MomOfLittleFoodies

Here's my usual arsenal of easily portable snackage that can handle being toted around in a pocket. Beef jerky small snack sized bags of those baby carrot things fruit leather freeze dried fruit slices pepitas or sunflower seeds (sans shells in your case) snack sized bags of pretzels shelled edamame in a baggie. If you don't mind "kids foods", you could get those Yoplait GoGurt type things (I've seen organic versions too), freeze them overnight, and they'd be okay in your pocket for a while.

How about those sesame ball things? I've seen them two ways... glutinous rice filled with mashed red beans, and one that is a gooey yam/glutinous rice dough. The latter I really love.

Oh, what are your favorite Japanese cakes? Mont blanc, strawberry sponge cake, souffle cheese cake, and... I wonder if you can find rare (= unbaked) cheese cakes in your country. Edited to add: Thanks you, Pan, for your further comments about rice. Interesting story! ← Oh, I agree with yunnermeier, and I've never been to Japan... I've just had some of the cakes that we can buy in the Japanese markets here. Here in the US, cakes seem to be more about fillings and frostings/icings and less about the cake itself. American style cakes generally have a heavier, crumblier texture than any Japanese cakes I've had or seen. I think the closest I've come to Japanese cakes in the US are from the Chinese-American bakeries. I'm no pastry chef though... just an enthusiastic cake fan.

My mother-in-law (3rd generation Japanese-American) razzes my kids about wanting soy sauce on plain white rice... nevermind that I grew up doing the same thing. My mom was okay with it, and she's Japanese-American of the same generation. As long as you're not drinking the water from finger bowls thinking it's soup, flinging your food across the room or putting your feet on the table, I don't get too fussed about culturally appropriate table manners. Of course, my idea of "good table manners" is pretty broad. My paternal grandmother was a stickler for proper Western table manners, where as my mother's family didn't care as long as I wasn't leaving chopsticks sticking up in my bowl.

But a lot of times there are no forks and the fried rice is served on a big plate to be put on your individual big plate. What's a girl to do? ← I really hate eating most types of rice off of plates... I hate having to chase it around on a plate with a fork or spoon just to get a decent mouthful. I can be a total barbarian eating crab... lots of hand, fork and chopstick use. I don't need no stinkin' cracker doohickies.

I have an ancient Zojirushi (I'm guessing about 12 years old) 10 cup rice cooker (none of this fuzzy logic business) that I got second hand. Previously I had a 3 cup Tiger. Like them both, and not sure if I need something fancier.

I've never eaten a flea or lightning bug, but dirty pennies taste the way they smell.

I forgot another one of my mother-in-laws old stand-bys. She takes her broiler pan, lines it with foil, lays down a salmon filet, and tops it with onion, lemon slices, lemon juice and white wine, then wraps it up into a pouch, and bakes it for god knows how long. Comes out overcooked, and tasting on aluminum foil with vague hints of lemon and salmon. Those are the days I eat a lot of rice. The other not tasty thing she does is that she uses Mrs. Dash seasoning on pretty much every meat she grills. Mrs. Dash is very bitter when it's burnt. Almost like sucking on a dirty penny.

Add me to the trailer trash boat... I'm snacking on Nacho Cheese Bugles and another Mexican Coke. Bugles are nostalgia food for me... Grandma used to buy them for us.

That would definitely explain why I don't care for wasabi. I love mustard though. I like sharp cheeses, but stuff like bleu cheese isn't too appealing to me. ← It's interesting that you say you don't care for wasabi but love mustard. As I mentioned elsewhere, they both have the same pungent component allyl isothiocyanate, and virtually the only difference between them is that wasabi has a fragrant component referred to as a green note. I learned this from Me Ga Ten (Japanese only), a popular TV show in Japan. ← I think it has to do with potency. With wasabi, I start to feel a burning sensation in my nose with just a little bit, with most mustards, I can use a much larger amount before that same "burn" shows up. I think with prepared mustard, it's a bit more diluted than the wasabi paste. I don't like horseradish at all.

That would definitely explain why I don't care for wasabi. I love mustard though. I like sharp cheeses, but stuff like bleu cheese isn't too appealing to me.

Awwww... so sweet. I do so miss having rats. Keeping this food related, what kind of fresh treats do you give your babies? My last rat loved fresh bok choy, fresh corn on the cob, hard boiled egg, cooked chicken and sunflower seeds. I had another rat who loved fruit and graham crackers with peanut butter.

Oh dear heaven... no more foreign made medicines for my kids. Matter of fact, I think I'll stop buying Chinese made food and drug products altogether.

Is El Farolito a chain? There's one out in Concord that uses the same signage and seems to be very popular with the very large Mexican population in the area. I love their Carne Asada burritos and super nachos. My husband works down the street from the Concord location and he goes there at least once every 2 weeks for lunch. The nice thing about living so close to the Monument Corridor is the access to some very authentic Mexican food.

My older boys are only 9 and 7 (soon to be 10 and 8), and when they come home from school. their first stop is usually the kitchen. Between the 2 of them and the youngest (16 months) they can plow through a gallon of milk in less than a week.

Thanks Jason! I've had curry pan before... the one I got had sugar sprinkled on it. Is that normal?

What are the deep fried things? The oval one looks like a corroke, but the longer one has me stumped. I don't read much Japanese at all, so the labels don't help me. That looks delicious!

Maybe I'm weird, but I don't like the flavor of wasabi at all... and I generally love spicy foods. The 3 of my kids that like spicy food don't care for it either. My husband, on the other hand, isn't big on most spicy foods, but loves wasabi.

fresh mango slices, with tajin (chili powder, salt, sugar) fruit seasoning and a pepsi

I found 24 packs of the 12oz/355ml bottles of Mexican Coca Cola at the local Costco last week. Cost about $18 before tax and CRV... works out much cheaper than buying it at the local Mexican shops (~$1.25) or taquerias ($2).

How old is your little guy, Fat Guy? When we went out to dinner with my in-laws on Sunday, my 16 month old son took a piece of sushi and went to town on it. It was just a maki roll with unagi and cucumber in it, but he seemed to enjoy the rice portion of it.

It's not that much different here in California... many of the poorer urban and rural areas lack their own grocery stores, and since many poor people may not have their own transportation to get to a grocery store, and public transit (which is an added expense) can be hit or miss. Those smaller corner stores/convenience stores are generally more expensive and have smaller or non-existant selections of fresh meat, fruit and veggies. With frozen products, you have the difficulty of keeping them frozen as you make your way home. It's a lot easier to really pare down food costs when you have a car and the ability to go to the places with the lowest prices, when you don't have to figure out how to transport 2 dozen eggs, a gallon of milk and frozen goods on a bus with 2 kids in tow. I know people who don't keep pantries stocked with staples...I'm going to venture to guess that if you're not used to cooking from scratch, you're not going to have stuff like flour, baking powder, spices, rice, etc on hand.

When I was a kid, my mom would occasionally dump a couple of tins of sardines into soy sauce and sugar and warm them up... she served that over rice. Yum.

I really don't understand the rancor towards McD's. Sure, I'm something of a foodie, but I'm not an uptight food snob. A McD's burger is no comparison to grass fed, organic ground sirloin, on a freshly baked bun with organic veggies and aged cheddar... but it serves it's purpose. Whether you're in Los Angeles or some in the middle of Kansas, a Big Mac is a Big Mac. Now, given the choice between a Big Mac and something better, without time or money constraints, I'd always choose the better burger, but I don't always have that choice.

Made with cane sugar, not corn syrup. Got 24 12oz bottles at the local Costco (in an area with a large Mexican population) for $18. At the little local Mexican markets and restaurants, they're between $1.25-$2 for a single bottle.