torakris

I'm curious. That doesn't look anything like the traditional kimchi. What's in it? And why is it called kimchi? it lists the ingredients as (besides the umeboshi): chiles (I am assuming powder though it doesn't specify), garlic, ginger, ami no shiokara (tiny brined shrimp?), iwashi no shiokara (fermented sardines?) nira (garlic chives), sugar and sesame, preservatives.

yesterday we received a lettter from the elementary school thanking all of the parents who attended and giving the results of the survey that was passed out after the meal. Questions: 1. how was the taste of the food? 83% good 16% average 0% bad 2. How was the volume of food? 91% average 6% too much 3% not enough 3. How was the seasoning? 93% average 5% too weak 2% too strong 4. How was the combination of foods? 56% good 44% average some comments: The balance of foods was good and it was delicious. You could taste the flavor of the individual ingredients yet they blended well. I want to try to make this at home. The video was fascinating. It was difficult to eat the rice off the dish. It was hard to eat with just a spoon. It would have been better with a dessert.

In Japan the food pryamid is actually a circle , just like in the picture shown above. There are 6 food groups and the following information I am taking from my boshi techo , this is the "mother's handbook" that all pregnant women receive that records information form doctors visits, weight, blood pressure, urine test result, etc as well as information from the hospital after the birth about both the mother and baby. It also has a section in which the doctor notes all vaccines given and records everything from the health check the child has from birth until age 5. It is also sort of an all purpose pregnancy child book giving information on health and general wellness for both mother and child. my last child was born in 2000, so the information is from that edition, I doubt it has changed. Anyway the 6 groups (in parantheses are the examples given in the book): 1. protein (fish, meat, eggs, soy products) 2. foods high in calcium (milk, milk products, fish bones, seaweeds) 3. foods high in vitamin A (carotene) (green and yellow vegetables) 4. foods high in vitamin C and minerals (other vegetables and fruits) 5. grains, foods good for energy in sugar form (rice, bread, noodles, potatoes) 6. fats, foods good for energy in fats form (oils, butter, mayo) The Japanese circle focuses on balance and rather than saying how many servings of each group the recommendation is to eat 30 different kinds of foods everyday some from each group

I think it is just that time of year, edamame flavored things just seem to be everywhere! those zunda mochi were really good..... the popcorn had this funky pseudo-edamame flavored powder sprinkled on it, the kids liked it though.

Only in Japan? kimchi umeboshi It was actually quite good.

look what I had for lunch today it set me back only 490 yen (($4.50) and as I bought it at Seijo Ishii, a very upscale market, the fish was incredibly fresh. It was wonderful on a hot humid day like today!

I picked up this for the kids san-ji oyatsu (3 o' clock snack) today edamame flavored popcorn with edamame puffed snacks inside...

still making no headway in the catefories department, but I just finished eating some zunda-mochi, a ball of mochi surrounded with sweetened edamame paste. These are really popular now and will be for the rest of summer as it is edamame season. In the store today I saw an interesting daifuku, it was called cheese daifuku and it didn't say what kind of cheese it was filled with but it also had rum raisins inside..... I don't like rum raisins or sweetened cheese things so I passed on it.

I found this at the store about an hour ago umeboshi kimchi The first bite was strange witht he combination of the flavors, but by the second bite I was really enjoying it. I doubt it will become a regular condiment in our house though as that tiny container cost over 700 yen ($7).

I picked up this at the store yesterday it is a snack consisting of two pieces of wonderfully crisp nori, sandwiching tiny pieces of ume. I am really enjoying this at this very moment.

This is a picture (not very good) of a block of frozen already seared katsuo I bought at a local supermarket. When they are at the supermarket they are set out in the fresh case (probably so they will be defrosted by the time people want to eat them that night), I always shop first thing in the morning, dig to the bottom of the pile and get one still frozen solid, then hurry home and place it in the freezer.

I have just picked up these dried yuba skins at a store they only cost me 97 yen (about ($0.85) for the whole package!

I just received the new flyer for Chateraisse (the store I bought the above mentioned shuu cream at) and they have a new cream puff this week, this is filled with coffee jelly (like jello) and cream), I am still unsure as to what I think of that....

word for 6/25: かぶら蒸し kabura-mushi (kah-boo-rah moo-she) kabura-mushi is a speciality of Kyoto in which turnips (kabu) are grated, mixed with egg whites then poured over fish and vegetables in a small bowl and steamed. Tai is a popular fish to use in tis dish. tai no kabura-mushi: http://www.clubtable.com/recipe/etc/fish/tai/tai-kabura.htm

this morning on one of the news programs, they were talking to a farmer in Miyagi prefecture who grows myouga-take. I had never heard of this before, it looks like this: http://www.sainet.or.jp/~jurian/news/products/myogatake.html it can be eaten raw and is often sliced thinly placed in ice water and then served as a sashmi garnish or as a salad, it can also be added to soups and other dishes cooked as well as garnishes. Though the link with the picture give gives a different shun (season for eating) on the tv they said it is June and July. I don't think I have ever seen this in a store.

I went outside ( in the puring down rain!) and apparently I didn't pull it out as agressively as I thought, or else it is more agressive than I am , but there is a large amount of it growing all over the area by my compost. I will have to give it a try!

YOU MEAN THIS ISN'T A WEED!?!? I have been pulling this out of my backyard almost weekly in the warm months and it doesn't stop! I assumed it was just a weed! It says it can be eaten in salads, really? Hiroyuki have you eaten it?

I too was quite surprised by the number of times pork was served! and by the lack of chicken... I wonder if there is some kind of connection with a pork farm..? The only thing that I can think of is that it is easy and probably requires no prep (cutting,etc) as it probably arrives already thinly sliced. I was talking to a Japanese friend whose daughter attends the same school and felt that the high number of dishes with pork could be due to problems with mad cow and bird flu and the fact the Japan is not accepting imports of either beef or chicken from various countries and the domestic ones are too expensive.

danjou, thank you for all that information! That sticky rice chahan sounds incredible, but if it took me 10 years to figure regular chahan, I doubt I will be able to do it well.... I made this chahan technique for my husband's bento lunch the yesterday (it is my "I want to go back to sleep bento" ) and he loved it, he even asked for it for lunch again today! I made a very simple version with just eggs and scallions.

stringy?? I don't think I have ever eaten stringy katsuo.....

Incredible! It is making me want to get married all over again!

I think I need to find the Japanese version bceause there is either a major typo or they are doubling the price when it gets to the market level. In my area those are prices for 30, possibly 40 kilograms of rice..... the article says: According to recent bidding prices, while the nation's average price for rice is around 18,700 yen per 60 kilograms, koshihikari from Niigata sells for about 21,900 yen, and the choicest Uonuma koshihikari nets 31,300 yen. Interesting article though.

I am still working on ways to break these mochi into categories, probably start by breaking eat main category into sweet or savory but then from there you have cooked (usually steamed), pounded, filled, coated, etc... Some others that are probably their own category are mochi made by being mixed with another food stuff, like kusamochi (mugwort), others include, kurumi mochi (walnut), awamochi (millet), and tochimochi (horse chestnut). a picture is here: http://www.gokayama-gt.com/menu/aji/Tochimochi.html

It is that time of year for my absolute favorite fish: ayu (sweetfish) not to mention lots of vegetables at their very best

word for 6/24: 夏 natsu summer not sure how I forgot to put up a word yesterday...... It was probably a combination of work, volunteering at the school, fielding calls and visits from the real estate agents, various service centers and insurance companies trying to figure out who is going to pay for our new tv. The 16 year old air conditioner that came with our rented apartment let out a waterfall (not the first time) right onto our less than 2 month old $1,500 tv. The tv is ruined and I was told it would be cheaper to buy a new one than fix it! We have only paid one installment on the loan...... It looks like our home-owners (?renter's ?) insurance will cover some and we are expecting the landlord to pay the rest as well as finally giving us a new air conditioner, everyone in our building have been complaining about problems with these units for years now.