Kiem Hwa

My Yuzu tree finally had its 1st fruit! I have only one ugly but decent-sized yuzu, which has been in my MIL's fridge for a few months already. Now that I am home for the holidays I can do something with it! Any suggestions for how to maximize my one yuzu?

The fish which have the highest levels is mercury are "shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish". I usually buy my fish at the Japanese grocery store, so does someone know the Japanese (or any other common) names for those fish?

Listeriosis during pregnancy aside, this study (Hibbeln et al, The Lancet, Feb 2007) concluded that mothers who ate >340g seafood/week during pregnancy had smarter kids:) I would still be careful about the mercury-level intake though........ "Seafood is the predominant source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for optimum neural development. However, in the USA, women are advised to limit their seafood intake during pregnancy to 340 g per week. Maternal seafood consumption of less than 340 g per week in pregnancy did not protect children from adverse outcomes; rather, we recorded beneficial effects on child development with maternal seafood intakes of more than 340 g per week, suggesting that advice to limit seafood consumption could actually be detrimental. These results show that risks from the loss of nutrients were greater than the risks of harm from exposure to trace contaminants in 340 g seafood eaten weekly. Advice that limits seafood consumption might reduce the intake of nutrients necessary for optimum neurological development. Findings reported here are consistent with reports that lower omega-3 fatty acid intakes in pregnancy predict lower verbal IQ.38 and 39 Adverse outcomes associated with insufficient intakes of long chain omega-3 fatty acids during pregnancy include: intrauterine growth retardation,40 delayed or suboptimum depth perception,17 adverse neurodevelopmental measures,18 residual deficits in fine motor skills, speed of information processing in infants,41 and irreversible deficits in serotonin and dopamine release.42 Thus, other evidence suggests that omega-3 fatty acids in pregnancy could be directly responsible for the beneficial findings shown here. The 2004 US advisory8 however, aimed to reduce the potential harm from pollutants in seafood, specifically methylmercury. Although methylmercury undoubtedly has harmful effects on the developing brain, the harm is unlikely to be greater than the overall benefits of nutrients at the concentrations usually present in seafood. These data show that the risks from losing the benefits of nutrients essential to neurodevelopment exceeds the risk of exposure to trace concentrations of contaminants in 340 g seafood eaten weekly." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=A...dce4fe&ref=full

This sounds so delicious! Is the recipe something like this? http://www.recipeland.com/recipe/5339/

Nagaimo Yam Juice My Marukai advertisment has a recipe for Nagaimo Yam juice, where peeled nagaimo is blended with milk and honey, and optional cinnamon powder..... Has anyone ever tried Nagaimo juice? I do like Nagaimo, but.......

I am going to keep my eye out for this one! Have you tried it yet? ← I have already got this from Marukai in LA!!! It is soooo good! It tastes just like the Skytime Yuzu Beverage from JAL! I think it is the same actually, same company that makes it at least.

Kushi Katsu If you hard-boil them, skewer them, and then katsu them, yummy!

It doesnt seem to be near where you are planning to go, but in Omi Maiko, Shiga, just alongside Lake Biwa, there is a Bed and Breakfast called Trek-Station Maiko-Hut, which gives guided tours up Mount Hira, including Sansai identification tours, etc. http://www.trekstation.co.jp/index5.html I also think there were some onsen nearby, and I think Mt Hiei was just a few train stations away. When I stayed there I didnt go hiking though, it happened to be pouring rain the days we were there, and our objective at that time was more to explore Lake Biwa area then anything else. I did happen to identify my first sansai there though: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...hl=sansai&st=33 The only thing about this place is the nearby town is very small and uninteresting, and the hotel is not near to the train station, but it was a very nice quiet place.

Has anyone used Konnyaku powder to make jellies before? Like these: http://masak-masak.blogspot.com/2005/05/im...log-jelled.html http://akatsukira.blogspot.com/2005/05/coc...ly-imbb-15.html I had a really yummy Chinese shaved ice dessert with mango, mango sherbert and konnyaku jelly pieces (also mango flavored). The shop also sold the konnyaku jellies in all different flavors. I think I will try something like this out on Konnyaku day

I have found two fabulous yuzu products this week: At Marukai today i picked up a Yuzu-Lemon drink that tastes exactly like the Skytime Yuzu drink from JAL ...I think it is the same one....same company at least (Dydo). It was delicious!!!! now I dont have to fly to Japan just to drink it Picture of Yuzu-Lemon drink Another great yuzu flavored find was yuzu nodo ame (yuzu throat candy?), a hard candy with a distinct yuzu flavor by Lion, it actually has thin slivers of yuzu peel in it too. Yuzu Nodo

Guess what I found at Marukai today.... Yuzu-Lemon drink that tastes exactly like the Skytime Yuzu drink from JAL ...I think it is the same one....same company at least (Dydo). It was delicious!!!! now I dont have to fly to Japan just to drink it Picture of Yuzu-Lemon drink

Wow! I hadn't realized there were so many different types! Of course, with the heavy influx of Japanese culture in Hawaii, we can get kasutera pretty easily here, sometimes even in supermarkets. Bunmeido even has a bakery here. ← So is the Bunmeido in Hawaii a branch from a chain in Japan? As for the Nagasaki Kasutera, do they just put in some refined maltose, or some ingredient with a high maltose content? Id be interested to try out different recipes (Nagasaki vs Tokyo).

Natto is one of those acquired tastes... the first time I tried Natto was years ago and I hated it... and stayed away from it for years... but after reading about how healthy it is for you and with that in mind I tried it again about a year ago, and after eating it a few more times, it truely grew on me and now I always have some in my freezer for those days I just crave natto over some steamed rice!

Wow, homebrewing Sake looks fun! I will try it too as soon as I get the chance! I have never made any alcohol myself before, but my parents used to make wine with random fruits when they were my age. Why is brewing illegal in Japan??

I saw an ad in a Japanese magazine for raspberry and apple flavored Asahi: Raspberry Apple Other flavors are Grapefruit I cant find these products on the Asahi website though. Has Anyone tried this? It looks interesting. I still havent noticed Chu-Hi in the US, but I found a site showing Oolong-flavor Chu-Hi! http://www.asahibeer.co.jp/products/sour/hiliki/

Thanks for all the responses! The variety of this particular sakura tree is Prunus serrulata "pink cloud". This weekend we are going on a picnic at a place that has a lot of trees so I will see if there are different varieties there. Is there a reason double and not single blossoms are used? Well....maybe I would only do it if noone was around, but I dont see why it would be considered illegal...more like inappropriate maybe. This is actually the first blooming Sakura tree i have seen in real life, and it is (a single tree) in the botanical garden at my school... and seems to be quite an object of affection right now... hobbyist photographers are swarming all over it!

Sakura is in Bloom already in Los Angeles!!! Is this the same as the one in Japan? I was considering getting some of the blossoms and making the 桜の花漬け Sakura no hana tsukeru (Preserved Sakura Blossoms). A recipe is here: http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:of1H4R...lient=firefox-a Has anyone attempted making this themselves yet? Do I just use fresh cherry blossoms? Are these the right type of blossoms? The recipe said 八重桜の花, which means... double-flowered blossoms? But these ones only have a single layer of 5 petals: Also, regarding the leaves of Sakura used for mochi and stuff... is there a special way to preserve the leaves? Also, a way to cook the mochi with the leaves? If I were to get the leaves, is there a particular age of leaf or season to collect leaves in?

Yay, I found a great Japanese-style crepe place in LA! They dont have the hamburger or pasta or sausage stuffings, but they have all kinds of "pizza", "spicy pizza", "bbq", and "sandwich" stuffings, along with alot of various sweet stuffings! We have the bbq chicken, and the spicy turkey pizza one yesterday, but pretty good, and I defianetely will go back soon to try more... and take my camera along... for anyone in LA who is interested: KC's Crepes Café 8320 Lincoln Blvd. #101 Tues.-Fri. 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Closed Monday And..they also have boba drinks (not Japanese, but matches well with crepes). Heres a review

My favorite Ramen place in Hawaii is Yotteko-ya, a chain from Kyoto...they have an awesome pork-broth? ramen. Is this tonkotsu? http://yottekoya.com/menu/index.html

After looking at pictures of Christmas cake for the past few weeks, I couldnt resist making one of my own. Heres a chocolate one (Chocolate cake + Chocolate-flavored cream), with strawberries and raspberries. This is our first Christmas away from home, so my BF and I decided to go for the Fried Chicken and French fries also. Merry Christmas!!!!

Torakris...usually i love looking at the food pics you post, but this looks....odd... Can you describe the taste? Im so curious

I was wondering, when it comes to deep fring things...tempura, tori-karaage, etc.... Is there any specific type of oil that is best for the particular thing being deep fried, or for deep frying in general? What type of oil is usually used in Japan? I tend to use Canola oil since it has less saturated fat, but in Japanese grocery stores, I see things like...rice bran oil, sesame oil, etc. The most important essence of Tempura taste is Tempura oil itself.

JasonTrue- Does that Hagi ware have something in it or is that the glaze? Interesting. I like some of the Hagi-yaki I have seen posted on ebay, by artist Deishi Shibuya, such as this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-tea-bowl-ONI-...1QQcmdZViewItem

I agree with the idea of having a "set" of similar pieces, mostly to have a few similar sized vessels. My favorite "sets" though are the ones where they are all different patterns. I guess the reason is because if I only have a limited amount of space in the cabinet, and limit the money I spend on the dishes, Im much happier with a variety rather then identical pieces. Also, I dont like the look of mass- produced dishes.... I like the ones that are (or at least look) hand-made, with a unique personality, especially the hand-painted ones. My favorite dish is one I picked up at an art shop, there was a set of hand made dishes by a Japanese-American? artist, and of course, I only bought one dish ←

Also, dont neglect to eat the sweets and tea in Kyoto. There was a great tea & sweets shop, also on Shijo-dori, closer to the eastern end of the street, on the south side of the street... you will notice it by the line of people waiting outside. They have the shop on the ground floor selling green tea and green tea sweets of all sorts and the "cafe" is up the stairs on the second and third floors. Heres some examples of what I ate there: And if you are a nut for green tea like I am, then you can always go to Uji.....