torakris

Japan grown matsutake rarely show up in Japan! Most of the ones sold in the supermarkets are from Korea, Canada and China. I have a feeling the Japanese ones end up mostly in high end restaurants. A couple years ago we were driving the the mountainous area of Shizuoka and in the middle of absolutely nowhere there was this little stand selling matsutake. I was so excited I made my husband pull the car over and I rushed out only to notice the fine print on the bottom of the sign: Grown in China.

This is interesting I never knew this. I always assumed that like wine if it wasn't worth drinking it wasn't worth cooking with. I can save some money now. I would usually buy about 1L and it would be used up in about 6 months, I never noticed any change in the taste of the food/sauces.

Wow these are so natsukashii! My MIL used to make this all the time when I first moved here. I don't think I have had them in years. Thanks for the recipe I think I will give them a try. I tried to make them once many years ago but I couldn't get the sauce right.

I am going to be in Ebisu tomorrow and I was thinking of checking the one there out if I found myself with time to kill. This shows their drink menu, click on the other menu items on the left to see the offerings. I have to admit the food choices don't look really appetizing but I am curious to how much they will be charging for the coffee.

I can't believe it is autumn already! I leave Japan for 7 weeks and I come back to find the store shelves filled with chestnuts, matsutake and Asian pears. I feel like I missed the whole summer season. 50 minutes to peel all of those?? That is one of the reasons I started to buy the packs of prepared chestnuts for kuri-gohan.

Nancy, Thank you for the report on the new Bangkok place! I went to the old place days before they closed with my husband, kids and nephew. It was nice to take so many people because it meant we were able to try so many things. My favorite on the menu is the green bean curry (I always get it with tofu), I order this every single time. I also discovered another wonderful dish, I can't remember the name now but it was your choice of meat (we choose beef) in a garlic sauce served over lettuce leaves. Everyone also enjoyed the duck egg rolls. I found the mandarin chicken a little on the bland side but my bland food loving nephew really enjoyed it. I also had the pad thai (vegetarian version) and really loved it but I think I preferred the version I ate at Mint Cafe a little more. Speaking of Mint Cafe, this is also a wonderful place. It seems to be really popular now we had to wait an hour for a table on a Weds night! I have given up on eating sushi in Cleveland, not that it is bad, it just isn't worth the price. Of course if I didn't live in Japan 11 months of the year I might change my mind.

Nancy, thanks for this post. I will check them out the next time I am there!

I have never been to New York and have never tasted New York pizza, but the pizza at Marotta's was very good! I tasted a bit of them all and am not sure which one I would pick as my favorite. I really loved the shaved sausage on Bob's though, I could have eaten a whole plate of just the sausage... The beet salad was also wonderful and I was the lucky recipient of all the "extra" blue cheese.

Stuart and Nancy, Thanks for the pictures! I am so mad I had to miss this as I was out of town this weekend. That tomato salad looks incredible!!

They didn't have fresh casings at the Tokyu Hands? The, not even very big, Tokyu Hands by me had a couple kinds of casings just last month. I wonder if they sell them online. When I couldn't find them a couple years ago I asked at a nearby sausage shop where I could buy them and they ended up selling me some of theirs... Kalamata olives can usually be found at any international type supermarket/import shop. There is one Japanese brand (I believe it is Japanese) the label is all in Japanese that I like but I can't remember what it is now. It is quite a bit cheaper than the imported brands and tastes decent. I buy them at Nissin in Tokyo and I will post a picture next time I get them.

And Alex (Palladion) is just behind him! I am so full I can't even think about food right now! This last meal at Carrie Cerrino's just blew me over the edge. I took home 10 boxes of food and even with 5 adults and 3 kids eating dinner we still couldn't finish it all. I did just have a small 10pm snack of the lentil and sausage dish and wow! that just gets better and better.

WHAT?!? Where was I? Why didn't I get one of these??

My daughter has the first one you listed: Shaberu! DS Ryouri NaviShaberu! DS Ryori Navi She has made a couple dishes from it, the curry udon was quite good. I haven't really played with it too much myself though...

Those the instant style yakisoba. The ones that I think most people are using here are the semi-fresh noodles found in the refrigerator case, they look something like this. As to the previous sauce question. Okonomiyaki sauce is my favorite of all, I use it on everything. Yakisoba, tonkatsu, etc I think it is all just personal preference.

My favorite ice cream is the gelato at La Gelateria, it has two east side locations but I prefer the Cedar-Fairmount one. My favorite flavors are pistachio and chocolate-hazelnut.

Last week I had lunch at a Doutour Coffee shop, I was drawn in by the billboard showing a new seasonal drink, a black sugar latte. The picture from their homepage is better, scroll down to the last picture. I really loved this! I hope it becomes a regular on their menu...

McDonald's here in Japan seems to be going all out and moving as far away from "healthy" foods as possible. Along with the Mega Teriyaki and Mega Mac that seem to be doing quite well they introduced today a new salad. Shrimp fritter salad with a California Cobb dressing, with a dollop of mayo laden pasta salad in the middle? Their new kiwi yogurt does look refreshing however and there is also a new mango pie. It has been quite a while since I have ventured into a McDonald's.

The yubari one has been out for a while, but it was a limited edition Hokkaido one, I think. A friend of mine brought me one as a souvenir from Hokkaido two summers ago. I'd like to try the lemon and kiwi ones. I've seen the banana one, but don't like bananas enough to want to try it. Do you know if the lemon and kiwi ones come in mini-sizes or are they regular-sized KitKat bars? I hate the minis, because they only come in big bags, but I will usually only eat half a regular KitKat bar, and give the rest away. ← Yeah that Yubari melon one has been the shelves around me for close to a month now. I tried a similar one before and wasn't impressed so I have passed on this one. The lemon I have only seen available in mini, if I saw a regular sized one I would probably give it a try. I am not a banana fan either so I will be passing on that one too. On the news it looked like the kiwi one was a regular size, I would have gone out to buy it but my kids are off today and I don't feel like dragging them all to a convenience store.... Speaking of news, it has nothing to do with food but my husband's picture was in the Yomiuri Newspaper today! The article can be found online here. He is the one on the surfboard..

The folks at Kit Kat have been busy, I have noticed quite a few new flavors and they are all fruity! Lemon Yubari melon Banana and this morning on the news they were showing the new kiwi flavor...

I think think this is a tie now!

Kuro zato (brown sugar), mozuku seaweed (by seaweed, you mean mozuku seaweed?), and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinsuko http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sata_andagi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekwasha ← I also recommend kurozato in addition to everything you have already listed. We even have a Kurozato thread! I would also pick up a couples packs of Okinawan soba, specifically soki soba (soba with soy simmered spare ribs), the soki part is in a retort pack. Also look for Okinawa only varieties of candies/snacks, shikwasa flavored things like Hi-chu, etc.

Great bento article from the Washington Post even has a couple recipes

You win!!

Check your supermarkets, these are the only place I can find it at currently.

I had some yesterday! I spent the day cooking yesterday with a Korean friend of mine and I saw it at the supermarket when I was picking up ingredients so I took a bottle to her house to try. The color is cool! in both senses of the word. This is definitely a summer drink and the only word that I can think of to describe it is refreshing. I will definitely be buying it again and so will my friend. I can't imagine what it would cost to ship from Japan but if anyone really wants it and can wait a month I will be touching down in Cleveland in 27 days! It is also currently on sale at my local supermarket for 98 yen ($.80) a bottle from the normal 150 yen, so let me know.