Hiroyuki

The "green vegetables" look like warabi to me with nameko. The "something simmered" looks like artificial meat made from soybeans. I was once given something like this, and it contained some julienned ginger. Egg? It looks like ganmodoki (made with tofu and vegetables) to me. In #35, you mentioned konnyaku. It looks like sashimi konnyaku, so it should taste better than regular konnyaku! But pineapple in a Japanese dish!? And, mushy soba... Thanks for showing us a good example of shojin ryori. Everything looked so bland!

I'm not sure but probably not. The "balls of flour" are temari fu (wheat gluten shaped like handballs). The characters on the right chopstick are: 厄除　yaku yoke (expell evil) 長寿 Choju (longevity) 箸 bashi (chopstick)

I can see the characters: 航空　aviation 殉難者　martyr 之碑　's monument Thanks for this post of yours. You reminded me of something I have forgotten for decades. The history of Japan!

THANKS!! The peach one came out the best of the three. My children both said that the kiwi one tasted bitter. The grape one tasted rather stale because the grapes themselves were stale probably due to longtime storage in the freezer. Since I started to study kaiseki in earnest, I've been constantly overwhelmed by the sheer amount and diversity of work I have to do. The subject of kaiseki is so elusive! I have to learn the spirit of kaiseki, different types of kaiseki, Sen no Rikyu, wabi-sabi, and much much more.

I can't believe I haven't yet posted this photo here. Natto topped with bonito flakes, sesame seeds, pickled (pickled daikon leaves here), and shirasu This dish is called kirizai here in the Uonuma region of Niigata. And a photo of shirasu I'm a Kanto person and a shirasu boy.

These snacks are called okoshi おこし (not okashi). In Tokyo, Kaminari Okoshi 雷おこし in Asakusa is very famous.

For those Japanese who are in their 40s like me, bukkake has only one meaning, and is used in connection with gohan, soba, udon, and so on. Words change with time, so I'm not sure what younger Japanese will have to say about your question. Maybe their encounter with this word may be quite similar to yours...

The dashi was so good that I made it again today. For lunch, I made ramen using 300 ml of the dashi. I combined it with soy sauce at a ratio of 12:1, which resulted in a great broth for ramen. I topped the ramen with some bacon (heated in the toaster oven), kamaboko, shredded kombu (instead of boiled spinach), and negi. Nothing like home-made ramen with subtle flavor.

And, I'd like to see a photo of a cross section.

Kokumotsu su and kuro-zu only. No rice vinegar in my kitchen. My mother didn't like it. Maybe I should give it a try.

In Japan, clams (hamaguri, right) are often used in clear soup.

My wife also suffered from amenia. Supplements worked fine. (She said she wanted to have liver (pork liver), but obviously, that's not what you want to eat on a daily basis.)

OK, thanks. Now I must clarify: The chef simply showed me these un-shelled ama ebi, without me asking, probably because he wanted to impress me with the freshness of these ebi. And, of course, I was impressed!

One of the boring things about kaiseki is that the dessert served at the end of an expensive course is mizu gashi* (literally, watery confection), which is some kind of fruit, usually a seasonal one. * Some Japanese mistakenly think that mizu gashi include other types of dessert like youkan and kanten. Things are changing, and many kaiseki restaurants now serve desserts other than fruit. Interestingly, Murata uses the term mizu mono (literally watery thing) in his book, instead of mizu gashi. Yesterday, I made three types of sorbet: Left to right: Kyoho (grape often called the king of grapes), peach, and kiwi fruit My parents kindly send us various types of fruit. We appreciate it, but it can sometimes be just too much for a family of four. Last year, they sent us frozen kyoho, fresh natsu mikan (a type of citrus), frozen peaches (previously simmered with sugar), and fresh kiwi fruits. I thought that making sorbet would be a good way to finish them off. They also sent us hoshi gaki (dried persimmons), some of which were moldy and were not very appetizing. Today, I washed them all under running water. I thought of making a kind of youkan, but I ended up putting them in the freezer.

For supper last night, I made clear soup using the dashi I made in the way described in the Kaiseki thread. I used the 1:3:160 ratio for salt, soy sauce, and dashi, which is suggested in the book (I mean the book titled, "Wariai de Oboeru Wa no Kihon"). Thus, for 800 ml dashi, I used 5 ml (1 tsp) salt 15 ml (1 tbsp) soy sauce The resultant soup was very good. (NOTE: I used dark soy sauce (koikuchi), not light (usukuchi). The book says to use light soy sauce. I'm a Kanto person, and have a lot of hesitation about buying more expensive, less flavorful, and saltier light soy sauce.) When making sushi meshi (sushi rice), I also tried the 1:4:6 ratio for salt, sugar, and vinegar. Thus, for two cups of uncooked rice, I used 7.5 ml (1/2 tbsp) salt 30 ml (2 tbsp) sugar 45 ml (3 tbsp) vinegar The resultant sushi rice was less sour than the one I usually make. I usually use more vinegar and less sugar.

You mean the botan ebi in the omakase sashimi platter? It was shelled before being served, with the head on. I just held it with both my hands and separated the flesh from the head. I dipped the flesh in soy sauce and ate it, leaving the tail. You can suck on the "miso" (what's inside the head), but I'm not very adventurous for a Japanese, so I sucked on it rather moderately. For ebi fries and ebi tempura, I usually have the tail, too. As you can see, shrimp heads are a good source of "dashi" for soup and shells are often deep-fried without coating (kara-age style) and served as an appetizer.

I learned from a TV show yesterday that there are two types of ramen that will become popular in 2008: Sengyo kei (鮮魚系) and Italian. According to the show, sengyo kei ramen features a broth made with fresh fish like tai (sea bream) and tuna kama (collars). Italian ramen is like tsukemen (noodles and broth served in separate bowls) where the broth is Italian.

Kan-buri 寒ブリ (yellowtail caught in winter and highly valued for its fattiness)! I had farmed kan-buri for supper last night. 8 slices for 498 yen.

I had an Ougon Hiritsu Purin (Golden Ratio Pudding) for the first time yesterday. It was on sale, 100 yen per two cups. Half eaten: Manufacturer's webpage on the purin: http://www.morinagamilk.co.jp/products/bra...ugon/index.html (Japanese only) It says that the manufacturer has found a gold ratio for fresh cream and egg yolk. Overall, a good value for only 50 yen. I want to buy it again.

Helen: Milder, I would say, but to be honest, I'm not qualified to describe the difference in flavor because I have made dashi in a proper way a few times only in my life and, as you know, I usually use instant dashi. Anyway, this way of making dashi reminded me of the Matsuya paper drip method, which is intended to extract only flavorful components from coffee beans. Thanks for the tip on growing mitsuba. I will plant some mitsuba this year, as I did two years ago. BarbaraY: Don't just read the book! As I implied in my first post here, I'm not interested in exactly following all those recipies in the book. I think I'll skip all those less common and expensive items like sea urchin and milt (I don't like them anyway). Kristin: Of course NOT!! That will probably be for special days only. After all, kaiseki is what you eat on a special day, right? I don't want to have tsukudani made with used kombu and bonito flakes every day and I don't want to just throw them away, either.

Sorry, no useful info there. I can send an inquiry to the company he worked for: http://www.seryna.co.jp/ if you want me to, although I'm not sure if they will give me a reply.

I have decided to try to get kaiseki into my cooking. That's why I bought this book: KAISEKI The Exquisite Cuisine of Kyoto's Kikunoi Restaurant, written by Yoshihiro Murata. I'm NOT interested in making kaiseki dishes themselves. I just want to put some elements of kaiseki to my dishes. The book arrived yesterday, and the explanation of dashi on page 161 has been the most intriguing part of the book so far. So, today, I decided to follow the author's way of making dashi, which he thinks is the best way. He says soft water is essential to making dashi. You can't extract the glutamic acid from kombu with water with a hardness of more than 60 ppm of calcium carbonate. Another interesting fact is that you cannot extract the glutamic acid from kombu over 176 F (80 C) and the optimum temperature for extraction is 140 F (60 C). Here is a brief description of the method. (The original recipe is for 1.8 liters of soft water. I modified it for half the water.) 0.9 liter soft water 15 g kombu 25 g shaved bonito flakes 1. Wipe kombu with a moist towel. 2. Put water in a pot and add kombu. Set the pan to very low heat until 140 F (60 C). Keep it at 140 F for 1 hour. 3. Remove kombu. 4. Raise the temp to 176 F (80 C). DON'T BOIL. Turn off heat. 5. Add bonito flakes and leave them for 10 seconds. 5. Strain through a fine sieve covered with cheese clooth. DON'T SQUEEZE. NOTE: For more detailed explanation of dashi, please buy the book or browse it at a bookstore. Here are some photos of my dashi making. Kombu, bonito flakes, and thermometer: This is how I kept the water at 60 C: First wrap the pot in a towel and then newspaper. This worked well. The temperature dropped to only 50 C after 1 hour. Kombu dashi: Kombu and bonito dashi: I didn't use a cheese cloth, so the dashi contained bits of bonito flakes. I made tsukudani, using the used kombu and bonito flakes and some sesame seeds. (This container with a lid is that of Kinshobai, a very expensive furikake.) http://www.kinshobai.co.jp/ I made clear soup with the dashi, adding dried shiitake mushroom and a beaten egg: Really tasty! Ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant)-quality soup! My children said it was good (oishii in Japanese). (I know something is missing - Garnish. I didn't want to buy expensive mitsuba!)

I googled 藤田修司 (Shuji Fujita in Kanji), but nothing relevant came up. He quit his job for health reasons, right?

Sorry, I don't know, and I don't send her an email just to confirm that. Thanks for your interpretation of the situation.

I ordered one copy of the book on kaiseki that's mentioned upthread, only yesterday, and it arrived today. I want to get inspiration from the book when I make kaiseki-like dishes. I'm not very interested in exactly following the recipes in the book.