Hiroyuki

Thank you, everyone. The reason I wanted to pose this question is that when I posted the photo shown below in another thread, I received two replies that I had never expected--'no visible meat object' and 'lack of visible meat item'. These replies made me start to wonder. This is a photo of a lunch served at my daughter's nursery school one day:

Thank you, smallworld, for your very informative post. But even after all this discussion, I can't stop eating hijiki. Coincidentally, I made a hijiki dish for supper yesterday. Here is a photo of it. I usually add aburage (aburage is short for aburaage), but I used satsumaage (kind of fish sausage) this time. I usually add uchimame (beaten soybeans?) too. I wonder uchimame are available in the United States and other countries.

Hm, maybe you guys know more about this subject than I do. I have to confess I have never stopped to think about this before. In this post, let me explain another aspect of desu and masu--how to emphasize them. In the description that follows, a long vowel is represented by a vowel followed by a hyphen (-); for example, a- denotes a long 'a' vowel. In emphasizing, we usually say de-su for desu and ma-su for masu, not desu- or masu-. Thus, we usually say: いただきまーす Itadakima-su げんきでーす Genki de-su (I'm fine) The same goes for sai and sen: ごめんなさーい Gomen'nasa-i (sorry) すいませーん Suimase-n (sorry) Compare: ごちそうさまでしたー Gochisousamadeshita- いただきましたー Itadakimashita- (I received) げんきでしたー Genki deshita- (I was fine)

>What kind of texture does this have? Hm, I'd say neither mushy nor crunchy. Maybe it's like hard-boiled asparagus shoots... >And baking soda, really? Oh, yes. Sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda. I guess several factors come into play, such as: 1) Boiling time I DON'T boil bracken shoots. I found a site that tells you to boil them for ten seconds, and if you like them soft, for twenty seconds. http://www.sansaiya.com/ryouri/r_warabi.html 2) Material of the pan, bowl, bucket, etc. to keep them in water I usually use a plastic bowl. A pan made of copper is recommended to turn them into a bright green color. 3) Amount of baking soda used 5 ml per liter of water should be the right amount.

It's a little bit off-topic, but do you call BBQ stoves hibachi? In Japan, hibachi are used indoors and look like these: http://www.rakuten.co.jp/omakase/366018/ http://www.interq.or.jp/ox/atn/hibati.html (Japanese only)

Here is a photo of the miso soup with bamboo shoots: You can see how small the edible portion is. This was served at a barbeque party given at my son's elementary school. I posted more photos of the party here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...=0entry639943

Last Saturday, a barbeque party was given at my son's elementary school, as an annual event for the second grader. Here are some of the photos I took there. We had: Two types of grilled meat, beef and pork, yakitori, grilled sausage (not shown), miso soup with pork, vegetables, and bamboo shoots in it, and pickled cucumbers (not shown) We had to bring our own rice balls. After eating enough meat, I really wished I could have some yakisoba (fried noodles) or something. Pork: Beef with vegetables: Yakitori: Miso soup:

I think that masu ます and desu です are the ONLY words in which such dropping usually occurs. As you point out, we usually say mas and des rather than masu and desu. This is simply because they are easier to pronounce, I think. You said you were a beginner Japanese student, so I don't think you need any more information at this point, but when I have more time, I'd like to talk about some Japanese people who say masu and desu. My talk will be based on the following two sites: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/announcer/syunjyu/01.htm http://w2.avis.ne.jp/~m-it-n/mori-7.htm

I made an inquiry to that agency about the toxicity of hijiki, and they have just sent me the following reply: The advice issued in the information bulletin posted at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaf...0011029be.shtml remains in effect as no reduction in inorganic arsenic levels in hijiki seaweed has been reported. Thank you for using the CFIA web site. EDIT: And another just now: The advice issued in the information bulletin posted at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaf...0011029be.shtml and later published as a fact sheet at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaf.../arsenice.shtml remains in effect as no reduction in inorganic arsenic levels in hijiki seaweed has been reported. Thank you for using the CFIA web site.

I'm glad you are there.

I could say that too, but I usually say, Suimasen (Execuse me). or Suimasen, o-kanjo. (Execuse me, check, please). Again, that really depends on the person, I think.

I'm not sure, but are you talking about them? 1) ii vs. single long i vowel (let me represent it i-) 2) ei vs. single long e vowel (e-) 3) ou vs. single long o vowel (o-) For example, 1) The Japanese word for pretty is written as kawaii かわいい, but pronounced kawai-. 2) The word for clock is written as tokei とけい, but pronounced toke-. 3) The word for king is written as oh おう, but pronounced o-.

Sorry for being blunt, but are you a vegetarian? I am not, but I could be a vegetarian right this minute if I were forced to. I like rice, almost all kinds of soy products such as tofu and natto, and vegetables.

What I found is this PDF file: http://support.spring8.or.jp/training/text/031127/envi_4.pdf (Japanese only) An excerpt, together with a translation (by me): 天然海産物であるひじきには100g 当たり約 20mg ものヒ素が含まれている。ひじき中のヒ素はヒ素糖と呼ばれる無毒の化合物を形成して存在しているから食べても問題ない。 Hijiki, natural seafood, contains as much as 20-mg arsenic per 100g. The arsenic in hijiki exists in the form of a harmless compound called arsenic sugar* and, therefore, eating it does not present any problems. * Literal translation; I don't know the technical term for it in English.

I think that most natto haters hate the smell of natto. One solution to overcome the smell is to reduce it by putting the natto in the freezer for some time before eating. Another is to cancel out the smell by adding, for example, vinegar. I usually have natto for breakfast. I don't mind the smell of natto at all when I'm eating it myself, but I sometimes cannot stand it when someone else is eating it. You may think this strange, but it's true.

Hhmm, could you give me just one example so I can answer your question with confidence?

I think I have seen a link to similar products somewhere in the Japan Forum, but for ease of reference, here I provide a link to this site: http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/japano/0207/ice-cream/1.html Sorry to say, I have never tasted any of them.

Let me limit my talk to mochi sweets. The following list is based on this site: http://www.kanshundo.co.jp/museum/yogo/jiten.htm 1st item: Sakura mochi (rice cake wrapped in a salted cherry leaf) 2nd: Warabi mochi/kuzu mochi (made from some kind of starch, not mochi-gome) 7th: Kashiwa mochi (rice cake wrapped in an oak leaf) 9th: Kusa mochi (rice cake mixed with smashed mugwort leaves) 10th: Bota mochi (cooked rice slightly pounded and covered with an, kinako (soybean flour), etc.) Other types: Uguisu mochi (rice cake dusted with green soybean flour (or other types of bean flour)) http://www12.plala.or.jp/VanillaBeans/japan_ugui.html http://www.kaho-fukuoka.co.jp/saijiki/2003-02/uguisumo.html Kanoko mochi (rice cake containing sweetened azuki beans (or other types of beans) http://www.curio-city.com/fuwafuku/638/7099.html Tsubaki mochi (rice cake with a camellia leave on top? I've never seen or eaten one) http://www.toraya-group.co.jp/gallery/dat02/dat02_004.html Several types of daifuku: http://www.iwasaki-dango.co.jp/daifuku.html Starting with the top and moving clockwise, Goma (sesame), white, yuzu (type of citrus fruit), mame (bean), tochi no mi (Japanese horse chestnut), and kusa (mugwort leave) daifuku. Phew! This post is not at all exhaustive, but this is about all I can do about mochi sweets. *** Gohei mochi is another type of mochi, made from uruchi mai (ordinary rice), not mochi gome (glutinous rice).

I found this site, mochi ranking list: http://ganshuku.cool.ne.jp/81_10motibanzuke.html I will post more information as soon as it is available. But first, one clarification: Daifuku is one type of mochi sweet; it is in fact short for daifuku-mochi 大福餅.

I found two types of daifuku, mame-daifuku 豆大福 (bean daifuku) and nama-daifuku 生大福 (daifuku with cream (probably whipping cream) in it): 豆大福 http://www.tokyo-kurenaidan.com/mamedaifuku2.htm Click a hot spot (character string displayed in blue) containing characters 豆大福, and a photo appears. You can see one photo of mame-mochi 豆餅, too. I like mame-mochi because it's not sweet (contains no anko). Click the hot spot 豆餅 located to the right of the fifth (last) photo. This mame-mochi is triangular. I don't know if all mame-mochi are triangular. 生大福 http://auction.msn.co.jp/item/19477371

Besides soy sauce, you can also add Japanese sake to add flavor. *** I forgot to mention: donjou described his recipe for making sake chahan in the Japanese style Chinese food thread. A copy of part of his post: Then, push the rice to the side of the wok, add in one or two scrambled eggs ( pre salted) to the empty side of the hot wok ( you might need to tilt the wok to prevent to much of the egg from going into the chahan) and gently stir the eggs until it is set, but still soft ( not runny); now quickly mix the egg with the rice and toss at high heat until the egg is well distributed. For a full description, go to: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...30entry631177

As a nativa Japanese who was in elementary school in the late 1960s, I am all too familiar with the scenes in the photos you posted. I'm glad that they don't seem to use ill-famed sporks (saki-ware spoons in Japanese) any longer. But there is one thing that bothers me: They don't seem to provide chopsticks even though they serve rice. Or, are pupils required to bring their own chopstickes with them? For those of you who don't know saki-ware spoons, here is a site that shows some examples: http://homepage1.nifty.com/nekocame/60s70s...u/kyusyoku3.htm (Scroll down, and you will see photos of them.) EDIT: Adventures in Eating?? How come you started this thread here??

Sorry to hear that. You didn't have to buy any if the wagashi shop didn't honor Wagashi day. By the way, the one in the photo is quite different from what I know of--very watery. Example: http://www.issendo.jp/html/2_menu/s_mizuman.html

This is another page of Gourmet Ranking, which I mentioned in another thread: http://guriuri.com/ranking/ranking.asp?ID=16&TNO=625 Question: What are your favorite onigiri ingredients? Top five: Sea chicken (tuna) with mayo Mentaiko (spicy cod roe) Salmon Umeboshi (pickled plum) Tarako (cod roe) The quetionnaire is still open.

You read Japanese, so why don't you just visit the site? You can find all the necessary information there. In my case, when I add eggs and rice, I really have to work against time!! I mix them together like hell, because I have to finish in three minutes. Thank you for your insight into the hot rice vs cold rice issue. I vaguely thought the same way as you do, but I have never had a chance to confirm that because I have never eaten long-grain rice in my entire life!