MomOfLittleFoodies

O-hagi, otherwise known as the only Japanese confection that makes me cringe. It's tasty, but kind of messy to make. When I was a teenager, I helped with the prep work for food for the Obon carnival at church. For 3 years in a row, I spent several hours in the morning, for both days, making o-hagi. By the time I was done each morning, I had anko under my nails, in my hair... ugh. Each morning we'd get 5lbs of anko and who knows how many tiny rice balls to work with. I can still make o-hagi... never forgot. Much like mochi at mochitsuki time... almost like going on autopilot. Cheryl

The temple my family goes to is in Little Tokyo on Hewitt... off of First St. It's a few blocks down from the Japanese American National Museum. It's called Zenshuji. Obon is pretty popular in Southern California. Most of the Buddhist temples have weekend long Obon carnivals. There's a Nishi Hongangi a little farther down first street from the Zenshuji that has a big carnival the same weekend.

I missed this one. I was out of town, visiting my parents. Darn. edit- Ended up making yakisoba for the hubby and I for Tuesday night dinner. The kids wanted beer battered halibut, and I didn't have enough for all of us, so out came the emergency yakisoba stash. I made it using the UFO yakisoba that I get in the refrigerated section of the local Asian market (with sauce) and added corn, scallions, carrots and ham.

My mom, one of my sisters and I end up having to send care packages of Chili Cheese Fritos to my sister that lives in Jacksonville, FL. She can't find them out there.

I use zip top bags for pretty much the same purpose.

Ah... she stole that one from Rachael Ray. Rachael tried to make parathas (sp?) by pouring beaten eggs and chopped scallions into a skillet, and then stuck a flour tortilla on the eggs before they had set. The corn recipe from the Hoe-Down ep is a nasty imitation of Mexican elotes. In Mexican-American neighborhoods, there are vendors that sell corn on the cob, that is brushed with mayo and sprinkled with grated parmesean and chili powder.

The warm water actually helps to make the noodle al dente...It reduces the time of stirring in the hot skillet. ← I just do it to loosen up the noodles so they don't break when I mix them in. Relaxes them a bit. Of course, they'd probably be easier to stir if I thought ahead and let them come to room temperature.

I soak the sealed packets of noodles in warm water, then use Hiroyuki's method. Cheryl

I never refrigerate soy sauce.

Food allergies are on the rise unfortunately. More and more kids are being diagnosed with them, and those kids grow up fast. When we dine out with our kids, we make sure it's at restaurants we're familiar with, and I either call ahead to ask about certain menu items, or notify the server when we get seated. Normally we stick with chain restaurants with the kids (ugh) because they tend to use uniform ingredients. As a general rule, we avoid salads and soups unless they can present a list of ingredients.

Thanks... you just made me gag. I love spam, but the thought of it in an alcoholic beverage is truly revolting... like eating liver and onions a la mode.

On the subject of the Semi-Homemaiden and garlic, she uses the chopped crap from the jar because she doesn't like how "messy" chopping your own can be. Whatever happened to using a mini-chopper or just crushing it if you don't want garlicky hands?

I used to watch her show a lot just for the "train wreck" effect. I had to stop when the morning sickness popped up because seeing that crap made me run for the toilet. I think SL's biggest crimes against food (not including desserts) were her BBQ ribs, that horrid Salad Chinois, and those Beer Margaritas.

My 6 and 8 year olds start school again on Tuesday. For my 8 year old, it will be his 3rd year of eating lunch at school, but the first year for my 6 year old. My 8 year old has food allergies, so we pack his lunch every day. He likes to take pizza, burritos, left over roast chicken, salami or turkey sandwiches, spam musubi or a veggie sushi. Occasionally we send him with leftover ribs or spaghetti. We generally include a juice box, cookies or pretzels, and a fruit or veggie. My 6 year old likes bagels, mac and cheese, sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwiches, or plain pasta. He has no food allergies, so I anticipate letting him buy lunch occasionally. Cheryl

The obon festival at the church I went to growing up (a Soto Zen one in LA) featured tacos, tako yaki, ika yaki, grilled corn, okinawa dango, shave ice, kintoki, ohagi, sushi, udon and teriyaki beef and chicken. I will admit that this particular church seems to have a larger population of more recent immigrants from Japan than norm. The big Nishi Hongangi (sp?) down the street serves the same kind of stuff. The Jodo Shinshu church that my husband's family goes to doesn't have food at their Bon Odori, but they do have a bazaar in the spring where they serve things like grilled steaks, curry beef, chirashi, futomaki, udon, burgers and hot dogs, grilled corn in teriyaki sauce, egg rolls and chinese chicken salad... a much more americanized affair. Cheryl

I don't know much about type 1 diabetes, but if the school is making accomdations for your daughter, get them in writing in the form of a section 504 plan or an IHP. That way if the plan of accomdations breaks down, you can go back, show them the document and say "but you said you'd make these accomodations." My 8 year old has life-threatening food allergies, and we don't have either, and it's come back to haunt us repeatedly.

My university (University of La Verne) in Southern California only had the dining hall and a snack bar. No food carts or trucks. However, there were a few places within walking distance that had better food, and there as Circle K. Since I left, there are a few more food places, but I'm told the dining hall is just as dismal. I go through the UC Berkeley campus fairly often, and I've only noticed a couple of food trucks over the last 8 years. There are lots of restaurants within reasonable walking distance of the campus though.

My Japanese grandmother always told me that bringing something home from a cemetary is bad luck. I guess that must be her own personal hang up, and not a Japanese thing in general.

Here in the States, most of the Obon festivities are in July. I know a lot of people who go back to their hometowns when possible to attend services there.

Most of the Vietnamese Noodle places here are called Pho Hoa somethingorother.

My grandmother swears that eating the shiso out of the bottom of the umeboshi container is good for upset stomach. My mother-in-law and the hubby's grandmother were talking about how eating natto is supposed to be good for you. Too bad I can't stomach what looks like navy beans in muselage.

The new table sounds wonderful. I have a 50 year old, rectangular table that has a blond wood veneer that is starting to peel. I hate it, but it was "hand me down" furniture. I'm hoping to get a new round table soon.

Sounds like a project to me!! You can CHANGE her!! ← Growing up, most of the restaurants that my family ate at that were not Asian or Mexican were chain restaurants, partly because most of the non-Asian or Mexican restaurants in my community were chains, and partially because my parents couldn't afford to take 4 kids to really nice places. It took me a while to get used to going to restaurants that were not part of a chain when I first married my husband, other than the aforementioned Mexican and Asian ones. Now when it's just my husband and I, we like hitting little mom and pop type restaurants, or smaller nice establishments. Chain restaurants do have a benefit if you have food allergies... there is a bit more uniformity of ingredients, so what is safe at one restaurant in the chain is safe at another. As far as nice-ish, not to high faluting restaurants in LA goes, my favorite is the Zen Grill in Beverly Hills.

I have 3 kids between the ages of 8 and 2. We have on occasion taken them to fine dining establishments, BUT, the child to adult ratio when we do so is 1 child per 2 adults. When the kids get antsy, they get escorted outdoors or to the restroom to let off a little steam. This is for special occasions though, such as adult birthday or anniversary dinners. We don't allow them to get loud, or to throw things, or to run around the restaurant. We expect them to use age appropriate good manners. What really bothers me are the parents who take their kids to family style restaurants and let their kids run all over the restaurant, harass other diners, and knock over chairs. At that point it's no longer just an annoyance/irritation issue, but one of safety. On Friday night, we took our kids to Fresh Choice (a salad/soup bar), and halfway through our meal, another family with kids sat next to us. The entire time they were there, the little brats danced around the table (knocking into my daughters high chair several times), dropped food all over the place, teased my kids, knocked over chairs, complained and whined at the top of their lungs... and their parents didn't do a thing about it, just shrugged at us and shot us dirty looks. They had boys that looked to be about 7 and 5... kids that should have known better. My boys are about the same age and while my boys weren't perfectly well behaved, they were certainly doing better than that.

Most of the salami and pepperoni I get here in California is pork, not beef. I've only ever seen one type of beef salami.