Hiroyuki

I made enoki tempura for supper last night, along with other types of tempura. Unfortunately, the enoki tempura turned out rather oily, and I forgot the idea of posting in the Tempura Cook-Off thread in the Cooking Forum. Instead, I posted some photos in my blog with some comments.

390 YEN!!!!!!!!! Were these child portions? I have to get out of the city. ← At Korakuen, they offer ramen, which they call "chuuka soba", at 290 yen (304 yen including 5% consumption tax) per bowl.

Any miso soup containing pork can be called tonjiru (mainly in the Kanto area) and butajiru (mainly in the kansai area), and I personally think that gobo (burdock root) comes at the top of the list of ingredients that should go into it, along with carrot, daikon, sato imo (or sweet potato), negi, and konnyaku. As for the mushroom, wasn't it buna shimeji? Did you put a whole bunch of mitsuba in your tonjiru? I usually don't associate mitsuba with tonjiru. Chopped bannou negi or other types of negi are usually sprinkled on top.

I noticed today that the description of enoki on the website of eGullet's current sponsor contains the following paragraph: Enoki mushrooms contain a hemolytic substance (a type of protein) and, therefore, should not be eaten raw. When heated, the protein is decomposed and is safe to eat. I emailed the sponsor about this today, and I hope that the error will be corrected soon. *** Two days ago, I got five clusters of enoki mushrooms, and yesterday, I used three of them to make: Enoki and daikon miso soup Japanese salad of enoki, wakame, corn, fake crab meat, and sesame seeds Enoki gratin I hope I can make enoki tempura soon.

I found it. 梅太夫 is ume tayuu (うめたゆう).

I'm not sure but I think 梅大夫 reads umedaifu. 五代 Godai にごり梅酒　nigori umeshu 梅太夫 umedaifu (?) It's from Yamamoto Shuzo (山元酒造) in Kagoshima prefecture. http://www.kyushu-shochu.com/select/item-l...sonota-075.html

Antenor is アンテノール Thanks for giving me some laugh. That's exactly what I need right now.

Maybe Ou bai nigori shu from Nara It's sake based. From here I can't find information about the brewery, so maybe it's only available at izakaya. When I googled "nigori ume shu" (にごり梅酒), I got some hits such as http://ma2ya.shop-pro.jp/?pid=1862052 It's imo jochu based.

Your stories are simply amazing! Such terms as plasticulture and ecophysiology were new to me, and I had to google to learn what they actually meant. In my snowy area, also known as Snow Country, the temperature seldom drops below -7C (19.4F), and the lowest temperature is usually in the range of -2C (28.4F) to -3C (26.6F). The problem with me is that I still cannot devote myself to vegetable gardening as a hobby, but I hope I can follow your suggestions when I can take it up as a hobby.

Helen: West. The slope is part of the river bank. The farmland is very close to Uono River, which runs through Minami Uonuma city. Sora mame are a very good idea. I'll think about growing them. gautam: Thanks for your very informative post! Extending the season was a new idea that I learned from the square foot gardening book Helen mentioned. I think it's a novel idea, but I don't think it can be applied to my very snowy area. I do, however, consider using sheets of unwoven fabric like Paopao and Tekuteku (sp?) for pest control. Anyway, I copied and printed your post for future reference.

Thanks, Jason! I will tell her about this. I wonder how she will respond. ← I notified her of your story, I haven't received a reply yet, but considering how inexpensive these overgrown enoki caps, I don't think she will make positive comments. At the local supermarket today, I found bags of overgrown enoki caps (400 g) sold for 148 yen each. Maybe the same thing cannot happen for enoki mushrooms in Japan. I myself prefer enoki with large caps, so the situation in Japan is good for me.

I still have a lot of work to do around the house, and I know I can't expect any assistance in vegetable gardening from my wife in the near future. When I first told my son about that offer, he wasn't very much interested. He said that the small space around the house was enough for him. When I finally decided to accept that offer and started working on the farmland, he said he was willing to help. My son and I talked about what to grow, and decided on daikon, carrot, broccoli, spinatch, and komatsuna (a type of green).

I don't know of any recipe. I have no interest in making my own miso! Here are some results of a quick google search: http://www.fuchu.or.jp/~kanemitu/misomaking.htm (English) http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=PQZzEPxnzTE (Video on YouTube, Japanese only) I can't vouch for the accuracy of these recipes.

A miracle has happened! A lady said I could use this farmland of hers free of charge. After weeks of pondering, I accepted her offer. The farmland is in the middle of the photo, and measures approximately 4 x 5.5 m, or 22 m^2. Today, I went to a home improvement center to buy some of the items I needed. One of the items was these six bags of bark compost. More info to come as it becomes available!

Yesterday, I got two bags of myouga from two different people. Obviously, myouga are in season right now here in my area. My wife suggested making myouga tempura and pickles, but I didn't like either. One bag of myouga ended up in miso soup.

It's already that time of the year!? I was really craving some kuri gohan (kuri okowa would be good too, but I'm currently out of mochigome) the other day and lamented the fact that it will probably be a couple more weeks until some chestnuts are available to me. Summer doesn't seem to want to die just yet here. ← It's that time of year again! My parents, who live in Chiba prefecture, sent us a box of chestnuts the other day, as they do every year. I have decided to make kuri okowa for tonight's supper. Before I went shopping in the morning, I told my wife I'd buy some mochigome (glutinous rice) to make kuri okowa, but she replied that I could always make kuri gohan instead. I said, angrily, "But I like mochigome!!" I'm usually a faithful rice person, but when it comes to "takikomi-ing (?) chestnuts, sansai (wild edible plants), etc., I've always preferred mochigome. I don't know why, but the texture of mochigome is so right with chestnuts and sansai. There has been little or no discussion about varieties of mochigome. Here is the variety often found in Niigata, Kogane Mochi, which is said to be the "king of mochigome". This 1-kg (2.2 lb.) bag costs 620 yen. The inner pot of the rice cooker, together with "Kurikuri Bozu", which I used to peel the chestnuts. Tough guy! I used the whole bag of mochigome, which is equivalent to about 6.5 gou (1 gou = 180 ml). My complaint is why they sell mochigome and regular rice (uruchi mai or gome) by the kilogram when we still use "gou" for cooking . ← This evening, I made the first kuri okowa this season. Everyone liked it, as usual. Has anyone else made their first kuri okowa or gohan this season?

Sorry, melonpan. I know I can never be a good technical writer... Here is a better description of the recipe. Note that I have modified (simplified) the original recipe so it's a kind of fool-proof. Ingredients: 250 g edamame 40 g salt 1 liter water 1. Rinse edamame in water, drain, and put them in a bowl. 2. Add 40 g salt, and rub edamame well. Let edamame stand for at least 1 hour. 3. Boil 1 liter of water in a pot. 4. Transfer the contents of the bowl (edamame and salt) to the pot. DON'T RINSE EDAMAME. The water now contains 40 g (4%) salt. 5. Boil edamame for 3 min. NEVER OVERBOIL. 6. Drain in a colander. DON'T RINSE EDAMAME. Cool with a fan.

Wagashi is closely associated with matcha, which is, in turn, closely associated with sado (the way of tea, tea ceremory, etc.) In most households in Japan, matcha is almost nonexistent (in the form of powder). We usually have wagashi with regular green tea (sencha). Matcha is, however, very popular nowadays as an ingredient of confections and ice creams.

The bottles are made of plastic. No water is applied, but I think humidifiers keep the mushrooms moist. It's never too late to post questions or comments.

The other day, I bought a bag of special edamame called ama cha mame (lit. sweet brown beans) produced in Niigata. Empty bag: Ama cha mame in a bowl, salted before being boiled: I did some googling and found this variety is also called dadacha mame, a specialty of Tsuruoka, Yamagata prefecture. This variety is more expensive than regular ones, and I found it more flavorful. I previously posted how to cook edamame here in my blog on Japanese cooking.

Thanks, Jason! I will tell her about this. I wonder how she will respond.

Can you guess what this is? Yesterday, I got this bag of enoki caps that have grown too big to be sellable from the owner of that enoki factory. Closeup: I had told her that I preferred enoki with large caps. I put some of them in miso soup this morning, and I liked them!

The backsplash is as described by prasantrin. As for hoods, here are some examples: http://www.taroto.com/fan/national/renji-bl.html Retail prices are about 80,000-90,000 yen, while actual selling prices are much lower, about 40,000 yen.

Sorry, I really can't answer your first question. For one thing, I don't know of such a big sushi shop in Japan where there are groups of sushi chefs working behind the counter. For another, it would be insulting to the chef and to the head chef as well if you made such a request. The head chef is responsible for everything in the sushi shop, including the skills of his subordinate(s). I have no idea how sushi bars in the United States are operated, so I'm not qualified to answer your question. Anyone? That previous answer of mine was a hypothetical one because I have never been to a sushi shop where there are "jika" (market price) tags hanging on the wall. Even if I visited such a sushi shop, I would not order something labled as "jika". As I mentioned previously, you can simply ask what the price of a particular "jika" neta (topping) is (which isn't offensive to the chef at all), or you can enjoy a little conversation with the chef before asking the price by saying things like: When is tuna in season? Is it expensive around this time of year? (Then you may want to ask, "So, how much is it today?") Maybe someone else can come up with more appropriate sentences.

There are actually two types of sakura mochi, Kanto and Kansai styles. Wikipidia entry of sakuramochi The Kanto style uses a bigger leaf. If I remember correctly, I didn't eat the leaf when I was small (and lived in Tokyo). In the Kansai style, the leaf is almost integral with the mochi. Many people there eat the leaf as well. This I learned only yesterday. Here in Niigata, the Kansai style is prevalent. I don't know why. To tell you the truth, I have totally forgotten what the Kanto style sakura mochi looks like.