Hiroyuki

I guess you know that "by introducing raw fish..." should be replaced by "by introducing dressed or precooked fish...".

This morning, I ate Koshiibuki (not Koshihikari) rice for the first time. It's a new variety deriving from Koshihikari. Bags of that rice were on sale at a local supermarket, and my wife bought one. Price? A 10-kg bag cost 3,880 yen. I found it good and much lighter than Koshihikari. EDIT: Now I'm happy that I don't necessarily have to depend on expensive Koshihirari rice.

As I implied in my preceding post, it is called edo-mae-zushi. Before the advent of freezing and refrigeration technology, all seafood had to be dressed or precooked in some way or other before being served. Such dressing and precooking is referred to collectively as "shigoto" (仕事) ("work" in English). Such shigoto is time-consuming and can be done only by a skillful sushi chef. On the other hand, customers now crave for more raw seafood and at the lowest price possible. I guess you understand why it's not popular now. Information on traditional edomae-zushi shops: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/wine/aji/aj03080401.htm#4 (Japanese only) A book on edomae-zushi: http://www.president.co.jp/book/1753-7.html (Japanese) A school teaching edomae-zushi: http://academy.sushi.ne.jp/tsushin/# (You can see a movie showing how to make edomae-zushi (only briefly, though): Scroll down just a little and click スタート (meaning "Start"), and in the window that appears, select from FTTH 光ケーブル (optic cable), ADSL/CATV, and ISDN/普通電話 (regular telephone), and the movie starts.

Smallworld, I am so with you on this one! It's not illegal. You won't be arrested for doing so. But you may be arrested for saying so.

I know that the "aku" (harshness or bitterness) of bracken is carcinogenic, so do many Japanese. That is why we remove some (not all) of aku before eating. (Removing all aku loses the flavor of bracken.) And braken and other types of fern are delicacies that can be eaten in the springtime only. I believe that we are safe from their toxins as long as we eat them in small quantity. EDIT: Photo of bracken (previously posted in another thread in the Japan Forum):

First, one clarification: That particular sushi shop is an edo-ame-zushi shop, a traditional, authentic edo-mae-zushi shop. The shop also calls its sushi ryoh-ri zushi (料理寿司). 料理 = cooking 寿司 = sushi I think I'll submit another post (or maybe not), but first, supper is ready and I'm hungry.

That's simple. 辛い karai has two meanings, hot (i.e., spicy) and dry (as in dry wine). *** You mean you can't input them? Why not install a Japanese character set? You may find this thread useful: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=20825 EDIT: We usually use the word karakuchi 辛口 rather than 辛い to describe dry sake and wine. The opposite of karakuchi is amakuchi 甘口. If you need more information, please post a question in the Japan Forum.

If I want to go overseas for sightseeing with someone else, I will have a travel agent organize a tour especially for us.

torakris is not the only viewer; I should have added some more information. Here it is: The home page of the website (Yubatora 湯葉寅): http://www.yubatora.com/index.html How to make (lift) fresh yuba: http://www.yubatora.com/hiki.htm Manufacturing process: http://www.yubatora.com/seizou.htm Interesting, but I still think yuba is a specialty of Kyoto, expensive, and not worth buying. I prefer fu. I like almost all other soy products, though.

I had thought it was because the men are pressured into giving up sweets once they hit their teenaged years because it was considered unmanly. But, the coffee or dark chocolate ones are considered manly enough to eat. Is this the case, Hiroyuki? In Japanese, we have these words, ama-toh 甘党 and kara-toh 辛党. Definitions: ama-toh: someone who likes to eat sweet things ("someone who has a sweet tooth" in English) kara-toh: someone who likes to drink alcohol What I find silly about these words is that some Japanese believe that there is a clear distinction between ama-toh and kara-toh. Thus, a Japanese may say something like this: You said you were a kara-toh, but you like sweets, too! I myself like to eat sweets including almost all kinds of Pocky, and I like drinking, too. But it's true that, like so many Japanese men, I cannot order a parfait when I go to a cafe alone and I hesitate to go to an ice cream shop alone. NOTE: Some Japanese think that kara-toh refers to someone who likes to eat hot (spicy) foods, but this is not correct usage.

Difficult to answer... I've been to Hokkaido twice, and I think if you go to Sapporo and Hakodate, your craving for food will be satisified. You mentioned lavender fields. You probably mean the ones in Furano 富良野, right? It's far from Sapporo and Hakodate... I, for one, don't like to go to Osaka (just another big city). Kyoto and Kobe are much better (just my opinion).

Just a quick search for dry yuba, and I found an interesting movie: http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/yhjp3lo...paku/yubage.htm

And Marumiya's Mabo Dofu! http://www.rakuten.co.jp/s-morita/380486/383985/#318422

Me either. That's why I sometimes make umeboshi paste. But I put the paste at the center of the rice ball, not mix it with the rice.

Oops! You called me... I have kept my mouth shut on this issue for fear of offending some men... You are about right. Generally speaking, pocky is for women in their teens and early twenties, at least in Japan. (Don't argue with me; I said "Generally speaking".) EDIT: After rereading Sleeppy_Dragon's post, I found that I had misinterpreted it. I think I'll submit another post later.

What about the recipe: (I wonder if you can get mitsuba and sansyo.) Ingredients: 120 g grilled eel 2 tbsp sake (1 tbsp = 15 cc) 2 pcs burdock 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 pack mitsuba (kind of green leaves) 1 tbsp soy sauce 2 eggs Sansyo 2 cups dashi soup (1 cup = 200 cc) 2 tbsp mirin How to make: 1. Cut eel to 1.5-cm widths. 2. Whittle burdock, soak in water, boil quickly, and drain. 3. Cut mitsuba to 2- to 3-cm lengths. 4. Break eggs and beat gently 2 or 3 times. 5. Pour dashi soup in the pot, add mirin, sake, sugar, and soy sauce. Add burdock and simmer until tender. 6. Pour eggs. 7. Sprinkle mitsuba. 5. When the eggs are half done, turn off the heat, put the lid on. Finish with afterheat. 6. Sprinkle sansyo. *** Based on this website: http://www.shokuiku.co.jp/reshipi/reshipi2/res0031.html

How about this one? Is it similar? http://www.e-unagi.com/info/ryori/shira/go...agidon_sub.html

Hiyashi chuka. A quick google search tells me that it was invented in Japan in the early Showa period. (Showa began in 1925.) I'm a fan of sesame-seed-based soup (goma-dare).

Thank you for saying so, but this recipe is not my invention but what I learned from a TV program several years ago. I usually don't follow any recipe exactly, and this one is no exception. I think that I should leave out the soy sauce; umeboshi are salty enough and why should I make them saltier?

My preceding post is not meant to be an attack on torakris's great work; it was my attempt to answer this question of Yuki. Many tofu makers admit that they use an anti-foaming agent and say that they need it to get the most out of soy beans. (Anti-foaming agents are known to have effects other than the prevention of foaming.) One tofu maker who does not use an anti-foaming agent says that he needs to simmer soy milk for forty minutes to make it as good as the one made with an anti-foaming agent.

Just to make sure, here is the website of Gyoza No Ohsho 餃子の王将: http://www.ohsho.co.jp/contents.html Gyoza No Ohsho reminds me of my university student years (early 1980s). I lived in Tokyo then, and Gyoza No Ohsho was attempting to extend their business to the Kanto area. I found their gyoza good and inexpensive. If I remember right, they were not so greasy, but that was more than two decades ago, and I can never be sure.

Thanks, Pan. You always come at the right time. And, you know, I have finally understood what this thread is meant to be.

That's something I wanted to ask you all. So, there are no manufacturers in the United States that make Pocky-like snacks, all Pocky and Pocky-like snacks you are referring to are imported ones. Right?

I just want to make sure: Is is 王将 (Ohsho), ぎょうざの王将 (Gyoza No Ohsho), or something else?

Perhaps Japanese fiddleheads don't taste like stagnant bog scum as do North American ones. After all, Japanese eggplants are delicate and creamy while North American eggplants are flabby and pulpy. Bear in mind as well that the fiddleheads most commonly and readily available here are commercially produced. In that case, I'm doubly sorry and I'm absolutely in your camp. Let me say: Feh. edit: Gah.