jhlurie

We have quite a few. But I'll leave it up to them to pipe up and give their own suggestions about how to help their potential competition.

As usual, I've come close to tears looking at some of this guy's wares (sob).

Do you have a vacuum sealer to reseal it? If you could that opens up some better options than simply freezing it. Personally, I've cooked big ones in halves. Of course 4 pounds doesn't seem nearly as big after the sucker has shrunk a bit.

Actually, A Taste of Greece has the standard Krinos Foods meatsicle cones that they cook as well (they started cooking them a few weeks after they opened due to people asking for them) but I didn't choose to highlight them. ← Well, people are stupid!

Hee. Jason said "meat-sicle" in that Quick Bite of his for "A Taste of Greece". As in "they don't do that", but it was still funny.

"Fresh" pasta, or "nama" (literally, "raw") pasta has gained popularity in Japan recently. http://www.horenso.com/shop/pasta_set.html http://www.rakuten.co.jp/seimen/ http://x68k.net/futagami/pasta/pasta.shtml The point is, spaghetti has been so easy to assimilate into Japanese noodle culture, which includes soba (buckwheat noodles), udon (Japanese wheat noodles), ramen (Chinese noodles), and other types of noodles. It is no wonder that Japanese use spaghetti in just the same way as other types of noodles. ← I suppose my question would be if other kinds of semolina wheat based pastas have appeared as well. Or is "spaghetti" just being used as some kind of shorthand for all of them? The Italians seems to have a very strong belief that the different shapes convey very different eating experiences. Then again, I think the Italians tend to use thicker sauces than the Japanese--so the way in which the noodle holds the sauce might mean more to them. They also place on premium on the mouthfeel of different noodles. I mean restricting things JUST to strand pasta, there are still probably as many as 20 different types. Any thoughts? Is all "Japanese spagetti" basically the same noodle type because of lack of availability, or lack of interest?

That's totally my third-favorite movie of all time. ← Have you seen the later ones, where she somehow miraculously travels through time and becomes other ruthless non-nazi characters? Uh. Oh yeah. Beard awards. Right. Go Robb! Go Michael! Whoo! That really depends on how you define "General Public", now doesn't it? The world in general? The readers of the NY Times? Anyone who buys a cookbook? Anyone who props up a newspaper and reads a restaurant review? People in the food trades? eGulleteers? In the ultimate scheme of things, a Beard award might mean little more than hanging a "Zagat" sign in the window. But ask Shaw, it's still a nice thing to put on a resume.

I just knew Elvis moved to Japan! Well, heck, your whole side of the Pacific Rim... I do think Japan and Indonesia share the same series of very unstable tectonic plates.

I've been absent from this topic for too long. There are some great shots. There is, I think, a minor focus problem with this one, but the color and arrangement of it is great. This one is just beautiful. I agree with Toliver that the light is a bit too even, but its still a gorgeous shot.

Okay, some ground rules. If questions have been asked and answered on page 1, I think we can procede on to later questions. Maybe ones from page 12 or 13. Thanks, though.

At some point we need to see a picture of this map.

Price point? Menu? Decor? Takeout delivery radius? The name of the place, if its seperate from the NWL overall? We need details people!

My shopping cart was a bit too full. So no, not yet. But I'll bet it's at your local Target too. Big T is very good about standardizing stock between locations.

It's hit the suburbs here too--at least the ones with big Japanese populations. Nice nice report. I've yet to eat my first Beard Papa, but plan to seek one out now. I can't possibly see what's wrong with mixing two such great ingredients together. Maybe I'm not normal anyway. I tend to like the filled Duncan Donut variety with cream better than the custard one anyway, but that could just be because DD custard sucks.

Gee, thanks for rubbing it in. Actually I'm serious. I kind of knew this already and forgot. Back to D.C. Back in my years living there, there was no D.C. baseball. Ergo, people didn't get so angry whenever Baltimore was involved in some discussion. I'm just saying...

The restaurant reviewer for the Village Voice is ROBERT Sietsema, not Tom Sietsema. ← Err. I knew that. Need more sleep.

Let's just say, I think someone who buys this needs to constantly carry the collectors bottle around their neck on a string, and wear an accompanying sign which says "Hi, I'm a Jackass".

Hey, have you seen the debacle over some of Sietsema's Village Voice reviews? He's seems to bring controvery right along with him.

Speaking of Jones, Target now sells CANS of Jones in 12 packs. They've got the 4-packs of bottles too, but the price point seems much better on the cans (it was $3.99 for the 12 pack at my local Target). All I saw was Cream Soda and Root Beer though, at least for the cans.

There is? When the heck did this happen? Where is this in relation to the International Food Mart?

It's stupid. As someone who has a pretty darn high capability for spice, after years of high spicing I find myself gravitating back to slightly lower heat concoctions. Not because of any change in my capability or digestion, but merely out of boredom. Heat--even high heat--has to be part of a synthesis of tastes. While an experienced chilihead gets better and better at tasting THROUGH the heat to other tastes underneath, something like dressing up Pharmaceutical -grade capsicum like this is just a joke. It has nothing to do with taste, just profit off ignorance. I can actually walk down to my local Vitamin Shoppe location and buy capsicum-in-a-bottle quite easily. They've got it buffered somehow in pills for those people who think there's some holoistic health benefit. It's not some stupid "collectible".

I'd almost forgetotten that a non-Diet version of this exists. I'm pretty sure the non-diet has been all but dropped from U.S. distribution. Well, that quite naturally follows the fact that Kris herself is the best. Isn't that the same as a Hanami party? Sakura is just the name of the blossoms themselves, I think. Hanami is something like "looking at flowers".

A few super shallow reactions. 1.) Arthur Schwartz must be feeling totally vindicated now. 2.) Robb Walsh better kick Sietsema ass!

I've had the Fudge Reese's PB Cups, and the Triple Chocolate Kit Kats, but not the Dark Chocolate Twix yet. The Fudge PB Cups were okay. Nothing bad, nothing special. The Triple Chocolate Kit Kats worked, because Kit Kats are very flexible in terms of product extension in my estimation. I've liked every variant they've come out with for it. Not loved, but at least liked. Well, at least enough to bother posting a picture. Another decent purchase I made, the same day was a neat extension to the burgeoning Altoids product line. A while back they branched into Sour Candies. Then the branched off into gum. Now they've combined those branches with the addition of a Sour Apple Gum flavor: These work well because they are EXACTLY as Sour as they need to be. Enough to make you pucker your lips, but not so much that your mouth is aching from it after the fact.

New Sprite Remix flavor is out: "Aruba Jam". It's good, but I have no idea how to describe the taste. Pineapple maybe? The thing is I'm half convinced this is the same flavor as the old "Tropical" but with a new name. But I don't have any of the "Tropical" left to compare it to.