SuzySushi

Good thread to resurrect!!! From Europe: - Chocolate!!! Last trip we came home with an attache case filled with 100+ chocolate bars for personal use! - Cheese. A large variety. - Chestnut paste in jars and tubes. (Available only occasionally here.) - Boxes of Ebly, a wheat pilaf that's not yet marketed to U.S. consumers. - Jars of Ducros Moroccan spice blend. From New York, LA, or San Francisco: - Cheese. - Bread, especially rye bread, and especially corn rye from LA or Acme NY-style rye from SF. - Cheese danish. I haven't been to Japan recently enough to review everything I want from there that's not available here (there are a lot of Japanese markets in Hawaii), but some things that come to mind immediately are: - Yatsuhashi senbei, cinnamon cookies from Kyoto. - Japanese pickles made without food coloring. - Japanese candy, such as green tea-flavored Kit Kats.

I'm waiting! The recipes I've tried for ma po tofu from scratch don't taste like the dish I'm familiar with from restaurants -- something's been off or missing!

As with any other convenience foods, I think the quality (and "authenticity") of Asian convenience foods varies. I definitely use Thai curry pastes as it's not worth assembling all the fresh spices and grinding my own for the small amounts I need. I also use boxed Japanese curry mixes because the flavor and consistency of Japanese curries is almost impossible to replicate without them. Strangely enough (or maybe not so strangely!) I also like the House brand (Japanese) seasoning paste for Ma Po Dofu, a Chinese dish. The flavor appeals to me, and it's easy to use. Of the several Asian Home Gourmet products I've tried, the one I like best is the spice paste for (Indian) Rogan Josh -- which now that I've discovered it, I can't find any more in my local stores!!! I'll be curious to hear what you think of the Asian Home Gourmet products.

Argh!!!! Eight!!!!! In a small, U-shaped kitchen. - My single-cup coffeemaker, used every day. - The microwave oven, probably ditto. - The toaster (four slots), used often. And in one corner... - The Cuisinart food processor, used only occasionally but unless I leave it out, I tend to forget about it and not use it at all. - A cheap-o electric sandwich griller, used occasionally to make grilled cheese sandwiches. It came with a bunch of recipes, but I've never gone beyond the cheese +. - My new waffle iron, bought at a garage sale. Used every Sunday for brunch ever since. This and the sandwich grill stand on end, so they don't take up much space. - A small George Forman grill that I'd never have bought myself, but find amazingly convenient. Used about once a week. And in the other corner... - My electric wok, used just a few times a year (and never for stir-frying!), typically for entertaining at the table with paella or fondue. The corner is "wasted space" anyway, and there's no place else large enough to store the wok in the kitchen.

I'd say about 90% of our everyday dinners are haphazard. I'll plate the food at the stove, then DH and I either eat at our computers (which are right next to each other) with the plates on the desk, or balancing the plates while sitting in bed, and our daughter balances her plate on her lap stretched out on the living room futon-sofa. Sometimes we all crowd into the bed to eat a "family dinner" like do-it-yourself sushi rolls. And occasionally one of us gets up the energy to clear off the clutter (papers, toys) from our wraparound kitchen counter and we do nice place settings there.

Recipe, please!

What do you mean by "three flavor" pickled ginger? Do you mean beni-shoga, red pickled ginger (actually a deep rose color)?

Oh, yes. I've pruned my cookbook collection each time we've moved, and I'm still pruning, periodically pulling out cookbooks I don't use to make room for new ones. The ones that go are books I've outgrown, ones from which I've never used a recipe (unless they have other redeeming value as references or for terrific photos or prose), gifts that never were to my taste, duplicate copies, and some that I've bought and later decided weren't that interesting. I mostly donate books to the library, a few I've given to friends, and some I've sold on eBay or Amazon Marketplace. I don't regret pruning them: I feel they get good homes with someone who wants them.

The usual: Chicken soup with noodles, tom yum soup, hot & sour soup, curry, chili. Wasabi is good, too, but sushi's a waste as I can't taste it. Drink plenty of water/juices/tea. Avoid anything milky.

When straining mushroom-soaking liquid, place a paper coffee filter in a wire strainer to remove the grit.

I'm not a big fan of cleavers because I can't seem to get the leverage (or arm strength?) needed to chop properly -- I much prefer my Japanese kitchen knife and leave any cleaver work to my husband! But I'll add to the predominant advice here and say that the cutting board is very important. At our favorite Chinese roast pork/roast duck take-out place, the cleaver-wielder is a master! He uses a h-e-a-v-y cleaver, wears elbow-high industrial rubber gloves, and uses a thick (8", I estimate) slice of the trunk of a tree as his cutting board. It's well-worn from use and scrubbing, and actually a little concave in the center, but it works well to grip the cleaver blade and prevent slipping - or bones flying - during cutting. I'm not sure what type of wood it is, but I've seen similar cutting boards in Chinese restaurant supply houses.

Why not treat it like grape leaves, then, and make a Mediterranean-inspired filling of rice or orzo pilaf?

I'm like edsel. My computer is a few feet from the kitchen. If I'm using a recipe that's online or in my own computer files, I'll either print it out or leave the recipe on the screen for reference. No room for a computer in the kitchen itself, and I'd be afraid of spilling food on it as I work. My home office is close enough!

"Uni" rhymes with "swoon" in the most wonderful way. It's the sexiest sushi. Yes, I eat it in sushi bars. Yes, I eat it at home. (I buy it in Japanese supermarkets, already prepared. Besides sushi, it makes a dynamite pasta sauce.

Congratulations on your new position! I'm sure you'll have a great experience! I've been to Nikko, but am unfamiliar with Utsunomiya so will leave that part of your question to others. My very favorite Japanese cookbook, At Home with Japanese Cooking by Elizabeth Andoh, has long been out of print, but is available used at Amazon.com. I also like the cookbooks by Emi Kazuko. Note that Japanese Cooking: The Traditions, Techniques, Ingredients & Recipes and A Kitchen Handbook: Japanese Cooking are the same book with different titles from different publishers, and The Japanese Kitchen: A Cook's Guide to Japanese Ingredients is excerpted from her other book. Amazon.com link

Repeat after me: When in Doubt, Throw it Out! My general rule of thumb is to either use fresh meat/poultry/seafood immediately, or to freeze it for future use. Seafood goes "off" much faster than meat or poultry. If something has been sitting in the fridge for more than 2 days after purchase, or after the expiration date, I generally throw it. Exceptions: meat/poultry/seafood that is purposely being brined/marinated; Cryovacked products that have a long expiration date (such as fully cooked ham or BBQ ribs) -- they can stay a few days after expiration and still be good.

I also see they have bamboo toaster tongs on sale for $14.99. I paid 99 cents at my local Asian 99 cents store. ;-) ← I can beat that! Last spring, a local Asian grocery here was giving them away, along with a rice paddle/scoop, when one bought a 10 pound bag of rice. They were in a neat mesh bag that I also have been using ever since to store onions. When this store first opened, about 10 years ago, they gave away a 12 inch wok with any $25.00 grocery purchase. People were still lined up half-way down the block when I drove past in mid-afternoon. (I already had a wok.) ← LOL! Here, markets (and banks!) give away rice -- anywhere from 5 pounds to 25 pounds. Everyone here can use more rice!

I also see they have bamboo toaster tongs on sale for $14.99. I paid 99 cents at my local Asian 99 cents store. ;-)

Sure they did. The noodles they made were known as si mian (丝面). ← Beautiful!!!

For the holidays, I bake cookies and make up assortments for friends here. For mailing to friends out-of-town, I choose local products such as coffee and chocolate-covered macadamia nuts.

I think they went to Holland's Indonesian restaurants!

Just out in The Journal News, ARTICLE WITH RECIPES on how to use sriracha sauce.

A spoonful of peanut butter often adds the finishing touch to curry.

Any more chunky drinks out there? The obvious: what about those Japanese canned fruit drinks with pieces of fruit: whole grapes in grape drinks, chunks of orange in orange drink. What a surprise for the unwary!

In Googling funori, I came up with its main use as a glue in restoring old books! Apparently, the seaweed used for funori is similar to carrageenan and has a mucilage-like effect. That would explain the different texture of hegi-soba (both why the dough is so easily workable, and why the cooked noodles have a sliipery yet chewy consistency).