torakris

3/25: there are a couple types of funa ギンブナ　（マブナ） ginbuna (also called mabuna) this is the most common and is a popular catch for fishermen, it is often referred to as silver crucian carp in English ginbuna ゲンゴロウブナ　（ヘラブナ、カワチブナ） gengoroubuna (also known as herabuna and kawachibuna) and often called silver crucian carp in English The species of Crucian Carp that is the origin of the HERBUNA originally lived around 　the Biwa lakeside including the Yogo Lake. 　The fisheries agency artificially improved this species to make it fit for food, 　and this improved species was called GENGOROU. 　It has become very popular as an edible fish in the Kawachi district of Osaka since 1926. 　A fishermen’s union was formed in the Kawachi district, and they renamed the GENGOROU 　　Crucian as “KAWATI” which became a popular product in this district. This KAWATI Crucian 　　　became known as HERABUNA among the anglers. Now 2,000 tons of KAWATI (Hera) Crucian are cultivated each year in the fish breeding ponds of the Osaka and Nara areas. Half is shipped to freshwater fish cuisine restaurants in the Kansai area, and the other half is released into fishing pods throughout Japan. more from here herabuna ニゴロブナ nigorobuna The type of carp most suited for funa zushi (a type of fermented sushi)is nigorobuna (round crucian carp) a type special to Lake Biwa. Nigorobuna comes from the phrase "niru ni koroai (just ready to boil). nigorobuna and a couple slightly less known ones: ナガブナ　　 nagabuna オオキンブナ ookinbuna キンブナ kinbuna

any Japanese style rice will work fine

well, Nakano-ku is home to a large shopping area called Nakano Sun Mall, here is their website. sorrry, I couldn't find too much on it in English, if you click on the name of the store it will take you to a page with pictures and information. also the is the Nakano Broadway Mall, their homepage and another page, like the one for sun mall where you can click on the shops. this place includes Mandrake on of the biggest anme/manga shops in Tokyo and I have heard that there is a store there that sells items that were left on trains..... I would have to see it to believe it though... These two places are full of shops and restaurants and I am sure you will find plenty to do. EDIT: broadway mall has 5 floors, so on the map you will see a small box with B1 through 4, just click on a number to see a different floor.

Junsei is a yudofu restaurant, so most of the courses revolve around this dish. Yudofu is an extremely popular and ancient type of tofu-based cuisine. Kyoto, with its long winters, many temples (monks are traditionally vegetarians), is the biggest center for tofu in Japan. Excellent tofu requires high quality soy beans and, more importantly, fresh pure well water which Kyoto has in abundance. The yudofu hot pot is filled with water and large pieces of sea kelp. Various vegetables and square chunks of silky tofu are placed in the simmering broth. The vegetables and tofu are then removed with chopsticks or a ladle and dipped in a fine soy-based sauce. from here

nanohana called broccoli rabe in English should be available in most parts of the US, this green workd the best for rolling because of its thick stalks. I parboiled it, so it was cooked but still had bite to it, then placed it in ice water to stop the cooking and squeezed out the water. Thinly sliced pork belly (called buta no bara-niku in Japanese) can be hard to find in most of the US, but you can try an Asian market or a butcher, get something like I linked to in the post to Suzy Sushi. The strips I used were about 10 to 12 inches long and about an inch wide. The fatty pork works the best here, leaner cuts just don't give the same flavor. I used a leaner cut in the first picture of this thread with the gobo rolls and prefer the leaner cut for that sauced style. I just used one bunch of nanohana and about a 1/2 lb of pork, but the amounts can vary. because the pork was not very wide I slightly overlapped two pieces laying them out on the cutting board, I then sprinkledthen with salt and pepper and smaered some yuzu-koshou on the slices. Yuzu-koshou is a Japanese condiment that is made with yuzu rind (a kind of citrus) and green chiles, here is the yuzu koshou thread This is probably hard to find in most parts of the US, just leave it out and instead squeeze fresh lemon juice over the finished dish. Lay a couple stalks of the broccoli rabe (I used 3 to 4 depending on the thickness) on the seasoned pork strips and roll it tightly on a slight diagonal so that almost all of the vegetable is covered. I like the way it looks with a bit of the green sticking out both sides. this can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated for a couple of hours. I then heated some oil (I use canola), just a small amount as the pork will give off some. I cook them in batches (depending on how many you have and how big your pan is- don't crowd them) over very high heat. It took about 30-40 seconds to cook each of the three sides, they will actually crisp up like bacon somewhat and be crunchy when you eat them. The greens are already cooked and the pork is very thin so long cooking times aren't needed. This is a really fast dish, high heat is critical to the proper texture and these WILL smoke quite a bit.... these also are good cold and make a great leftovers for the next day's lunch.

Tohato's Habanero are great and I don't have to share them with the kids! and the bags last a really long time. those dodekaki are huge Helen, I have never seen those before... speaking of Tohato, yesterday at the 100 yen shop I found this caramel corn with matcha milk flavor. I assumed it was edamame when I saw the package..... haven't tried them yet, but I picked up their strawberry flavored ones like two weeks ago and they were REALLY good.

here is a list of some online sources for Japanese products

Japanese Snack.com is a great site for finding online sources for your favorite snack foods. Just type in what you are looking for, click on find an online store and you will get a page that looks like this.

TOTTORI PREFECTURE (region = Chugoku) http://www.infocreate.co.jp/hometown/tottori/tabe-e.html http://www1.tcue.ac.jp/home1/english/stude...lass09/group05/ http://www.pref.tottori.jp/english/mura/intro_e.htm to discuss your favorite foods from Tottori go here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=64312

yeah, I guess it is like raw bacon it looks something like this

last night's takikomi gohan salmon and mitsuba (trefoil) I removed the bones and skin from two pieces of fresh salmon, placed them in a colander and poured boiling water over them to rid them of the fishy smell. I then broke each piece into quarters and added them to the rice cooker with the rice and some salt and sake. After it was down cooking I mixed it, breaking up the pieces and added some mitsuba.

last night was nanohana (broccoli rabe) and fatty pork maki seasoned only with salt, pepper and yuzu-koshou this dish is a keeper!

NANOHANA! broccoli rabe is a sign of spring in Japan Last night I rolled it in some fatty pork that had been smeared with yuzu-koshou and pan fried it, I could eat this every day!!

3/24: フナ funa crucian carp

Junsei? better pictures of the architecture

Teepee, those are some of the most increble dessert I have ever seen! If you make it again please share the reipe!!

I have never paid too much attention to the karashi I bought before, I usually just grabbed the cheapest one on the rack assuming they were all the same... Today when I went to pick up a new tube I noticed that there were a couple different kinds, S&B had one called 和からし　（wa-karashi or Japanese style) and one called 本からし　（hon-karashi or "real" karashi). They both listed just karashi as the main ingredient but the wa-karashi was recommended for Japanese style dishes, oden, kaku-ni, tonkatsu, etc while the hon-karashi was recommended for Chinese style dishes like shumai, hiyashi-chukka, etc. I checked their website and they don't have the hon-karashi one listed, instead they have a neri-karashi and they say that one is a blend of Japanese karashi and western karashi, while the wa-karashi is made with only Japanese karashi. I then checked my old tube (the generic one at the top of this thread) and the main ingredient was western karashi.... I tasted my old one made with the western karashi and my new one with the Japanese karashi and the difference was incredible, the old one had a biting taste that was almost impossible to eat on its own, it was also very vinegary. The Japanese one was milder but still had a strong kick, much more mellow and pleasant tasting with no vinegar listed in the ingredient list. This wa-karashi is definitely my karashi of choice now! it is also more grainy than the other karashi I have eaten. so remember not all karashi are equal!!

Someone was mentioning a while back that they couldn't find these any more either. I started looking for them here in Japan and have seen no sign of them. Today I went to the pretz homepage and it looks like they changed the packaging on it (the one on the right). It seems to be a smaller size with a little boy on the box, looks like they are aiming it more at kids??

3/23: Here is a sample of a full course koi meal scroll down for a couple other dishes

I love kimchi but am often disappointed with Japanese versions.... I have tried almost every one I have run across and have found very few I go back for a second time, that has changed! The other day I picked up Gyukaku's kimchi (Gyukaku is a very famous yakiniku chain in Japan), I have avoided this one for a while because it was a "restaurant" brand and I guess I just assumed it wouldn't be very good... I was way off, this is the best kimchi I have gotten from a supermarket, most Japanese brands have very little heat but this one was perfect and it had this sweetness that counteracted the spiciness perfectly. I am definitely going back for more!! this is for sale in most supermarkets in my area. I am not sure about the rest of the country, I have never seen it for sale at the restaurants.

My newest green tea product findings...... on the left green tea tofu, I didn't really care for this.. matcha au lait, just mix the powder with hot water for a hot version or a bit of hot water followed by cold water and ice cubes for a cold version. I prefer the cold, but then again I prefer all my drinks cold. This is really good but needs to be mixed very well to get rid of the powdery taste.

I picked up two kinds of tofu for dinner last night left is matcha (green tea) tofu and the right is goma (black sesame seed) tofu I love the goma one (and buy it frequently), the matcha was a first for me and I really didn't care for it, my husband loved it though...

I just found another yummy one! Morinaga's Koeda in N.Y. brownie flavor

I did a quick search and it looks like they just use the plain old togarashi, one thing I didn't know was that for the green yuzukoshou they use the green yuzu and green togarashi, but for the red yuzukoshou they use the yellow yuzu and red togarashi. I haven't seen the red version anywhere around here, but I am going to look for it now, I want to see how they compare in taste.

Great pictures!! I am in Aoba-ku on the Denentoshi line, but I like to travel! Just post a note in the ISO thread (pinned at te top of the forum) next time you are here. and welcome to eGullet and the Japan Forum!