Hiroyuki

Thanks for the picture! I had never heard of this before, did you? ← No, I didn't. More photos: http://www.ztv.ne.jp/takuji/j-fugu.htm According to several sources, it's quite salty and goes well with hot rice and sake. Considering the high price, I think I'll pass on this one too.

You mean mugi meshi (麦飯)? You need oshi mugi (barley squashed flat) to make it. Sorry, I can't find a recipe in English. http://www.cookpad.com/maluco/index.cfm?Pa...11868&Mode=full (Japanese only) In Japan, it's often eaten with grated yam.

I was intrigued by this delicacy. Here is a photo: http://www.oishi-mise.com/fuguko.htm

There has been a considerable number of discussions on depachika in the Japan Forum. But, have we discussed hoteichi before? Unfortunately, I don't have anything to talk about hoteichi because I live in such a rural town. Does anyone want to talk about it? To learn about hoteichi, follow the link below: http://smt.blogs.com/watashi_tokyo_magazine5/

Can anyone elaborate on this custom associated with mandarins at Christmas time? http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/No...ngl/basnoel.htm See number 2: http://www.angelfire.com/biz5/marlene/StockingStuffers.htm Are mandarins still popular for stocking stuffers?

February 6th is Matcha Day! Who declared it? Nishio city in Aichi prefecture. Nishio city accounts for 35% of the total national production of tencha (碾茶), from which matcha is produced. from here http://www.aichi-c.ed.jp/contents/syakai/s...isan/sei207.htm (Japanese only) An introduction of Nishio city http://www.city.nishio.aichi.jp/en/index.html Nishio city happens to be where Flavor coffee is located. http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/index.html (Japanese only) Flavor coffee roasts coffee beans with its unique system called the direct heat and superheated stream roasting system, and I am a huge fan of its coffee beans. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=47774 Now I must explorer the worlds of both coffee and matcha. How exciting!

In short, oden originated in Tokyo, and oden is called Kanto-daki in Kansai. from here http://www.odengaku.net/odentoha/kotohajime2.html (Sorry, Japanese only)

I know these candies, but do you really think they are 'intensely flavored'?

Oh, I didn't know about the poisioning. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_...109/ai_83139785

yes that too! Although it is not an official holiday the Japanese tend to celebrate Christmas, especially in a commercial way. The Japanese celebrate Christmas Eve by eating a 'Christmas Cake' which the father of the family purchases on his way home from work (or his wife does in the case where he has to work on Christmas Eve). Stores all over carry versions of this Christmas cake and drop the price of it drastically on December 25th in order to sell everything out by the 26th. This has resulted in a rather interesting expression in which young girls are referred to as a 'Christmas cakes': marriageable until their 25th birthday and requiring heavy discounts to get married after their 25th birthdays. from: http://tanutech.com/japan/jxmas.html though I have to admit it isn't a phrase that is heard that much any more.... ← My perception of the phrase is that women 24 years of age or younger sell like hot cakes, but become worthless once they have turned 25. I think my perception is common to the Japanese. This stems from the fact that the Japanese consider Christmas Eve the most important time of the Christmas season. Anyway, I couldn't care less about this phrase. My wife was 32 when we got married.

I watched the news this morning, too. It could be another blow to Niigata people. I must think twice about gathering and eating the mushroom next year.

In my opinion, abura age does add flavor to takikomi gohan. For me, takikomi gohan without it is unthinkable.

While searching for a good source of matcha, I found this site: http://www.maccha.co.jp/index2.html English version: http://www.maccha.co.jp/english/index2.html Seems like a good source. Does anyone know of any other good source?

I'd prefer packed oden. In the konbini thread, there has been a discussion on oden, but I have kept my mouth shut because I have never bought any oden at konbini because of possible sanitation problems.

Good to know that. Thank you for the link. From another source, I have learned that tea leaves mature. I'm beginning to think that I have to give matcha a try. As for the matcha season, I think it's only that we are in a matcha boom. Have you ever seen this product of Calpis, Matcha to (= and) Calpis ? http://www.calpis.co.jp/kigyou/n/nr0407_48.html

Are you serious? I thought you knew that. The answer is in the link you previously provided: Another food tradition is a "French-style" strawberry shortcake with a plastic fir tree stuck on top. It was introduced 70 years ago by Fujiya Co., a big Japanese confectionery concern, as a kind of variant of plum pudding. Guilt-ridden fathers would often take this treat home to children after staying out late drinking in hostess bars. Cake shop staffers, shivering in the cold night air, use megaphones to hawk the cakes to drunken businessmen. from http://classes.yale.edu/anth254a/article_bank/WSJ_911217.htm Another description: Take one bite of a strawberry shortcake and it is easy to understand why this delicious balance of sweet fresh whipped cream, ripe strawberries and fluffy sponge cake is considered the ideal combination. However, this does not explain why strawberry shortcake has become synonymous with Christmas in Japan. That was the result of concerted promotional efforts by cake shops, most notably that of Fujiya, to aggressively market their cakes via newspapers, radio and TV during the Christmas holiday seasons from the 1950s onward. from http://paley.diaryland.com/020717_21.html An interesting description of Peko-chan of Fujiya: http://neatstufffromjapan.com/features/abo...n/peko-chan.htm Do you think I'm stupid? (I know you are joking, and I know there are those who think so.)

That exclamation mark means that you like it?? I think I'll pass on this one. Slightly off-topic, but why not enjoy some photos of the morning market in Wajima? http://www.wajima-city.or.jp/kankoutop/fre...aiti/asaiti.htm from here http://www.wajima-city.or.jp/kankoutop/freepic/freepic.htm

>i was hoping for some rants too! if christmas cakes are generally strawberry topped sponge cakes, they seem pretty innocuous. what is there to rant about? i am honestly clueless. are christmas cakes controversial, deserving of rants? Why do the Japanese celebrate Christmas when they are not Christain in the first place? Why strawberry short cakes? Christmas day is not the birthday of Santa Clause!, etc. etc. Just imagine! >I love how your kids decorate their own cake..it sounds like a great way to cultivate their interest in baking I will apply this tip when i have my own children. I spied Hello Kitty chocolate candies on your daughter's cake!Excellent choice, daughter! It certainly is a good way to spend a birthday. My children do enjoy making their own. We use store-bought sponge cakes, though. I hope we can make pizza together some day. >Sorry to disappoint you, Hiroyuki. But I like to think us eGulleters are a fair and balanced bunch of people, without unreasonable prejudices. So we may be occasionally grossed out by some of the unusual foreign-inspired Japan foods (the odd uses of ketchup and mayonnaise, for example), but more often than not, we like the unique way Japan adopts non-Japanese foods and flavours. I really am disappointed. Do we need to be that civilized? Sometimes a heated discussion can liven up the forum, don't you think? >As for Christmas cake, well, the discussion can't go much further until you answer this: Have you ever tried a fruitcake? How about a North American yule log? No, never. My wife is a fan of fruitcakes, though.

I didn't put the rice in a sieve after washing it, but the resulting gohan was just as good.

Pretty close. Strawberry-flavored Fran of Meiji, if I remember right. http://open.meiji.co.jp/sweets/chocolate/fran/index.html

No ranting from anyone? I'm kind of disappointed...

Are you all right, melonpan? torakris talked about greenhouse strawberries. Open-field ones are in season around April to May, as you suggest. My son's birthday is in April, when I can get open-field strawberries. Thus, his birthday cake look like this: My family's Christmas cake looks just like this one. On the other hand, my daughter's birthday is in September, when I can get no strawberries from any local supermarket. (Things may be different in urban areas.) So, my daughter's birthday cake had canned cherries on top this year.

Then I'm sure you'll like the ware sen I posted previously. (See Post #3). The bag actually contains broken hoshi tabeyo sembei. *** And the bag also contains broken akachan (baby) sembei (white ones).

I don't understand this. Japanese celebrate christmas? According to the CIA world fact book, breakdown of religions is japan is Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including Christian 0.7%) With christian only being 0.7 percent, I can't imagine KFC or anyone else would dedicate the resources to doing christmas stuff in Japan! ← I know better than to talk about religions here in this forum, but this book may answer some, if not all, of your questions about the religious aspect of the Japanese. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/083...3650737-2590432 It was written by Shichihei Yamamoto under the false name of Isaiah Bendasan. http://homepage1.nifty.com/masada/globe/syamamoto01.htm

Follow-up post: Yesterday, my wife made another batch of kaki jam, with five kaki and less sugar than in my recipe. I pared some kaki, cut them into manageable sizes, and put them in the freezer. My children loved the frozen kaki.