Hayley Casarotto

Photo time! So, it comes in two great colours: Complete with reflections of my kitchen cabinets! I bought both colours because you just don't know how each colour will compliment your bento In all seriousness, I bought two so there would be one for my husband as well, but he finds the portions too small, so be warned. I'm not sure of the capacity but I find it perfect for my needs. Here is it in all its pieces. The little black bowl sits inside the red one, which is the seal for the large outer bowl. You can put your toppings in this bowl, which also fits a small sealed container and a little sauce bottle. The outer bowl and this smaller inner bowl are both microwave safe. And here it is partially assembled: Hopefully you can see here how the strainer insert keeps the contents off the bottom of the bowl to prevent sogginess. I've only ever used this bit with noodles, I can't see how it would have much effect with rice. Hope that informs your purchasing decision

How does the strainer part work? Would it carry soup without any spillage? I wonder if I'd be able to use it for something like pho. . . As Helen said, the seal probably isn't good enough for soup. I just use a regular thermos on soup days. The strainer is a little legged disc that sits about 1cm above the bottom of the bowl, so that when you put noodles in, they don't sit in the inevitable pool of water that appears. It's a little hard to describe, I'll take a photo when I get home from work.

I have this exact model and can vouch for its usefulness. I have also used it for soba in summer - the strainer insert ensures no sogginess. On a completely non-practical note, this is my latest bento purchase Wooden and handmade, I love it, but it is really not great for just throwing into a bag. I had to be *very* careful getting it to work the other day. All my other bento boxes have good seals, so I have to force myself to be careful for the sake of aesthetics

You could try ordering it online. A quick google brought up two online suppliers: Cornucopia seeds and plants in Victoria who have Perilla green seeds, and Diggers also in Victoria who have Perilla red seeds. Thanks, I'll give that a try! Though I think that WA might have some additional quarantine laws I'll have to get by. I love Australia, but quarantine is such a drag. I always want to bring back food from overseas but can't. I spent a good hour in a food souvenir shop in Fukuoka airport last week just staring sadly at things

I can't speak for all of Australia (I see that Snorlax is from Brissie) but I have never, ever seen shiso available in Perth. I have searched every garden centre we have here to find seed so I can grow it myself, but to no avail I really miss its flavour in a number of Japanese dishes.

I love musk sticks, but they are definitely something you must be raised with. Like vegemite. They fill me with memories of princess-themed birthday parties.

I recently did this one-day course in Italy: http://www.cooking-vacations.com/Italy-Pro...-ortaglia6.html It was a short and simple course but well done with local ingredients. They have a number of longer (~1 week) courses that I'd like to try in future. Hope that is some use to you.

IMHO the Black Pepper flavour is the best - sold in the Arabian Coast section of DisneySea. We queued for an hour to get it... twice. I will be in Fukuoka next month, and that popcorn is almost worth a trip to Tokyo from there

OK, so I dragged out my copy of Revolting Recipes. Here is the index: Strawberry flavoured chocolate coated fudge (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) Green Pea Soup (The Witches) Wormy Spaghetti (The Twits) Snozzcumbers (The BFG) Fresh Mudburgers (James and the Giant Peach) Mosquitoes' Toes and Wampfish Roes Most Delicately Fried (James and the Giant Peach) Bird Pie (The Twits) Bunce's Doughnuts (Fantastic Mr Fox) The Enormous Crocodile George's Marvellous Medicine Chicken Soup Krokan Icecream (Boy) Toffee Apples (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) Hot Frogs (James and the Giant Peach) Mr Twit's Beard Food (The Twits) Lickable Wallpaper for Nurseries (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) Candy-coated Pencils For Sucking In Class (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) Hansel and Gretel Spare Ribs (Rhyme Stew) Butterscotch (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) Peach Juice (James and the Giant Peach) Stink Bugs' Eggs (James and the Giant Peach) Bruce Bogtrotter's Cake (Matilda) Scrambled Dregs (James and the Giant Peach) Frobscottle (The BFG) Crispy Wasp Stings on a Piece of Buttered Toast (James and the Giant Peach) Eatable Marshmallow Pillows (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) Hope that is some inspiration to you. Let me know if you'd like elaboration on what any of them entail

You could serve icecream spiders and call them frobscottle (from The BFG). (Is icecream spider an Australian term? Soft drink - I think in this case, the more colourful the better - poured over vanilla icecream, anyway.)

Death By Chocolate by Marcel Desaulniers is an enduring favourite of mine - I will finish working through it one day.

Hi everyone, Thanks so much for all your responses. I had hoped to reply before we left, but we had a few last minute family crises and time got away from me. I tried to fit as many of your suggestions in while we were there, and as a result I came home a little heavier than when I left I didn't see as many spring foods around as I had expected, which was a little sad, but everything was so yummy that I didn't miss it too much. Some of my favourites: -Monjayaki in Tokyo. Noone else wanted to try because of its looks, but it was great. -Yudofu and yuba in Kyoto. Again, noone who was travelling with me wanted any. More for me! -Lots of different wagashi. Nama-yatsuhashi, ichigo-daifuku, warabi mochi, sakura mochi and many many more. -Seriously good ramen at a little hole-in-wall place around Shibuya. Totally unexpected, which probably made it taste even better. -Shojin ryori on a very cold day at Koya-san. -Kan-buri sashimi -Piping hot fresh taiyaki on a cold wet day -Okonomiyaki in Osaka. We didn't make it to Hiroshima, so we ordered on Hiroshima style as well as Osaka style. I'm still trying to decide which I liked better, they were both so good! -Houtou in Kawaguchiko -...my first Krispy Kreme Trashy, I know. -My husband's favourite - yakitori that was all skin. He bought one, dubiously, then went back and bought five more I'm certain that I've forgotten lots of really great stuff we did. But anyway, the point of this post is just to say a huge thankyou to everyone for your input! It really enriched the trip to try things we hadn't thought of. Thanks again!

Hi all, As the topic indicates, I'm off to Japan on holiday in a couple of weeks. It's far from being my first trip, but last time I was there in winter I pretty much survived on Meltykiss I've made a list of must-eats, but I'm hoping for some input on things I've missed. I'm only doing the touristy route this time (I'll be with a group of friends who are Japan newbies) so unfortunately there won't be any opportunity to try any regional fare (but I'll be in Kyushu later in the year, which will be new and exciting to me.) Anyway, we'll be in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka primarily. Here's my list so far: -Oden -Okonomiyaki -Takoyaki -Teuchi udon (we are spending a night in Fujiyoshida) -Shojin ryori -Sushi/sashimi from around Tsukiji -Wagashi (I'd like advice on this - all I have down so far is nama-yatsuhashi. What are the February seasonal motifs? I would guess ume, but I don't know for sure) -Other various yatai (I am pretty sure we will have a few opportunities for yatai - what are your winter favourites?) As you can see, I don't really know much about any seasonal specialties other than oden. Any comments or suggestions would be welcome **Edit - should I have put this in the other Japan subforum? Oops

The package says black pepper... ← Oops, my mistake... I have sansho on the brain at the moment

I'm pretty sure the one that smells like salt and pepper is sansho salt. Looking forwards to Hiroyuki's next post - the others are all new to me too

what's SMAP? If I could take a look at it I could tell you. wow i just finished watching teppan shojo akane and I hated it ): so boring and such a terrible ending. For now I'll watch korean food dramas until more subtitled osen comes out ← I may not be able to help with food specifics, but SMAP - that I can do They're a boy band, essentially. I used to describe them as Japan's answer to the Backstreet Boys, but that was in the 90s, and their popularity has been far more enduring than that comparison would suggest. They host a variety show weekly, SMAPxSMAP, and the individual members also appear on innumerable shows as hosts/panel members/etc. SMAP at wikipedia We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion of food

Yay! I really enjoy these posts of yours, prasantrin. Your mum looks so thrilled to be back I'm looking forwards to the next installment.

From here, I've never hand Akashiyaki before. Has anyone else ever had Akashiyaki? ← I lived in Akashi for a couple months on exchange at the start of 2000. I do vaguely remember eating something that was like a very eggy takoyaki - it was probably Akashiyaki. I was in high school at the time though, and I was much more keen on junk food

Thanks for such a detailed report, prasantrin. You've made me very hungry! I hope to have the opportunity to visit Tohoku one day.

Actually, this festival is part of the campaign that is running in the Shiozawa area (from October 1 to November 3). The name of the campaign: Shiozawa Shinmai Campaign. Here is the cover of the guide to the campaign: Map inside the guide: I'm planning to go to one of the twenty restaurants in the Shiozawa area that participate in the campaign and report back. If you want to see the guide in more detail, here is the web version of it: http://shiozawa.interwindow.net/ Scroll down and click the photo of the cover of the guide. ← Of the twenty restaurants participating in the campaign, I selected Matsui Shokudo That was two years ago. This year, I went to another restaurant, an izakaya actually. I had lunch there. You can see some photos here. ← Hiroyuki-san, is your local sushi shop you report from involved in this campaign?

Here's how to deal with ketchup guilt: call it something else. "Tonight, our pommes frites will be served with sauce Heinz, a delicate coulis of sweet tomato concasse. Please enjoy!" ← HA! I'll try that one out for sure

That reminds me of a Japanese travelogue program that I once saw. I can't remember the details now, but a Japanese woman who had been staying in Italy wanted to make a Japanese dish for her friends/hosts. She ended up making the classic Spaghetti Neapolitan (w/ketchup) and her Italian hosts just loved it. They had no idea it contained ketchup until they were told. Maybe this will make your husband feel better. ← He does feel a little more at ease knowing that he's not the only one. Thanks! I'm a Heinz girl too, although that's as much due to habit as anything else.

I love love ketchup too. Omurice is my all-time favourite comfort food - soft egg, squiggle of ketchup... YUM My husband is disgusted with himself for liking it - he feels that as an Italian, he should really know better Still, I haven't tried half of that list - I'll have to get busy eating.

Sorry for a late reply. There are just too many of them to mention, and we make it a point to have only those mushrooms that we (well, my son, actually) can identify. Just let me give you one example. We often see poisonous mushrooms of the tengu take family. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_pantherina ← Yikes! I'm glad that your son knows what he's doing

Hiroyuki-san, I have been marvelling at the wealth of foods your son scavenges for some time! I'm curious, are there many poisonous mushrooms in your area that you must beware of? I would be very cautious of eating any wild mushrooms where I live, but perhaps I just don't know the varieties well enough. (Edited for clarification.)