sanrensho

Since we've expanded our gardening efforts, it's pretty much what we can pick from the garden. Usually mesculin lettuce with spinach and any of the following: young Swiss chard or kale chopped finely, arugula, mizuna, young watercress. Due to the lightness of young greens, I usually dress tomatoes, red/yellow peppers and cucumbers (Japanese) separately. We also frequently add sugar snap peas (parboiled) to our salads.

Hamaei consistently has the best reputation in the Japanese community. It is quite cozy, but every staff member there is Japanese. I have not tried any of the options in West Van, nor have I tried Yohachi near Lonsdale Quay. I can think of reasons to avoid every other option for sushi on the North Shore, although I won't name the guilty.

Well, it certainly looks like fun and could do double-duty for large breakfasts and diner food. But they got the name wrong. It should be something like "Porta-Teppan," since the "yaki" just refers to grilling. Also, if you order it, make sure that they send you the tank cover with the chinese character *right side up* (not upside down).

If you're not stuck on a yellow/white (butter) cake, then you might want to consider a chiffon cake. (I use the ones from Cake Bible.) This will give you a very moist cake layer without using simple syrup. Also pairs well with a mousse, although there are many different types of mousse.

I agree. I don't increase the sugar in any of my matcha desserts, just as I don't seek to increase sugar for recipes that use cocoa (both powders having a bitter quality). The amount of matcha used is up to personal taste, as is your choice of using vanilla. You might want to cut back on the vanilla somewhat, in order to avoid overwhelming the matcha.

I haven't tried that specific recipe, but I have tried other recipes from Mes Confitures and found that the jam did gel at 214F or so (as high as my lame stove will go).

^^^Robyn does a nice job of summing up the situation in Tokyo. Great advice. You might also want to investigate ramen, of which there are a dizzying array of styles and options in Tokyo, and find a shop that makes teuchi (handmade) soba. The Western pastry scene in Japan can also hold its own, if you are interested in desserts.

I'd chance it, as long as the mixture itself isn't runny (batter is fine) then it should hold until the heat solidifies the mass. If seepage is a concern, then line the outside with sheets of aluminum foil.

You might want to ask around the local Japanese American community. I'm sure somebody has it in their backyard. It grows like a weed and requires no care to speak of. And is easy to divide, so anybody that has it should be willing to share. Same for myoga (I have both).

I can only hope...if it has any impact at all, it will probably make more of an impression with the kids themselves rather than the habits of their parents. For instance, I now wouldn't hesitate to have some kids over to make bread as part of a "rainy day," play date activity. And prep time would be close to zero. I did have one parent (close neighbor) ask me later if it was hard to make the bread, so I'll be giving her the recipe. Maybe there is hope after all... Great idea on the picture frames/certificates! I should also note that the above recipe makes about 12-16 pigs in blankets (using regular wieners cut in thirds) and can be doubled/tripled as necessary. Daughter #1 will be having her ninth birthday party in September, so I'm already turning over ideas in my head. I'm considering a pasta-making party using our hand-cranked machine, with a side detour into making a simple vinaigrette for a tossed salad. I want to stay on the theme of "stuff that we are better off making rather than buying."

Alas, no pictures of the octopuses in blankets. Ever had a room full of hungry 6-year olds nipping at your heels? Actually, now that I think about it, there weren't any octopi in the baggies that went home, so I think the kids devoured them first. The kids also did us a favor. There was enough dough left over the next day to make a large roll bread filled with cheese/herbs/eggs/capers/dried tomatoes, and a dessert roll bread filled with nutella/walnuts/candied orange peel. The latter was particularly tasty.

As promised, here’s my follow-up report. The activity went very, very smoothly. Maybe it was because we had a great bunch of kids, but there were no (major) hiccups at all. No swapouts were prepared nor were they needed, because this recipe is truly foolproof. I split the kids into pairs, with each pair having their own mixing bowl/spoon/mat, and they did all the measuring, mixing, kneading and shaping under my instruction. However, I did pre-measure the flour and yeast, and they needed a little help from me to knead the dough into a smooth dough. Other than that, the kids caught on quickly and everyone seemed to have fun. After half an hour, we had enough pigs in blankets done to fill up the oven, so we put the breads straight into a preheated oven (w/no rise). After 25 minutes or so, I called the kids back into the kitchen so they could take a peek at their creations (each kid had his/her own square of parchment paper to keep track of who had made what). We also made “octopuses in blankets” using the Japanese sausage cutting trick, and the kids who had never seen it got a kick out of that. After letting the breads cool down a bit, everyone sat down to nosh on their creations. Any leftovers were sent home in baggies at the end of the party. We had a blast and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. My only regret is that I didn’t have time to prepare and print out a “certificate of achievement” to hand to each child, containing the recipe and instructions. The tweaked recipe is below. I’ve adjusted some of the quantities/measurements to make it as simple and kid-friendly as possible. Again, the point of this recipe is that it’s simple, foolproof, easy to work with, and provides instant gratification for kids—they can make, bake and nosh on the finished goods in about 60 minutes. Water (tepid/110F) 1/2 cup Oil 2 TBS Sugar 2 TSP (8 g) Yeast (active dry) Scant 2 TSP (5 g) Salt 1 TSP (6 g) Flour 250 g (AP or 50/50 AP/cake) Instructions: 1. Mix water, oil, sugar and yeast until yeast is dissolved. Add salt and flour at once and mix until dough comes together. 2. Form into ball and knead until ingredients are smoothly incorporated. 3. Portion and shape as desired. (We made pigs in blankets, but you can also fill with cheese/ham, nutella/nuts, etc.) Pinch seams well and brush with egg wash or oil. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds or other toppings as desired. 4. Bake in preheated 400F oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown*. (Alternatively, use cold start method: Place breads in oven and crank to highest temperature setting. Lower to target temperate once the target oven temperature is reached. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. This method has the advantage of letting your kids put the breads in the oven.) *I usually bake this with no rise/proofing, although the original recipe calls for a 15-minute rise before baking. I have found that the recipe doesn’t rise significantly with proofing anyway, and the slow pace of kids usually means that the dough has already been sitting for 15+ minutes before going in the oven.

^^^Wow, congratulations. I can't think of another member that is more deserving of this opportunity.

Interesting, I'll have to poke around some Italian markets and see if they have something similar. I only recall seeing the vacuum sealed bricks and cans, but maybe I haven't looked close enough. Perhaps the whole beans will have a little more flavor, if I can find them. I agree that anything roasted months and weeks before tends to be flat, but I do like the flavor profile of the Italian brands. And, as you say, even a cursory inspection of Lavazza and other Italian brands reveals that the beans aren't roasted very dark at all.

1. Perfect korokke (potato croquettes): Crispy and still warm from the fryer. 2. New potatoes, dressed in an emulsion of olive oil, anchovies, rosemary and pepper 3. Roasted sweet potatoes (ishiyaki imo) from a street vendor in Japan

AFAIK, Microsoft implemented OS-level support for double-byte characters starting with Windows XP. Which OS are you running? If you're running XP (English version), I would think there's a good chance that Mastercook could handle Japanese. Unfortunately, I don't have any older applications to confirm this.

Just out of curiosity, Owen, how was this packaged? Vacuum-sealed "brick," whole beans or ground?

Easy. Cilantro. We usually cook Japanese half the time, so that's my excuse. I wish I could grow the stuff (it usually bolts quickly), so I could avoid wasting it.

In addition to searching through previous threads on the topic, I suggest you indicate what kind of food you want to eat and gather suggestions accordingly: sushi, tempura, kaiseki, etc. Price ranges will also be all over the map, so some indication of your budget will be helpful. Also, since there are so many good restaurants in Tokyo and it's such a sprawling city, it might be helpful to know where you are staying.

I think your ratio is bang on. I've always used approximately 1:1 (to taste) and prefer a tart dressing. Even 2:1 is generally too oily for me. If I'm ever in doubt, I dip and try using whatever salad contents the dressing is for. I can see increasing the oil in order to get a thicker emulsion for coating certain salads, but my usual solution is to use something other than oil for a thicker emulsion: mustard or pastes like miso/gochujang for Asian-style dressings.

That is pretty much correct in a nutshell. Calrose rice is a medium grain rice, and Japanese eat short grain rice varieties. I would expect a "quality" ("picky" if you prefer) Japanese restaurant to use short grain rice, and the rest to use medium grain varieties due to price/availability. It wasn't always that way. When I was growing up, the medium grain rices (Kokuho Rose) were the only ones available commercially in North America, so that's what Japanese restaurants served and Japanese families ate. If anybody is interested about the subject of Californian grown Japanese ("sushi") rice, there is a thread here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...23entry955723

Calrose is actually a medium grain rice. A true short grain rice would be something like Koshihikari or Akitakomachi (Japanese varieties that are also farmed in California). http://www.calrice.org/b6a_medium.htm More than 90 percent of the rice grown in California consists of medium grain variety. Calrose and "New Variety" are grown in the Sacramento valley which boasts crystal clean water from the Sierras and a Mediterranean climate of warm days and cool nights.

Good to hear your wife is out of the hospital, I bet the kids are excited! Does this mean a special feast (sushi?) tonight?

^^^Yes, I'll definitely report how it goes this weekend and post a finalized recipe once it's been tweaked further (but not in time for the party). The pizza recipe sounds promising. The only problem, I think my head would be spinning from working 10-20 mini-pizzas in and out of a single, standard-sized oven! I think your 3-year old will be able to handle it, there is very little mess if you mix in a bowl and then take it to the bench for kneading/shaping. My daughters get very engrossed in this activity, especially the shaping.

Thanks Rona and Tracey for the swapout suggestion. We might take a stab at a pizza or even pasta-making activity for future parties. We've done two test runs so far, one with a biscuit dough and the second using the reference dough with modifications. The biscuit-making was fun and I'll be doing it again as a family, but presented some extra wrinkles. The (relatively) sticky dough made it messy for the kids to handle. It didn't help that the dough got progressively harder to handle--the typical slow pace of the kids and aggressive handling meant that the dough warmed up a lot by the end. Test run #2 involved adding 2 TBS oil and subbing 50/50 pastry/AP flour for the bread flour called for in the reference recipe. I refrained from adding baking powder or making a sponge this time, just because I didn't want to introduce too many changes at once (will try them in the future). I also used a cold start oven method, and found that we got some oven spring this time--even with zero rising time. The resulting dough is much better. The important thing is that it's still simple and indestructible enough for a bunch of 6-year olds to mix, knead and shape. Older daughter wanted desperately to make a braided bread, so we tried that by rolling in some raisins and cinnamon sugar. The results were fine. At this point, I plan to have the munchkins make pigs in blankets and cheese/ham-filled buns, with the option of making a mini-braided bread with raisins for those who want to tackle something extra. The menu leans heavily toward savory because of the birthday cake that they'll get later on. Otherwise, I'd make buns filled with nutella and walnuts.