torakris

I hope all of our posters/readers are alright following the earthquake and massive tsunami. The death toll is currently at over 12,000 and rising..... Please keep us posted. a recent report: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor.../ts_nm/quake_dc

some more gadgets this is my Japanese blender, called a ミキサー (mikisaa) in Japanese, it has a special attachment for making kakigori (Japanese shaved ice) anda spice mill for grinding spices/sesame seeds/etc. One of my two 漬物器　tsukemonoki (pickle press) and my 巻き簀　まきす makisu (bamboo sushi mat) and a press for making hosomaki (thin sushi rolls), I bought tis press for the kids, but it hasn't been used yet...

It is really annoying... It actually starts to hurt my eyes after a while and if I don't have really good lighting I can't read it at all...

the suribachi (mortar) and surigoki (pestle)

12/27: すり鉢 suribachi If you want to make tsurimi at home you can do it in a food processor, but to be more traditional you should use a suribachi or Japanese mortar. The pestle is called a surikogi すりこぎ. To learn more about a suribachi and surikogi look here: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/suribachis.htm

need even more information? Just ran across this: http://open-encyclopedia.com/Surimi

This cookbook was my Christmas present to myself (along with a new vacuum cleaner...) I have spent hours going through and yesterday I made three recipes from it: Lime Molasses Vinaigrette -- this was great! I tossed it with a radish and radish greens salad Parisian Passover Coconut Macaroons -- Incredible!! I love cocnut macaroons and make them quite a bit but this recipe , with an Italian meringue, was over the top. Moroccan-Style Preserved Lemons -- this will take four more days until I know the results Has anyone been cooking from this? What are some of your favorites? any duds?

Surimi is the ground fish paste and it is the basis for the various kamaboko foods. You can make your own surimi by scraping the flesh out of a fish and grinding it up, purchased surimi will contain salts, sugars, preservatives etc. It its freshly prepared state it will look something like this: http://www.tarako.com/shop/showcase/surimi.jpg Surimi isn't normally eaten as is, it can be mixed with some flavorings and formed into balls for a simple soup or it can be ground until completely smooth and formed into shapes (like the kani kamaboko or te kamaboko you see in soups) and then steamed. Sometimes they are deep fried or grilled after steaming to give you things like chikuwa: http://www.inet-shibata.or.jp/~ytoshi/japa...pot/chikuwa.jpg or satsumage: http://www.kasuiko-hs.makurazaki.kagoshima...en/satumage.gif

Is this the answer? According to this, the reason why you don't get tired of miso soup although you drink it every day is that the miso soup you make slightly differs each day. If you keep on drinking miso soup at a Japanese-style restaurants for three days, you will get tired of it. (Rough translation) Hm... I'm skeptical. What do you think? ← I think it makes sense for some people, I crave different things and I rarely eat the same dish prepared in the same way twice a year! I can't stand eating the same things over and over and the variety with miso soup is really endless. On the other hand someone who craves familiarity can also love miso soup because you could make it exactly the same way everyday if you wanted to. I have a friend I have known for about 6 years and she only makes 7 dishes, every Monday is tomato sauce pasta, Tuesday is a spinach and chicken curry, Thursday is grilled salmon, etc, for her this is what makes her happy, it would drive me batty.... Miso soup the soup for everyone!

I made a lovely dipping sauce today for cold udon noodles with mentaiko (spicy cod roe) an egg yolk, some thinly sliced scallions and a bit of noodle dipping sauce (made with tsuyu (seasoned soy sauce). I have an unbelievable amount of mentaiko on my hands and am getting really creative with it. I wanted to add it to the noodles somehow but I thought that the mentaiko and dipping sauce alone would be too watery, so I added an egg yolk for substance. Actually the mentaiko, egg yolk and negi with maybe a drop of soy would make a great topping for tofu (either hot or cold), I am going to try that soon.

I have the book! and all the ingredients! choices... salad? soup? salad? soup?

word for 12/26: つみれ tsumire Tsumire are sort of like meatballs but made with fish, the flesh is ground up and then seasonings are added. Iwashi is probably the most common fish used for these and though they are quite easy to make at home, you can also buy them premade in the stores. Tsumire are great in soups, nabe and oden, if you see a grey colored meatball floating in your bowl it is probably iwashi tsumire. tsumire soup: http://www.agri.pref.chiba.jp/nourinsui/12.../pic/tumire.jpg pre-packaged tsumire: http://www.kibun.co.jp/cbdb/db.cgi/%82%DC%...=1&fileext=.jpg

I made a fondue last night and I boiled some kita akari potatoes for dipping, this is is what they look like cut because of bad lighting you can't see their true color, they are a bit more yellow.

I love and cook with daikon and turnip greens all the time, the reason I was curious about radish greens it that they are usually sold with out them... I am talking about radish radishes... these things are huge about golf ball sized and only cost me 100 yen (about $1) I never would have thought about eating them raw until culinary bear mentioned it, I am now thinking about maybe making a salad mixing the sliced radishes with the greens... hmmm.. but like the soup idea too, I don't have enough greens for that particalur one but am tossing around the idea of mixing them with potatoes or possibly a minestrone type soup...

good question! I tried doing searches of pizza rankings and couldn't seem to pull up anything, I tried looking at a couple homepages as well but still nothing. I did find this though: http://www.pizza-la.co.jp/menu_e/menu110_pub.html Pizza-La now has a menu completely in English! As for favorites I would probably say something with mayo as well, just because they don't seem to be disappearing....

I am a very bad person and recycle almost nothing.... take a look at this site: http://www.mc-club.com/make/index.html click on any of the 3 go buttons for some ideas of what they can be used for. On tv I have seen people use them for things such as baking cakes, as ice cube trays and as containers to freeze food.

and on a similar note yesterday I saw a Pizza-La delivery kid on his scooter wearing a Santa Claus outfit. Wish I had had my camera. most food in Japan is delivered by scooter, they look something like this: http://zephyr550.fc2web.com/0101gyrocawc200206.jpg

What's up with pizza and the Christmas season? Did I miss something? is chicken on its way out.....? At Costco yesteray (Christmas Eve) there were hordes of people filling their carts with pizzas to go along with their Christmas cakes and when I came there was a flyer from Pizza Hut in my door and this morning's newpaper had flyer's from both Dominos and Pizza-La....

I picked up some gorgeous radishes at the store this morning and they have these equally gorgeous greens attached. I don't think I have ever eaten radish greens before.... can you? what can you do with them?

they are also great tossed into simmered vegetable dishes like this: http://www.ichiban-foods.co.jp/recipe/shirasu.html

they are also good in soups: http://www.pref.iwate.jp/~tisan/recip/suisan/sirasu.jpg

12/25: メリークリスマス Merry Christmas! Though in Japan you are just as likely to hear/see ハッピークリスマス　Happy Christmas! Christmas is not a holiday in Japan and thus is not a day off, this year of course it is on a Saturday so many families will be together today. my husband, however, has to work on Saturdays and so is not here... My daughters have already spent most of the morning outside practicing on the unicycles that Santa brought and maybe later we will make some more cookies. I hope everyone enjoys their holidays! and if you haven't already don't forget to check out the Christmas cakes in Japan thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=55713

That seems pretty different from the Japanese version, though they are both seafood and noodle soup like dishes.... The Japanese one is not spicy at all, I think I would prefer the Korean one. Is the original Chinese one spicy??

These sound really good! I don't have any piglet cookie cutters, but I have dolphins... since we finished eating all of te gingerbread cookies already I might give this one a try today.

I made these yesterday, thank you! They were perfect and just what I was looking for.