Hiroyuki

This afternoon, we went to see my wife. On our way back home, we dropped by the local supermarket. I bought one Pocky: Tiramisu Mousse Pocky. It has three individual packs, each containing four Pocky, 12 in total, and it is 138 yen. I liked Pretz and Pocky when I was small, but as an adult, I never buy it. It's entirely for this blog that I bought it. The two sticks on the left are ume-flavored Pretz. I don' know how it's called. My wife gave two types of Pretz to us when we visited her. One is pepper-flavored and the other is the ume-flavored one. She said that another patient gave them to her, but she didn't like them. We bought one pack of sushi for three: Notice the Wasabi-free sticker at the upper left corner. 1980 yen. I also bought two cans of beer (real beer). 288 and 298 yen. They are also entirely for this foodblog. I usually buy cheaper happou shu and third-category beer, which are about 168 yen for the same size. Drinking straight from the bottle or can is called "rappa nomi" (lit. trumpet drinking) in Japanese. We usually don't do this. Anago's nitsume (sauce), which comes with the sushi: So, tonight, I'm your average Japanese guy, right? My son said, "Everything is cold today, sushi, milk, and (leftover) hijiki. Don't you have anything hot?" So, I served this to him: Instant matsutake clear soup. Tomorrow, we are going to Flower Festival in Yuzawa!

So, you can read Japanese!

I did it. I did buy one Pocky. Photo to come later. I don't prefer Pretz. I simply don't care for either (Pretz or Pocky). For me, both are children's and young women's sweets. Don't you agree? They are both skimpy and expensive. Stingy men like me would never buy them.

Summber bobsleigh in Yuzawa Kogen?? Sorry, I've never been to Yuzawa Kogen in summer. Hana-batake? Sun flower field in Kiyotsu?? I've never been there.

I'm wondering whether fuku-sai could be better termed a "side dish"? ← Thanks!! So, Shusai: Main dish Fukusai: Side dish I'll stick with these terms from now on. Just one clarification: In Japanese cuisine, shusai is a proten-rich dish the main ingredient of which is usually meat or fish. fukusai is a vitamin-rich dish the main ingredient of which is usually vegetables. Shushoku (roughly, staple in English) is a carbohydrate-rich food, and is actually one of rice, bread, and noodles. Of the three, rice is the most "revered". Rice is the king of foods in Japan. Gohan (cooked rice) is synonymous with shokuji (meal). Thus, this joke: A: Did you have gohan (= meal)? B: No, I had bread!

My son gathered two other shiitake mushrooms this morning. My son takes a swimming lesson every Saturday, and I have to take him by car. You can't live here without a car. I sometimes miss Tokyo, where you can go anywhere by train or bus. The lession starts at 11:00 and ends at 11:50, so my daughter and I killed time at RARA in front of Muikamachi Station: Local FM radio station, FM Yukiguni: The street between Route 17 and Muikamachi Station was once dubbed Shutter Doori (Shutter Street) because many of the stores closed down immediately after JUSCO (shown upthread) opened about 10 years ago. Tenants are coming back: Yakiniku-ya Sakai My daughter had "mixed soft ice cream" (210 yen), and I had coffee (200 yen). You can have as much coffee (three types, cold, charcoal-roasted, and regular) as you want. When we came home, it was almost half past twelve. "Okusama wa Gaikokujin" (The Wife is a Foreigner) was on. Kristin appeared on the show once, but I missed it! I reheated the leftover curry, adding two additional cubes: Tasted much better. Plate that I used: My wife bought two of them while taking a trip to Ebisu Garden Place in Tokyo years ago. I can't say I like the design, but she likes it. Thus, today's lunch: We are running out of milk and natto. I must go shopping today. But, don't expect to post obligatory photos of Pocky... (helenjp aka Helen can clarify why I say so.)

I'm in a rural area of Japan, so I would say yes. What do you say, other members stationed/living in Japan?

Shusai (main dish) for today's breakfast: Shishamo with roe in them. 78 yen per 100 g. Compare the prices: Top: Chicken breast, 58 yen per 100 g Bottom right: Another chicken breast, 48 yen Bottom left: Ground pork, 78 yen Fuku-sai (sub-dish): Seasoned menma (a type of bamboo shoot). A favorite of my daughter's. She ate almost all of them. I had a few pieces. My son? I don't know. Mozuku (a type of seaweed) from Okinawa seasoned with black vinegar: A favorite of my wife's. (Why do women like sour foods?) No other family members care for it, but someone has to eat it. I asked my children if they wanted to have it, they said No. It looks like this: Shishamo, grilled in my reliable toaster oven for ten minutes: Today's breakfast: together with leaftover iri tamago (a type of scrambled eggs). My son had a pack of natto, too. As I said above, my daughter had almost all the menma. My recent new assignment: My son started to wear dental bridges two weeks ago. I have to clean them with this special detergent at least once a week. The dentist suggests cutting foods in large chunks, so I followed his suggestion when making curry two days ago.

So do your children make their own breakfast on the weekends? ← No, I wish I could say yes. I'm busy!!

In Japan, we have this notorious "shaken" (car inspection) system, in which you are required to have your car inspected three years after you purchase it and then every two years. The cost of shaken varies depending on the size of your car, and for my car, it's about 130,000 yen! That's why some (many?) people sell their car three years after they purchase it to avoid the shaken and buy another. I'm really exceptional, any Japanese would call me stupid, but I think it is eventually the least expensive to keep using the same car. Edited to add: On a similar note, in Japan, houses are built and scrapped in an average of 26 years! But let's get back to food-related topics, right?

Is that Ishiuchi Maruyama Ski Resort in the background? If so, I've been there once. ← The condo is near Maiko Korakuen Ski Resort. Ishiuchi Maruyama Ski Report is on the opposite side of Route 17. You can see it here (last photo in post #69).

Yuzawa town is very famous for its ski resorts. The Naeba Ski Resort is very popular. So is the former Shiozawa town. "Shojiki Mura" (Honest Village) is one example of machi okoshi (town revitalization) projects. It's run by a former town council member and local farmers. They bring rice, vegetables, and other farm products there, and local people and tourists go there to buy them. Unforntunately, no. Only men's flavor. I had imagined that men's flavor is garlic-flavored meat or something, and I was slightly disappointed. But the rice balls were quite good, made by 100% Shiozawa Koshihikari rice, known as Japan's best rice.

Is that your car in the center of the photo? I spotted it, or one just like it, in several of the pictures. SB (loves the pictures of your locale! ) ← Yes, Detective srhcb!! I shouldn't have parked my car there... My car is the golden one. I bought it in 1990, when I was still 30. Now I'm 46. Few Japanese people keep driving the same car for that long.

Today's supper. Miso soup's ingredients: Enoki mushroom and tofu (silken): Karasu karei (a type of flatfish): Carrot, abura age (fried bean curd), and hijiki: I made all the three dishes in thiry minutes! Dishes used to serve simmered hijiki: Cherry blossum petal-shaped Supper's ready! Leftovers: My son ate his karasu karei, but my daughter didn't eat any. She said she didn't like it . My son had some of hers. Simmered fish is a favorite of my son's. I also had some kimchi. Both my children also had natto. Children are unpredictable! I'm exhausted. This is my last post today. Good night.

Apology: I have uploaded all the photos I selected, but there are so many of them that I just post some of them here. Please go to ImageGullet to view other photos. Meet the geisha Komako again together with carp streamers, this time. Boys' Day is May 5. Today's lunch: Men's flavor and salmon, which I bought at the Orange Heart convenience store, shown in my preceding post: What is men's flavor? Spicy cucumber pickle. Are you familiar with this?:

Tour of Yuzawa (Snow Country) and surrounding areas: Bokushi Doori (Street), under construction: Visit the Niigata thread in the Japan Forum from here for more pictures of this street. Shiozawa Koshihikari made by a single farmer: The farmer's name is indicated on the label. This and other bags of rice are sold here, Shojiki Mura (Honest Village) in a museum called Imaizumi Museum: Asa ichi (morning market, similar to farmers' market?) of Honest Village, on the premises of the museum: Sorry, nothing! The sign says, it opens today, April 27. Everything must have been sold out. Kome Taro restaurant: The sign on the right says, "Japan's best Shiozawa Koshihikari". Orange Heart, an exceptional convenience store chain found in only Niigata and other few prefectures: They sell self-made onigiri, bread, bento, etc. Jashu Mon, coffee house: Lawson, a major convenience store: Yukiguni Koboku Kan, a private museum dedicated to strange-shaped trees (because of snow): A tree before the entrance: Other strange-shaped trees: Adjacent to this museum are: "Fresh Fish Center" and "Uono no Sato" (restaurant/souvenir shop) The resort condo (center of the photo) where my family lived until two years ago: This is the one: Ishiuchi Station, which has seen better days: Opposite side: They make ekiben (bento sold at railway stations) Next to the building: Doraemon, Pokemon, and... I don't know. Statue of the man who contributed to the construction of the railway line, Joetsu Line: More to come.

That's what I want to know! I did some googling, not no clue. One possible reason is that Kansai people are accustomed to paying more for meat than Kanto people. As you know, "meat" (niku) is beef (gyu-niku) in Kanto, while it is pork (buta-niku) in Kanto.

I missed this one . Separate it into manageable sizes, and wash very quickly. Some say you need not wash it if it's cultured. Put in a pot of water, add instant dashi, bring it to a boil. Turn off heat in a few seconds (not minutes, or all the flavor is gone!) Add miso. Done! Another favoriate use of maitake is, of course, takikomi gohan (rice cooked with other ingredients).

Very hard for me to answer. First of all, any food can be smelly if handled improperly. Beef can be beefy, pork can be porky, onion can by onion-y(?), and so on. I understand that even properly handled fish is described as fishy by people who don't regularly eat fish, right? Think of ramen, for instance. Most American hate ramen with aromatic, "fishy" broth simply because they think it's fishy. ← I don't mean the taste of improperly handled fish; I mean an intentionally fishy taste that I like. I don't like bad fishiness and do like what I consider good fishiness. No hard science here; it's all a matter of taste. ← All I can say is that you are an exceptional American in terms of the perception of a fishy taste.

Very hard for me to answer. First of all, any food can be smelly if handled improperly. Beef can be beefy, pork can be porky, onion can by onion-y(?), and so on. I understand that even properly handled fish is described as fishy by people who don't regularly eat fish, right? Think of ramen, for instance. Most American hate ramen with aromatic, "fishy" broth simply because they think it's fishy.

You are lucky! I was able to get chicken breast for similar prices up until two years ago (when they were on sale), but no more.

Oh, I didn't know that. Only hulled ones? You didn't notice the Japanese 消化吸収バツグン (digested and absorbed well)? OK, I'll buy the unhulled ones because they are cheaper. You put fish in your curry?? I usually put pork or chicken in my curry. My wife can put canned mackerel in her curry! I think that in general, my family prefer fish to meat. We can get tired of eating meat, meat, meat. Doesn't your husband agree?

Yes, rice ball filling. It can also be used as a dressing for daikon salad, for example. According to my memo 2 umeboshi 5g katsuobushi 1 tbsp mirin 2 tbsp dashi 1 tbsp soy sauce (No kombu in this recipe!) Real Japanese purin is made by steaming, but is not very popular because it's kind of hard to make it. We prefer another type of purin, which is set by adding gelatin and cooling. Premade purin mixes like theseare available at any supermarket. Purin contains eggs, and is sweet. There are other flavors like kabocha (squash) purin. The one I ate is a premade purin (not mix). When my children were smaller, I often made purin by heating the following ingredients in the mirowave, very carefully, making sure that it wouldn't boil: 3 eggs 80 g sugar 2 bottles of milk (= 200 x 2 = 400 ml) Some vanilla You can keep it at room temperature. I googled and found that it's good for 90 days after manufacture, but actually, it can keep for months. I just nibbled it by holding in one hand, just like many Japanese males. It requires no cooking, but you can cut it, heat it in a fry pan, with no oil (my preferred sytle), and add some pepper and salt.

I know of that method. Some people cook beans that way, but I haven't tried it yet. (I want my thermos to be always clean.)

I had no idea that I was that popular... Thanks you for saying so.