SuzySushi

Add Elizabeth Andoh's latest, Washoku for me! Doing the happy dance!!!

Oh, God, does this bring back memories! Not of the worst "meal" because it wasn't a meal. But shortly after my uncle got married, we all (and I mean all... my family, an aunt, my grandmother, cousins) trooped over to his new home for an invited visit. My aunt-by-marriage set out a bowl with whole pieces of fruit, apples and something else. Only enough pieces for the adults, one each. Nothing for the kids. My grandmother had stopped at the bakery to get a cake; my aunt placed it in the refrigerator when we arrived and never served it. She also rushed over to fluff up the cushion each time someone got up from a seat. We got a feeling we were not wanted.

Okay, I'm going to ask you guys (or any other members at large): I've always had tremendous problems baking gingerbread people. The arms and legs often break off when I'm transferring the cookies to the cooling rack! I've tried several recipes, and several cookie cutters. I let the cookies cool on the pan to firm up for a few minutes before removing them with a spatula. What am I doing wrong? Any tricks to prevent this?

Where do you live? If in the USA, you can buy non-fried instant ramen pretty easily in health food stores (but it's more expensive than the Maruchan or Nissin stuff). One packege has always equalled one serving in my book! If you're near a market that sells Thai products, you can also try some of the Thai ramen-style products made with rice noodles. They're not fried, and virtually fat-free if you don't add the little packet of oil that comes in the package (along with the powdered seasoned broth and sometimes a package of dried toppings). We like Myojo (Thailand) Duck Noodles.

I use the pumpkin pie recipe from Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk -- can't remember if it appeared on their label or in an ad. I like it better than the standard Libby's recipe that uses evaporated milk. I've also successfully used a chocolate mousse recipe from -- don't laugh -- the back of a package of Mori-Nu tofu. It's incredibly rich, and no one ever guesses the "secret ingredient."

Try asking your Japanese grocery store for "usukuchi shoyu." That has the saltiness of soy sauce but a lighter color, and is meant especially for cooking light-colored foods.

OOOOOOOOOH!!!!! Thanks, Reid! Sounds like we'll have to make a pilgrimage. Last time I had oden in a restaurant was more than 20 years ago. (I often make it at home.)

Good point! I think I'll pass on the ones that have been overrunning our condo landscaping!

The theory in merchandising has always been to place the most frequently-purchased items at the back of the store, forcing shoppers to walk by all the rest so that they'll buy more on impulse. That often backfires these days, when consumers in a hurry just get frustrated. The aisle displays could be deliberate on the part of the supermarkets, or could be they're taking advantage of the free freestanding display "shippers" manufacturers ship products in, to avoid having to re-shelve the items. Shoppers are more likely to notice the items if they're in a separate display from the regular shelves, so the strategy does work.

Glad you're finally in agreement with me over something! I agree with the other comments on what happens to kids' taste buds between infancy and school age. When my daughter was barely 2, she'd happily munch green beans as a snack and eat curries with the rest of us. Then she got to the stage where she begame naturally suspicious of anything new (whether food or anything else), and began trying to assert her own decisions. Peer-pressure entered into the equation, too. ("Yuck.... that's GROSS!") Now at age 9, she's finally beginning to try new foods again, IF I can relate a description of the taste to something she's already tried and likes.

Yes! My husband and I are very happy as omnivores. For several years, however, my stepson was a vegetarian (he's now back to eating *some* meat but nothing that resembles an animal -i.e., with bones). Some vegetarian "meats" I've found to my liking are: Boca "ground beef crumbles." It's hard to find (try a natural foods store; most supermarkets don't carry it although they carry BocaBurgers), but it tastes so good that my husband and I found ourselves sneaking bits of it, frozen, straight out of the package! The Boca sausages are not bad, either. A company called Vege1 out of Taiwan makes incredible Chinese-style vegetarian "meats" such as Chinese-style mock roast pork and roast duck. They used to have a way longer product list than I see now on their website. You might try contacting them, though, to see if anyone in your area carries their products.

Just got my daughter's school lunch menu for next month. (Winter break starts tomorrow afternoon). She's in public elementary school. Here's a sample week. All meals offer a choice of lowfat milk or lowfat chocolate milk. There are no soda machines or candy machines on campus. Lunch costs $1.00 for kids who pay full-price. I think breakfast is 75 cents (DD eats breakfast at home.) In addition to the items on the menu, there's always fresh salad (mostly lettuce; sometimes with shredded carrots and red cabbage) available. Monday - school closed. Tuesday: Breakfast: Cinnamon roll, pineapple Lunch: Creole Macaroni (macaroni & cheese with bits of vegetables mixed in) Garden Greens French Roll Chilled Pears Wednesday: Breakfast: Apricots, turkey hot dog, steamed rice (this is Hawaii!) Lunch: Roast Turkey with Gravy Rice Broccoli with Carrots Whole Wheat Roll Apple Wedges Thursday: Breakfast: Breakfast wrap with scrambled eggs, applesauce Lunch: Combo Cheese Pizza Tossed Salad Applesauce Friday: Breakfast: French toast, poultry patty, canned peaches Lunch: Sloppy Joe on Whole Wheat Bun Oven Potato Wedges Lettuce Canned Peaches As you can see, there's not a lot of variety in the side dishes, but everything's "plain," and what most kids will eat. Some of you may question the wisdom of serving two starchy carbohydrates -- e.g., rice AND a roll at the same meal, but some kids in their "white food" phase will only eat starches, and only certain ones at that. Since my daughter recently developed Type 1 diabetes, I've been examining the typical menus carefully to calculate whether they meet her carbohydrate and protein requirements, and they're well balanced for her diet. BTW, the principal at my daughter's former school said that the school system tries to encourage children below the poverty level to eat breakfast in school (for free) because in many cases, that's the only breakfast they're going to get. Sad, isn't it, in the "land of plenty."

$17 Apples for Export Japan is cultivating a market for luxury fruits.

Yes, thanks, Kalypso! A very interesting overview of how the NSLP works. The stringent (and old) requirements of the NSLP are also, for instance, why public schools can't serve vegetarian meals using tofu as a meat substitute: it's not recognized as such for school lunches by the USDA.

Thanks for the link! I love the "Little Imps" What a clever way to shape the cookies.

(Sigh.) I didn't think anything I said was going to be so controversial -- just plain common sense. What's wrong with advising kids to drink lower fat milk and drink less fruit juice? (Eat the fruit, which has more vitamins and fiber, rather than a fiber-free liquid whose vitamin content has been depleted by pasteurization.) BTW, even the new USDA Food Pyramid Guide for Kids (pdf file), which is headlined "Eat Right. Exercise. Have Fun." recommends -- and I quote -- and Are they jackasses too?

Update: Reading Octaveman's post, and browsing the Japanesechefsknife.com website, I've identified what I've had all these years as a Misono molybdenum santoku (it was a little difficult for me to transliterate the Japanese "sutenresu moribuden" -- stainless... say what? -- into English!). It works for me.

I like that sentiment!

I do, I do.... about 50% of the time! I love Japanese dishes and have an entire cupboard filled with Japanese porcelain and pottery, some bought here or in NYC, some hand-carried from Japan, and some given to me as gifts by Japanese friends or when they needed to reduce their own collections when they moved back to Japan. I've amassed 2 sets (2 different patterns) of rectangular dishes meant for sashimi, 2 sets of round plates about the size of American salad plates, small round bowls, small square bowls, eggplant-shaped small glass bowls, covered chawanmushi bowls, 2 sets of lacquer soup bowls (1 set with lids), 3 sets of soy sauce dishes, a set of very thin porcelain rice bowls, heavier pottery rice bowls and matching teacups, teapot and matching teacups, 2 sake sets with matching cups, an antique (?) lacquer sake set that I bought on eBay, 4 or 5 sets of chopstick rests, and another set of rice bowls that I bought recently at the 99 cent store. All of these are traditional "services for 5." I also have twosomes of lozenge-shaped curry bowls, matching lotus-shaped rice bowls, serving bowls with a sashiko pattern, bamboo zarusoba trays, and 1 matched pair plus mismatched pieces of ramen bowls. And probably 5 or 6 5-pair- sets of lacquer chopsticks that I received as gifts, as well as the "individual" ones we use in the family. Whew!!! Add to that I have a collection of about 20 different Japanese teacups I picked up in my travels. Over the years, I've sold off several sets of bowls and plates that didn't coordinate with the other dishes... and sadly, some of my favorite rice bowls broke the last time we moved. I use some of the dishes whenever I can, unless my family's in a hurry for me to get dinner on the table. The more fragile ones get brought out only when we have guests. Edited to clarify the numbers!

Honestly? Using Wikipedia's life expectancy from Neolithic humans (late stone age) and with La Leche.org's opinion and mine that there is no set age to wean, I'll pick 20 years as a human life span, and 2 years as a typical breastfeeding span. So, 10%. ← Hey, the average lifespan today is a heck of a lot longer than 20 years. This is not the Neolithic age. Does this mean, by your calculations, that children should live almost exclusively on a diet of breast milk until they're almost 8 years old?

Are you ranting at my HMO and pediatrician? (I"m the only one in this thread who mentioned an HMO, as far as I can tell.) The average calorie needs for a normal, active 4-6 year old is 1,800 calories a day. The average calorie needs for a normal, active 7-10 year old is 2,000 calories. If a child drinks 4 cups of whole milk @ 150 calories per cup, plus let's say 1 cup of orange juice at 110 calories, that's 710 calories just from "nutritious" liquids -- 39% of the entire day's calorie requirements for a 4-6 y.o. and 35.5% for a 7-10 y.o. That's an awful lot. Exactly how long are human beings expected to drink breast milk?

I don't think you need to worry about sterilizing the coat hangers because the ducks/chickens/whatever are roasted after they're hung up to dry. Or you could always buy chrome plated S hooks at a hardware store. They sell various sizes.

Ling, you make me proud!

Definitely start with the coffee with condensed milk, or iced coffee variation thereof -- it's addictive! Thai iced tea is also great. It's similarly sweetened with condensed milk. The tapioca drinks are similar to the above, but have pearls of tapioca at the bottom. They're all the rage now, and served with a wide straw to slurp up the tapioca "gummies." Young coconut juice is delicious and light. They'll probably serve it from a can, and there are usually small pieces of coconut meat floating in it. Fresh lychee drink is delicious, and out of season this time of the year. If you've ever tasted canned lychees, it has an even more perfumey flavor. Fresh longans ditto. Soy bean milk will probably be similar to the soy milk you can find in health food stores. It's pretty bland. I've never tried pennywort drink or the salted drinks. "Chinese healthy drink" could be anything! Generally, anything marketed by the name of "healthy" in Asian markets is supposed to be good for your health, but tastes bad!

Our HMO (Kaiser Permanente), pediatrician, and dietitian advise switching children over age 2 to low-fat or even skim milk, and no more than 8 ounces of fruit juice per day, because they'd like to see children get most of their calories from -- presumably nutritious -- solid food rather than liquids. It's very easy for young kids to fill up on whole milk, then not have room to eat other foods.