easternsun

i am with kristen - ponzu! last night i did seared yellow fin with evoo, goma (sesame) oil, ponzu and shiso (perilla). the shiso overpowered the sesame oil and gave it a really fresh flavour. it looked pretty too!

i was blessed with abilities for sauces - one day i will take a course in sauces - i usually wing it with success. i am very good at coming up with "mcguyver" dinners that taste great. lastly, large groups: dinner for 40 or 50 people is my specialty. i work well under pressure. this is so embarrassing BUT i cannot make toast to save my life. i dont own a toaster (japanese kitchens just dont have the space!) but it doesnt matter if i am standing right there doing the eggs, i ALWAYS forget the bread. i have convinced myself that black toast is good for you

hi prasantrin, i went to costco today and i found sour cream! i believe the container is 500 mls....and a heck of a lot cheaper than the stuff in the 100 ml containers that i usually buy. i thought i would let you know

happy belated birthday!! i hope you had a wonderful day

i think it is more a dish a la s e asia but i add lots of red chilis and peanuts to the oil just before the chicken is finished cooking. it looks quite nice on the plate and it really gives the chicken a kick!

silly me! i should have known better. not the same koi! thanks for the continued education

to me, koi will always be big goldfish! i cant imagine eating small goldfish nor big ones! my question: is koi cuisine common or rare? isnt koi expensive? the lives ones seems to be revered - i am surprised that people eat them. i love this thread! i am learning so much!

last year, my husband and i went to kushi-age tabehoudai. it was really fun to go to the bar and pick out skewered raw meats/seafood/vegetables. serve yourself a container of batter and panko (breadcrumbs) and sauces - then you are ready to go! dip one (batter) dip two (panko), dip three (oil), dip four (sauces) i would never go back but it was fun to try just once! i like the kushikatsuya we frequent much better than doing it myself! grease gets everywhere! that and hot oil splashes on your skin and your clothes each table had its own vat of hot oil. all i could think about was the fact that the place was full of families and lots of small children. i didnt see any accidents - but let me tell you - all i could think about was the fact that if we were in north america, a restaurant like that is a law suit waiting to happen i wonder if that ever happens here?

today was a national holiday yeay! every month there is a market at the temple in shittenouji. today, my mission was simple - prayers and blessings for the upcoming year at uni! there were so many people there today that it was more than a mission! there are so many food vendors that a day at the temple usually leads to gorging on all the yummy snacks that i never make at home. it is also a great place to pick up locallly grown vegetables for rock bottom prices. you never know who you will run into - today i met my mother-in-law!! i took my camera today as the weather was great and the light was magic - i used my slr, so it will be awhile before i post the pictures. what i bought: two kabocha (pumpkins), tomatoes (huge! look like beefsteaks), ginger, onions, garlic and three carrots - all for 1100 yen! i also bought two new knives for 1000 yen!! - i couldnt resist after i saw the demo - the guy was chopping up a tree with them. handmade, razor sharp and i can get them re-sharpened for free. what i ate: ikayaki (you might call it a squid omelette ) takoyaki (balls of octopus and batter) slathered in ponzu fresh mochi (i watched them make it!) with aonori (seaweed) and sugar warabi mochi (arrowroot cake and bracken starch dumpling) sweet potato wedge fries with lots of salt castella -mine were shaped like hello kitty copious amounts of oolong tea this was the stuff i paid for! there were lots of little samples as well - tsukemono (pickles), kimuchi, dried fruits, dango, and a few other things: i am not sure what they were! i would not normally eat this much but i had already indulged quite a bit before i ran into my mother in law and i could NEVER say no to her ! just before i left i bought some ikameshi (squid stuffed with rice and shiitake mushrooms) shoyu and sugar sweet! the squid was soft not chewy. delicious! the vendor was so nice he offered to give me two for the price of one (time service!) i only took one, so he gave me a discount. (like i needed anymore food! ) needless to say, i had to change into some trainers when i got home as my jeans were feeling a bit too snug! it was a great day out! if you have not been to the market, it is every month on the 21st. i highly recommend it! i hope to post the pictures here soon!

a few years ago, on a trip to mt fuji i was lucky enough to try wasabi soft cream. shizouka is the wasabi capital of japan - isnt it?? i was apprehensive at first - but i loved it! i have not been able to get that spicy/sweet flavour out of my mind - has anyone seen it in kansai?? it is green like matcha soft cream but the flavour is radically different!

i have yellow cap kewpie but it is calorie reduced not karashi. is it possible that they are both yellow capped?

sorry i cant give you any exact numbers but i usually just add milk until it looks like the consistency i remember from home. what i want to know - why is it so expensive?? and why cant i buy large containers? my local supermarket only has these tiny little containers....

thank you kristin! i am going to try to make babaroa for my dh one of these days! also thanks for the links!

i was watching a cooking show last night - i cant remember the name! the lady with short hair on lala tv. she does a lot of chinese cooking. "something- ko" she was preparing spring foods and she made momo no babaroa. i am assuming this is babaloa in english. what is the origin of this dessert? it had nama cream, geletin, peach juice, fresh peaches. thanks!

torakris is correct - cash is the way to go. 100 million people cant be wrong! i have not used a cash card or credit card since i moved here. here is my tip for a good meal out in tokyo. in roppongi hills there is a restaurant called xen. they have part of nobu's menu - so if you wanted to sample some nobu cuisine and arent particular about actually eating at nobu - go to xen. it is cheaper and the food tastes the same. it is an interesting restaurant because it is three restaurants in one: bamboo bar, xen and olives. the place is huge! if you do go there - you must try the black cod miso - i get shivers when i think about it! melt in your mouth buttery rant coming up: i know that conbini food can save you money but would you eat at 7-11 at home? blech! i would hit the department store food floors before i settled for conbini. maybe once, hit a conbini for the novelty factor. just my two yen.

what about zaku zaku - isnt that the potato chip sound? or saku saku - cutting fresh veggies. and of course, we should include peko peko - Onaka peko peko desu! (I'm starving!) another fave - nechi nechi - like when i eat caramels and they stick to my teeth! lastly, i want to add guu guu - the sound of my stomach rumbling like there is a monster in there trying to get out!

Ika-meshi? I thought it was a specialty of Hakodate in Hokkaido, but I have just confirmed by googling that it is a speciality of Mori Station. http://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia11/spot02.html Read (2). I like ika-meshi too, but I would like it more if it were bigger! ← great information hiroyuki! i cant believe i have lived in osaka for eight years and i have never tried a "midousuji bento" - it is on the list for my next trip to umeda!

mince katsu won! actually, it was the first time i saw results like these - only one one person chose the omelette! i was sure mince katsu would win - the omelette had cheese in it. hiroyuki: the eggs looked amazing! it think the company was takahashi tamago - if you ever have the chance - report back here please!

not necessarily. porotta is the accepted kerala variation of the spelling. the north indian spellings include: paratha, parantha parontha, parhothi, etc etc. the parotta is the specific kerala version made with maida (instead of chapati flour) and many many thin layers brushed with ghee and rolled out many times. very labor intensive. not sure if it's in that egci link you were directed to. milagai ←

is ika-meishi a hokkaido specialty? i just love it and for some reason i have always thought of it as a dish the originated there.

did anyone seen "dotchi" last night? it was mince katsu versus mince omelette. i missed the first food showcase but i know it was oil - what kind of oil was it?? oh - and what did you think of the 100 yen eggs? gorgeous but wow! 100 yen per egg

i have been eating at the same italian place for about 8 years. my dh and i are regulars and think it is the best thing this side of rome. this is another place where a doggy bag is not an option. we let it slide because they always remember our birthdays and our wedding anniversary and spoil us rotten with free goodies when we celebrate by dining there. i am sure that it has to do with them not wanting the customers to see us walking out packing leaky foil wrapped pasta....no big deal here - it is a nice place and the food is out of this world. i like the plastic bag in the purse method - i am going to have to remember that! i hate to waste perfectly good food when so many go without.

i agree with this article. i often shop late, just before the markets close. i always wonder what they do with all that prepared food - like the bentos and deli items. i am betting it all ends up in the bin. i personally like the food brand labelling because i like to know where the produce comes from.... also, good luck taking away leftovers from a restaurant! there are no doggy bags! a story to prove my point: once i was dining with my canadian friend. she could not even eat half of her meal, part of which was a burger, so she asked the staff if we could get it wrapped "to go". they said "IMPOSSIBLE". after some protest the manager came out and explained that the kitchen was not set up to handle such requests. (no one asks for take out) i said "it doesnt need to be pretty, just wrap it in foil". he said "WE CAN NOT". i said "do you have foil" he said "yes". i said "please just wrap it in foil so we can take it" he said "it is not possible". we were very polite but it turned into this big ordeal. so, in the end, my girlfriend wrapped her 25 dollar hamburger in tissue and stuck it in her purse while the staff stood over our table FUMING. they actually told her she was not allowed to take the burger out of the restaurant in her purse trust me it was not fine dining or a place that hasnt seen its share of foreign customers.... i know in terms of manners what we did was wrong, wrong, wrong BUT she couldnt eat it and she did have to pay for it so WE TOOK IT. and that is not the only time that has happened. it happens all the time if you are "CRAZY FOREIGNER" who asks to take home leftovers.......

thanks for directing me! now i just need to work on my spelling! it is parantha, right?

i have questions regarding parantha. is there a difference in the ingredients /preparation between south and north india? i have seen them made before (in kerala) and i remember the cooks pulling and slapping the dough a lot before rolling it up. ( like you would for some noodle recipes) i also remember that they did not use any eggs (the recipe here calls for eggs). what do strict veg indians do? lastly, i also remember that they were very oily. these dont seem oily at all. thanks very much in advance! ps i will be trying the other breads here - they look fabulous!