

Ｗe have an electric fish grill. We used to use it to grill fish. But it was rather clumsy to clean, and we started to use the toaster oven for that purpose.

Are you a fan of Kurihara? My wife used to say she liked her. As for me, I don't know much about her or her recipes. A former thread on Kurihara: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...907&hl=Kurihara

I didn't know what shinju was talking about until I read torakris's reply. Never used such software myself. how about free software? An example: http://www.vector.co.jp/soft/winnt/home/se318081.html The home page of Vector Soft Library: http://www.vector.co.jp/magazine/softnews/

Aji no ikezukuri (or ikizukuri) or something? Yeah, I really want to know how much east dish costs. I almost forgot to say, "Thanks for all these great pictures!".

Giri choco are becoming less and less popular, right? What do you think?

Has anyone tried this method of removing bitterness (oxalic acid) from spinach? Coarsely cut spinach and soak in water for ten minutes. According to a TV show in Japan, this removes bitterness sufficiently. I have never tried this method. Will it work? Is it a bad method?

In days of old, eels were simply cut in round slices and then roasted on a skewer, which looked like the ear of the plant called kaba. Thus, the name kaba yaki (=grill). A photo of the ear of kaba http://fount-k.com/~tomo/jp/photobase/yp476.html

According to the manufacturer's website, it is classified into the category of Arare/Okaki. As I mentioned somewhere, sembei are made from regular rice whereas arare and okaki are made from glutinous rice.

Some of the haiku here sound more like senryu than haiku. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senryu http://members.tripod.com/~Startag/HkSenDiff.html No offense intended.

We discussed white gyoza a while ago. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=52222&hl=gyoza See post #6 and subsequent ones.

It was a success, of course. With yakitori, you can never go wrong - All my family like yakitori. We loved both your version (with kanzuri) and a simple, all-too-familiar version (without kanzuri). Your version was slightly spicy and flavorful; my son said it was good and not spicy at all. I was pondering how best I could describe the difference between an okazu (side dish supposed to be eaten with rice and therefore seasoned accordingly) and a sake no sakana (dish supposed to eaten with sake and therefore seasoned accordingly) because the difference is sometimes crucial. We often say things like, "such and such is good as an okazu and not as a sake no sakana". I knew right from the beginning that your yakitori could be a great menu item at a Japanese izakaya. Almost everyone likes yakitori, and your dipping sauce is so special - the combination of mayo and strawberry jam is so innovative that no Japanese could ever think of it, except some mayolers (mayo freaks). I tasted the dipping sauce. I had never tasted anything like it. I remembered the first time I had udo (kind of mountain vegetable) with a mayo-and-miso sauce. (Just for your information, mayo and miso go together really well, so do mayo and cheese.) I enjoyed the combination of mayo and strawberry sauce. I put a lot of it on my yakitori and ate it, and I drank shochu (distilled spirit). I discussed the dipping sauce with my wife and son. My son said the sauce was sweet and did not go well with rice, and my wife agreed immediately. And I had to agree, because they ate the yakitori with the dipping sauce as an okazu, whereas I ate it with the sauce as a sake no sakana. If I had eaten it as an okazu, I would have thought the same way as my wife and son. Anyway, your recipe was, as you pointed out, a good pointer. Now I know one good use of my kanzuri. Now I feel I can explore my kanzuri my own way. And thank you for guiding me in the right direction. Your effort is much appreciated. I have some questions. I am curious to know how you managed to get the rice into that shape. Did you use a special mold or something? I am also curious to know what those Japanese food items shown in the photos (such as the kayayaki no tare sauce and the Japanese beer) cost. The last question is, "Why are you so interested in Japanese food items??"

I usually eat stew (white or beef) with rice, in the same way as I eat curry with rice, i.e., put rice on one side of a plate and pour stew on the other. My wife also eat stew with rice, but insists on serving them in different bowls.

Today (Feb. 7), I decided to make the yakitori for tonight's dinner according to sizzleteeth's recipe. First, I made kabayaki no tare sauce with very simple ingredients this morning: one part (75-ml) soy sauce, one part mirin, and one part sake (Japanese rice wine). I decided to use two chicken breasts that I happened to have in the freezer, one with kanzuri and another without it, to compare their difference in taste. At around 10 o'clock, I went out to two stores to buy other necessary items. I was relieved to find that kabayaki no tare sauce was not available at either store. Wise decision. In my sleepy little town with a population of 20,000, nothing will go as you plan. I made all the preparations by noon. Left: Chicken marinated in a sauce without kanzuri Right: Chicken marinated in a sauce with kanzuri Later, I used short bamboo skewers for chicken without kanzuri and long ones for chicken with it. What did I use to grill the chicken? Toaster Oven, of course. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...9012&hl=toaster Left: Chicken with kanzuri Right: Chicken without kanzuri I posted a photo of tonight's dinner here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...10entry838415 Sorry, comments later.