Hiroyuki

Never heard of it? It makes your skin smooth. An excerpt from the page: アミノ酸の成分が、お肌をスベスベにする美容効果を。 醸造醗酵の過程で発生する成分が、血行を促す保温効果を。 ほのかなお酒の香りか、心地よいリラクゼーション効果を。 Too busy to translate

If you happen to come to Echigo Yuzawa station, you should drop by Ponshu Kan http://www.ponshukan.com/ (Japanese only; all other links in this post are also in Japanese only), which is located in that station yard. It has a souvenir section http://www.ponshukan.com/buppan.html a Japanese sake section http://www.ponshukan.com/shuhan.html an amusement section http://www.ponshukan.com/amusement.html (which I don't like) a saka buro section (public bath with its tub containing Japanese sake) http://www.ponshukan.com/sakaburo.html a sake-tasting section http://www.ponshukan.com/kikizake.html where you can taste five of the typical brands of 99 sake wineries in Niigata prefecture for 500 yen, and a restaurant called Yukinto http://www.ponshukan.com/yukinto.html where you can order bakudan onigiri (lit. bomb rice balls), which consists of two large rice balls made of 2-gou (360-ml) Shiozawa-produced Koshihikari rice in total, a bowl of miso soup, and some pickle. At 580 yen, that's a bargain! Note that you can select two from among ten different rice ball ingredients: salmon, ume (pickled plum), kyarabuki, ginger pickled in tamari, grilled cod roe, negi (leek) miso, konbu tsukudani, fuki miso, yuzu miso, and shiso miso. You can see a closeup photo of bakudan onigiri by clicking http://mimizun.mine.nu:81/travel/travel200...2003030803.html (Scroll down to view it.) *** I found only one site that provides a description of Ponshu Kan in English, together with some photos: http://kenney.hp.infoseek.co.jp/love_sake/ponshukan.htm

My wife sometimes mixes glutinous (mochi) and regular (uruchi) rice together, and sometimes she has to, because rice is always sold by the kilogram, but we measure it by the gou (1 gou = 180 ml), so we always have some glutinous rice left, right?

Impressive. Seems like a perfect place for you.

In the traditional Japanese measuring system called shakkan hou (尺貫法 in Chinese characters), 1 gou (合) is equivalent to 180 ml, which used to be considered one cup. When I was an elementary school student back in late 1960s and early 1970s, milk was still served in 180-ml glass bottles at school lunch. Things have changed, and one cup is now equivalent to 200 ml. By definition, agari is the cup of tea served at a sushi shop after you have finished eating sushi. The cup of tea served before the sushi is called debana (出花), but agari has come to mean any cup of tea served at a sushi shop. Also note that agari used to be a jargon term just like shari (vinegared rice), gari (vinegared ginger), murasaki (soy sauce), and so on. Personally, I don't want to use these terms at a sushi shop (that would sound like snobbery to me), but there are many others who like to use them (in an attempt to pretend to be a connoisseur (tuu 通 in Japanese).

Wine! There are four wineries in Niigata prefecture, one of which is Echigo Winery. For more information about this particular winery, please go to: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...50922&hl=Echigo

I like kuri okowa (glutinous rice plus chestnuts) much better than kuri gohan (ordinary rice plus chestnuts).

No fukujin zuke...

Today, I saw packs each containing three SMALL matsutake mushrooms imported from China sold for 1,580 yen. That translates into 500 yen per piece. Of course, I did'nt buy any. Products like these are about all I can afford :sad: :

Mushroom season again!! Today, I participated in a mushroom workshop conducted here in Shiozawa. Edible and poisonous mushrooms were on display, and participants were served a bowl of mushroom soup. The instructor first explained poisonous mushrooms and then edible ones. My son and I are going to Daigenta Lake in Yuzawa town on October 10 for another mushroom workshop. My son (8) knows more about mushrooms than I do, and he is really looking forward to it.

Good. I can show you around then.

More photos and text, please.

That is, with very hot water and using a tea strainer, right? Sushi shops serve konacha (powdered tea) that way.

In the Kanpou yaku (Chinese medicine), it is dried before application like any other plant. It can also be used in the form of mentha oil. The raw leaf can be used as a garnish in a dish, though. I don't know whether the flower is used as a garnish for sashimi (刺身のツマ) like the aojiso flower.

Simple. Hakka, ハッカ, 薄荷 as in Hakka-tou 薄荷糖 . Japanese mint contains more menthol than other types, and was used in a medicine.

Koshiibuki In 1993, an experiment station, which is now the Niigata Agricultural Research Institute http://www.ari.pref.niigata.jp/ (Japanese only), started developing a new rice variety, and in 2000, the Governor of Niigata prefecture named the new variety Koshiibuki. It's a cross between Hitomebore and Domannnaka, as shown in the chart: http://www.ari.pref.niigata.jp/sakumotsu/k...uki/ibuki2.html (Japanese only). It is an early variety that can be harvested ten days earlier than Koshihikari, and has palatability comparable to Koshihikari. It is often touted as the rice of the 21st century.

For details of Japanese mint, please refer to: http://www.healthyroads.com/mylibrary/data.../htm/101560.asp

Hakka-tou (Japanese mint candy) This is a speciality of my town, Shiozawa, not that of Niigata prefecture. It's a cigarette-shaped sweet made from Japanese mint oil, sugar, and thick malt syrup (mizu ame in Japanese). At Uono no Sato http://www.uono.co.jp/index.html (Japanese only), a restaurant and souvenir shop located in Shiozawa, hakka-tou ranks fourth in the top ten list http://www.uono.co.jp/bussannkann.html (Japanese only) after Uonuma Koshihikari rice, mustard shiitake mushrooms, and original kyarabuki. There are four confectioners in the shopping district near Shiozawa station that manufacture and sell hakka-tou and one at Ishiuchi in Shiozawa. http://www.iijnet.or.jp/shiozawa/tokusan/hakkatou/mint.html (Japanese only) I didn't know anything about hakka-tou until I came here in 1992. Now I am a huge fan of it. It literally melts in your mouth and it's really soothing. A webpage describing one such confectioner, Aoki Shouten, in detail: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/syoku2003/20031220.htm (Japanese only)

It's no wonder, torakris, because this is the very first attempt ever made by anyone. Nihon Lift Service http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~jls/what/w1.htm (Japanese only) conceived an innovative idea for using its lift facilities at Ishiuchi Maruyama ski resort http://www.snowjapan.com/e/resorts/resortdetail.php?resid=7 in the off season. They used a lift with 75 seats and an overall length of 800 meters to hang out premium Shiozawa-produced Koshihikari rice totaling 300 kg (50 pyou) in weight to dry in the sun. The lift was operated every two or three hours to complete the drying process in five days. Tenpi boshi (sun-dried) rice tastes better than machine-dried rice, but has become rare because it requires much more time and labor. As the name implies, the price of tenkuu mai is quite high; it starts at 17,000 yen per 10 kg, twice as high as the regular Shiozawa-produced Koshihikari rice.

Thanks, torakris. Let me start things off with tenkuu mai (rice in the sky). But first, I have to go shopping and do some errands. I'll come back soon. http://www.asahi.com/top/update/photonews/...0409260214.html http://mise.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2004/09/flying_rice.html (Both Japanese only)

Quick answer: It must be ホヤ. http://www.kankou-miyagi.net/cgi-bin/ss_de...ntry=eng&ef=lst http://www.pref.iwate.jp/~hp5507/hoya/hoya.htm (Japanese only)

Owen (and all the other members concerned), I think it's too late, but I'm conveying part (actually, only a fraction) of Yankee mama's message: A characteristic of Nontan's beans is that they result in very strong coffee when drip-brewed. Why not just let them bloom for three minutes, using Melitta's equipment. As for me, I feel somewhat guilty to have learned that you sent the beans to five different locations – that sure cost you a lot, didn't it? And I also feel so stupid for not having asked Nakagawa to roast beans with and without superheated steam so that all of you could evaluate its effectiveness properly rather than the beans roasted by Nakagawa.

torakris and dougery, I have no objection if you'll just let me explain. It is Yamaki http://www.yamaki.co.jp/ (Japanese only) that has declared November 7 Nabe no Hi (Pot Day). Reason: Rittou (first day of winter) often falls on November 7. For a brief explanation of rittou, go to: http://www2.sanmedia.or.jp/y-kokusai/newpage9.htm (Scroll down to view the English version.) A table listing all 24 seasons both in Chinese and Japanese http://www.sizes.com/time/cal_CJsolar.htm

I did a search and immediately found that nabe no hi (pot day) is November 7. It's not an official one, though.

Inago = Locust Hachinoko = Bee larva One of the less offensive Nagano specialities is basashi (raw horse meat). I'm not a very big fan, but I can eat it. http://www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/~edjacob/food.html (First topic) http://cplyon.ca/matsumoto/miscramb/food.html Scroll down and read under "Nagano Prefecture Specialties".