Hiroyuki

Consider using kinako (roasted soybean powder) instead of peanut butter, as I suggested here. I AM looking forward to seeing how you will make your rice balls!

That depends on your preference! I prefer regular harumame.

Malony is a product name, and is a type of harusame in Japanese(dangmyeon in Korean). Malony is firm in texture, and won't melt in nabe. Japchae is the name of a dish made from dangmyeon, right?

It's a Japanese product called Malony. Here's the official website of the manufacturer: http://www.malony.co.jp/ It's made of potato starch and corn starch. It's good in salad and in nabe.

Good point. I like squid tempura, but I find that almost goes buttery, while I prefer my octopus grilled or simmered if not as sashimi, and mongae/hoya shares that same crunchy cartiliginous (which sounds like a lawyer) character. But the flavour of mongae/hoya I find much more....distracting would probably be the best word - in comparison to octopus. I really liked the look of this one. Is that seaweed that they've fried in with it, the green parts? ← Yes. I'm not 100% sure but I think it's wakame.

I am as old as you are. (We were both born in 1960.) I don't think that the firm texture is a problem. What do you think of octopus and squid tempura? The strong flavor should be a problem for many. Hoya is an acquired taste for not only Japanese in general but people living in those prefectures. Anyway, take a look at all those hoya tempura. Mouth-watering?

Haven't we discussed hoya in the Japan Forum? Here on your own thread!

I recently bought a Shigefusa nakiri in an effort to improve my knife skills, and natually, katsuramuki is one of the skills I need to master. It is important to note that katsuramuki is just a basic skill, not an ultimate goal. Tsuji wrote in his famous book, Japanee Cooking: A Simple Art, "Peeling a giant white radish (daikon) into a single, continuous sheet is good practice for controling the knife. In fact, at the Tsuji school, aptitude for the kitchen is judged by how well entering students can perform this task." It may be a good idea to provide links to websites that explains Japanese knife techniques, some of which have already linked to here and there on eGullet. Let me start first: Japanese Cuisine Basic Techniques

Aliens? But the creatures on the top right side of the image look like hoya (sea pinapple) to me.

Hm... Korean curry rice, I would say. The ingredients such as potatoes and carrots are much smaller than those of Japanese kare, and the roux is yellowish rather than brownish. It should be less spicy than Japanese kare, right?

Just do a google search on "soki soba recipe", and you will get some results like http://www.cw-fc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=69 Soki is an Okinawan word for pork spare rib. Note that the "soba" in soki soba is not made from buckwheat flour but from wheat flour.

Here are some sites that may be of some help if you can read Japanese: http://www.kg.to/kyousai/tokushu/meisan/index.html http://www.noncolle.com/47/ http://www.mei3.net/ Note that sushi is a very wide category. Osaka is famous for its oshi zushi, while edo (former Tokyo) is where nigiri zushi originated. Kaiten zushi (conveyor sushi) restaurants originated in Osaka. This thread, Kanto vs. Kansai, may be of some help, too. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=55376

You are correct: after "aware wa" comes "shirare keri". The next poem is by Yamanoue No Okura. It goes as follows: うりはめば こどもおもほゆ くりはめば ましてしのばゆ いづくよりきたりしものそ まなかひに もとなかかりて やすいしなさぬ Like I said, I'm no poet, and I had to rely on Google to identify that poem.

Thanks for the poem written by Saigyo. Unfortunately, I'm no poet, but I can appreciate poems.

And here is a yokitori post in one of Peter's masterpieces: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1563071 I'd prefer one of those nostalgic places to high-end yakitori bar. Anyway, there are a lot of sushi snobs out there, in Japan and elsewhere, but there are hardly any yakitori snobs, so just enjoy your yakitori!

Don't worry. You just order what you are interested in. This post may be of some help. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1367050 I don't know where your yakitori bar is located, but if you go to an authentic one, you will be asked, "Shio or tare?" (salt or sauce)? Yakitori is: Yaki = grilled tori = chicken

Thanks, Helen. I didn't know about this, but my son did. He knows more about growing vegetables than I do, and he wants to give me lectures (that I don't want to get). One of the amazing things that I have learned over the years is that children nowadays don't care for watermelons! My children are probably among the few exceptions. Nectarines! You may be right. If I remember correctly, they were more expensive last year, and I think they keep showing up on supermarket shelves for a longer period of time this year.

Sorry, still no luck. I can't read the Kanji above karakuchi (辛口) on the left. Can you imagine how difficult it will be to identify the brand? Click here (results of a google image search using nama, chozo, and karakuchi in Japanese), and you will know what I mean. I went up to page 25, and then gave up!

The photo is rather dark and blurry, and I can only read these kanji: 生 nama (raw, fresh) 貯蔵 chozo (stored, storage) 辛口(?) karakuchi (dry) I did some googling, but I was unable to identify the brand. Do you have a better photo of the bottle?

I'm not BryanZ, but assuming that he is not capable of deciphering the written menu, I think I should answer the question. Yes, it is kaiseki. It starts with sakizuke (appetizer), includes yakimono (grilled dish) and nimono (simmere dish), and ends with mizu gashi (lit. watery sweet, usually fruit). To be more precise, it is restaraunt-style kaiseki, not tea ceremony kaiseki (aka cha-kaiseki, which starts with a bowl of rice and other dishes and ends with tea and a sweet).

Even in Japan, cheap sakes are now often come in paper cartons, as you may know, but I never want to see sake served like that in a restaurant! I searched for information about that sake (Tokubetu Junmai Shu, Shirayuki), and I found, surprisingly, that it is made from rice produced in Australia. Here is the official website of the brewery in English (but no mention of that particular sake) http://www.konishi.co.jp/html/e/index.html

Come on, I can read most of the writing even though it's a little blurry. I think I could read almost all of it if it were clearer, and I'm not particularly good at Kanji. You should try at least two types of tempura in Japan: tempura-ya style and soba-ya style (usually more coating). You may also want to visit a supermarket and see what the tempura there looks like. Whisky and water: It's Suntory's product.

Thanks for reminding me. Our first melon is here. I thought about your chicken wire idea for days, but I thought I could never cut it, shape it, and place it properly (I don't have the necessary tools). So, I just kept the unwoven fabric sheet over the watermelons. Fortunately, the crows have not yet detected our watermelons.

The label doesn't say which part of a whale it is. I found this site: http://www.rakuten.co.jp/hakudai/575373/674962/ which says that high-quality whale bacon uses the portion called unesu, beside kawasu (skin?). You need to scroll down a little to see a sketch of a whale.

I found one recipe for miso sauce for yakitori: 1/2 cup (i.e., 100 ml) soy sauce 4 tbsp mirin 4 tbsp sugar 1 tsp miso Combine them together and bring to a boil. Dip skewered chicken in the sauce and grill. Probably, the sauce can be used to make yaki nin'niku, too. from here (Japanese only) There should be more recipes, and I will post them if I find them.