Hiroyuki

Not recommendations but some restaurants/shops that I know of/have actually tried: Naka-meguro Johann, shop specializing in cheese cakes: http://okiraku.cside.com/johann.htm Yotsuya Sankin, tonkatsu restaurant http://gourmet.yahoo.co.jp/0000719013/P000817/ One of my favoriate tonkatsu restaurant Iidabashi (adjacent to Ichigaya, which is adjacent to Yotsuya) http://gourmet.yahoo.co.jp/0000687066/P000873/ Why not try the 2.5 kg chahan, jumbo ramen, or 100 gyoza?

Thanks for all the photos, raji. (Seems like few New Yorkers are interested in responding to this thread of yours...) I wonder if you'd like to contribute to the konbini eats, supermarket eats, depachika, and 100-yen shop threads here in the Japan Forum.

I'm here in Shiozawa, 210 km to the north of Tokyo, so I don't have any recommendations. Good to see one of those ganguro/yamanba (?) gals. I didn't know they still existed! I hope you post more pictures. Did you do cherry blossom viewing (hanami) in Tokyo?

I bought a pack of hatake shimeji for the first time the other day for 158 yen, if I remember correctly. Not bad, but I wasn't very much impressed with its flavor or texture. I think I'll stick to buna shimeji, which is cheaper. You can get some information about hatake shimeji here (Japanese only). They say that hatake shimeji is closely related to hon (real) shimeji.

This is the very first time that I learned the term "dandara". I searched for the meaning of the term, and came up with this description: Toro was called abu, shimofuri, dandara, and zuruzuru until then (World War II). from http://www.shokuzaishiire.com/isyokudougen/031023.html So, I assume that toro, shimofuri, and dandara are all synonyms, at least in Japanese. All I can say is that mebachi has little o-toro, as this photo shows. http://www.zukan-bouz.com/saba/maguro/mebatimaguro.html (Last photo on the right)

Here's one recipe in Japanese: http://noir.blackcatclub.org/dinner/recipe/j_f_03.html As you may know, ika meshi is a very popular ekiben in Japan. The authentic ika meshi in Hokkaido uses one part regular rice and two parts mochi rice. from here: http://pucchi.net/hokkaido/foods/ikameshi.php (again, Japanese only)

Yes, plain. I've never thought of eating them any other way.

Thanks everyone - it's getting more, uh, interesting... http://translate.google.com/translate?u=ht...=1&ie=Shift_JIS ← OK, rough translation: Instant shibazuke (2 to 3 servings) 2 eggplants 1 cucumber 2 myouga Small amount of ginger 2 tbs ume-zu (plum vinegar) 1 Cut the ingredients. 2 Put them in a bowl, let them sit for 10 min., stirring occassionally. As I said previously, if you ume-zu isn't available, replace it with 2 to 3 umeboshi, vinegar, and shredded red shiso leaves.

This recipe suggests that if you can't get ume-su, you can replace it with 2 or 3 umeboshi, vinegar, and shredded red shiso leaves. Anyway, good luck!

Thanks for your translation, Jason. I waited until Helen came up with something. As for myouga (Japanese ginger), I think ojisan would like to replace them with cucumbers. In his initial post here, he described shibazuke as "those purple eggplant and cucumber tsukemono".

The fact is, the medicine that Majra gave to her daughter was S.TAC AC capsules, as the photo upthread shows, not S.TAC Nys Cap (sp?) 12, which Blether linked to. Strangely, the pharmaceutical company's website does not have a webpage for S.TAC AC capsules, so I have no idea what is in that medicine.

Thanks for all those photos, sk_ward. The park where the hamani was going on was Sotobori Koen, right? Cherry blossoms are not in bloom here in this snowy region. I will post some photos when we have hanami.

I have no idea. Could you show us some examples? In present-day Japan, when we speak of chawan or o-chawan (with the honorific affix o-), we almost always mean chawan for rice. Chawan for tea are called yunomi (湯飲み) chawan or jawan. As for your second question, all my family have our own personal o-chawan, which vary in shape and size. Like sanrensho points out, even if we start with a set of chawan, we will end up using different ones sooner or later because chawan are frigile.

I found this simple recipe in Japanese. I hope Helen comes up with a good one.

Thanks for trying my recipe, Kris. I've had a terrible flu recently and lost 3 kg in 3 days. I'm still recuperating. I know I'm going to need that furikake, and made it this morning.

Other people have already answered your "hammer" question correctly. The longer one is gyuto, and the shorter one is deba.

Zenmai! Zenmai is an indispensable ingredient in nimono here in the Uonuma region.

No, but we do enjoy hanami (cherry blossom viewing)!

Yesterday my wife made ohagi.One type was anko and the other was kinako. Sorry I forgot to take a photo. ← Ohagi and botamochi are basically the same. Those dumplings made in Higan in the spring are called botamochi, while those made in Higan in the fall are called ohagi.

Yesterday (March 21), I got them from two sisters-in-law: Upper left: Nimono (simmered dish) Lower left: Bota mochi and kinako mochi Upper right: Nimono (simmered dish), which tasted almost the same as the upper left. Lower right: Maze gohan (cooked rice with other ingredients mixed in)

My cousin went to Kyoto for his school trip, and I got this nama yatsuhashi from him: Apple and peach flavors.

What did you do and eat yesterday, the day (chuu-nichi) of Higan? I didn't do anything particular in connection with Higan, but I got these from my sisters-in-law: Botamochi, kinako mochi, maze gohan (cooked rice with other ingredients mixed in), and nimono. The two nimono tasted almost the same.

Sorry, I can't comment. Brown rice is brown rice, in my opinion. The Japanese are not very fond of brown rice, and I am no exception.

Lean is called akami (which is a noun, not an adjective), which literally means red meat. We have akami, chuu-toro (medium toro), and oh-toro (fattest). I posted some info about different species of maguro here.

Good point! That's the whole point of Coco ichi. from here. The founders started their business with ordinary curry rice made with store-bought roux, and that's why their coffee house became so popular.