torakris

They open one in NY before they open one close to my house?!?!

I just paid 4480 yen for 10kg of Kirara 397, that is a good 1,000yen more than what I would have paid at this time last year. I think we are going to be eating a lot more Jasmine rice which I can buy for 1800 yen per 5 kg...... I could really go for some cheap imported rice right now.

Hiroyuki, Do you know if there are any other titles in Japan for "real" masters of rice? Ones that you get from real knowledge rather than a big pocketbook?

don't know how good your Japanese is, but here is a list of cooking shows from all over Japan: http://allabout.co.jp/gourmet/okazu/subjec...b_tvprogram.htm

great pictures! Is the apartment furnished? I love that oven, can you tell me more about it......

dotchi no ryouri show is on Thursdays from 9:00 on Nihon terebi. It is channel 4 in Tokyo/Yokohama. It was not on last night for as there was some special.

word for 4/2: 刺身用　さしみよう　 sashimi-you (sah-she-me-yoh) 生食用　なましょくよう nama shoku-you (nah-mah-show-koo-yoh) These are both words you will see on a package that indicates it is for eating raw. Sashimi-you basically means for sashimi use and nama shoku-you translates literally as raw eating use.

yes, the context they would be used in would be different, normally there shouldn't be a problem in understanding what another was talking about, unless you don't understand Japanese at all. And of course in reading the characters are completely different.

I am still loving this magazine eventhough the last 2 issues weren't as exciting as the first couple were. Then today I picked up the new May 2004 issue and was blown away, this is their best issue to date, the pictures and recipes caused me to leave drool marks on every page.....

Today April 1st saw the sale of a new magazine from the people at Kateigahou, a very popular lifestyle/home/fashion/etc magazine. The new magazine is called Delicious and will come out 4 times a year, at 1300yen (about $12) it is twice the price of most food magazines here. It is gorgeous though and it does have some really good sections especially one on gyoza, with varieties such as watercress and beef, ground chicken and fava beans, tofu and cilantro and broccoli rabe with shrimp and scallops. There is also a 3 month calender with ideas for miso soups for every day. And of course the whole magazine is focused on the wonderful spring vegetables...... the homepage: http://www.delicious.ne.jp/

peanut M&M's, the black and white colored ones

Daikon leaves are really wonderful! I buy the daikon with the leaves attached whenever possible, though sometimes they can be hard to find. I have even seen bags of frozen, chopped daikon leaves in the supermarkets. I would compare the taste to maybe turnip greens, they have a pleasant green leaf flavor not bitter at all. They are good just boiled and mixed with white rice as a type of maze-gohan (mixed rice) and are also good in stirfry type dish. I really like it with some seame oil and sakura ebi, a type of small dried pink shrimp.

Is there any other place in the world that uses the term sommelier not in connection with wine? This doesn't seem to be a title recognized internationally as I am having a difficult time finding any English resources on the topic.

Hiroyuki, could you give a little more information about that homemade version? I too am much more partial to homemade versions, a favorite here is a simple one with chirimen-jyako, sesame seeds soy and mirin. I also make one with daikon leaves and miso, it is a slightly "wetter" furikake.

Is that all you have to say? Sorry I don't really know anything about the subject to comment... I didn't even know there was such a thing as a rice sommelier and had definitely never heard of meister before. I have nothing to compare it to in the wine field as I don't drink and know absolutely nothing about wine sommelier qualifications. I also am very interested to hear what others think.

Hiroyuki, that is very interesting!

word for 4/1: 養殖 ようしょく youshoku Farmed This seems to be the new thing for tuna now, apparently the wild tuna are caught and then held in cages to fatten them up. This increased fat content makes them more desirable for sushi. I have been noticing this label popping up quite a bit recently on packs of tuna, mostly from the Mediterranean. There are a lot of protests against this type of farming though..... http://www.eurocbc.org/page809.html Don't mix this up with another word youshoku 洋食　that refers to western style foods.

I have tasted quite a few of these outrageously priced fruits, obviously they were gifts I don't know anyone who would spend this much money on themselves. Although you can still see them in stores, I think it was 15 to 20 years ago during the bubble when the giving of these was all about the prestige. The gift fruits are still out there but the 5000 yen ($50) range seems to be more common. As to their taste, they are really good but in my opinion the $100 melon isn't much different than say a $25 melon except for it perfectly symmetrical shape and perfectly twisted stem. I have eaten $100 melons that actually melt in your mouth, but I have also experienced this with types in the $25 range. Some of the best fruits I have had in this country are of the more expensive type, the cheaper kyohou grapes just don't seem to have the sweetness of their slightly pricier counterparts. The pricier the peach generally the sweeter, juicier it will be, though I have also sometimes splurged on pricier fruits sometimes to be incredibly dissapointed and then other times I pick up a bag of cheap apples at the supermarket only to be pleasantly surprised with their great taste. Though the cheap apples are never going to hjave this honey like sryup dripping out of the middle when you cut them like these very expensive apples I have eaten. In my personal observations in Japan with fruit these are my feelings: cheap fruits can be hit or miss; I have had stuff that was completely flavorless and then the next day get something that was just incredible I generally divide the expensive fruits into 3 types 1. lowest level: more expensive than the cheap fruits but if you are not on a strict budget these can be bought for daily fruit eating; these are also hit or miss, this price range in no guarantee of flavor and this is probably the most common price range in the markets. 2. mid level: these are generally not for everday eating (unless you are very wealthy) and are more reserved for special occasions or when you have guests coming over or as for taking as a gift to someones house. I really wouldn't consider these prices outrageous and the quality on these fruits is usually the best, you are pretty much guaranteed to be getting a good product. 3.high level: these are the mega ezpensive fruits that are pretty much only for gift giving, I personally don't consider these worth their money and don't find the taste much better than their mid level range counterparts. To get the best fruits in Japan, get them at the peak of their season and get them as close to their place of origin as possible, sometimes the best fruit can be found by ordering it directly from the farmer/orchard.

here is some help reading the labels on the packs of maguro in the supermarket, though the words may apply to other fish/foods as well. word for 3/31: 解凍 kaitou This means defrost, and its appearance on a label means that the fish has previously been frozen and defrosted.

usually it is the sieving process that removes the skins. koshian in furikake? who would have thought....

I took my parents to the Grandberry Mall outlet shops by my house today and we stopped in the food court for lunch. My dad decided to go to the omuraisu restaurant and ended up with omuraisu topped with a hamburger patty and slathered with a demi glace sauce. He loved it! I knew he would though as he can put ketchup on anything he eats. Me? I went for the ishiyaki (stone dolsot) bibimbap and rei-men (cold noodles) set.

Have you checked out that the product really does not exist any longer? Do you remember the brand? Is it Riken's? http://www.rike-vita.co.jp/f_product/f_pro.../indexc-09.html that's it!! 3rd one down I wonder why all the stores in my area have stopped stocking it?

just ran across this: http://store.yahoo.co.jp/yamafuji/md200b.html sashimi style ostrich meat....... gonna have to try this one

we haven't discussed furikake in a while..... It seems that the flavor I loved way back the yaki (grilled) miso furikake no longer exists , need to find a new favorite.

For consumers buying maguro in a supermarket in Japan for sashimi use at home there are generally two cuts to choose from サク saku (sah-koo) this is the most common cut, it is rectangle shaped and about 1 inch thick, it is the easiest shape for making sashimi slices. Looks like this: http://www.tuna.co.jp/img/ind-sasimi.jpg ブロック burokku (boo-rhoe-koo) this is a thicker triangle cut, like this: http://www.yaizu.com/shohin/maguro/tyutoro2.jpg words for 3/30