nakji

Actually, it's really funny this topic popped up today. I was sitting at the bar of my favourite izakaya last night while they were training new staff. The bar was full of young people, and a lot of mizuwarus were going out. Not just scotch, but cassis and water; and yuzu liqueur and water (not to mention glass after glass of "cassis orange" the ultimate Japanese girl drink, from what I can see; and yuzu sours, whatever the heck those are), and of course, a lot of shochu waters as well. The bartender doing the training was very specific about the number of times the drink had to be stirred, going so far as to make the trainee remake a couple of drinks that he'd botched by stirring too much. I couldn't catch his explanation of why, but he was very specific about it. My husband, who is studying for the JPLT (Japanese Language Test) was heartened to see the trainee struggling to memorize the kanji on all the various bottles of sake and awamori. For the record, I was drinking a shiso-umeshu on the rocks (tasted like cherry Kool-aid!) and my husband had awamori - also on the rocks.

Thanks! This helps a lot. I love takikomi gohan, and make it quite often in the fall, since my husband doesn't really care for plain rice. And since I love pottery anything, I'll probably end up getting one of that style. Ah!Ha!hahahaha! *sigh* No, I don't, sadly. Right now my kitchen equipment consists of the 900 yen wok from Ikea, one very cheap saucepan with glass lid, that I currently use to cook rice, and a sad little non-stick frypan that cooks pretty much everything, but is too small for liquids.

What kinds of kelp and seaweed? These are beautiful pictures, I can't wait to see what develops. I feel bad for the little piggies, though - I know what happens in these sorts of topics, and it usually ends badly for the pig. But deliciously for everyone else, though, that's some consolation.

I think I just typed terracotta because I read it somewhere in this topic. I guess I meant ceramic (versus a metal frypan). What's Iga-style flameware? Is it worth my while buying a dedicated donabe, or would an investment in a cheapish deep frying pan be just as good, do you think?

That would be a really good lunch! Whenever I think of making egg sandwiches, I only ever think of egg mayonnaise - I don't know why It's never occurred to me to put an omelette between two slices of bread before. I made some quick pickled onions this week and had an open-faced cheese and onion sandwich for breakfast this morning. They looked so pretty, I just had to share. I used to like sweet things for breakfast, but now I'm getting older, I find my tastes are changing, and I like savoury things more.

I want to get kitted out for the upcoming nabe season. I've already looked around at tabletop burners, and I'll probably get a cheapy Iwatani. What else do I need? Is a terracotta donabe necessary? Desirable? Do I need any other accessories? (I love accessories).

Let's face it, Kewpie goes on everything. I have a flyer from Dominoes sitting on my fridge right now, advertising their new Bibimbap pizza, which comes with a side dish of bibimbap toppings - pickled radish, bean sprouts, and fern brake, presumably to be sprinkled on the top and eaten. I've heard of bulgogi pizza before (always a hit in Korea), but bibimbap pizza is taking that to a whole new level. I was diappointed to find when I moved to Japan, that they do not include a little packet of sweet pickles with pizza, as they do in Korea. I was told it helped cut the greasiness of the pizza, and I got quite attached to having them.

That sounds really easy to do - I'd love to try it, but does it require a really tough kitchen exhaust fan? I live in an apartment, and I wouldn't want to smoke the place out. I'm especially interested in tea-smoked salmon.

Oh, excellent. Just when I was sternly telling myself to avoid McDonalds, post-holiday-excesses, they come out with a - how would you translate that? A Full- Moon burger? I want to try it, but I must admit the flaccid bacon in the picture will help put me off.

A couple of things come to mind here. First, confections flavoured with matcha - such as cake - is quite popular in Japan. My personal favourite, and I'm hanging my head a little bit here in shame, is the matcha Meltykiss - a kind of soft chocolate with a matcha filling. I think the bitterness complements chocolate quite well. On the savoury end of the spectrum, I've eaten duck smoked with tea leaves in Beijing, which was beautiful - very fragrant and clean tasting - it cut the richness of the duck. I have no idea how it's made, though.

I'm not really sure, actually. A large number of cold drinks sold in machines and convenience stores in Japan are cold teas, but I'm hesitant to say that a lot of them are sencha, since I can only ever read the character for "tea". I know cold jasmine tea, oolong tea, and other black teas variously labeled "morning", "milk", and "afternoon" teas seem to be popular, as well as green bottles of what I assume is sencha but could also be genmaicha or something else entirely are pretty standard as well. I hope somebody who knows a lot more than I do will chime in here. Whatever they are, I love them and find them so much more refreshing than juice or soda.

My pat answer would be - from a squid? But seriously, maybe from a good fishmonger, or an Asian market? How it would taste, I have no idea. My avatar notwithstanding, I've never worked with any cephalopods or cephalopod products. A quick google revealed this interesting site. And this one. Actually, the more I read about this, the more interested I get. I love the idea of black foods - there are quite a few of them in Japan, such as eggplants and hijiki. Please post pictures if you decide to experiment further.

That site is a fascinating read, especially the bit about how carrots were all originally purple, until Dutch breeders crossbred them with yellows carrots to produce orange carrots for the House of Orange. I'd always considered the orange colour to be a defining characteristic of a carrot - and now - /shakes head/. You learn something new every day. I always have my eye out at the supermarket looking for the famous purple/red carrots of Kyoto, because I love purple foods, but I never see any. Even Japanese people seem to prefer orange carrots.

Oh, that looks good. What's hanpen? And where can I get some to make a sandwich like that?

Every Saturday, my husband goes to a local market to get our produce. He texts me at work what I've come to call the "market report" which I then proceed to torture my co-workers with, since they all live too far away to justify the train fare. All prices are fairly cheap for Japan - especially the fruit, which I generally consider a luxury. (100 yen = 91 cents US, according to xe.com) One week he got fresh raspberries for 150 yen a basket. Last week mangoes were 4 for 250 yen. This week he got a kilo of bananas for 150 yen; white asparagus (2 bunches) for 48 yen; Nectarines 6 for 250 yen; tomatoes 250 yen for 1 kilo; potatoes 1 kilo for 130 yen; a pineapple for 200 yen; and a 250g bag of salted peanuts for 150 yen. The cherry on the cake was 7 avocados for 200 yen. Lemons were 120 yen for a bag (They're usually 100 yen each). So - guacamole anyone? Basically, he buys whatever's cheap on Saturday, I get home, take stock, and decide what staples and meat to get for the rest of the week to match what he's bought.

Mmmmm, eggs oozing curry goodness! I want. I just wish I were able to get beyond simple toast for breakfast, but I never have time since my cooking efforts are usually directed at getting lunch into the boxes before we have to run for our train. I have been known to sit with a bowl of fried rice that wouldn't fit into the lunch box, however - fried rice is almost a perfect breakfast food, in my book. I brought back a bottle of Vietnamese chili sauce from my most recent trip to Hanoi, so I'll have to put that on the menu sometime soon, since fried rice and chili sauce go together like peas and carrots. The best eggs I've ever eaten were in India - omelette with chopped tomato, red onion, and cilantro, and a bit of masala spice sprinkled on - maybe a slice of cheese melted over the lot and squished between cold toast - *sigh*- Breakfast of Champions.

I've made babaghanouj with black sesame paste before, and it did turn a rather pasty shade of gray. It tasted fine, though. Any particular reason why you want a dark black colour, or do you just want to see if it can be done? Squid ink sounds like a fascinating experiment.

Do they differ significantly in looks from a Japanese peach? Because the interior looks like the "peaches" I (thought I) have been eating for the past two weeks. I buy my fruit from a discount shop that doesn't have much in the way of labeling or packaging, so I just assumed they were peaches.

I always worry about how much gas I'm using in the kitchen - and I don't even have an oven. It's why I never braise anything - I'm afraid of what my gas bill would look like if I left the burner running for more than an hour. When I lived in my old apartment, my burner shut it self off after 20 minutes of continuous use as a safety feature. So I try to keep my cooking as "local" as possible, and not try a lot of recipes that I grew up with, which call for longer cooking times. Right now my gas bill is around 5,000 yen a month - which is around $45 US. Gas is only used for cooking in my apartment (I get a separate electricity bill), so I take into consideration how long things need to be cooked when I choose a recipe. I've also been using my microwave more, since I purchased Harumi Kurihara's "Japanese Cooking" - a lot of her recipes call for using the microwave for steaming, and I have enjoyed the results. She calls for steaming chicken thighs in a bowl with some ginger, shaosing, and green onion, and they come out great.

Last week I tried a tonkatsu sando from the Wako in the Cial at the station where I work. Very serviceable, a few vegetables to provide a counter-point, enough sauce so you know it's there, but not so much as it's goopy. The bread squished appropriately (you can see my finger marks in the picture), which I think is the point of white bread like this, yes? - that it collapse in on itself like a nutritional black hole? Very satisfying, although I had to compromise and have it with a Coke Zero, not a Diet Coke. Whyohwhy is it so hard to get a Diet Coke in Japan? The only place I can reliably find it is at the drugstore, leading me to think that it's considered medicine.

I attempted to recreate a dish I had at a yakitori bar near my home the other week. The original dish had some chicken braised in soy, over mizuna and onions and peppers. The flavours were great together, and it was really simple and refreshing. Since all the ingredients were easy for me to get, I took a stab at it for last night's dinner. Verdict? A hit! I marinated some chicken thigh in soy, mirin, and calamansi overnight. When I got home, I sauteed some red onion, red pepper, and carrot matchsticks. Then I seared the chicken in the pan along with them, adding the marinade after the skin crisped up. I let that cook while I dressed the mizuna with dressing made from soy, lime juice, rice vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil. I plated the mizuna, added the limp vegetables on top, and removed the chicken to be cut. I topped the whole thing with the chicken and additional dressing. The whole operation took about 20 minutes, since I always have veg prep done and in the fridge. I'll be making this again.

Well, with the weather having turned so cool and rainy lately, when my husband dragged me into Bic Camera on the weekend to game-shop, I wandered over to the portable gas range section (already decorated with chestnuts and fall leaves - they were in a similar mood, I guess). I'm going to get one this fall for nabes, ddalk galbi and the like, as I had one in Korea and loved it. They seem to range between 2,000 and 5,000 yen. If I'm going to spend more, then I'll probably get the sleek white model from Muji. Although heaven knows what the gojchujang will do to its finish. But if I can I'd like to get away with the 2,000 yen Iwatani model. Any recommendations?

Ah, well with that description, it must have tasted fabulous! And...you could fry up some rice with chinese sausage or similar, use the eggs as an omelette to encase the rice, and top with curry sauce. It would be fusion Japanase-Thai omuraisu.

What was it? It looks like keema curry. I empathize. I'd been trying to get a shot of mapo dofu that didn't look like dog sick, but gave up due to the apparent impossibility of the task.

Excellent name. It seemed odd, even to me. I definitely won't be doing that in the future! Although I have been having a hard time perfecting my fish-side-down swipe through the shoyu. It's quite a trick for me.