torakris

The old nail is to blacken the color of the beans, as for teh drop lid I actually have never thought about it, but it is used in the majority of simmered dishes, I have just started a new thread just on the drop lid: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=51996

When simmering foods in Japan the recipe will many times call for the food to be covered with an otoshi-buta or drop lid. I have never really questioned its use but does anyone know what it does? Why is it used instead of just a regular lid? do other countries use them too? What kind do you have in your house? I have a metal one: http://image.infoseek.co.jp/recipe/tsuboim...hibuta_futa.jpg but the wood ones are more traditional: http://www1.seaple.icc.ne.jp/kashimas/Mvc-...otoshibuta_.jpg I also like these cute pig ones which is a play on words at buta means pig: http://homepage.mac.com/jkooxl/potato/Pota.../otoshibuta.jpg there are also one time use ones made of something like parchment paper that are for one time use.

Don't I am not celebrating either, actually never have..... and just talking to my husband now, apparently he doesn't ever remember celebrating either..... I guess we could always start now!

what could be more Tokyo than edo-mae sushi? http://www.kateigaho.com/int/apr03/sushi-types-tips.html

TOKYO-TO (region= Kanto) http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/tra/to_gift.html to discuss the foods of Tokyo, please go to this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=51966

What are some famous local foods of the Tokyo area? no idea take a look here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...66entry721266

Pocky has their royal milk tea flavor back out...... the one on the left

I was wandering the aisles of the local supermarket yesterday when I stumbled across these the left one is a mousse pocky in royal milk tea flavor and the one on the right is from their decore series with a combination of chcolate and caramel. my oldest daughter and I ate the caramel ones yesterday and wow were they good!!

Tsukimi this year falls on Sept 28 (tues) and McDonalds already has their tsukimi burger out: http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/sales/promotion_tukimi.html how do you plan to celebrate?

fall is here! don't forget to check the thread on seasonal fall foods in Japan! http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=28467

word for 9/23: 秋分の日　しゅうぶんのひ shuubun no hi (shoe-boon-no-hee) Autumn equinox is today September 23. for more information look here: http://marian.creighton.edu/~marian-w/acad...ays/sept23.html

word for 9/22: メアジ meaji (may-ah-jee) Known in English as the big eye scad..... http://moon.endless.ne.jp/users/gyogyosi/03sakana/meaji.jpg

these sound just like the Japanese kuromame (black bean): http://www.nsknet.or.jp/~chrkaji/yasuko/recipe/007_e.html these are made with either black soybeans or a larger, flatter black bean and it most commonly served at new year's festivities.

I, too, am a loyal fan of the CI banana bread recipe, I like to added unsweetened shredded coconut to it as well to give it more of a tropical twist. sometimes to make my kids really happy I throw in a large handful of chocolate chips as well.

The Fujino Makiko homepage: http://www.makikofujino.com/

Harumi Kurihara?? hhmmm.... Don't think she is who I would pick as the next or "Japanese" Martha Stewart. Didn't realize she had a cafe though..... In Japan 23 cookbooks is really not a huge number especially considering that most of them are less than 100 pages and probably carry half as many recipes. I have owned two of her books in the past and both of them have been given away (and I hang on to almost everthing!).... I have also never been impressed enough with her suteki reshipi magazine to actually buy an issue. Of course I have to admit, I don't really care for Martha Stewart either... my choice for cookery queen of Japan would be Fujino Makiko.

Wako is the restaurant I went to that I commented on in the tonkatsu thread, don't think I gave its name though..... Excellent tonkatsu, though I don't have too much to compare it to as I have only been to eat tonkatsu twice in the past couple years and both times were branches of this store. Both times and both locations (both in Yokohama) the places were packed and the wait was quite long.

I have been to the Yokohama location in the Sogo building by Yokohama station. Excellent restaurant! Now that I think about it, it has been much too long since I have been there..... Some of the best anitpasto I have had in Japan, though that isn't saying much....

the other day while browsing the snack aisle, i came across these potato chips From Calbee, the bag says they are part of the salts from Japan series, the chips are salted with salts from different parts of Japan. The green one from Hokkaido and the pink from Okinawa. I didn't think there would be a noticable difference in taste but the there actually was. Initially I preferred the Hokkaido one because it was saltier, but after a couple of chips it was too salty. I need to check and see if there are anymore....

did anyone see the show a couple nights ago (sorry can't remember the day, time, channel or name... )　about the mixing of shinmai (new rice 新米) and komai (old rice 古米) in bags of rice marked as 100% shinmai? First they went to an apartment in Tokyo and gathered about 5 neighbors with 5 different brands of shinmai and placed some of the grains from each bag into separate dishes, they then added two chemicals and the shinmai appears with a red spot on it and the komai has nothing. Like this: http://earlybirds.ddo.jp/bunseki/order/kit.../comparison.jpg the bags contained somewhere from about 20% to 60 % komai even though there were all marked as being 100% shinmai. Then they went undercover (with hidden cameras) to various rice shops and asked the owners about it, most ignored the question or gave a no comment response, but one guy just laughed and said something like "of course, you can't possibly put all shinmai in the bag!" The staff then bought a 2kg bag of 100% shinmai rice (after first inquiring with the owner that it was indeed 100%) and took it back to the studio where they did the chemical test on every single grain (about 100,000) and then separated them grain by grain onto large pieces of black paper further separating them into shinmai and komai. I can't remember the exact results but it was something like 40% komai.....

Not chinese but.... I am caucasian and my husband is Japanese, I didn't eat my first Japanese food until I was in college and even then the first couple times were at Benihana style steak houses with the knife throwing chefs and food that tastes like nothing I have ever eaten in Japan.... Before I met my husband I lived with an ex-boyfriend, also Japanese, for almost 4 years, he hated western food. The first two meals I "cooked" for him were pasta (jarred sauce) and tacos, hey I was only 20 and had never cooked until then. Well he declared both meals unfit for humans and dumped them in the sink, hard to believe I gave him another three years! Anyway I went out an got a Japanese cookbook and got quite good, for teh next couple years I cooked daily for not only him but 4 to 6 of his single male Japanese friends as well. By the time I left him and met my husband, I not only loved Japanese food, I knew more about it then he did! one think I do notice though is that my comfort foods are still more American, when I am nauseaous I send him to the store for white bread and ginger ale, the thought of okayu (rice gruel) makes me even sicker... and during all three pregnnancies I had major cravings for things like tacos, stuffed cabbage, pizza, mac and cheese, etc.

9/21: let's start off our aji discussion with マアジ maaji (mah-ah-jee) This is the most common type of aji, and is also one of the most common fish in Japan. In English you will hear it referred to as horse makeral or Japanese jack mackeral. Though you can find aji in the stores all year round it best from summer into fall after it has spawned. maaji: http://www.zukan-bouz.com/aji/maaji.image/maaji.jpg

what about nomu yoguruto? the drink yogurt? My kids used to love this slightly thicker than milk drink of just yogurt when they were babies/toddlers. I didn't really care for it, except for their prune version that was really good!

Jim, They will be either in cartons or bottles and will look like this: http://www.calpis.co.jp/omoide/lineup/image/kyoho_p.jpg The color will depend on the flavor, this one is my favorite, kyoho grape. They are watered down at about 1 part calpis to 5 parts water so they last for quite a while. You should find them on the shelf with other beverages, not refrigerated.

word for 9/20: 敬老の日 keirou no hi (kay-rhow-no-hee) Today is respect for the aged day in Japan. It is a national holiday that was started in 1966 and various events are held nationwide to give thanks to the elders.