nagitokyo

This month's inflight magazine of ANA introduces Kinoko and Sansai shop in San Francisco. It says they sell Kogomi,Zenmai, Shiitake,Enoki,Nameko,Maitake,and Shimeji. Far West Fungi 1 Ferry building. #34 San Francisco http://www.farwestfungi.com

I tried grilled chicken sandwitch It tastes like Tan-shio because of its light taste and a hint of lemon flavor.

I am from country-side area(Wakayama). So during school excursion, some of my friends picked up Udo and akebi and were eating udo raw just after pealing. My husband said when he moved from Osaka to Nara,he was surprised at his classmates eating udo after school. Last Saturday, I ate Kogomi at my friend's home. That was my first experience. (but so tasty)I think the kind of Sansai differs from home and area people live.

I am not a professional about Korean cuisine, but I've hardly seen stuffed Korean mochi. It seems they use a lot and variety of toppings compared to Japanese mochi. You can check the variety of Korean mochi in the following site. http://www.east-01.com/ripo_kr/kr-71.htm And I think Japanese mochi is more sticky and Korean sweet mochi is soft as marshmallow. Same as SheenaGreena-san's home, we made mochi at home especially before oshogatsu(new year's day) and in spring(the season of Yomogi) Usually our relatives gathered biggest room in my grandma's house and made tons of mochi(both plain and anko stuffed ones) in cooperation. As I was a little girl and main role was tasting(ahaha), I don't know the difficulty, but every one of my relatives could make stuffed mochi. So I guess it's not so difficult for elder generation to make them.

>It was a good tonkatsu, no question, but surely there is better? I agree with your opinion. Maisen is good but not the best tonkatsu in Tokyo. I know better and cheaper Tonkatsu near Shibuya Station, located guard-shita(under overhead railway).Not clean but lovely taste. But Maisen is convenient. They delivery Tonkatsu bento to our office and home, and also we can buy Tonkatsu sandwitch at the airport and enjoy during the flight.And its taste keeps expected level.That's why I sometimes enjoy Maisen not at the restaurant but at home or in the airplane.

Dydo also launched Kabosu-Yuzu drink in Japan. You may have chance to find this product also in Marukai. Homepage of Dydo company http://www.dydo.co.jp/dydo/release/060303.html

I would like to introduce about Korean style dashi powder. I came to know this from Korean TV drama called "Changum" You can make this simply crashing and mixing dried shiitake,dried iriko(small sardine or something?) and dried konbu. You can use this for miso soup, ohitashi and any Japanese dishes that uses dashi powder and tastes nice. I think it well worth trying.

Kristin-san, Thank you for your welcoming message Until when I moved to Tokyo at the age of 18, I had never eaten Tokyo style "monjya yaki" simply because I don't know any one of the restaurants in Kansai that serves "monjya yaki". If you have chance, please go to Osaka for okonomiyaki and negiyaki, and also Kyoto for Issen yoshoku.Some people say "issen yoshoku" is the mother of okonomiyaki and monjyayaki. (I don't know the story is true or not)

Tsuruhashi Fugetsu. http://www.walkerplus.com/english/tokyo/go...nts/jam062.html I've never been there, though. I've been to Fugetsu in Osaka(Tsuruhashi, famous for Japanese biggest Korean town). The shop has been very famous since I was a young little girl and its taste is nice and typical Osaka-style okonomiyaki. Having been disappointed at okonomiyaki in Tokyo, I prefer to make okonomiyaki at home. I don't know how the okonomiyaki at Fugetsu Odaiba branch is, but sometimes the taste are different( less attractive to me) even when the shop has HQ in Kansai(Osaka area)

I am a Japanese born and grew up in Kansai and have lived in Tokyo for over 10 years. So my preference for taste is different from yours. BUT...If you want to taste real Kansai-taste okonomiyaki in Tokyo, I recommend "Kiji" in Tokia near Tokyo station. KIJI is originally from Osaka and it seems to me most of the staff are from Kansai-area because of their accent. Kiji at Tokia is very clean but its taste are same as the one I ate in Osaka.Be careful, there is usually a long line. KIJI 2-7-3,Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku (Kiji is in "Tokia" building opened last December and located next to Tokyo Central Post Office) Tel:03-3216-3123 Lunch 11:00～15:30 Dinner 17:00～23:00（Order Stop at 22:00）