torakris

I have never seen anything like that dragon beard candy! I will ask her about it. I think I might save ceramics for a trip that I actually take. We have been talking about taking a long weekend trip sometime (probably a year or two later) without husbands and children...

any idea on why they call it yaki SOBA?

I haven't seen those amusu melons around here, the common cheap ones here are the Andes melon. The green fleshed ones in the middle but even at $6 to $7 for 700g (less than 1 1/2 lbs) that is still too pricey for everyday eating.....

our whale thread is right here!! I'd love to hear more about it and the rest of your trip.

Janet, I am sorry to hear about this. I have tried searching a bit on the Japanese web and came up with a lot about bee allergies but none specifically dealing with ingesting them... I posibly suffer from bee allergies as well. I have only been stung once (at the age of 15) but I suffered from severe sweeling that actually took days to heal and I was warned the second time could be much worse. Honestly I probably would have eaten hebo if they were offered to me without ever giving it a thought... I hope someone can find more than I did.

what is prohok/prahok? preserved mandarins? oh dear, I may never copy this soup.....

steam them? I usually just eat them cold straight from the pack.... I actually never thought of doing anything to them.

Figs are quite popular in my area of Kanto, they are just starting to come into season now, at the peakI can expect to see three different types in my local stores. They are quite pricey currently about $6-$7 for 4 large ones. At their peak of season I can get 6 in the $4 range... EDITEdf to add, all Japan grown by the way

Kizanji miso is mosly used for dipping or topping, I have never seen it used for soup. One of the sites Kiem Hwa linked to has some interesting variations I have never seen. Kinzanji with umeboshi, garlic, yuzu, wakame and olives . the say the olive one goes well with white wine.... I have had the peanut miso, it makes a nice dip for cucumbers... here is a recipe in English

Have you tried the Japanese blueberries? If so, how do they compare to the US blueberries? ← not at that price... There really aren't too many fruits sold here that are regularly from both Japan and some where else. Usually it is either one or the other. For example bing cherries (called American cherries here) are all imported while the Japanese sakuranbo cherry are all Japan grown. Since I have been paying attention I have never seen an imported apple, peach, fig and I am sure others. The only other fruit I can think of that are from Japan and elsewhere are strawberries but the California ones only show up when the Jaapnese ones are out of season and they are actually quite expensive. I don't think have ever noticed Japanese grown blueberries in a supermarket before.... In the case of vegetables though, domestic grown ones are often twice the price of foreign grown ones and they are often on display right next to each other in the store. I do not the think the Japanese ones taste any different.

here is the fruit section of my most recent co-op catalogue, these are pretty average prices for fruit in Japan. This is nothing fancy though, this is just the plain old everyday fruit. It is sort of hard to read but pretty much everything is grown in Japan, with the blueberries you have a choice of American ones at about $4 for a little less than 1/4 lb or Japanese ones at $6 for the same amount. these grapefruits, oranges and bananas are all imports

I am not really a huge fan of yakisoba and I don't think I would ever order it anywhere, but it is a quick and easy lunch for my 3 kids. I don't do much to it, I follow the direction exactly and add the typical ingredients of onion, carrots, cabbage and meat. I reemmber once and American friend of mine here made it for a BBQ but she made it with seafood, red peppers, baby corn and snow peas and also made her own sauce. It was really good. How do you make your yakisoba? Do you fancy it up? Any toppings that are a must have? Is it a meal or a snack? I like mine with mayo (yes, I have been in Japan too long...) lunch 2 days ago

another dud tongari corn in a tuna-mayo flavor I really don't know what I was expecting since I don't care for tuna-mayo in the first place..... flavorless...

I was thinking about this, but I have a family of 5..... I do want some of those wonderful Korean spoons though....

I will be picking up plenty of rice on my trip to the US at the same time. Could you give me Korean names for the stone ground sesame oil, roasted salt and wild sesame seeds. My friend doesn't speak English and I wouldn't even know what these are in Japanese..... Thank you!

Imaiya really is great, isn't it? for those who may have missed a group of us got together a year ago for a dinner at Imaiya, the thread is here

neko01, welcome to egullet!! trying buying shiso seeds online from Seeds of Change

an entire thread on apples in Japan

Mangoes are grown here, my most recent co-op catalogue is selling them this week, 2 for 1980 yen (a little less than $20). Many Japanese fruits were discussed in detail in the Daily nihongo thread, starting with this post

Though I could be wrong here, I don't think I have ever seen fresh fruit from China. A couple years back there was problem with some frozen vegetables coming out of China and most Japanese I know now avoid food coming from China. We were just having a dsicussion about this in my cooking class last week as a couple people said tehy always check the package (on both fresh and frozen foods) to make sure it isn't from China....

A Korean friend of mine is returning to Korea this summer for a month and she said I should give her a list of things I would like her to buy. I pick up various things for her every time I return to the US (mostly baking goods) but I am coming up blank with Korean food items. all I can think of is Korean seaweed (nori) and chile pepper... What are some (light and not too expensive:biggrin: ) items you just can't leave Korea with ut?

The candy underneath was made with kokutou (black sugar), it was a softish caramel like candy that didn't taste of black sugar at all...

I have made this salad before and have always added mint (I have tons of it growing in my backyard) I never thought to substitute shiso, thanks for the idea. I do add shiso sometimes to the Vietnamese style fresh spring rolls...

You could probably use any salt except for table salt (bland) and tsukemono-you (salts for tsukemono) because they tend to be really wet and clump together. Japan also has a really nice selection of flavored salts, maybe you could try some of those. There's an idea for a restaurant, a yakitori shop where the entire menu is just different kinds of salt....

I can't really remember the cheese pretz, but I think I didn't like those either. These had no cheese flavor whatsoever....