melonpan

this is not a recipe, but just general directions. you make the broth with beef shank bones with meat on it. you simmer for a long long time to suck the marrow out and get the soup flavourful. after its cooked, chill. then you buy the buckwheat noodles seperately and prepare them seperately. add garnishes as you like (cukes, pears, kimchi, radish slices, watermelon slices, ice) and season with some wasabi (oil or paste), or mustard and some vinegar. you can make this at home without too much effort unlike other dishes. you can also skip the homemade broth part since a lot of naengmyun packages come with instant packets of naengmyun dashida. sujebi is also something you are more likely to find someone make at home rather than find in a restaurant. its a comfort thing. first you make a soup and here you have to decide what kind of soup you want. it is usually a clear broth soup. anchovy based, beef based or chicken based. we usually make it with anchovies and veggies (cabbage, carrots, garlic) or chix and veggies (same ones). i have made this with canned soup too. you make a dough from just flour and water. no proportions, just mix amounts of both until you get a dough that you like. i boil the sujebi in water separate from the broth. if you boil them in your broth you will get super pasty soup. sometimes people like it like that, extra thick. so you can boil them up there. pull off little bits of the dough into the boiling water. make sure the flakes are thin enough to cook through without too much trouble. then when the sujebi and your broth are ready, drain the sujebi and dump into your soup. thats it. i have even supplemented canned chunky soup with sujebi. and i have supplemented homemade chicken soup with sujebi. you can add sujebi to many kinds of soups, but it is usually put into simple soups since its a simple dumpling. anyone here have a proper recipe with proportions? if no one speaks up, i may eventually put one up. but i suspect there are real recipes already posted out there. try different spellings: sujaebi, sujebi, nengmyun, naengmyeon, naengmyun.

this wont help you but really really good stuff is like spicy icy seltzer water... wish i could help you.

thank you for posting this, jackal. very informative and nicely put together... i was eagerly waiting for the frying part and was not disappointed. great photos. thank you!

has anyone ever had haskap? jam, wine, dressing? i wish i could taste them! someone is working on <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/nafex/2005-February/010972.html">bringing tasty blue honeyberries to the u.s.</a>... otherwise, apparently, id have to go to saskatchewan or siberia or hokkaido. not a bad reason to go, though.

does this link help? <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=28041&view=findpost&p=746149">http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=28041&view=findpost&p=746149</a>

i love melons and i love chocolate but yeah, its unusual combination...

i looked for this too, but no luck. dang. and no passion fruit kitkat.

due to regulations, milk based products from japan are not allowed here in america. or something like that. milk coffee and milk tea seem to be snuck in every once in a while and then they get scarce. according to the store manager of my local japanese market, the reason is because they are banned. he said that its a shame because people go nuts over a lot of the creamy drinks like the milk varieties of gogo no kocha. he said he will be able to get in 20 cases (12 bottles per case) of 1.5 liter bottles of the milk tea flavour of gogo no kocha and it will sell out in a couple days. i do see these drinks at the stores here so i dont know if its true. but thats what he told me. anyway, even though milk teas and milk coffees are around, i have not seen <a href="http://fujiya-milky.com/">fujiya milky</a> for a looooooong while. i dont know when i started noticing that they were never in, but i know for a fact i hadnt seen them for at least one year. ONE YEAR. saw them tonight (was on my way to buy some ramune) and i snagged 3 bags. two of strawberry milky and one regular milky. yaaay. its back. i hunted the manager down. he said that they are still banned but he was able to bring a couple cases in. maybe the ban will soon be lifted? i dont even know what this ban is about. i tried looking up some information on it by google, but didnt have much luck. i can never get the key search words right. anyway, im pretty happy to see good ole pekochan... while looking around, i saw mention of a <a href="http://www.wizzywig.com/xcart/catalog/product_42092_Fujiya_Banana_Milky.html">banana milky</a>. ooooh. i could go for that. i always love the fake banana taste in candies and chocolates. really! almost as much as i love fake strawberry taste (these ichigo milkys have real strawberry in them though!). i would love to see melon milky.... would milk tea milky be popular too? or passionfruit milky?

wow! maybe around 100 years old?! just learned about "<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=codd+bottle&btnG=Google+Search">codd bottles</a>" which was mentioned <a href="http://www.asiagrocery.com/sodapop.html">in the link</a> that torakris provided... i always thought the bottles were bizarre and now, thanks to the articles from google (esp <a href="http://www.go-star.com/antiquing/codd.htm">this one</a>), i realise why the ramune bottles are made the way they were. back in the 1870s a man named codd came up with a way to seal carbonated drinks without a lid, just a marble kept in place through the pressure of the carbonation. coolness. in looking at other ramune links, i found out that some people collect the marbles (!) and that some companies make the marbles coloured (never seen that yet). i also found out that some people dont like the drink bc they cant control the drink from spilling out and making a mess after theyve pushed the marble down. they dont know that the secret is is to keep your palm held up against the bottle right after pushing it through. hehe... hm. im kind of craving some ramune about now. havent had any in a loooong time... off to shop!

watched a dvd the other night ukigusa (1959 -- "floating weeds") and was pleasantly surprised to see some bottles of ramune. havent changed the bottles in decades. i know the drink is rather old... how long have they been around?

what does koreanist mean?

i dont know whats wrong with me but i never liked american pancakes. i do like swedish plattar though. i guess to be honest i just like crepes... :D

lately i have been obsessed with <a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=%E3%81%93%E3%81%A4%E3%81%B6%E3%81%A3%E3%81%93&btnG=Search">kotsubukko</a>. i cant eat enough! i am also fond of soft salad and hoshii tabeyo. why do all these products seem to be aimed at children? pocky, melty-x, etc dont seem to have large happy faces plastered all over their packaging and seem more 'adult'. i guess i just have childish tastes. also, is kotsubukko considered to be sembei?

yes. it *is* a yuzu jam that is diluted with hot water.i dont know how popular it is in japan, but it is pretty popular in korea.

rest in peace ilsan duck house. i hope you pop up again soon. when i go back to korea i will try to look up a branch. good schtuff.

id never heard of any korean duck dishes (which just goes to show how sheltered and how small my world is) until before i moved to los angeles, but yes, i went to the duck restaurant before it closed down last year.to be honest up until then, id only had duck two or three other times in my life and it was always chinese bbq. never had any western interpretations. this duck was pretty awesome and unlike anything id ever had. it had yakbap in it basically. the waitress at the restaurant said that there were 13 items that went into the yakbap stuffing we figured out 12 but didnt know what the 13th was. probably a secret: sweet (aka glutinous) rice some wild rice for good measure red beans sunflower seeds pumpkin seeds pinenuts peanuts whole chestnuts some raisins dates hwanggi (a root aka <a href="http://www.innvista.com/health/herbs/astralag.htm">astralagus</a>) almonds pretty yummy stuff. no recipe here but i think you wouldnt do too badly experimenting with roasting ducks or chickens with yakbap. the duck at ilsan was presented whole (and cost a bit too) and when you cracked it open, you saw that beautifully festive yakbap stuffing <center><img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/05/050203ilsan.jpg"></center>

last year we went to visit my husbands fathers grave site. we had brought along a bottle of soju and some cigarettes to offer (as he was fond of both). half way up the hill to the site i tripped and broke the bottle i was carrying. the soju spilled all over the dirt and the rocks of the path. we paid our respects and lit a couple cigarettes for him. it was not the most expensive bottle of spirits but it certainly was kind of sad to have made the long trip and drop that bottle just before reaching the site...

this is so great. i have seen these for sale and for some reason i just assumed that these were cheesecakes that were made with rare (hard to find) cheeses.now i know better. i think if there are unbaked cheese cakes in america, youd call them, well, "<a href="http://www.google.com/search?tab=gw&q=%22unbaked%20cheesecake%22&hl=en&">unbaked cheesecakes</a>".

tubs, huh? would you, by any chance, be up to making some? i had a friend who really likes the haagen dazs stuff (so she said) and i wanted to surprise her by buying her some over the holidays. over a period of a week and a half, i checked about 5 grocery markets around me. none of them had this (this was in the period from xmas to new years). so i gave up and finally made some. i made it and she liked it enough. she did say that the haagen dazs stuff was stronger flavoured, but i can remedy that for next time. i made a custard based ice cream, infused the cream and milk with 2 sticks of cinnamon, added about a teaspoonful of cinnamon powder. maybe next time, ill up the cinnamon powder. but i know not everyone wants to make ice cream. but it is an option.

not all koreans add sugar to their chojang. at our house we dont use any sugar or other sweeteners. i imagine it must vary from household to household.

kimchi jeon would also be legal i think.... esp if you dont add any pa (scallions) ive been known to make kimchi jeon.

I really want one of these!!!! sukiyaki.....shabu shabu..... nabemono! as with most things, there are the more expensive ones which put out a higher btu or even have double burners but there are also very reasonably priced ones with less horsepower available for just usd$20 (i have seen even $15 ones at the koeran market). we got a cheapie $20 iwatani (on sale) a while ago and yes, theres no turning back. indespensible.try one of the marukais in honolulu and check out what they have there. their prices are usually quite reasonable for imports. actually bc of the volume they turn around, their prices are probably one of the cheapest if not the cheapest for japanese imports. ps, did you know theres a band out there called "<a href="http://www.con-los.com/">cassette con-los</a>"? clever-precious.

ramen cole slaw 2 ounces (60 g) sesame seeds 1 package slivered almonds 1 head cabbage 8 scallions 2 packages uncooked ramen noodles toast sesame seeds and almonds in a fry pan with some oil until slightly browned. take off heat to cool. meanwhile chop the cabbage and scallions and break up the noodles into small pieces. mix sesame seeds, almonds, cabbage, scallions and ramen together in a large bowl. for dressing, in another small bowl, mix the following together: 4 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 3/4 cup (190 ml) salad oil 6 tablespoons rice vinegar add the dressing to the cabbage mixture and stir well.

how about cooking with binchotan? does this count? it might not quite count as an ingredient though. at least it counts as a fad. and it certainly goes with this 'healthy' stuff... people are adding sticks along with their rice and water in the rice cooker...

hiroyuki, those cakes are cute! i am going home for the holidays... i just realised that i forgot to ask my mom to go out and purchase my favourite cake... oh well (in case any one is wondering, although i doubt anyone would be who is reading the japan forum, the cake is burnt almond cake from dicks bakery in san jose, ca -- DE. VINE)... no tradition of having any xmas cake, but you know, it sounds really good. i think i may try to convince some members of my family to drive out to one of the markets and get one. :D (i checked. they are open on xmas eve and xmas day!) merry christmas, hiroyuki. and merry christmas to you too, everyone!