melonpan

first, thank you to hiroyuki for his help. :D we drink barley and corn tea like water but im always game for instant bottled beverages... like kirins morokoshi namacha and suntorys manten batake. when you first sip morokoshi namacha (kirins namacha page) youre belted with a pleasant, but very strong and very clear roasted corn taste. theres a slight taniney tang from green tea but it doesnt scream green tea. morokoshi namacha is a happy, pale golden color and the ingredients list includes corn, green tea and black beans. great little drink. suntorys manten batake page also has a roasted taste, but its not as clear or light tasting as the morokoshi. it tastes thicker somehow and the flavour is complex, hard to describe. there is no outstanding flavour, no "this is barley tea", no "this is corn tea" feeling. its definitely kind of vegetably. this isnt hard to understand when you know that 14 grains, beans and vegetables that go to make this tea: barley, something referred to as "herb tea" (herb tea? what kind of herb??), job's tears, brown rice, corn, soybeans, spinach (actually komatsu), peas, asparagus, sweet potato, bitter melon, cabbage, daikon and onion. whew! i dont know how this stuff manages to avoid tasting like a decent vegetable broth, but it does. its not a broth at all; its very much a tea. and like the morokoshi namacha, there isnt any strong taniney taste from the green tea (thats a 15th ingredient!) in it, but i do notice a slight dryness to my throat after drinking. if they both werent so precious and around us$2, im sure id be drinking them more often, but i dont mind too much. homemade barley and corn tea arent such slouches either.

regarding まんてん畑 (a bottled drink put out by suntory) is this pronounced "mantenten"? thank you!

sangaria melon soda and strawberry soda come in aluminum bottles and are sold for under us$2. they can be a hard to find because they arent replenished as often as other more popular drinks. but i have seen them once at a local 7-11 (yaaay!). sangaria melon soda is special, though, because it tastes EXACTLY the way those fruity korean (and japanese) erasers i got as a kid smell. you know, the ones that smell soooooo deliciously tasty that youre never sure if its edible or not (they arent!!). every sip of what we call 'ji-u-gae soda' (eraser soda) is a sip into my childhood.

mmmm, momochoco! another sweet delight from meiji company. these shiny, happy, pink little peaches (with little peach butt cracks) are about the side of small apollos. in the photo the three pink blobs on the top, those are drawings but the two pink blobs on the bottom are real. maybe they are about the size of very large peas or very small garbanzo beans. very strong peach flavour with the smoothness typical found in meiji style chocolates. the outer shell is definitely crispy crunchy like m and m candies, but slightly thinner than m and ms. "so fruity!!" "cute peachy chocolate!" mo, mo, mo, more momochoco, please!

boy i feel like such a caveman, but i always thought that banh mi places served just high quality (crusty, chewy, warm just baked) french baguettes (yeah, maybe slightly smaller sandwich sized, but still a baguette). (chain places like lees sandwiches or mr baguette in los angeles area.) didnt know that the vietnamese take on it was significantly different. (honest!) that theres even a recipe for a vietnamese baguette... the recipe cited uses half flour half rice flour... next time i go for banh mi, ill take along a regular baguette for comparison. i guess my assumption (vn baguette = f baguette) clouded over any differences that may have been there. compared to regular baguettes, are vietnamese ones more crispy and light (due to rice flour)??

ive never tried the frozen taiyaki for fear of being disappointed, but maybe i will try it... i have never bought frozen takoyaki for the same reason, but people have told me that they are actually quite good microwaved. i think i will try making takoyaki one of these days. i see often see students buying tenkasu and octopus and nothing else... i didnt actually know about the term monaka until last night when i did some research on trying to describe the ice monaka. i didnt realise it, but they are wafers; they were never crispy enough for me to realise it. the ice taiyaki and ssamankos are definitely a kind of ice monaka, then. because their coverings are not like real taiyaki batter. even though i did not know what they were called, i did know about the existence of monaka (proper) and have bought some occasionally. the staleness never seemed as big a problem to me as the sweetness of each monaka. waaaay to much an. i actually like the wafers (i also loooooove plain ice cream cones and eat them without the ice cream!). smaller sized monaka (better wafer/an ratio) are probably better for me. ooh, i could go for those...

there are a certain type of ice cream bars available in korea and japan. they are usually individual cakes of vanilla ice cream surrounded by a wheat based coating. i think these types of cakes (red bean paste and the like covered in a wheat based covering) are called monaka, although i dont know what monaka is technically. are taiyaki a kind of monaka? the kind of taiyaki that are grilled fresh for you, not the ice taiyaki. so, there exists a subset of monaka, called ice monaka... these are morinaga's JUMBO choco monaka. the jumbo choco monaka are vanilla ice cream bars, with a thin layer of chocolate in the center, dipped in chocolate and then covered with the monaka covering. yumms! one other kind of ice cream confection in japan is called taiyaki (note, they also sell frozen non-ice cream taiyaki in the freezer section too!). in korea, an equivalent is sold as bungeo ssamanko (carp ssamanko -- ssamanko doesnt mean anything as far as i know) in these photos, the top smaller carp is the japanese taiyaki. the bottom carps are the korean bungeo ssamanko. the japanese taiyaki are really cute and fun to eat. they are vanilla with a layer of thin chocolate on the bottom. the korean bungeo ssamanko are a bit larger. they also dont have any chocolate. instead they contain sweetened red bean paste (paht) and chewy glutinous rice balls typically found in red bean porridge (sae al shim -- birds egg heart). the rice balls are also sometimes called simply chap ssal ddeok (sweet rice cakes). i think that in japan they also sell larger ones and ones that contain azuki, but i havent seen any at the local supermarket (they have a very limited selection actually. ). also, i have noticed that there exists a coffee flavoured ssamanko, but unfortunately, i have never seen them for sale here either. edited for clarity

looked up 호떡 and found out that the "ho" comes from the sino korean "胡", which means 'manchurian barbarians' . i dont know if hoddeok is really a manchurian (or ching dynasty chinese) treat, or if it is something korean that korean people imagine is manchurian.

thank you for the tip. i will most definitely go as im always game for checking out new (to me) supermarkets... we went out to the market today to make fish soup tonight and we made a small diversion to kaju market because i wanted to get a few pictures there... the green sign reads 'gaju maket'. the yellow sign posted on the cart reads 'it's the gu family's sweet rice hoddeok'. (click on pic for larger image.) it seems that the Koo family runs a place called Koo's Grill on 6833 whittier blvd in LA. the top white sign reads: sweet rice pan cake sweet rice hoddeok $1 each your mouth will freeze "kkong kkong" (the sound of freezing hard) red bean shave ice dessert (paht bingsu) $3.50 each these hoddeok are kind of see-through due to the high sweet rice content of the dough. they are NOT filled with brown sugar. i guess my memory was off. these are honey filled! but still no nuts or anything. for contrast, heres the hoddeok sold at ktown galleria. definitely more bready, but they also have sweet rice powder in theirs because its chewy. these, by the way, are indeed filled with nothing but brown sugar. (click on pic for larger image.) to the far right, the little guy in the chef hat is holding a bag of delimanjoo which is a hot little corn biscuit usually sold in subway stations in korea. ive also seen them at mr lee's sandwich shops (banh mi anyone?) in orange county. the big yellow banner above the yellow "KOKO's" sign says: "today carp will eat hoddeok". (very silly. hehe.) then the second line reads: "bung-eo bbang HONEY hoddeok". bung-eo is carp and carp bread is something you might know as taiyaki. its a bready snack filled with sweet red bean paste. also, im not sure why the word HONEY is so prominently written in a red circle because the hoddeok sold there is brown sugar. huh. i should have asked. maybe they used to be filled with honey. white sign to the right of the chicken reads "hwanghaedo mandu". hwanghaedo is a province in north korea. i guess they make good mandu there... beneath the yellow KOKO's sign, under the red and orange stripes, the awning reads "bung-eo bbang" "hoddeok" "kabobs" "odeng kabobs" "rice jjol myeon" "udong" "ddeokbokki" "dad's soondae". wow. i guess theres a couple of foods that americans dont usually eat when they go out for korean. kabobs. jjolmyeon. soondae... the kabobs are pretty much what youd expect. grilled random foods like chicken, beef, or whatever the owner wants. odeng is fishcake and theyre pretty good as kabobs too. jjolmyeon is a delicious dish of noodles that are thick like japanese udon but chewy like korean naengmyeon. it is almost always served with a gochujang paste based sauce. SPICY, chewy goodness. better than bibim naengmyeon. soondae is blood sausage with rice noodles. so i guess i was also quite wrong about what is served at kokos. i just assumed it was just chicken and bungeobbang and hoddeok... a lot more apparently! mostly snacky stuff. heres the lady (nice manicure) squishing the ball flat on the grill! yumms! this sign at koko's says that hoddeok are 1 for a dollar, 6 for $5. bungeobbang are 50 cents each, 7 for $3.

hoddeok is very much alive and doing well in los angeles. i am sure there are probably more places, but i know of at least two places that ive been to in the last month. one is a hoddeok cart next to kaju market (western and 5rd). it is outside the entrance to the supermarket and there is usually one or two ladies inside the cart who will fry up a fresh one for you from the raw balls for $1. they only offer the brown sugar type. and it is no frills, no walnuts or anything. their hoddeok is a little different though because theirs has more glutinous rice flour than flour. the hoddeok are extremely chewy, almost mochi like. and the other place that sells hoddeok is in the koreatown galleria market (western and olympic), in the lower supermarket level. in the area diagonally opposite from the fresh produce, there is a koko chicken tongdak place in the corner and they sell basically three things there: chicken (rotisserie and deep fried stuff), bung-eo bbang (what you may know as taiyaki) and hoddeok. hoddeoks go for a dollar, and they are more normal in the flour/glutinous rice flour ratio. more doughy and less mochi like. still good and chewy. and like the kaju market hoddeok, they only sell one kind: the brown sugar kind without any nuts in them. you can sit and watch them squish the ball of dough as well as make the bung-eo bbang right in front of you. California Market (Gaju Market) 450 S Western Ave Los Angeles, CA 90020 (213) 382-9444 Galleria Market 3250 W Olympic Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90006 (323) 733-3800 edit: corrected address for kaju market

matzoh balls i hit success only once every three times i make it. the other two times the balls fall apart on me.

we use mugicha at home. we also use hot corn tea. a lot of korean restaurants, particularly the more recent suntubu places, pour hot water or mugicha (korean places dont usually have green tea) over okoge from a stone pot. no crunchy wheat puffs, no nori, no sake flakes or ume. but there is the kimchi! also, re: dashi ochazuke... it doesnt really taste significantly different from regular chazuke. i guess the broth is more dashi-like than tea but i dont think i notice it too much.

this really caught my interest as i am quite fond of apollo... i like them in all sizes and get it lots! yumms! meiji puts out something called the 'meiji enjoy pack' and it is nine pyramids of chocolate heaven: x3 coffee bits x3 apollos x3 choco babies i cant eat american chocolate bars; hersheys and nestles stuff taste too waxy, crumbly and hard. i craaaaave japanese chocolates. anyways, i can imagine that appollos would be nice in cakes (in place of the boring chocolate chips) or in cookie dough... but id be interested to know if there were other recipes different from what i might imagine up... if you happen to catch this post, could you provide a link or an actual recipe?

i dont quite know where toast fits in, but since i eat it like a snack... my favourite mayo company kewpie has a number of toast spreads distributed under their verde label. they show six products on their verde toast spread page but ive never seen the cheese toast or the spicy tomato toast spread for sale in los angeles. since a friend was over, it was a good excuse to just make the four i have on hand. the french toast is pretty good the ingredients for the french toast spread include oil, eggs, milk powder and other things. it does taste a lot like french toast! the sugar toast one is much less appealing to me. and i dont quite see the point of it frankly the ingredients in the sugar toast spread are: oil, sugar, salt, butter and artificial flavour. the consistency of the shockingly white spread (unpleasantly reminiscent of crisco) is a bit grainy because of the sugar crystals and you can taste the butter flavour, but i think it would be easier and tastier if you simply slapped some butter and sprinkled sugar before toasting. my favourite is the melonpan toast spread the consitency of the spread is very similar to the sugar toast spread. kind of grainy due to sugar crystals. the color is a very pleasant (to me) pale green color, what proper melon pan topping should be. after you toast it, the spread kind of poofs up, to mock real melonpan coating. :D i should start making hatchmarks after spreading! the ingredients for the melonpan spread include oil, various sugars, flour, lecithin, artificial flavouring and artificial color. the taste is dead on melon pan flavour. i LOVE THIS STUFF! since i found out about this a couple months ago, ive gone through two tubes of this stuff. ive only gone through 1 tube of the french toast spread, while the first tube of the sugar spread is still pretty much unused -- i only used the tube twice. the last one is the garlic toast spread. im not a big fan of this one either, because of the oiliness to it, but my husband loves this stuff and has even made it on his own many mornings for breakfast (yes, breakfast!). he has gone through two tubes of this and is working on his third. the consistency of this spread is much thinner than the others, more oily. the spread contains oil, salt, sugar, onion oil, garlic powder, parsley and pepper. i think its okay. i think ive had two or three of these toasts in the past couple months. in all, i will probably continue to purchase all of these tubes from time to time except for the sugar toast spread. the convenience of having instant french toast and instant garlic toast is irresistible. no need to crush garlic, no need to break out the eggs and milk (which i never buy anyway). i cant understand the appeal of the sugar toast spread though, esp when i have butter and sugar lying around all the time. and the melonpan... i love it! i have tried on and off to look for melon flavouring in bottles or powders to try to make my own melon pan (most recipes have you make lemon flavoured melon pan -- NOT the same!!), but have yet to find anything. so this is definitely a good thing to have for me in my fridge when i dont want to run to the local market to try to find some real melonpan. they all, however, have a kind of crisco/shortening aftertaste which is strongest in the sugar toast, but less obvious in the others. but you can get sick of it (i have) and sometimes you just crave plain and simple buttered toast and jam...

nagitanien's dashi chazuke 8 pack: x2 nori x2 sake x2 ume x2 tencha ume pack (not yet mixed up) sprinkled in a bowl, topped with some sobagi chunks (cucumber kimchi)

another very simple recipe is to take cubed lump pork belly and stir fry that without extra oil with old kimchi (fresh kimchi will do, but it wont be as flavourful). thats it. the oil from the pork should be enough. :D this is a simplified version of something called samgyeopsal kimchi bokkeum (삼겹살 김치볶음). i believe it is simply called buta kim(u)chi in japanese (豚キムチ) yumms!

i like dodekaba very much. every now and then i will indulge in these ridiculously large (ive been told 'dodeka' means 'big'), crispy snacks covered in chocolate and peanut bits. they measure about 5x26 cm (2x10 inchces) and the crispy snacky part is corn based, like the karl puffs, but just a tad more sturdy than the karls. got something new (to me): riska's cocoa snack and choco snack. cocoa snack: im not thrilled with the names of either of these snacks. not very snappy names, really. and the cocoa snack, when i open one up, looks rather cheap (the chocolate coating is actually unappealing -- it looks painted on). the cigars are a more managable size than the dodekabas, though. each cigar is about 2 cm in diameter by 10 cm in length. the flavour, though, is another story. very rich cocoa taste. i think its just a very thin layer of cocoa painted on the outside of the snack (which, just like dodekaba, is also corn based), but its all that it needs. no funny plastic taste (which is a problem i have with some of the chocolate coatings of the cheaper pocky knock offs like the korean pepero). i love it! my new fave! choco snack: the chocolate covered sister of cocoa snack doesnt please me as much. the chocolate seems to muted compared to the cocoa covering. i wont be buying them again if i have a choice. same crispy crunchy corn based cigar inside, though, so on the days that i dont have a choice, it wont be so bad to buy a package of the choco snacks. the lady who stood next to me in the aisle today, bought two of the choco snacks and ignored the cocoa snacks. taste is so individual... i think theres a reason, though, that the cocoa snacks are sold in 15 packs and the choco snacks are sold in 8 packs. the cocoa snack fans are probably much more rabid.

hi, ive posted a recipe for buta no kakuni, which is a japanese recipe for braised pork belly. its pretty simple. dont know if this is what you want, though. good luck! if you want to see images, google comes up with quite a few nices pics of buta no kakuni (豚の角煮).

buta no kakuni (japanese braised pork belly) source: cobbled together from several recipes found online notes: lump pork belly can be bought in the japanese supermarket as buta belly (dont buy the slices, though). if available, try kurobuta belly. at the korean market, you can buy lump samgyeopsal. s&b prepared mustard is one kind of hot mustard paste, found in japanese markets. 4 eggs 1 T vegetable oil 600 g lump pork belly, cut into 2x2 inch chunks 4 c water 1 knob of ginger, peeled and cut in half 2 leeks, (tokyo negi), cut into thirds or 1/2 a bunch of scallions, cut into half 1/2 c soy sauce 1/2 c sake 2 T sugar hot mustard paste 1. in a small pot, add eggs and cover with water. bring the pot to a boil, then turn off the heat, leaving the eggs inside. set the pot aside for the next two hours to cool. 2. in another small pot, add vegetable oil and pork belly. stir fry over medium heat briefly to brown the meat a little bit. then add 4 cups of water, the ginger and the leeks (or scallions). bring everything to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours. the stock should reduce to about 2/3rds to 1/2 of the original level. after the pork has simmered, fish out the ginger and leeks (or scallions) and discard them. peel the cooled hard boiled eggs and place them in the pot with the pork. add 1/4 of a cup of soy sauce and 1/2 cup of sake. 3. simmer 20 minutes. add another 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons sugar. simmer for another 20 minutes. serve hot or cold as a side dish. top with a bit of mustard paste. Keywords: Side, Pork, Japanese ( RG1108 )

buta no kakuni (japanese braised pork belly) source: cobbled together from several recipes found online notes: lump pork belly can be bought in the japanese supermarket as buta belly (dont buy the slices, though). if available, try kurobuta belly. at the korean market, you can buy lump samgyeopsal. s&b prepared mustard is one kind of hot mustard paste, found in japanese markets. 4 eggs 1 T vegetable oil 600 g lump pork belly, cut into 2x2 inch chunks 4 c water 1 knob of ginger, peeled and cut in half 2 leeks, (tokyo negi), cut into thirds or 1/2 a bunch of scallions, cut into half 1/2 c soy sauce 1/2 c sake 2 T sugar hot mustard paste 1. in a small pot, add eggs and cover with water. bring the pot to a boil, then turn off the heat, leaving the eggs inside. set the pot aside for the next two hours to cool. 2. in another small pot, add vegetable oil and pork belly. stir fry over medium heat briefly to brown the meat a little bit. then add 4 cups of water, the ginger and the leeks (or scallions). bring everything to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours. the stock should reduce to about 2/3rds to 1/2 of the original level. after the pork has simmered, fish out the ginger and leeks (or scallions) and discard them. peel the cooled hard boiled eggs and place them in the pot with the pork. add 1/4 of a cup of soy sauce and 1/2 cup of sake. 3. simmer 20 minutes. add another 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons sugar. simmer for another 20 minutes. serve hot or cold as a side dish. top with a bit of mustard paste. Keywords: Side, Pork, Japanese ( RG1108 )

eeeewwwww!!! sorry, I am not a big fan of soy milk.... i know that soymilk is not for everyone, but i for one love it, and i LOVE it with noodles even more! a great summertime dish is kong guksu (콩국수)!! if you dont like soymilk, look away, but if you are partial to the stuff, doesnt this look lovely? http://restaurant.naver.com/_recommend/the...ages/kong01.jpg kong guksu is icy cold, freshly made soymilk (not from a box that you can store for years) that is slightly salty. add freshly cooked thick style noodles (udon or freshly pulled jjajjangmyeon noodles will do very well). top with some cukes and dig in! recipe for kong guksu (soymilk with noodles)

both are lotte products. the SOH page shows that in addition to the melon, SOH also comes in MATCHA (yaay), vanilla and choclate (none of which i have seen sold at the store i frequent) on lottes suika bar page it shows that they sell the monster sized version of the suika bar! they dont sell that here nuther!

summer time! two favourites a lacto ice with muskmelon (cantaloupe) flavour (although they call it ruby melon, it tastes just like cantaloupe) very nice flavour, very cantaloupey. apparently has a little bit of real juice (1%, though i dont think a little more would hurt). suika and melon ice bars (click on for larger image of the box) they are a riot. satisfyingly sugary and cold (good water content high, but not too icy-- my gripe with some ice confections are that they dont have enough water and are 'warm' when eaten. think frozen yogurts). the flavours are good but not mind blowingly wonderful, but good enough for me to crave them a lot (melon juice content = 5%). BOTH come complete with 'seeds', the watermelon has tiny, hollow chocolate balls, and the melon one comes with white chocolate balls! nummilicious

soymilk (duyu) and soymilk noodles (kong guksu) there are many ways to make soy bean milk, but here is the way i was taught. dried soybeans (the fresher the better) water salt pick over the beans (quite often there will be tiny stones). soak the picked over soybeans in water overnight (usually ill soak about a cup or two of soy beans in 3-5 cups of water). the next day, rinse the beans and boil them in water for about 10 minutes. drain again. pour the drained beans into a blender. for every cup of beans, add about a cup of fresh, cold water. cover, then blend. strain the mush through a clean cheesecloth. (i usually skip the straining bit and make sure that i have ground the mush very fine with lots of water.) simmer gently again for a few minutes more. be very careful, since not only can the soymilk burn, but it will sit there on the stove acting very quiet and then all of a sudden it will foam up and make a huge mess... season to taste with salt or sugar (not both!). serve hot or chill and drink later. if you want a very refined soymilk, DO strain very well. you can save the left over mashed beans for use in biji dishes (콩 비지), aka okara ( おから) dishes. if you dont mind the nuttiness or the coarseness (i actually favour it!), you can leave the soymilk in its unstrained state. you can also wait for the crushed soybeans to settle naturally to the bottom of your container in the fridge. to serve as soymilk noodles, simply add very cold soymilk (i add lots of the 'biji') to a large bowl and top with VERY FRESH, thick, just cooked noodles. something that would work very well would be udon. handpulled jjajangmyeon noodles are ideal, but harder to come by. (NOTE!! if making kong guksu, the soymilk must be savory. only add salt, no sugar!) top with shredded cukes and a couple ice cubes. apparently in some parts of korea, this is served warm with noodles as a winter dish. sounds good too! Keywords: Vegan, Vegetarian, Korean, Blender ( RG1096 )

soymilk (duyu) and soymilk noodles (kong guksu) there are many ways to make soy bean milk, but here is the way i was taught. dried soybeans (the fresher the better) water salt pick over the beans (quite often there will be tiny stones). soak the picked over soybeans in water overnight (usually ill soak about a cup or two of soy beans in 3-5 cups of water). the next day, rinse the beans and boil them in water for about 10 minutes. drain again. pour the drained beans into a blender. for every cup of beans, add about a cup of fresh, cold water. cover, then blend. strain the mush through a clean cheesecloth. (i usually skip the straining bit and make sure that i have ground the mush very fine with lots of water.) simmer gently again for a few minutes more. be very careful, since not only can the soymilk burn, but it will sit there on the stove acting very quiet and then all of a sudden it will foam up and make a huge mess... season to taste with salt or sugar (not both!). serve hot or chill and drink later. if you want a very refined soymilk, DO strain very well. you can save the left over mashed beans for use in biji dishes (콩 비지), aka okara ( おから) dishes. if you dont mind the nuttiness or the coarseness (i actually favour it!), you can leave the soymilk in its unstrained state. you can also wait for the crushed soybeans to settle naturally to the bottom of your container in the fridge. to serve as soymilk noodles, simply add very cold soymilk (i add lots of the 'biji') to a large bowl and top with VERY FRESH, thick, just cooked noodles. something that would work very well would be udon. handpulled jjajangmyeon noodles are ideal, but harder to come by. (NOTE!! if making kong guksu, the soymilk must be savory. only add salt, no sugar!) top with shredded cukes and a couple ice cubes. apparently in some parts of korea, this is served warm with noodles as a winter dish. sounds good too! Keywords: Vegan, Vegetarian, Korean, Blender ( RG1096 )