torakris

I think the Japanese do wonderful things with gum! !5 years ago on my first trip to Japan I couldn't get enough of the blueberry gum, I just loved that flavor. My newest addiction is Meiji's Xylish in ume mint what are some of your favorite flavors? This is what the inside of the container looks like it actually took me a while to figure out that those papers are to be used for disposing of the gum....

In Japan it is Magi/Maji Ranger! at least for this year.... they change them every year

I bought one of the new IH rice cookers a little over 2 months ago, it is a Sanyo that is most likely not available outside of Japan. I love it! It cooks brown rice better than any other rice cooker/pan method. You first pick the kind of rice from plain white, brown, sprouted, brown-sprouted, no wash, etc then you ca achoose the texture desired from things like normal, softer, harder, chewy, etc as well as special settings for okowa (sticky rice), rice to serve with curry rice (harder than average), sushi rice, etc. It also has the typical setting for okayu (rice gruel) and mixed rice dishes. It cooks Jasmine, Basmati and American long rice perfectly as well, they don't have setting for these kinds of rices but I just use the typical white rice setting. I find their normal rice is a bit soft for my liking to always set it to katame (firmer). The typical rice course cooks in 38 minutes quite a bit faster than my old fuzzy logic Zojirushi and the fast course can cook in 18 minutes and it makes incredible rice. It looks like this

IH is quite popular in Japan and has been for a couple years now. Many new homes now come with IH ranges built in. Rental apartments in Japan are furnished with absolutely nothing so you will need to bring in your own stove top. Two burner portable ones look like this, the price given 150,000 yen (about $1,500) is suggested retail and you should be able to find one for quite a bit less even under $1,000. How long do you plan on being here? If it is going to be a short time you might want to instead consider a portable one burner type, like the ones the Japanese use for nabes. Here are a variety to choose from, these average a little over $100 (10,000yen ) What part of Japan will you be in?

If it is like most other places with vending machines for ordering, you put the money in the machine and then make your choice. I am a bit confused as to when you actually tell them what you want as the two reports I noted above gave slightly conflicting information.... are you coming to Japan soon?

I love okra The easiest and one of the best ways I serve it is with a simple wasabi-joyu. Just barely blanch the pods then slice them and tos them with a bit of soy sauce that has been mixed with wasabi. Also I love it mixed with other slimy foods like natto, or nagaimo/yamaimo, the picture below is okra (blanched then sliced) with grated nagaimo seasoned with a bit of miso, soy sauce and mirin. another favorite is minced (blanched) okar mixed with ginger and a bit of soy sauce then eaten with tofu, tomatoes make a nice addition to the dish

I love focaccia and have searched for a while for a good recipe. I have fallen in love with Jack Bishop's high rise focaccia from his "The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook". This is a thick and soft focaccia and includes the addition of one potato and is very simple to make. The book also has a lot of other great recipes as well.

I also thought Kansai-ben sounded weird, it looks even stranger when written....

On trips back to Cleveland I have often focused on Asian cuisines, this year I am hoping to branch out. Any really good latin American/Caribbean places? east side preferably but I will travel for good foo!

Helen is talking about this. It is really cheap in Japan this time of year and I too start to get sick of it after a while... Though it is far from Chinese, one of my favorite recipes for it is to toss it with some olive oil, salt, pepper and bacon (saute it a bit first) and bake until tender.

Harlan, another welcome! We were practically neighbors my brother was also a '98 grad from CHHS, it was a huge school though--his name is Thomas Wagner. When I was in Cleveland last summer Tom (above mentioned brother) and I were determine to find the best (reasonably priced) Japanese on the East side. Pacific East won hands done. I need to check out Boulevard Blue when I get back. Has it been there long? EDIT* now I am thinking Tom was '99, maybe it was my sister Erin.... sorry, I was the only one of 8 siblings that didn't go to Heights...

It is actually matcha and kinako mixed, though it had just a faint hint of the matcha. There was only one left with a couple regular kinako ones, and the sign said just kinako mochi so I asked the woman what it was. I had never seen that before.

It is called hakkebof (with a Danish "o"). Basically, it is ground beef, salt and pepper, some heavy cream, well mixed and formed into patties. These are then pan-fried until still pink in the middle. The accompaniment is an onion gravy which is nothing more than onions carmelized, sprinkled with a bit of flour, and then beef stock to deglaze and make the gravy. The burger sits in the onion gravy and is then topped with a fried egg. It is one of hubby's favourites. The accompanying salad is not traditional but being as it's summer, seemed like a better idea than the usual braised red cabbage and/or glazed potatoes. ← stick it on a bowl of rice and you have a Hawaiian loco moco Looks great! hamburgers are on the menu for Sunday's BBQ, pray it doesn't rain as we are officially in the midst of rainy season....

Well my friend and I are definitely coming, so count me in! I might also bring my 11 year old nephew and chef wannabe. I can do something with a salad course.

This is the only one you mentioned that I have never tried this sounds really good. My favorite local yakitori place (now closed) used to do a pork and shiso spiral-yaki that I loved.

It sounds like you have the red variety, here is a picture that shows both I can't recall ever seeing anyone eat red shiso raw or in the same way the green ones are eaten. It's most common use is as a coloring/flavoring agent for umeboshi (pickled plums) You will also see recipes for boiling it down with some sugar and then being made into a drink. It is quite refreshing in the summer. I am not sure about ornamental shiso.... I have never seen it, but they do have ornamental cabbages here.

that ume sryup sounds good! umeboshi are too time consuming and I was going to make umeshu but when I went to the store and saw the price I would have to pay for everything needed I figured it is just cheaper to buy umeshu.....

I picked up this onigiri this morning bacon, cheese, pepper-mayo this was really good! and it also really hit the spot at 5:30am!!

a gift from a friend's tree what would you make with them?

this looks good doesn't it? it wasn't... It was called sakuranbo milk mochi (sakuranbo are Japanese cherries) I thought the white stuff was coconut when I grabbed the last one of these from the shelf, after eating it I am still unsure as to what it was. It was NOT coconut though. I don't even think that cherry was a real sakuranbo, as for the milk anko that was inside.... I had never head of anko made with milk, from reading the ingredients I am assuming it was made with milk and kanten (agar agar) and it was dry and crumbly as well as tasteless.

As soon as skchai mentioned Ramen Jiro as a possible place for a get together I started quivering. It is just stories of this place that scared me so much that I am terrified to enter any ramen shop. Has anyone ever been? Have you ever heard the Ramen Jiro tale? Listen as Andy Raskin tells the story on NPR more information and pictures

This was my best discovery last year! I tried their branch at Legacy Village as well but I preferred the Cedar location, the atmosphere as well as the taste... Isn't down where Cedar hits Fairmount? Is there a new location at Cedar and Taylor? and thanks for the other suggestions, I have alot to check out now, if I can pull myself away from the gelato that is

Is the natto directly on the grill or wrapped in the bacon? natto and bacon..... I used to think bacon good went with everything, but I had never considered natto before.

I was trying to find out what IF3 meant (and ccame up empty) but I ran across this site for Akita tamago. Scroll to the bottom and click on skip (スキップ), on this page you enter the date and code from your package of Akita tamago and it will show you information such as where the bird was raise, what kind of bird, what it was fed, etc....