nakji

I use a whole stock chicken cut up into pieces - feet but no head, and two Japanese leek stalks. Chinese leek stalks? Whatever you'd like to call them. I use lop yuk rind with attached fat when making corn chowder. It yields an unctuous and smoky taste.

Is it long and white? It could be a daikon, or what Koreans call "mu".

Oh, the packet of Ajisen noodles in my fridge is just not going to cut it after those pictures. Fukuoka remains on my husband's list of must-visit places in Japan, merely for their ramen. Thanks! I didn't think it was a Wako, though no disrespect meant to that chain. I have had many a fine tonkatsu there, as well.

Curiously, Snickers is the one chocolate bar that you can rely on finding in pretty much any country in Asia. This is sad, because I can't stand the damn things. Nougat? Ick. Note I said, "chocolate bar" and not 'candy' bar. This is because I'm from Canada, where we still make a pretense of calling the brown coating "chocolate". American "candy" bars taste like wax to me. For mass-produced chocolate from English-speaking countries, my ranking goes: 1. UK 2. Australia 3. New Zealand 4. Canada 5. US Try a Dairy Milk from each country and see how you would rank them. This is a fun afternoon's work. My list of top-three mass-produced sweets: MeltyKiss Mint Aero Double Coat Tim Tams. I have a box of Petit Ecolier in the kitchen which I literally just opened before reading this topic. My husband chastised me for calling it a cookie, when clearly, he thinks, it is a biscuit. I had a hard time deciding between Twix and Meltykiss, but I chose MeltyKiss because you can choose to have just one. If you open up a Twix, hooboy, that sucker's getting finished. And no sharing.

As an update: how long does home-made yogurt last?

Looks great - did you use pork belly with that, or just one type of pork? I've been using smoked ham to great results. I made the beef with cilantro this past week to accolades from my husband, and the cilantro definitely played more of a vegetable role. It plated beautifully, with all that red and green. But if you you don't like cilantro, that dish isn't going to change your mind. Save it for a night when it's just you and your wife.

My husband and I went to Hida Takayama last year in October and loved it. Take lots of bags for bringing things back from the market, especially if you want to pick up a bottle or two of sake. We didn't eat at Kei-chan, but here's where we did go. The only place I remember in particular was Suzuya, for sukiyaki and hoba miso.

I've been to Wako outlets, and unless this is a radically more upscale Wako than the rest of the chain, the location I'm talking about is completely different from the average Wako. The decor is traditional wood and beam, with blue curtains. There are beautiful wood pickle boxes on each table that look more like old-fashioned bento. And there are only five menu items - the hire, the rosu, the giant shrimp, a chick katsu and an ebi katsu. I don't know, it could be a flagship Wako with a different menu, but I don't think it is. If you're making it a katsu tour, try a Genkatsu outlet. They do millefeuille katsu with a variety of fillings. FWIW, I thought the dishware available at Doguyasuji was nicer than that in Kappabashi, although I only visited Osaka the once.

I also noticed from the accompanying photo that he has a whiteboard in his kitchen. I also have a whiteboard in my kitchen, which makes the count exactly one of kitchen traits that I share with Thomas Keller.

Oh, god, microwaved steamed pudding. That's an excellent idea. With custard sauce. My intrepid mum used to have a recipe for gingerbread in the microwave, with hot lemon sauce. I'm going to e-mail her to see if she still has that recipe lying around.

Sorry, it's not the first floor, but it's the first restaurant floor, which I believe is the fifth or sixth floor in the building. If you order the hire katsu, it comes out about an inch and a half thick, and nicely rare in the middle. All of the side dishes have exceptional care. I'm so jealous! For ramen, Ippudo is a safe option - there's one in Meidaemae station, near Meiji University. Not sure about other locations, but the bean sprout salad alone is worth making the trek. There's another place that I can't remember the name of - it's one of the top-rated chains on the Yamanote line - it has a branch at Kawasaki station that I always used to visit in the basement floor of Kawasaki Be Department store, but there's one on the Yamanote as well. Succulent ramen. Does anyone know the name of the chain? My husband thinks it's called "Meguro". I don't know why I've never written this stuff down.

It just came to me that my mum makes butternut squash in the microwave. She halves it, scoops out the seeds in the middle, and adds brown sugar and butter to the cavity in the middle. She nukes the whole thing until it's soft, and mashes the squash together with the butter/sugar mix, and serves it in the shell. Nice, and when you're making Sunday dinner, it doesn't take up another burner on the stove.

How do you adapt recipes to using a pressure cooker?

Mushrooms! Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms. In a takigomi-gohan, in soup, or as the base of a nice Korean deonjang-jigae. Mushroom risotto is also good, made with fresh shiitakes. Fried with butter and soy sauce. In bulgogi.

Any dishes in particular in mind for Tokyo? Are you interested in ramen, or tonkatsu? I had an amazing tonkatsu set lunch at the Shin Marunouchi building near Tokyo station- they do filet, loin, and an amazing whole langoustine. Three kinds of in-house pickle on each table. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was the only tonkatsu venue on the first restaurant floor there. Blue curtains, wood interior, and a big vase of in-season branches next to the waiting-bench outside. Sorry, this is a virtually useless recommendation, but if you enjoy fried pork, you'll be rewarded if you find this place. Budget around 2000-3000 for a set lunch.

I'd say it's about 200 ml.

I buy one tin of Illy coffee for each new place I move to, drink it, and then use the tin to store my (cheaper) coffee beans from there on out. My kitchen is not right without an Illy tin. Any glass bottles get saved and used as bulk spice storage.

What do you mean by "fluff" the rice? I've heard this term before, but I'm not clear exactly on what it means - do you mean take a fork to the rice and stir it around after it's cooked, but right before serving? If so, no. What's the purported advantage?

Here's my favourite rice blend: It's a mixture of regular white rice - medium grain here, I think, but I prefer short grain if I can get it, and millet. Note: It's important to wash the rice before adding the millet, or it'll float away in your wash-water. I think the millet gives it a subtle flavour and colour that I like.

I had a Korean night last night. Bulgogi with extra mushrooms: Deonjang jigae, with tofu, chilies, radish, zucchini, and a mushroom broth: Served with rice, commercial radish kimchi, and a lettuce salad with a sesame-chili dressing. It was very comforting autumn food, especially now we're coming into mushroom season.

I made this bento for my husband's lunch with leftover's from some Korean cooking. Rice and millet blend, bulgogi, and stir-fried zucchini went into a new lock and lock container with segments - this one can be microwaved, unlike our boxes from Japan, which greatly increases the likelihood of my husband eating the rice. I took along some soup and rice in a keep-warm container for myself.

I used a lot of pre-peeled garlic and pre-chopped garlic in Korea, as dishes there tend to call for a lot of garlic, and supermarkets carried a variety of coping mechanisms for this. Actually, the majority of product available in Korea when I lived there was pre-peeled, and it was harder to find the stuff with the peel on. Take from that information what you like. I often used the pre-minced product in a bag, because I found the flavour it gave off to be a stronger, more bitter one than garlic I peeled and minced on my own. I thought this flavour was fairly distinctive in a lot of the jigaes and other dishes I tried there, so I used it to replicate that taste. Now when I want to get that same taste for home cooking, I use my Japanese ginger grater, keep the clove whole and unpeeled, start with the small tip, and grate. The peel protects your fingers and comes off automatically, and provides a nice hump of pureed garlic that you can smear off with your finger.

I'm now the proud owner of some semi-decent teaware. For everyday use, I have a plain white porcelain teapot with plastic infuser from Muji. I also have two Japanese-style teacups for use with meals, also white porcelain from Muji, that I can use with a variety of teas. I've also bought this lovely gaiwan, which is hand-painted bone china, for gong-fu brewing: I did my first gong-fu session with it this past Sunday, and I really enjoyed using it, although I did manage to burn myself with the hot tea on my first attempt at pouring with it.

Maybe he just liked yogurt? Actually, when I lived in Japan, it seemed yogurt-making was quite popular - more so than in any of the other Asian countries I've lived in. You could even buy kefir in the supermarket. My yogurt came out unbelievably good. I used a litre of whole UHT milk. I hated UHT milk growing up, because I always had to drink it when I went up north to visit my grandmother, and they didn't have any fresh products like that. When I tried the President, I didn't mind the taste so much. Maybe I'm just older now. Anyway, I put it into a quart glass jar to set up, and I came out with a jar full of thick, creamy yogurt with a bit of tail on it when you spoon it up. I can taste the UHT a bit, but together with the sour it's giving it a bit of sour cream taste. I love it. I'll admit, I was giddy when I pulled the towel off, and lo, there was a bottle of yogurt.

I have just come back from my local independent bookshop, where I learned Ms. Dunlop had a book signing in March. I can't believe I missed her! She also held a private dinner at a local Sichuan restaurant, for which tickets were available. Nuts! I did manage to snag a copy of her memoir, signed, however. Does this differ much from the beef with cumin? I have some beef strips I could put to use this week. Susan, it's heartening to hear you've used venison with success, that's usually quite lean, isn't it. I'll have to try my luck. I did find a source that sells Korean beef, which is much richer than the Australian product my supermarket carries.