Marcia

Hi everyone, I'll be in London with my husband for only one night (11th May) to go to a concert and we'd like to have a tasty but inexpensive lunch (around £40ish for 2). Later in the afternoon we're planning to go to a patisserie or tea room for cakes and tartlettes (excluding £££ afternoon teas). Any recommendations? We'll be travelling light so places with strict dress codes are out. The choices this time are for british, italian, french or japanese cuisine. But other suggestions are welcome too. I was keen to go to Ladureé at Harrods but read and heard some comments that the products are not that nice and the service can be quite poor sometimes. Has anyone had any experience there? And would Bocca di Lupo be a good idea for lunch? Anyway, any input will be very much appreciated. Thank you. Marcia

I second Sue Flay and also respectfully disagree with Soupcon. Pregnancy is not an illness but not all pregnancies are the same. Some women are more at the risk of complications than others and some wouldn't even be aware of that. It was very thoughtful and kind of Daniel to ask what's safe and what's not.

Hi Daniel, Maybe you'll find what's safe and what's not during pregnancy in this website: http://parenting.ivillage.com/pregnancy/ps...0,,4rr6,00.html If she's been taking prenatal vitamins the excess of Vitamin A from the liver can be something to be concerned about. But it depends on how far she is in her pregnancy. Hope that helps. Marcia

Hi sk_ward, no there was no specific reason, we saw two sushi bars with big queue outside. We thought that either one would be great so we just chose one and we stood in the queue for about half an hour. We had a sushi set that also included miso soup and green tea, so we didn't order beer like the japanese gentleman on our side did. It was still 9h30am. This is the picture of Sushi Daiwa, from Wikitravel: The sushi set was very big. It included nigiri sushi of tuna, toro tuna, salmon, mackerel, octopus, prawn, eel, squid; gunkansushi of salmon roe, sea urchin roe; tekkamaki of tuna and salmon roe. Plus omelette (tamagoyaki). Everything was incredible tasty, the tuna felt like velvet on my tongue. We paid 6300 Yen for 2 sushi sets. I do recommend the place. The chef (the one in the far corner of the picture) was very nice and he laughed when we tried the tuna and we let out a loud "Hmmmmmm" at the same time... He also pretended to tell me off because I couldn't finish all (I left the tamagoyaki, the soup and 4 tekkamaki...) then I pointed to my belly and inflated my cheeks with air to tell him how full i was. He laughed again and we bowed, we said 'gochisosama deshita' and he bowed back and thanked us too with a big grin. At first I thought i couldn't face raw fish first thing in the morning. But then after strolling in the market, after watching the tuna being purchased and after watching the amazing care that the tuna sellers (those in green shirt on the pics above) take with each piece sold, you cannot but be very excited to try what was so special about those tuna fishes. I'm pleased we did, I'm pleased we tried, it was a great experience.

Very nice pictures, thanks.

Hi John, thanks. I do not know if something was harvest from those heads but when we were there we saw some buyers having a look at the flesh from those cuts. I don't know if it's possible to see in the picture but the fish cheeks were cut too so the customers could inspect. Here's another picture where we can see the proportion and the size of the heads better: And another close-up: Marcia

Hi Hiroyuki, thank you for your compliments. Thanks for checking my website too, feel free to visit it anytime! Yes, we did have a great time in Japan, we fell in love with the country and with the japanese people. It was only one week in Japan and the days passed so fast... At the end I didn't have time to look for the ginger sembei as I planned but we tried a fresh made shoyu sembei in Kyoto, oh it was so nice...

Hi All, I'd like to share with you some of the pictures my husband and I took during our visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market, in 25th September 2006. We arrived there at 7h30 in the morning, spent 2 hours looking around and we did our best not to get run over. We finished our visit with an amazing sushi breakfast at Daiwa Sushi Bar. Marcia

Some days my husband still ask to take sandwiches instead of cooked meals. So we alternate between bento and sandwiches. His favourite sandwiches are: - baguette with a bit of pesto, sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella - wholemeal sliced bread, tuna with mayo, grated carrots and spring onions (scallion) - white sliced bread, ham, cheese and Branston pickles (couldn't be any less british) They are all easy to assemble, we make it a night before, wrap in clinging film and leave in the fridge. When he takes sandwiches we make sure to include more fruits in his lunchbox. For obento, I like to stock some frozen vegetables (broccolli, peas, green soy beans without the pod). They are clean, trimmed and ready to cook, so it's quick. I also buy lots of canned beans such as butter beans, cannelli beans and chickpeas, so i can open it, rinse, mix with cherry tomatoes and coriander leaves, season with salt and extra virgin olive oil and a tasty salad is born. The beans are also great to add protein in a soup.

Great tips Helen, thanks. What about the rice? Do you 5am bento makers... a) make the rice in the morning (or program the rice cooker) b) keep the rice cooker ON all night (very tempting... but costy) c) use cold rice and warm it up in the microwave (sacrilege?) I make rice for dinner using rice cooker. As soon as it's ready I took a portion and fill in the bento box. Cool it down, close it tightly and in the fridge it goes. Next day my husband warm it up in the microwave. I do the same for my lunch, I don't think it tastes bad. Of course fresh rice is better, but microwaved rice is not so bad.

Aww, so cute! What do you mix in the onigiri, torakris? Have you used the "push case" yet? I haven't used mine yet, I'm waiting for an opportunity to fill in with ganache! My husband said his obento (from the pics above) was waaaay too big for him, so now we're making it much much smaller and it's been very easy and quick to prepare. I know most of you here prepare the obento fresh in the morning (I'm a cheater, I make it a night before and put in the fridge because he can warm up in the microwave in the office). So i'd like to hear from you what are your Top Tips to save time making the obento in the morning? Marcia

Hi jschyun, yes they are footprints made of nori seaweed! I made them using a "foot puncher" I found in a stationery shop. The seawed I used was thin and it melted a bit in the warm rice. The egg was a tad bit too small so the bunny got small ears. It's fun to use the egg molds, it's quite nice when you see the results, we had a good laugh making them! today's bento was cuteness-free: Marcia

Hi! I'm back from our wonderful holidays in Japan! Oh, how we loved the country... I didn't have much time to go hunting for my bento accessories. Only a quick trip to Loft in Shibuya (thanks again sk_ward) where I bought those: Little containers for thick sauces such as mayo, tomato sauce, mustard, peanut butter etc. Cute dressing and sauce containers. Back in Taiwan I went to this Japanese shop and found some more things I couldn't find in Loft: Sandwiches cutters And my beloved Egg Molds I was looking for! And today my husband took his first bento box to work. In UK he normally makes some pasta or sandwiches for his lunch. But this time I made him a complete meal with a bunny shaped boiled egg. He's just called me to say that he ate it all and it was very good.

Thanks sk_ward, I'll pay a visit to Loft and 100yen shops! You really helped us because we'll only have 3 days in Tokyo and no time to visit every single department store. Now I know exactly where to go . Domo arigato! And I'll post pictures of the bento goodies later. BTW, how lucky you and torakris are to get those beautiful bentos as gifts. They are great and I'm sure, delicious too. Marcia

I'll be visiting Tokyo next week and I'm wondering if anyone could recommend a kitchen shop/department store/supermarket in Tokyo (Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya area) where I could find bento accessories? I'm looking for some cute egg molds, mini sauce bottles, sausage cutters and nori hole punchers. Both my husband and me enjoy making funny bento boxes for our hikings and pic-nics. Now he wants to take it to work, so we'll also need to buy him a new box (for some reason, he refuses to take my Snoopy one... ). Any suggestions? Tokyu Hands maybe? Onegaishimasu. TIA Marcia

Ann_T, what great blackberries pancakes! Yes, I also like them thin, drowned in maple syrup just like yours.

I know what you mean, in the beginning I was also afraid of yeast, specially when this one turned into a monster in my fridge and threatened to scape and spread horror and terror in town: Needless to say that the bread from that dough was far too inedible with the excess of yeast... I was still learning how to bake breads... Then after reading many bread books, egullets threads and websites, I've finally learned how to deal with yeast, temperature, umidity and all that. As result, I managed to make nice ones like this Pain L'Ancienne, which is so simple to make and sooo tasty: then eventually I've tried to make my wild yeast starter. I failed many times. But persistence paid off: and from there I started to make sourdough breads. This one doesn't look very nice and big but it was incredible good in taste and texture: So, do not be afraid of yeast, they are perfectly tamable beasts. (didn't mean to rhyme... ) Marcia

Who can resist all those gorgeous pancakes pictures you all post here? I certainly can't and yesterday I made some blueberries pancakes with maple syrup and a bit of vanilla ice cream (as the morning started with the temperature of 30C here in Taiwan). We also had a mug of coffee with milk, a small portion of sliced banana and extra blueberries. The breakfast kept us going during our 4 hours walking. Marcia

Hiroyuki, we have arare, okaki and also the proper rice crackers sembei, most of them imported from Japan. But seems like the wheat flour biscuits are more popular and there're lots of small producers of that kind. They are always called "sembei" there, so that's the only "sembei" most of us know. The non-glutinous rice crackers are called simple "rice crackers", "moti crackers" or "japanese snacks", something generic like that. I think that's why I was so confused and I wasn't sure anymore if the sweet variety could be called sembei. On the brazilian "sembei" pack it says "bolacha doce tipo biju" which means something like "wafer-type sweet biscuits", because that's how that sweet sembei is supposed to resemble in Brazil: like a crisp, sweet, thin biscuits that is often used to decorate ice-creams. Does it make sense...? --- Oh, after reading this thread we rushed to buy Pocky Almond Crush and two packs of Hi-Chew (Strawberry yoghurt and Peach yoghurt flavour). Hmmm!! Marcia

Hiroyuki, domo arigato gozaimasu for the explanation and also for the name in kanji. I wrote it down and I'll try to find them here in Taiwan too. I think I've tried the "shouga sembei" you showed me, i like them a lot too. Are all "shouga sembei" sweet or do I need to order "amai (nanbu) shouga sembei"? Just as a matter of interest, here are some pictures of sembei you can find in Brazil: This one it's the most popular, simply called "sembei", sometimes it has black seasame seeds in it: This one is "shoga sembei" coated with sugar and ginger: I must say that this particular brand is horrible, the cookies are hard as hell and make you wonder if they are good enough to build a roof in your house. I can't even believe that they show those broken shoga sembei on their website!! It's possible to find very nice and crispy sembei in Sao Paulo, where I am from and where the biggest japanese comunity lives. But still I'd like to try the real thing, the original japanese ones, the ones my grandparents once tried. Just to keep it on topic, sembei are my favourite okashi, specially with some ocha to drink with, watching a good movie. Pocky is very close together. Marcia

Hi Helen, Thanks for your reply, it's a relief to know it's still sembei. Could you please tell me how those sweet-ish ginger-ish sembei are called in Japan? We're going to Tokyo in few weeks time (my first time in Japan ever) and I'd love to buy some of them. Marcia

Hi All I have a question about sembei... I'm sansei, born and raised in Brazil, and when I was a kid my grandparents used to buy lots of a thin dry delicious cookie that looked like this: They were sweet, the taste was like ginger cookies and my japanese grandparents called them sembei. For years, my idea of sembei was of those sweet thin cookies. Those were the only sembei we used to have. However, later in my life, reading the description of sembei I've learned that they are actually rice crackers, usually savoury but sometimes they can be sweet, shinny sugar-coated. The description doesn't really match with the "sembei" my grandparents used to give me... So... those sweet thin cookies I used to have are not sembei? TIA for any light anyone could shed on my confusing mind... Marcia

Ambition.

It was definitely opaque like a tofu, not jelly-like, more like cream caramel. I've been searching for a picture like a mad since we came back from that dinner and this one is the closest I could find (minus the strawberry): On the website where I found this pic they also call it "mango pudding" Marcia

That's interesting hzrt8w. Now it made me wonder if what I had was really tofu-fah. Is it normally cut in pieces? The one I had was so neat inside the ramekins... It was definitely poured in and left to set. Maybe it was just a cheating version of tofu-fah/dofu-fa...