torakris

Foodways, I merged this with a previous thread so you might want to scroll back up as there is quite a bit of information here. Some of it is outdated and I have already deleted most of the dead links, so if anyone has any updates/new places to add please do so!

Anyone have any experience with their box grater? This has been sitting in my shopping cart at Amazon for about 8 months now. I use my current grater like this to shred cheeses (mostly cheddar and mozarella), carrots and for nutmeg. I like that it has a cup on the bottom to catch/measure things.

In researching the area and the restaurants that were recommended, I discovered some things I will share. The Shiodome area seems to be pretty quiet on the weekends and is using special prices to entice people to the area. The Caretta homepage offers these specials (sorry Japanese only): Weekend and Holiday special prices Including one for The Seasoner: ロッシーニコース　￥3,900　 日曜日限定　要予約 平日￥6000のところ、日曜日に限り￥3900でお召し上がりいただけます。前菜、サラダ、パスタ、メインに牛ヒレ肉とフォアグラのソテー、デザートがついています。落ち着いた空間の中で、リーズナブルに贅沢をお楽しみください。 On Sundays only their 6000 yen dinner course is only 3900 yen (must make reservations). This includes: Appetizer Pate of Iberico pork イベリコ豚のパテ Salad organically grown vegetable salad 七品目の有機野菜のサラダ　バーニャカウダソース Pasta & Risotto Spaghetti with sea urchin & cream sauce 生雲丹のクリームスパゲッティ Fish catch of the day meuniere with chef's recommendation sauce 産地直送　鮮魚のムニエル Meat Sauteed Beef Fillet from SAGA & Foie-gras , Rossini style 佐賀牛とフォアグラのロッシーニスタイル Dessert Assorted Today's Dessert デザートの盛り合わせ Coffee or Tea 珈琲又は紅茶 Not a bad deal for 3900 yen! Also the Oregon Bar & Grill's weekend lunch buffet does not take reservations. If you make a reservation you can only order one of their course meals NOT the buffet.

Hi Jason, I have merged your question into a previous similar thread so you might want to scroll up to get some more ideas!

So what did you stuff them with, besides rice?

Azarashi sushi, Welcome to eGullet! And as if I wasn't having a hard enough time deciding between just choices you had to go and toss a couple more in! I like the idea of doing a lunch on Sunday instead, I will have to check and see what time my in-laws are picking up the kids. The concert starts at 5:00 and since it is just about a 20 minute train ride I can't imagine we would be back later than 9. Since it is a Sunday though I am worried about getting to a place only to find it closed.

My favorites are both from Mitsukan, their komezu (jumbo bottle) and their jungenmai kurozu.

I wonder why we don't talk about vinegar more... I ran across this nice article on vinegars in Japan from the Japan Times and it got me thinking just what kind of vinegar most people prefer. We often call refer to Japanese vinegar as just rice vinegar but one of the most popular vinegars sold abroad and in Japan isn't pure rice it is a mix of various grains. Here is a general breakdown: 穀物酢 kokumotsu su grain vinegar 米酢 komezu rice vinegar 純米酢 junmaisu pure rice vinegar 玄米酢genmaisu brown rice vinegar 純玄米酢 jungenmaisu pure brown rice vinegar 黒酢 kurozu black vinegar すし酢　sushizu Grain vinegar with sugar, salt and dashi-seasonings added So what vinegar do you turn to for your everyday uses? Any special ones you use sparingly?

Japan Times 12/29/2207 Guide sells out nationwide, but critics question rating system's validity

Thanks! These look to be just the kind of places I was looking for. Here are the homepages/menus in case anyone else wants to check them out: Seasoner En

My husband and I are headed to the Bon Jovi concert at Tokyo Dome on 1/13 and since my in-laws have offered to take the kids over night we decided to make a little mini-weekend away. I have reserved a room at the Park Tower in Shiodome and am now looking for a good place to go to dinner. The problem being that it is a Sunday and we don't know what time the concert will be over so it is going to be impossible to make reservations. Any favorite restaurants in the area? I am, thinking no more than 7,000yen a person maybe in the 5,000yen range. Any kind of food will do. It will also be a little late around 9pm. I decided not to go with the breakfast at the hotel so am also looking for recommendations for breakfast nearby, preferably good coffee.

The important question: Was the dashi so good that you would make it this way every time you made dashi? Helen, my MIL used to do this with mitsuba, she would stick the roots in a glass of water and leave it on the windowsill of her kitchen. I never thought about actually planting them. I tried to grow mitsuba once from seed and it didn't work very well, of course I don't have a very green thumb either.

Yeah Rona! I really hope you can make it. This weekend just keeps getting better and better!

Either date works for me!

Nancy and Edsel thank you so much for sharing the pictures! That is probably one of the most incredible meals I have ever drooled over. That lamb tartare and swordfish in particular looked amazing. I am especially jealous because my new year's eve dinner consisted of what was supposedly beef stroganoff in economy class of a Continental Micronesia flight. I do have to admit that the brownie for dessert was quite good. I would have traded it for even just a nibble of that bacon ice cream though.

Happy New Year! We landed back in Japan last evening and made it home in record time as the no one was on the roads on Christmas Eve. We are off to the in-laws for osechi and ozouni in a couple hours. I will try to take some pictures of the food I had absolutely no hand in preparing this year.

Very low key Christmas at our house this year. I still can't get used to eating Christmas cakes but we did make some Christmas cookies and I let some of my older English students decorate them. It was a huge hit and I will definitely be doing it again next year. As we are off to Narita in less than 4 hours (for a week in Guam) our Christmas dinner was made with what was left in our refrigerator. Thus we ate ebi-fry (deep fried shrimp) plated with some shredded cabbage and avocado slices. Served with a quick cocktail sauce (ketchup and horseradish) and a salad made with chopped celery and a couple black olives. This was the year of stollens for us, I received 3 stollens on Christmas eve from students plus various cookies/mini cakes. I am glad all of this keeps well as they won't be eaten until after the new year.

I haven't been to Carrefour in close to a year but I have always seen that couscous for sale at Yamaya.

Are those the parbaked ones that you finish baking yourself? I've been thinking of trying them, since they're quite cheap and would be very convenient. But if they're fully baked, I would have to pass. I can't eat that much bread! Well, I can, but it wouldn't be a good thing! ← No they are fully baked. I have tried their partially baked ones (not La Brea) and really didn't care for them at all. They have directions for freezing and reheating.

last week I picked up this wonderful flavored aburage, Ooba miso-zuke aburage. (2nd one down) The whole family loved it but at 2 pieces for 258yen it is a little expensive. I have never thought marinating aburage in miso before, has anyone ever tried it? I did find this recipe created by a woman who ate the same product.

I had a really hard time finding Milky Queen. I knew that I had seen it in the supermarkets a couple years back but nothing since. I finally found it offered through my co-op, however they only had it in musen (no-wash) type and it is also haiga milled rice. I really liked it and would definitely purchase it again. For more on haiga milled rice EDITED to add it was only available in a 2kg bag

A donburi lunch from a department store basement. Half ebi (shrimp) corokke) and half potato corokke. Not bad for 400 yen (less than $4)

Last night's dinner was sanshoku don 三色丼, sanshoku means three color. The topics can vary but you need to have 3 different colors. I made it with salmon flakes, nanohana (broccoli rabe) and iritamago (slightly sweetened scrambled eggs).

Last night's dinner was sanshoku don 三色丼, sanshoku means three color. The topics can vary but you need to have 3 different colors. I made it with salmon flakes, nanohana (broccoli rabe) and iritamago (slightly sweetened scrambled eggs).

This is really one of my favorite salads, I make it quite often and finally took a picture of it. Sorry it isn't very good though.