torakris

by the way, it is 7:00am Thursday morning and I am having an iced coffee, the kids had oatmeal (Mia) and peanut butter sandwiches (Julia and Hide), there are no leftovers to nibble on..... guess I will actually have to go make something...

I had no fukujinzuke in the house and I forgot to buy it!

a Japanese cup is 200ml, this could make a difference..... and sometimes for drinks I see the recommendeed amount at 180ml from here http://www.ujicha.com/shouhokuen%20pages/e...matigai1-3.html All the small broken pieces of tea leaves that are thieved through make up Konacha or POWDER Tea. (They are actually the most delicate and delicious parts of tea leaves) The price is reasonable while its color and aroma and taste are all rich. It is best known as AGARI, the tea you drink with Sushi, and is consumed in great quantity at Sushi bars and restaurnats in Kanto district (Tokyo and its surrounding area) Since tea leaves are in small pieces, we would advise you to use a tea strainer or paper or cloth tea bags for making Konacha. Be sure to pour boiling water into the pot and that very quickly. It is the only and best way to throughly enjoy it.

I can't imagine an Asian store NOT carrying it! There are various brands, House, S&B, etc and different heat levels, on either the front or back of the box their is usually a heat scale ranging from like 1 to 5 or 6. 1 being the mildest, the one I used today is a chuu-kara (中辛) type and that is medium or a level 3. The mildest ones should say ama-kuchi (甘口） and the spiciest will say kara-kuchi (辛口).

That is better than what I saw today, the had 4 small ones from Canada for 2800yen ($26)

well as promised I cooked curry tonight and my kids couldn't have been happier. This what I like to put in my curry potatoes, carrots, lots of onions, thinly sliced pork and a box of curry roux When my kids were smaller and had problem with this cut of meat, I always made my curry with ground pork or a mixture of ground beef and pork. Other people prefer it with cubed meat, either beef, pork or chicken. first I saute the onions then I saute the meat for a bit and add the potatoes and carrots and saute a bit more then you add water (the amount should be written on the box of roux) and bring just to a boil, skimming the skum off then lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes and carrots are almost tender, then you turn off the heat and add the roux cubes mix it well, there is nothing worse than chunk of grainy roux in your mouth! turn the heat back to low and simmer again, I do it for about 10 more minutes. Then serve by placing a portoin of rice in a dish and placing a couple scoops of curry either next to it or on top of it. My husband likes it on top , but I prefer it next to the rice..... Garnish with what ever you like! I love my curry with finely shredded cabbage and rakkyou (a type of bulb onion that has been pickled. no dessert tonight.....

Mia (in 3rd grade) told me at 7:00am this morning that she needed a sankaku-jogi to take to school today. I, for the life of me, can not remember the English name for this.... it is the triangle shaped ruler. Anyway it isn't something I have in the house, so I called my neighbor, who has an older daughter, to see if she had one we could borrow. Luckily she did, so I went out this afternoon to look for one for Mia to take tomorrow. Unfortunately it seems that every 3rd grader in the city of Yokohama needed it today as it took going to 4 stores to find one that had them in stock. I t was such a gorgeous day though so I didn't mind driving all around in the car, windows down, hair blowing, Aerosmith blasting from the CD player..... My kids demanded a 3:00 oyatsu (snack) so I pulled out a cookie I picked up at the store today that I had been discussing early in the day on the okashi thread. It is called all-adzuki, and it is a cookie with adzuki beans inside, it was very good and I will definitely be buying it again. I have also been drinking a lot of water as I think I am coming down with something and my throat is sore.....

bought it! tendon isn't something I think I would ever make...... I hate dishes that require a variety of different cooking methods, I am too lazy...

yaki-ume? that is a first, I eat ume anything! you can pass it over to me.... let us know how it goes!!

hhhmmm.... the donburi probably doesn't have a name, it looks like an original! and a very good one at that. The tuna is probably tsukudani or soboro, both are simmered in a soy based sauce and then sort of crumbled/flaked.

Weds lunch tendon, short for tempura donburi. this one had shrimp, squid, kabocha squash and sweet potato sanma (saury pike) sushi topped with scallions and ginger I also had a large glass of water

This morning had had my second adult English conversation class, this class is easier than the Tuesday class as most of the women have lived abroad and actually speak quite well. Today I served cold oksusu-cha, Korean roasted corn tea. we had a thread on it a while back: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...st=0&p=246811 After the class I went grocery shopping to buy ingredients for my cooking class tomorrow and I picked up a prepared lunch there, I am eating it now. pictures to come! At the store I had three samples of bread, one with sweet potatoes, one with raisins and walnuts, and one with black beans....

It could be personal preference. This kind or tea in basically a powdered tea (konacha) that has some matcha added (matcha iri), it is probably best brewed as you would a powdered tea.

I have never heard of this before, it is used in the raw form as a garnish or such?

The snack I am referring to is called allraisin and is also made by Tohato (makers of the Mobi products), it looks like this: http://www.tohato.jp/products/allraisin/ I just saw their home page for the first time and next to the raisin one they have one called alladzuki, apparently with adzuki beans. I have never seen this before and will look for it at the store today.....

I finished breakfast: and no comment needed......

what can I do to keep the bugs away from my shiso plants?????

what is Japanese mint called in Japanese? how is it different than the other types of mint?

I make a lunch for my husband to take to work every morning, it goes into a vertical bento container and consists of three parts one for soup, one for rice and one for the main. it looks like this I also make him an onigiri (rice ball) for his breakfast, he eats this after he gets to work. His recent favorite onigri is a very simple one with just a spoonful of miso (bean paste) inside. He also takes a thermos filled with Nestea iced tea mix.... he loves that stuff. what he walks out the door with (the bento has a nice carrying case with a strap) sorry the pictures are bad, I didn't realize the batteries were low on my camera, it has been fixed!

last night's dessert: oranges with a cardamom scented caramel afterwards I had a handful of pistachios

It is almost 7:00am and I am drinking my morning iced coffee in front of the computer like I do every single morning. My kids are watching tv and eating breakfast that they have made themselves. Mia has toast with cinnamon-sugar and Hide and Julia are eating peanut butter sandwiches. I am contemplating getting my lazy butt out of this chair and making some toast with jam..... nah... maybe later... I am a little thrown off my regular menu planning schedule this week, I normally do a big shopping trip on Sunday and then sit down Sunday afternoon and plan the next week's menus. But because of Monday's Costco trip I didn't go and I never really buy enough different things (just a lot of the same) at Costco to make a bunch of meals. I am going shopping today to buy the ingredients for my cooking class tomorrow so I will pick up stuff for the rest of the week as well and work on my menu today. I am very happy for a couple of reasons today: 1. the rain has finally stopped!!!! it is going to be a beautiful day, I can finally open my windows and hang out my laundry 2. It is payday!! Japanese get paid only once a month, so things can get tight in the days before payday.... 3. My son is in school until 2:00pm today!! Weds are normally half days with them coming home at 11:30, but once a month they stay until 2.

Well you have decided it for me, tonight I will make curry rice! complete with step by step pictures so you can see how it is done. Curry roux are blocks of curry paste that melt when you add to the hot water and vegetables, you can find various types at any Asian market. I will post some pictures of the ingredients as well

I was watching a show here in Japan last night and they were saying that the higest class matsutake here sell for 40,000 ($400) a piece!

Just finished dinner: a huge salad made with Costco's prepared salad mix, cucumbers, yellow peppers and seared maguro (tuna) all served with a variety (sesame, poppy seed, corn bread) of rolls from Costco. Tuesdays are my simple dinner nights as I teach a class of children from 4:30 to 6:00, the class actually consists of my older girls and three brothers (7, 9, 11) who have an American father and a Japanese mother. I work with them on reading and writing English, the children all speak and read English but have problems keeping up with spelling. I have a dessert waiting in the refrigerator you can hear about it tomorrow...... It is 8:00pm and I normally head to bed by 9:00, I am reading a particularly enjoyable book this week and may head off even earlier....

Can you tell me more about this? a photo perhaps? Hope it's not too much trouble! Black bean tea?? wow... this IS rare... ← here is a picture of the box of black bean tea, and the caramels Black beans are one of the health foods of the moment and you can find various black bean products all over the place. A friend suggested this tea to me last week and I tried it hot 2 days ago and then refrigerated some of it to try it cold. It is a very mild tasting and pretty non-descript tea. These caramels, on the other hand, are incredible. I bought them over a week ago and have kept them hidden from the kids and only allow myself 2 a day! I love kurozato flavored anything, I plan on starting a thread on it this week so keep your eye on the Japan forum!