SuzySushi

Jumping in here from Hawaii... One of the more interesting sidelights on our trip to Scotland a few years ago (in Glasgow for a convention) was stopping in at a fashionable pub (whose name escapes me... it's buried somewhere im my copious trip-notes) and ordering haggis pakoras! The haggis was formed into small meatball-size bites, coated with batter, and deep fried. If I recall correctly, they were served with a chile dip, but I ate them straight!

Ah, yes! They're quite popular in Hawaii and are grown locally here. Best ways to cook them, I've found, are by steaming or boiling. That way they come out moister. If they're baked or microwaved, they're very dry.

What, no See's (an institution in the West)?

In general, "Nagasaki kasutera" is used to refer to not only that specialty of Nagasaki prefecture but also any cake made with the same method. It provides a moist texture by using mizuame (maltose), and there are variations flavored with milk, matcha, kurozatou, chocolate, cheese, and so on. Other types include kama kasutera, also known as Tokyo kasutera, which is made by putting in a mold and baking in an oven, has a light texture because it does not use mizuame, and is said to be close to the original kasutera), mushi (steamed) kasutera, kasutera manju, roll kasutera, and ningyo yaki. Pan, see also the English page for Castella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castella I still like Bunmeido's Kasutera. It's dense and moist, and has zarame sugar at the bottom. ← 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.

LOL! I either own or used to own the book (we're in the process of packing for moving, and I don't remember if that's one of the ones we weeded out...) GMTA?

I have a plain oak spice rack that's been following me around for the past 25 years. I bought it at a kitchenware store in Brookyn Heights, but I've seen similar ones for sale on eBay, in various sizes. It can be mounted on a wall or is stable enough to stand on a counter. Mine has 3 tiers and holds about 30 standard spice jars (a few more if I squeeze them together a little). I've saved the glass jars from old spices to use for new spices. Larger back-up quantities and spices/herbs that lose their fragrance quickly get stored in the freezer, in 2 layers of Ziploc freezer bags. I haven't found a problem with transferred flavors/scents.

My condolences on the loss of your grandma, as well. 95 is too young to die! Both of my grandfathers died when I was a baby, so I don't remember them at all. My maternal grandmother spoke broken English and was a very plain cook. "Boiled chicken" is a good description of most of the dinners I remember eating at her house. With boiled carrots and boiled potatoes. She always went to the live chicken market to purchase her chickens; I hated going there because of the smell! The two good things I remember from her house were the toast -- made on an A-frame electric toaster and better than any toast I've eaten since -- and a dish she sometimes used to make by stuffing the skin of the chicken neck with AFAIK farina; it was like a white sausage. My paternal grandmother, on the other hand, was a fantastic cook, although she had a limited repertoire. At one point in her life, she'd run a boarding house in the Catskills, and later owned a farm. She used to prepare the annual Thanksgiving dinners at my house. She'd come over the night before and chop the ingredients for the stuffing -- onions, celery, roast chestnuts -- in a wodden chopping bowl she held in her ample lap. She made wonderful candied sweet potatoes (I still use her recipe), and lattice-crust apple pies with incredibly flaky crusts. Once, when I mentioned those pies admiringly to my father, he said dryly, "Well, when you bake half a dozen pies a day to feed the farm hands, you get pretty good at it pretty quick." She must've had an adventurous palate for her time, because my father remembers eating Chinese food as a child, and at another point in her life, she hosted a Japanese houseguest (a friend of my uncle's) for several months. I also recall fondly that she always kept a mason jar filled with chocolate chips, which she'd dole out evenly to my sister and me whenever we'd visit. In her later years, she became a fan of Gaylord Hauser and followed some of his dietary recommendations.

I don't have a recipe, but it's known as "Almond Duck" in a lot of Westernized Chinese restaurants -- or at least the ones my husband used to frequent when he lived in California. I never heard of it growing up in New York! It's basically duck that has been cooked and deboned, cut into rectangles, coated with taro paste, and deep-fried until crispy. They usually then serve it with a sweet sauce and slivered almonds.

Hi Les, The only food market in Waikiki is an overpriced supermarket called Food Pantry. Their fish is okay, but you'd do much better getting out of the area. A couple of ideas: 1) If you have a car or can take the bus (#2 or #13), go to Daiei, a Japanese supermarket 2 bus stops (4 blocks) outside Waikiki. Ask the bus driver to call out the stop; cross the big avenue and walk 1 long block. One of the best selections of fish in the city, as well as good produce and all other sorts of unusual products. You'll also pass by Palama Market, a new Korean store I haven't been into yet. 2) For a real adventure, drive or take the bus (again #2 or #13) to Tamashiro's Fish Market way downtown on North King Street. It's the premier fish market in Honolulu. They carry all different grades of ahi, as well as an amazing selection of poke (pronounced poh-key) -- chopped fish salad, and local fish you'll not find elsewhere. Edited 'cause I can't spell and forget to proofread.

You may get other positive responses, but quite frankly I don't think acorns are worth the effort. I've tried Korean acorn jelly (which is sold in markets here) and it's pretty blah. In fact, after a bite or two each, we quietly threw out the rest of the package.

YES! That's it!!! As for the sweets resembling the plant, as far as I recall, each paper-wrapped bonbon contains two tiny sweets, one white, one pale pink, so they might be meant to represent the flowers. Gee... and all these years I thought the pictures were from Tale of Genji!!

No reply from anyone? Could you be more specific? Some kind of higashi or rakugan? Some explanation of higashi can be found here. ← Nininsuzuka (二人静), from what's written in calligraphy on the cover. (Glad the Wikipedia list helped me transliterate the first two kanji characters into print!) Do you know anything more about them?

Angel food cakes use spectacular amounts of egg whites. The recipe for Portuguese Egg Wraps on RecipeGullet uses 18 egg yolks. I have no idea whether it freezes successfully but it sure sounds yummy!

During the rest of the year, sure, but what about for a celebratory New Year's dinner?

You can reuse the bonito flakes and kombu for what's called niban dashi ("second stock"). Add fresh water and boil about 5 minutes before straining. This is used to make dashi for cooking, but not for soups where the flavor of the dashi needs to shine. I usually just toss the used bonito flakes, though. However, you can save the kombu/kelp and simmer in a soy sauce-sugar-water sauce (think teriyaki) until softened then eat as a vegetable.

Does anyone know the name of the Japanese tea ceremony sweets -- very traditional powdery dry candies -- that come in round rice-paper covered boxes with prints from Tale of Genji on the top? Website? (I don't like the sweets much, but I've saved several boxes to use for stamps & other stationery!)

There actually is an Upstairs Downstairs cookbook (o/p): Mrs. Bridges' Upstairs Downstairs Cookery Book.

Duh!!! I must not have been reading the same line you were! Lilnk to info on their tours ←

I did single out Vatel, at the top of this page (but I didn't provide a link).

Okay, several of you have mentioned the beer brewery tours at Anchor Brewery. I checked out their website and my question isn't answered -- are children allowed? (Not to taste the beer, of course.) Our 9 year old daughter will be with us. She's been welcomed at the wineries in Napa/Sonoma valleys, but what about Anchor?

Hands down, my favorite food movie for pure fun is Tampopo. I also like the others on the original list. And no one has yet mentioned Vatel, for food and sheer excess.

Mars attacks is a food movie? The part I remember best is the switched heads...

There definitely are some possibilities! Thanks again!

We may be in San Francisco for about a week at the end of March, staying with my stepson who recently moved into the Potrero District. Any recommendations for interesting places to eat, shop in the neighborhood? (He's a vegan, so we can't go completely by his tastes.) Asian foods are readily available to us in Hawaii, so we'd prefer something we can't get here -- South American, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, etc. Thanks in advance!

Not exactly a food... but on one of our trips to France, we bought a bottle of Poire Williams brandy (pear brandy with a pear in the bottle). The bottle was sealed with black stuff that resembled a thick layer of tar. One corkscrew and one pocketknife later... much later... it probably took us 1/2 hour to get the darned bottle open... and we had to strain the liquor through paper towels to get out the black bits before drinking it. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!! Next time we'll go for the brand that has a screw cap!!!