torakris

The other night I had a strange craving for natto so I whipped it up with some sliced okra and a handful of shiso (it is growing wild this year in my backyard...) and it was great! I am going to start putting shiso in my natto everytime from now on! I have tried the packs of natto that have the shiso flavored saucebut it can't compare to the taste of fresh.

I had an incredible dinner last night at this great Mexican restaurant in Tokyo. It is a tiny place one man and only 14 chairs, so everything is cooked in front of you. I missed however when he was putting together this fantastic zucchini pudding. It was a cross between a souffle and a quiche, the height and look of a quiche (no crust) but the creaminess of a souffle. The zucchini appearred to have been grated (the pieces were tiny) and were still bright green so I am assuming they weren't precooked and the whole dish probably didn't cook for long. Does anyone know what I am talking about? I really want to make this, I could probably eat it everyday. It also had cheese in it, but I have no idea what kind and there were no herbs or anything else to detract from the simple yet incredibly delicious flavor.

last night I made a wonderful (and very quick) stirfy of thinly sliced pork and garlic stems (ninniku no kuki), it was seasoned just with salt and sanshou I regret now not taking a picture....

I do shock the green beans in cold water after cooking, but even then the color fades a bit in the oil and vinegar dressing so that they look more the color of canned green beans. I'm not sure if that's what you're describing. I've never had a salad like this stay bright green as if the vegetable were just steamed... ← Yes this is what I am describing, they lose all of their green and turn a very dull color despite the ice water bath. I guess there is no way to prevent this then?

Daniel, just wanted to let you know this is currently my favorite thread! Those pictures are incredible, now this is REAL FOOD!

I love green bean salads but for some reason my beans start to turn brown after sitting in the dressing for even a short time. What am I doing wrong? I have a bag a beans from a neighbors garden, also waiting to be eaten...

okara gyoza okara burgers okara dry curry okara carrot muffins okara karintou

I can sense a name change coming on.....

It was a block of bacon that had been "marinated" in miso, similar to the fish/meat dishes they often served. It is then wiped off and sliced to order. I am not sure how long it is actually kept in the miso though. It was really good! He also smokes his bacon over sakura chips....

these are my sister's favorite Japanese snack! I always buy here a couple bags when I go back to the US... An update on the new caramel corn flavors as I finally tasted them: neither is worth spending your money on teh vanilla ice cream wasn7t bad at first but it was so overly sweet I couldn't eat more than 3. The Mango pudding ones looked exactly like cheese puffs (the color was the same) so it was weird to eat them and have them taste sweet. They tasted nothing like mango pudding tough, I am not even sure what they did taste like, it was like nothing I have ever tasted before.

On a completed unrelated search I happened to run across this new beer 2005 Summer Shot It is not classified as beer, happoushu, or even a 3rd category beer, rather it falls into the liquor category...... the ingredients list happoushu, spirits (wheat) and carbon dioxide it is 5% alcohol some interesting (Japanese) comments

two of the newer sausages from Ito Ham sausages made with soy milk soup in sausages, sausages with jellied soup inside

in another thread totoro asked: I am wondering if you know any place in Tokyo that sells decaf coffee powder or beans? decaffeinated coffee is not very common in Japan and can be quite hard to find, it also goes by a couple different names: カフェインレス (kafeinresu) caffeine-less カフェインフリー (kafeinfurii) caffeine free ノンカフェイン (nonkafein) non-caffeine デカフェ (dekafe) decaf I know that a couple of years ago a friend of mine used to buy decaffeinated beans at a Starbucks near our house but I don't know if they still sell them. here is an online source that has a couple different kinds (scroll down a bit) another one

My 11 year old nephew Jake will be coming with me as well and he is very excited. I talked to my sister this morning and he was at the library last night reading up on exotic fruits as he wants to be able to impress everybody with his knowledge. I am not sure how many exotic fruits we will run across but feel free to ask him questions anyway.

breakfast in Japan

I made an orange mayonnaise a couple weeks for a BBQ with grilled asparagus and peppers, it was wonderful! It was the first time I saw my 7 and 9 year old eat asapagus, they actually didn't stop until it was gone. I mixed the mayo with orange juice, lemon juice, orange zest and a bit of cayenne.

yes different brands of rice can taste completely different, even in Japan. I have bought bags of rice that were so bad that I cooked up as much as possible at once and only used it for fried rice. Unfortunately bad rice makes bad fried rice too. I haven't found a musenmai that tastes decent, this kind of "no wash" rice is becoming very popular in Japan. In many supermarkets half of the rice available in musenmai and most rice cookers also have a special setting to cook it. In the US I prefer Nishiki.

that looks so good and I am sooo hungry right now.....

I have to say, I almost cringed when I saw your dorayaki denuded like that. I think a simple cross-section photo would have sufficed. ← I have to admit I sort of cringed when I saw the picture as well.... it gives them sort of a fast food look... it didn't really feel that way when I was taking the picture though..

never owned 'em, never used 'em

we BBQed on Sunday sort of an early 4th of July, this isn't a holiday in Japan..... hamburgers! cooked till just past moo-ing, topped with a thick tomato slice and ketchup the ONLY way a burger should be eaten! with also had corn on the cob, with some of the best corn I have ever had here and a potato salad. For dessert we reheated our leftover Belgian waffles from breakfast and topped them with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

the new caramel corn flavors! vanilla ice cream and mango pudding

I picked this up in Tokyu department store basement a chicken katsu with slivered onions, umeboshi paste, shiso and a grated daikon sauce It would have been much better if I had kept the sauce off, it was thick, gloppy and flavorless....

dorayaki! left: ume, with ume flavored shiro an (white anko paste) and a sweetened green ume right: regular anko with a candied chestnut

julienned nagaimo with shiso and ponzu