torakris

Yes konnyaku is a formed food and is pretty flavorless. It is mostly sold in non-flavored versions so I snap up any flavored version when I can find it. I had a really nice yuzu flavored one (yuzu is a citrus) a while back.

try kabocha I don't know any kid who doesn't like it... Here is my recipe for simmered kabocha, this dish is quite sweet and is my son's favorite.

I've been kind of wondering if your children eat everything you've shown or if they're like children in my country that pick thru their food? The food you've shown you feed your family amazes me. Do Japanesse children go thru these difficult eating stages..........or is your relationship to food and it's costs prevent children from being so picky? ← children and food..... In general I think that the Japanese children are better eaters than those in the US, I think they are exposed to more foods and they is less pressure on them to eat. I often get into fights with my oldest because she turns up her nose at things before she even tries it and then refuses to take even one bite. My husband doesn't understand why I get so mad and thinks I should just let her eat what she wants that she will come around in time. I have never been at a table in a Japanese house where the kids have been told what. to eat. I really love the school lunch system and think this helps those picky eaters, at my school sconds of your favorites are allowed but only after you have eaten everything else. My oldest has come home from school a number of times saying that she tried something new and liked it! She was a fairly picky kid until about 2 years and she definitely eats better than her cousins in the US. My middle child Julia is a wondeful eater, she eats everything and always has. She isn't a huge meat eater and prefers fish and tofu, she also can eat foods at the same heat level as my husabdn and I , she puts sriracha on her fried rice and eats kimchi straight from the jar... Then there is Hide this boy is going through a major picky stage and lives on one meal of a peanut butter sandwich a day, snacking on yogurt and cheese and drinking a liter of milk a day. He has no interest in food and recently he won't even touch rice. The ONLY and I mean ONLY vegetable he eats is kabocha, so you will see this appearing on our table frequently. Like Rona said the Japanese are changing, fast food is everywhere here at eaten at alarming rates. The kids are getting bigger but still nothing compared to what I see when I go back to the US. The couple of quite overweight children that I do know here have some sort of medical problem. Julia's best friend (who is probably twice the size of Julia) has some sort of gland problem. At the food court yesterday there were 4 restaurants, the line at McDonalds was so long they had to set up ropes to form lines nad we waited 20 minutes to place our order. The other 3 places had 1 to 2 people in line. I have to admit I was a super picky eater as a child, I don't really know when it changed but it was probably near the end of high school.... Out of the 8 kids in my family, there are only 3 of us who really love to eat and will eat almost anything, but the three of us are also the only one who travel abroad and have interests in other parts of the world. My sister met her French (from Strasburg) husband in Peru... I have two sisters who eat only because they would die if they didn't, they really find no pleasure in food. The other 3 are just average they like food but prefer to stick to foods they know they enjoy, though they will try new things if offered they won't go out of their way to make them. We all grew up in the same house eating the same food witht he same rules.... I have no problems with fast food, I believe in moderation though in everything I eat.

does modern Japanese cuisine typically incorporate foreign ingredients (like mayo & pine nuts) into traditional preparations? ← yes, the pine nut addition was sort of more a Korean touch for me. Most Japanese kabocha salads I have eaten contain things like raisins and almonds. Much of Jaapnese foods eaten in houses today is not the same foods their grandparents were eating. Mayonnaise is very popular here and it used on almost everything.....

My bentos vary depending on what time I wake up and the time of the month (in more ways than one!) I overslept this morning, didn't wake up until 5:50... so my husband's bento consists of retort pack curry rice... I normally use leftovers some way in his bento and I keep some fish products like satsumage and chikuwa frozen so I can use them anytime. I don't like the frozen bento products and don't use them. On my first day I made those futomaki that had a seasoned spinach inside, the leftovers were made into an omelet and then for the rst of that bento I made a stirfry of the left over julienned carrots and some sliced chikuwa seasoned with tonbajian (Chinese chile paste). His bento box also has a cup for soup so he drinks that everyday as well. My whole family fights over those fish eggs....

ballet class ends at 6, so by the time they change, chat and finally make it home it is 6:30 so Thursday's dinner needs to be a fast meal. I often do a lot of prep before I leave when I can and set the timer on the rice cooker. the prep for our 'need it in a hurry' and 'day before payday' dinner the main is a dish of simmered karei (flounder with the eyes on the right side) with the egg sac still attached this traditional was made in the modern way with a shortcut of using tsuyu (seasoned soy sauce) instead of a variety of seaonings. I soak a piece of kombu (kelp) in a cup of sake then add a cup of straight tsuyu and then add the fish and simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning once. At the very end I add some greens to the pan, today it was mizuna. a close up on the eggs, the best part the sides (along with rice, furikake and nori seaweed) the orange stuff is a kabocha (Japanese squash) salad, I made this earlier in the day with mayo, salt and pine nuts. The red things are umeboshi (pickled plums) and the green stuff is nanohana (broccoli rabe) konnyaku dressed with karashi-joyu (soy sauce and Japanese mustard) not familiar with konnyaku? this site has all the answers and this is our konnyaku thread

Thursday afternoons my daughters have ballet class Julia Mia (in the purple sweater) during the class I ate a couple of hard candies... on the way home I stopped at a drug store to pick up milk (I MUST have it for my coffee tomorrow morning) and today's Pocky. THERE WAS NO POCKY IN THE WHOLE STORE!!!! I can't believe it, I had to buy to more pocky wannabes... Fran in a tiramisu flavor and stubby little almond and chocolate sticks

Does any know of a good Japanese spaghetti cookbook? I have paged through some at the book store but they are always like for two servings or more of Italian style, etc. I want a book that shows that kind od stuff in smallworld's picture....

I love the drinks at Freshness Burger! I never saw the yucha soda but I have ahd both the lime soda and grenadine soda and really like those. I also like their cranberry-lemonade and their chai was really good too. I guess I need to stop by Freshness Burger soon.

this is the park that is right outside the food court we had lunch at. often we buy our lunch and then take it to the park to eat but today it was just too windy... and just to the right of the park is a small local yao-ya-san (vegetable stand) and on the way home we I decided to take some pictures of the cherry blossoms that line the streets. This area is really beautiful and I was not the only one stopping to take pictures... this is our local temple

I have done the 7-5-3 (pronounced shichi-go-san) for both of my girls when they were 3, but I didn't do their 7 year old ones yet. We are planning to do all three (Hide will be 5) this fall and get it over at once. I will find something food related about it and then post the pictures.

That is where my husband wants to go, we both loved Maui. The only problem with Maui is then we are very far away from both sets of parents and we will spend a lot more money traveling to see them both... My husband does insist he is going to retire to Maui though and then everyone can come and visit us.

Thursday lunch, since we never did make it to McDonalds yesterday we went today. tomato Mc Gran (d?) I can't remember how they spell this in English... it is my favorite Mia's favorite teriyaki burger Julia and Hide had happy meals (called happy sets here) Hide had his favorite juice, it is called yasai seikatsu 100 (vegetable lifestyle 100) and is made with 15 kinds of vegetable juices and 3 fruit juices. It is really good and I buy it for myself often. The McDonalds we went to is located in a sort of food court, behind Julia you will see ramen and taiyaki (sort of like a fish shaped pancake filled with various sweet things). behind Mia is Doutor a well known coffee shop a close up on the menu and their current special, a latte with little cubes of jellied coffee..... this restaurant sell okonomiyaki (a savory pancake like thing) but in a sandwich style and a picture of Hide because he is too cute not to include

A while back I did a little photo essay on kyushoku (the Japanese school lunch system): http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...272&hl=kyushoku if you have more time here is the 6 page kyushoku thread

I ask my husband the same thing about the pants, you would thing their bagginess would be a saftey hazard... This is basically the traditional uniform his grandfather wore something very similar. Many of the owrkers take lunches, My husband's company works mostly on skyscrapers and other very large buildings, often there is no place around to eat lunch at. Most sites do have a roving bento-ya-san, this is a person who drives around selling bentos (boxed lunches) from the back of his truck. My husband says they are awful though and the price can add up when you work 6 days a week, it is much cheaper to make it.

take a look here the weights and prices are on the right side, to look at other types of rice click on any of the names on the left side. Currently the excahnge rate is about $1 to 108 yen but I just round it off to 100. so if it says 5,000 yen it is about $50.

and most of them wear tabis (split toed shoes). My husband works with steel so he must wear steel-toed saftey boots, no tabis in our house.

you got it! Those colorful men with the funky pants are construction workers. My husband prefers navy and gray but pinks and purples are very popular.

Ah....now I know where MC Hammer's Tailor has gone. ← keep guessing...

4/7: ニギスの天ぷら nigisu no tempura

smallworld, that really is unbelievable....

my turn for a question! Does anyone know what men who where these kinds of clothes do for a living? Anyone living in Japan is not allowed to play!!!

Today is Hide's first day back at preschool. The preschool's here are divided into 3 years ; a 3 year old class, a 4 year old class and 5 year old class., then they go on to elementary school. You can enter at any year but it most common to do 2 to 3 years. Hide was in the 3 year old class last year and is now in the middle class. The school day runs from 9:00 to 2:00. I take him at about 8:30, the school is only a two minute walk from our house. Today is an early day and I will pick him up at 11:30 (in about 30 minutes). This is the first time I have had the house to myself in weeks. I had a meeting at the elementary school this morning for our Kodomo Kai (children's community group) where we learned how to use the copy machines... I decided to forgo cleaning the house today and am drinking a matcha (green tea) au lait, iced of course and listening to my Ally McBeal CD.... I love this drink, it is a powder that you mix with a bit of hot water to dissolve and then you add cold water and ice.

People ask me all the time if I ever think about going back to the US, but honestly I don't want to raise my kids there. It is a great place to visit but I really love Japan. My husband on the other hand would move to the US in a second if I agreed.... Though it is starting to change, today's Japan is very similar to the US I was growing up in the late 70's. my kids can wander around the neighborhood with their friends and I don't worry, last night they didn't even come home until after 7:00pm. There is also a wonderful community spririt, especially in the area where I live. Everyone is there to look out for each other and lend a helping hand. I have almost no stress here, taking kids into restaurants here is fine, if they are a bit noisy or start walking around no one bats an eye, if my daughter hits another kid in the sandbox the mothers just laugh, we apologize and it is forgotten. I can go to the supermarket and leave my kid in the candy aisle the entire 10 minutes it takes me to do the rest of my shopping and know there are going to be 10 other kids with him and he will be fine. I couldn't imagine raising my kids elsewhere....

Babysitting is not common here, once couple have kids they no longer go out as couples. My husband and I have been out together about 5 times in 10 years of marriage.... When we visit the US it is great because we go everywhere wih out the kids, however my husband can't always travel with us. He didn't make the trip last year and he can't come this summer either. So with the money I saved from not bringing him I will be taking a solo trip to Boston and NYC. Now that Hide is in school, we plan on doing more lunches together, the only problem is he only has one hour and he is in his construction outfit sso it sort of limits the places we can go to...