torakris

Can't speak for New York and Paris, but resaturants in Tokyo pride themselves on having the freshest of everything. Even supermarkets and restaurants in Yokohama boast lettuce picked this morning, or chickens killed this morning. Japan isn't very big, it doesn't take very long for it to get from its source to the heart of Tokyo. Needless to say I haven't been everywhere but I have traveled a lot and no where have I seen freshness as important as it is Japan. I vote for Tokyo because of the choice of restaurants available, from the highest of the highest to little stands that are set nightly with standing room only and absolutely everything in between. You name it Tokyo has it. The food quality and variety in just the department store basements alone would be in the top 10 world wide.

see if this thread helps: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...st=0&p=269999 and welcome to egullet and the Japan Forum!

Oh, I love this stuff! I never knew what it was called before.... I couldn't find a very good picture, but: http://www.himajin.net/diary/images/c503/59.jpg nanohana is broccoli rabe (rape) in English. now I am getting hungry....

But, whose trees are they anyway?? ← I have no idea! the large field behind our house is owned by our oya-san (owner of our apartment building), but those trees are on a separate plot just behind the field and I have seen a number of different people picking them. The oya-san also lends the plots in the field to various people to plant stuff in, so maybe the trees are his too and he just let people pick them.... My in-laws have trees on their property and my neighbors do as well, so that is where I am receiving mine from.

word for 11/9: ムツ mutsu Japanese blue fish http://www.zukan-bouz.com/suzuki3/mutu.image/mutu.jpg be careful with this one, if you add an o to it (omutsu) you are then talking about a diaper.....

Tokyo?

they were actually just like kiritampo only round...

I've done this before. Before my eldest was diagnosed with egg and soy allergies, I used to make san shoku donburi. Rice with tamago soboro, niku soboro and green peas. ← san shoku donburi, the bento favorite of lazy mothers/wives! my husband has been eating more and more of these: http://www.yokohama.vu/zzz/bq_food/07sanshoku/3shoku1.jpg not mine by the way.... but not much different.

I wish I could send some your way!! This is what I stare at every day from the window next to my computer and it isn't just outside my window, it is everywhere I go right now, they are just rotting on the trees...

I threw the package away without reading the ingredients, so I am not sure what kind of rice they use and if there was sake in it. I have added sake to rice before(often with a strip on konbu) and you don't really get a sake taste at all, just a very subtle difference. These dango that I had from my co-op were made with rice that had been pounded, probably to hold the shape but still had visible whole grains. It wasn't really that chewy like mochi is, but not quite like regular rice either.....

ｗord for 11/8: ヒラスズキ hirasuzuki (he-rah-sue-zoo-key) This is called black sea bass or black fin sea bass in English. The suzuki has its season in summer but hirasuzuki is best eaten in the winter, though they are eaten in similar preparations. the hirasuzuki: http://www.zukan-bouz.com/suzuki2/suzukika.../hirasuzuki.jpg

I have done everything with them! This past week I even made an apfelkuchen (German apple cake) using kaki instead of appless... I guess it should be called a kakikuchen....

I always called it just masuzushi, but everything I was looking at was calling it masu no sushi, I thought I was wrong.... thanks for that info. I normally buy it through my co-op, I just looked at the catalogue and they are selling it this week for 598 yen (for 330g), closer look at the fine print says it is made with fish from Norway and rice from Okayama prefecture When they sell it in the stores around here it is normally over 1,000 yen....

NOOOOOO!!!! my camera's batteries died!! I got two extremely blurry pictures and then nothing, I guess I will have to make it again next week! I wated to try a nabe that we had never eaten before so I made a damakko-mochi nabe. I had never heard of damakko-mochi before, but like local co-op was selling a set of these small balls made with rice and a hinai-dori (kind of chicken) soup. The package said they were a speciality of Akita prefecture. To this I added: chicken thighs shineji, shiitake and enoki mushrooms carrots konnyaku seri (minari in Korean and dropwort in English) I ate it with some yuzu-koshou (yuzu and green chile paste) I found this picture and recipe just now on the web: http://www.nhk.or.jp/akita/programs/cooking/1004damako.html next time I think I will make the damakko mochi from scratch....

I am already sick of kaki!! I have a couple rotting away in my kitchen as I type because no one wants anything to do with them anymore..... but I prefer the amagaki ones...

I love kinkan (kumquats), I have a tree this year that was given to me by a neighbor who moved away and didn't have a place to put it. The fruits are still dark green and thumb sized but I am eagerly awaiting.....

how about masu no sushi, probably one of the most famous eki-ben (train station bento box) in Japan? http://ekiben.or.tv/cb-toyama1.htm masu is trout.

really? I can buy them daily in my area at 98 yen for 10 (S and M mix) at the drug stores, at at least one supermarket will be offering the L sizes for a similar price every week. During the height of the bird flu Costco's LL sized eggs were 20 for 185 yen, a month ago they were at 358 yen.

TOYAMA PREFECTURE (Chubu region) Toyama is also considered to be a part of the Hokuriku region (along with Ishikawa and Fukui) and parts of Toyama are combined with parts of Gifu to be called Hietsu region. http://www.pref.toyama.jp/sections/1111/hi.../kairou/aji.htm to discuss the foods of Toyama go here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=54930

any favorite regional foods from the Toyama area? look here for some descriptions: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...07entry757107

have you ever made or eaten onsen tamago? onsen is the Japanese word for hot springs and these are soft boiled eggs that are cooked in the hot springs, thus they are also a very popular menu item at hot spring resorts. You can also find them already prepared in the refrigerated section of supermarkets: http://www.isedelica.co.jp/product/img/onsennew.jpg Though it isn't exactly the same (not hot springs) you can make them at home, English recipe and picture: http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/dailyjc/ref/onsen/onsen.html I have never tried to make this at home, but I might give it a try....

word for 11/7: 白身 shiromi (she-rhoe-me) This translates as white fleshed and is often used a general description of this kind of fish. Recipes will often list shiromi in the ingredient list rather than specifying a certain type of fish. Suzuki is one type of shiromi. you might also see the the word shiromi referring to egg whites or the white flesh (breast meat) of chicken.

I have this problem too! My worst are the French terms, people jsut through these around like we should all know them! I definitely need to check out the one with the pronunciation guide, I spent a week this summer with my sister and her French (from Strausburg) husband nd he got the biggest kick out of listening to us destroy his language.... I never really realized just how many words we use are actually French.... Over in the Japan Forum I try to use the Japanese word as much as possible (with the English in parantheses) so get people used to hearing (ok, reading!) it.

smallworld, gorgeous pictures!! I am off to the store soon to buy the ingredients for ours.....

I found this picture of yuja: http://www.yes4416.co.kr/kwangju/goh_festival.html and it looks exactly like the Japanese yellow yuzu. most of the citron pictures I have found look more like a lemon? http://images.google.com/images?q=citron&h...ja&start=0&sa=N I have never seen a citron so I am not sure....