Hiroyuki

beer? You probably mean happoushu (low-malt beer), right? Or, real beer? Then you must be rich! As for vienna sausages, I sometimes make them into octopus shapes (with four legs, though) for my children.

The same manufacturer - Morinaga!

Correction: At present, Yukinto uses Shiozawa-produced Koshihikari rice (fresh from the rice paddies of the Director of Ponshu Kan. When that rice runs out, it uses the rice from the house next door. When that rice runs out, it uses the rice from another town in Uonuma. (I had made an inquiry to Ponshu Kan, and received a reply a couple of days ago.)

Thank you for your reply. By the way, how is the weather in your area? Here in Shiozawa, it's not windy but it's raining. My son and I cannot go mushroom gathering today.

Maybe hoya, also known as sea pineapples. See the last three posts (as of Oct. 9) in http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...90entry733730

Don't forget karintou. http://www.karintou.com/english.htm A recipe for making karintou: http://www.biteofasia.com/Japan/Yumie/Karinto.shtml

If you decide to go to the Hokuriku region, you'll have to change trains at Echigo Yuzawa station. Why not learn about Niigata too?

I have one question to ask you. Do you ever drink instant coffee? Do you drink coffee made from preground coffee beans only?

I made a silly mistake, not kushi but mushi. Sorry about this.

Hegi soba. Hegi refers to the wooden box in which soba is beautifully arranged. In Niigata, soba contains a type of seaweed called funori and is somewhat greenish. My father comes from Nagano (also called Shinshu) and I used to think that Shinshu soba was the best. For me, hegi soba is an acquired taste; it actually took me some time to get used to it, but now, I'm a huge fan of hegi soba! Toukamachi city is famous for hegi soba. http://www.city.tokamachi.niigata.jp/kouho...ntro/tasty.html But my town, Shiozawa, also has several good soba shops. My favorite is Tabata Ya. http://www.jalan.net/kanko/SPT_172337.html http://www.hokuhoku.co.jp/osusume/sobakui/...ata/3-taba.html (Both in Japanese only)

My family had ma po tofu for dinner last night, which is what I made using mabodofu no moto (amakuchi) of Marumiya. I wish that I could eat karakuchi! Haven't eaten it for years (because of my kids, of course)! Helen, if you use eggplants instead of tofu, then you should call it ma po nasu, right?

I made a phone call to S&B this morning, asking if those who are allergic to fish can eat their curry roux products. They say that if you just tell them which particular seafood you are allergic to, they can provide you with a definitive answer. Their customer support toll-free phone number: 0120-120-671 Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00 (except holidays) I don't know whether they speak English, though. Homepage of S&B: http://www.sbfoods.co.jp/biz/default.htm Forgot to mention that they say that their Dinner Curry does not contain that protein.

Do you go shopping everyday??

Thank you, phaelon56, for your comments. This is not my method but Nakagawa's and a tried and tested one. In fact, he fully explains how to make this roaster http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/flavor3.html and how to operate it http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/flavor3b.html (both in Japanese only) on his Flavor coffee website. I had read all threads on popcorn poppers in the Coffee and Tea Forum. The problem that I have with them is that they are not readily available in Japan. Yet, all that talk about superheated steam roasting and Matsuya paper dripping had made me want to roast coffee beans once in my lifetime. So, I asked Nakagawa to make me a milk powder can roaster free of charge. (I spent 6,100 yen to send you the coffee beans and I have the right to ask him that, don't you think?) You may not believe this, but this roaster is one item that Flavor coffee sells; a set of this roaster and 1-kg green coffee beans is sold for 5,000 yen. It was kind of a joke for Nakagawa, but quite surprisingly, it sells! I will submit another post as soon as I succeed. If operated properly, this roaster yields beans just like these: Photo on the left: Beans roasted with this roaster Photo on the right: Beans roasted with a commercial roaster You can't tell the difference, can you?

You mean you don't have kurozatou in your country?

As far as I know, the terms kokutou and kurozatou are used interchangeably. I never thought about it, when I come to think about it, I always use the term kurozatou myself. I found one site that explains that jun kokutou (pure kokutou) differs from kurozatou in that the latter contains pure kokutou and sotou (crude suger). http://www.kakinohana.co.jp/qa.htm (Japanese only) But I guess that this difference is specific to that manufacturer only. I didn't know anything about agarasa, and I just had to find what it is. In short, its a kushi (steamed) kasutera containing kurozatou. As you guessed, it's an Okinawan confection. http://www11.ocn.ne.jp/~ninjin-s/jiten-a.html (Japanese only) Correction: Not kushi but mushi kasutera.

My first attempt to roast coffee beans with a milk powder can Nakagawa, the owner of Flavor coffee http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/index.html (Japanese only), is a proponent of roasting coffee beans with a milk powder can. Today, I made my first attempt, but it ended in a failure; the beans didn't crack even after 25-minute roasting. I think that the main reason of my failure was that I did the roasting outside and it was rather windy. More text later.

Here are some of my findings: たん白加水分解物 is hydrolyzed protein in English. Two sites on hydrolyzed proteins: http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html http://allergies.about.com/library/blificmsgmyth14.htm (There are many others.) I checked (twice) the labels of the five curry roux boxes that I happen to have at home at the moment (kokumaro karakuchi and amakuchi and Vermont amakuchi, karakuchi, and chuukara; all are House brands) to find that no hydrolyzed protein is listed. So, maybe you should use House brands rather than S&B's.

Jumbo aburaage. This is a speciality of Tochio city. http://www.niigata-aji.net/s-aburaage.html It is not atsuage but large-sized aburaage. Note that the term aburage is a shortened form of aburaage.

Kuruma fu (wheel-shaped wheat glutin) See the previous thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=40947 Kuruma fu is really useful. You can always use it instead of meat.

OK, thanks, everyone. My point is that it's OK if they want to stick to jika for some reason or other, but if so, I want to know what each item costs before I order it. Whey can't they put up a board or something that clearly indicates the price of each item on that day? The probable reason is that they are arrogant, looking down on customers, and they never ever try to understand what customer satisfaction is.

3 p.m. is snack (oyatsu) time in Japan! Not only children but also adults like me take a break at around 3 o'clock and have a snack.

Another sushi shop-related topic. Can you tolerate the jika (current price) system, which is still practiced by some traditional sushi shops? Do you have this system in your native country? I can never tolerate it, and this is one big reason why I avoid traditional sushi shops.

Those of you who are not familiar with sushi jargon may find the following link useful: http://homepage3.nifty.com/maryy/eng/eng.htm If you just read the following article, you will know why I hate traditional sushi shops: http://202.221.217.59/print/features/edu20...k20040624ks.htm

Then you two must be very fluent in Japanese. I suspect that those for whom Japanese is a foreign language may not discern the difference between regular, everyday words from those jargon terms (unless they are properly instructed).