torakris

kizami means shredded or in some cases minced, was the natto minced? You are probably most familiar with kizami nori, the thin shreds of nori (laver) that you find on top of noodles.

Cheese and Potato Pretz bland..... don't waste your money

Cheese and Potato Pretz big disappointment, they were flavorless...

simmered hijiki last night with aburage (tofu pockets) and edamame sorry really bad picture...

The produce sections are full of the green plums, anyone pickling this year?

mizuna and tofu with a umeboshi dressing for the dressing I smashed up 5 small (mild flavored) umeboshi and mixed it with a bit of tubed wasabi then added a bit of rice vinegar, mirin, soy sauce and canola oil. A wonderfully refreshing dish.

this is actually more salad like than an actual hiya yakko but it was good anyway so I thought I would share it. mizuna and tofu with a umeboshi dressing for the dressing I smashed up 5 small (mild flavored) umeboshi and mixed it with a bit of tubed wasabi then added a bit of rice vinegar, mirin, soy sauce and canola oil. A wonderfully refreshing dish.

My first tsukemen of the season This was another spicy one and was really good.

one of my favorite hot day snacks Jellied coffee with fresh cream I especially like the ones from Chateraise, an ice cream/bakery chain, it is only 84 yen (less than $.80)

this was a dud kurozatou/kokutou (black sugar) candies coated with kinako (roasted soy bean powder) The (unsweetened) kinako was overpowering and you couldn't even taste the kurozatou.

green plum daifuku 'tis the season......

Is there any place in Japan that doesn't make salt?? Even my mid-sized supermarkets have about 20 types..... I have bought various salts over the years and found very slight differences in taste, mostly in the level of "saltiness". Favorites is really going to come down to personal preference. I think some of the most famous ones are the salts from Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture and anything from Okinawa.

I don't work much with gelling agents but we did recently have a thread here on Japanese gelling agents that you might want to take a look at. Most foods I have eaten that are gelled with agar agar are much firmer than those mode with gelatin. Agar agar also doe not need to be chilled to harden, so if you have a recipe that doesn't call for chilling, you will have to chill it if you use gelatin.

here is a bit I wrote about getting perfect rice (with a rice cooker) but there are also some hints for doing it the "regular" way. perfect rice The black rice I used in some Korean stuff I picked up at an Asian grocer in the US, I mix a small amount of it into regular white rice for a beauriful color and a nice nutty flavor. For 3 cups of rice (raw) I would use between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup of black rice and then 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 white rice (total being 3 cups raw rice). The black needs to soak a bit, so I soak it alone for a couple of hours adding it to the white rice just before cooking. Most donburis (including negi-toro don) do not use seasoned sushi rice. Spicy tuna is not a popular dish in Japan.

Here is a picture of a negi-toro don that I made a bit back, I add the sriracha separately as my kids can't eat it but they love the negi-toro part. I season my negi-toro with scallions (negi) and soy sauce. This particular donburi was made with black rice, I like the color and flavor contrast.

sriracha?

M&M's

Last night I was watching a Japanese tv program called "Sekai Maru Mie Terebi" this is a program that shows different (normally human interest) tv shows from all over the world. One of the spotlights was a Korean gourmet program all about beef in Korea, they showed various BBQ restaurants from all over Korea specializing in various grilled beef dishes. The most interesting segment was when they showed people grilling the beef (kalbi with the bone) outside in the snow. They would grill the meat, then toss it into the snow, pack it in for a moment or two and then retreive it and grill it again before eating. They said this made it very tender Has anyone ever heard of this? does it really make it tender?

interesting.... I am still a big fan of the Japanese lunch system, the photo essay I did on it a year ago.

I haven't eaten this is so long.... I could have lived on salami and cream cheese, this is one of the best food combinations there is. now I have a craving that I won't be able to satisfy for 6 more weeks (until I get back to Cleveland..)

I'm essentially the same for me in the U.S., but when I get to Malaysia, one of the first things I want is some delicious Malaysian bananas. When they've ripened on the tree, they're really wonderful. At least, I think so. ← I have also hated bananas until I went to Coast Rica ate them the way they should be eaten, wow! it was like a whole other fruit.

We actually have a Rain Forest Cafe here in Tokyo have never been though.. I can see though that the kids would probably like it

wow, I never realized so many people disliked coffee... (sipping an iced coffee as I type... ) The cheesecake thing is a combination of the mouthfeel and the sweetened cream cheese, I also don't like the cream cheese frosting on carrot cakes and cinnamon rolls either. I love cream cheese and eat it both raw and in cooked savory applications but add sugar to it and blech!

I really hate cheesecake, even the smell bothers me. I can each pretty much anythingelse in this world but I can not stand cheesecake. People can understand when I say I don't care for brussel sprouts because this a food people love to hate, along with beets, etc. Why can people not understand my hatred of cheesecake? Everywhere I go I get it pushed on me. "Here try this one, everyone loves it" "You've never had it this way before", you get the picture. Do you have any foods that you just can't eat that no one seems to understand? I have yet to meet another person who doesn't like cheesecake...anyone?

by the way how far is Toronto from Niagara Falls?