Hiroyuki

Don't forget cabbage! Shredded cabbage or boiled cabbage dressed with shio (salted) kombu, and with some sesame seeds sprinkled. How can you "write" 幸運 or something like that on rice, with black sesame seed?

Katsu (cutlets), naturally.

Kindai tuna are 80% toro (fatty part) and 20% akami (lean part), whereas wild ones are the opposite (70-80% akami and 30-20% toro). Another benefit is low mercury content, about twice as low as that of wild tuna. Related story: NYT article

If anyone is interested, here is a link to a related video. Watch out! Japanese only.

Yours is a good way. You can apply the soy sauce to the neta very easily that way. I sometimes employs your method even when I'm home. Another way is to use a corner of the lid of the box that contains the sushi. I wonder if your post has something to do with etiquette.

List? Here it is. http://wwwz.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/gurume/list.html Of course, it's in Japanese.

He probably used his brain...he's Japanese, you know! Thanks, prasantrin! As for the difference between green and orange kabocha, I have no idea. I've never had orange ones.

You want to see examples. OK, Lunch Pack from Yamazaki. There are a lot of versions of it, and potato salad version is one of them. I must say I'm not a big fan.

This Kuitan episode is very informative. It talks about quite a few differences between Kanto and Kansai in food culture.

Unfortunately, the Japanese are not so creative to oshizushi boxes as you might think they are. The boxes are usually used to make oshizushi only. Some of the facts you might find interesting/hepful: Oshizushi is popular in Osaka, but is much less popular in Tokyo, where nigiri zushi originated. The Japanese terms for oshizushi box include: Oshizushi ki (押し寿司器) Oshizushi gata (押し寿司型） and simply kata (型), which means mold. Looking forward to your imaginative uses for oshizushi boxes!

From here, I've never hand Akashiyaki before. Has anyone else ever had Akashiyaki?

I searched for photos of the Thai booth, and unfortunately, this is the only one: It says: ブタパッカパオ Buta (pork?) pakka pao (Sorry, I don't know what to spell it in English.) Edite to add: pakka pao is actually phad ka pao. グリーンカレー Green curry Well, I went there alone... Other ethnic restaurants... I don't know. I've never wanted to have any ethnic foods, so I have never searched. Probably there aren't many, considering the population of my city (a little over 60,000).

Tamagoyaki is another name for Akashiyaki. Akashi is the name of the city in Hyogo prefecture where the dish was originated. Akashiyaki or tamagoyaki is said to be the origin of present-day takoyaki. It should also be noted that tamagoyaki has another meaning. It's a generic term for any type of fried eggs. It can mean eggs simply panfried (not rolled), and it can also mean atsuyaki tamago (rolled omelet in Kanto, which contains sugar and is sweet) and dashimaki tamago (rolled omelet in Kansai, which usually does not contain sugar but a small about of mirin and is, therefore, less sweet).

Thanks everyone for their respective comments. prasantrin: The pack contained two different types of fried items. It contained two small ones and one big one. The small ones were like sugarless doughnuts, while the big one had mashed potatoes (?) in it. All the dishes served at booths run by IUJ students were 100 yen each, while foods, dishes, and other items sold at other booths were rather overpriced.

I went to this festival again this year. Photos can be found here.

Three at the festival (the pho, the philliphine rice dish, and the Indian curry) and one after I got home (the Central Asian rice dish). I liked the curry best. I must say that all the dishes I had tasted rather "foreign" to me, and I don't have the words to describe their flavors. No, it' not my son. He was a cute, smart boy, and spoke perfect Japanese.

The International University of Japan is located in my city, Minami Uonuma. On November 8, they had this event: International Festival 2008 In the Vietnam booth, they had pho: In the Phillipines booth, they had this rice dish, which I don't know the name of: In the India booth, they had this curry dish: In the Central Asia booth, (beautiful ladies and a handsome boy, by the way) they sold this dish, which I don't know the name of, either: All the dishes shown above were 100 yen each. Very, very reasonable. I shouldn't have had lunch so I could eat more of the dishes offered there. Edited to add: More photos can be found here in a blog of mine.

The other day, I bought a pack of oyster mushrooms: Oyster mushrooms (hiratake in Japanese) are nothing new, but I wanted to post a photo because they were so beautiful. I also bought a pack of kakinoki take (lit. persimmon tree mushrooms). Short stems and firm texture. I was a little disappointed to learn later from the label that the kakinoki take was nothing more than the original species of enoki take.

Besides canned mackerel (both "miso ni" and "mizu ni"), I like "sanma no kabayaki" (saury grilled with kabayaki (sweet, soy-based) sauce). Sanma no kayayaki images Of of all the cans of sanma no kabayaki, I like this particular brand the best: Choshita no Kabayaki Just open the can and have it with hot rice.

At Shiozawa Sangyo Matsuri (Industrial Fair), I bought eight La France pears for 300 yen (200 yen discount from the indicated price of 500 yen because the fair is coming to an end). According to Wikipedia, in France, this variety is named Claude Blanchet after the person who found it.

Sep. 15, the same day I planted other seeds. None, broad beans only. That worries me a little, because of all the snow that will fall on them. To tell you the truth, I was stupid enough to think that I could harvest broad beans before winter, and my son told me that I was wrong.

If you can't, I can! Here is a link. But there is another problem. It's entirely in Japanese. I watched the TV program, too. I have no idea, but I avoid buying such kabocha in the first place.

And, on November 1, my small farm looked like this.

First of all, I'd like to say that I am not a big fan of katsu curry. I don't think I can digest that amount of fat (oil in the katsu and lard in the curry) without feeling ill. I must admit, however, that I used to indulge in it for lunch in my early 30s after I skied in the morning. I've never thought of such a question, but I think I like this style: katsu partially covered with curry.

Thanks nakji and tsrue for their respective replies. I, for one, don't think mixing curry with rice has something to do with age. Some people like to do that regardless of their age. SheenaGreena: The Japanese do not necessarily like to eat pickles with curry. We like to eat something sweet with curry because we think they go together well. Fukujinzuke happens to be a sweet pickle, unlike most other Japanese pickles.