torakris

Wow, the person who did that website really likes siberia... I have seen these occasionally in the stores but I never knew the name and probably would never pick it out to eat as I am not a big fan of an (sweet bean paste).

Thank you for posting all of that information. Yesterday after reading your first post I asked my friend from Osaka if she had ever heard of sunrise and she had no idea what it was. I explained it to her and she said she had never heard of it. Minutes later we ran into a friend who just recently moved here from Kobe and she got a big smile when we mentioned it, of course she knew what it was....

word for 12/2: 子持ち昆布 komochi kombu This translates as something like "kelp with eggs" and that is exactly what it is, kelp covered with herring eggs. The process is described here: http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-komoci-konbu.html Komochi konbu production occurs March to June, to coincide with the herring-spawning season, and requires gathering of kelp (leathery textured, dark green-brownish sea algae) and stringing them on lines hung in an enclosed bay. Then schools of herring are rounded up, dragged into the bay, and released to spawn. The herring instinctively spawn on the kelp or other suitable surfaces, Once the fish have spawned, they are released and the spawn-covered kelp is harvested. picture of the finished product: http://kutsurogu.at.webry.info/200406/article_30.html

cool! I have never seen that one before, I will be on the look out for that.

for "harder" vegetables like gobo, carrots, green beans etc, I parboil them first.

but if you don't sweetened them they just taste like regular scrambled eggs....

from the back of the package I gather it is called kombu mochi? Is this a Niigata speciality? I don't recall ever seeing this before.. how did you prepare them?

You mean this? http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=767456 I don't normally like white chocolate but I really like this one...

In Japan this http://www.suwada.co.jp/kurikuribouzu.html#kyoudai is used to peel chestnuts scroll down a bit to see how it works.

My 3 kids (ages 8, 6 and 4) all love fondue and I have never taken the wine out... As I don't have a fondue pot, I make it in a donabe (Japanese clay pot), first I rub it all over with garlic and then I pour in the wine and burn the alcohol off and then add the cheeses. my kids love it and have never had a problem, I even made it once for a kid's party.....won't do that again though....a bunch of kids with spears in their hands???

Sam, the link you gave shows the proper way to make astuyaki, the egg is add in small increments to the pan and then rolled upon itself, leaving the look of layers. Hiroyuki probably does it similar as his picture (top) also has that layered look. I make mine a little differently, using more of the French omelete style of making. I pour half of my egg mixture at once into a very hot, oiled pan and mix with chopsticks for a couple seconds until it is starting to set, then I lower the heat and cook for another minute or two until it is only half runny, then using a spatula I fold it in half. I pour a little more oil into the pan, turn up the heat a bit and add half of the remaining eggs, I mix tehm well with the chopsticks until they have a very runny scrambled egg look, occasionally using the chopsticks to lift up the folded in half omelete and left some of the liquid run underneath. I then turn the heat down again and using the spatula I fold the folded egg part onto the new egg part and cook for a minute or so, then I oil the pan again and add the last part. Again turning up the heat a bit, scrambling them while letting some of the liquid flow beneath the folded part and then lowering the heat and folding the folded part onto the newly added eggs. I then cook it more a couple more minutes, flipping at least once (over low heat) until it is done. i poke it with my finger to see if it has the proper firmness. I then let it rest on a paper towel for about 10 minutes before cutting.

word for 12/1: to continue our discussion of ajitsuke kazunoko, there are a couple others: 明太風数の子 mentai fuu kazunoko or some variation on that name, mentai referring to mentaiko the spicy cod roe, so this is kazunoko that is preapared in a similar fashion with a bit of heat: http://www.rakuten.co.jp/yamamoto-foods/408710/408922/ 数の子わさび漬 kazunoko wasabi tsuke or some variation on that name , this can be either coated with a wasabi paste like the picture below or just more gently seasoned with wasabi: http://image.www.rakuten.co.jp/snowland/img1000676885.jpeg

I have never heard of sunrise before.... I am interested to hear more.

I guess I have always thought of it as a vegetable rather than a garnish. I usually use up the whole thing at once that I don't have anything around for a garnish.... I often toss the whole amount into a pan of simmered fish dishes just before I pull it off the heat. most recently I used it as a bibimbap topping

I have never heard this before.... eeww.......... tempura and worchestire sauce?????

I love freshly roasted chestnuts! There are trucks popping up all over the place now over here. I didn't realize about the scoring the first time I roasted them (over a campfire), they were exploding all over the place we barely got to eat any!

The other day in the store I ran across shishi yuzu (獅子ゆず), or lion yuzu. These are huge about teh size of small melon and just downright ugly. http://portal.nifty.com/special03/12/03/img/078_8.jpg The sign over the box they were in said they are normally used for decoration but could also be used for marmalade. Anyone ever used them for food before?

the rice burger (a hamburger like dish using two rice "patties"/onigiris instead of a bun) that has been made very popular by MOS burger can now be eaten "fresh" at home. A frozen rice burger that has been heated in the microwave, this is the yakiniku (grilled beef version) and was quite good.

Last night I had one of my favorite maze (mixed) gohans I tear the tender leaves off the shungiku (chrysanthemum) stems and place them in a bowl and season them with some soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds then add the hot rice to the bowl and mix. Last night I used a 50/50 mix of brown rice and white rice.

my son and I had these for a snack today kuri (chestnut) manju, I got to eat the one in the picture while my son ate the rest....

I have been noticing these in the stores recently, labeled as nama nameko, I picked some up yesterday and put thm in my miso soup. wonderful!

I made a dashimaki (astuyaki) tamago last night I use about 5 to 6 M eggs with 1/3 cup dashi (instant), a splash of soy sauce and about 2 - 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. I cook it is a round 18 cm (7 inch) frypan similar to what Hiroyuki uses.

I don't think I have ever seen "Japanese" pine nuts.... all the ones I have bought are from China.

Smallworld, what else in is your chicken loaf? Do you cook it in a fry pan? I have never tried that before and it looks really good!

no it isn't a convenience store, but it was still a quick bento lunch.... Except for the cold french fries that were awful and pastrami which I don't really care for, it was really good! Actually the chicken salad with pesto was great and I think I am going to try it at home and I am not normally a fan of mayo based salads but their was really good. I have always been happy with the prepared foods from Carrefour.