torakris

the refrigerator is officially empty! katsuo-tataki --seared bonito on a bed of baby spinach and sliced onions with a soy based dressing tofu steaks with a ponzu sauce miso soup with kabocha and aburage (deep fried tofu pockets) and a large spoonful of yuzu-koshou (yuzu and green chile paste) shibazuke pickles Japanese rice

I can't seem to find this item mentioned online. Is there a brand name that might help me to search? I am not Helen but I use something similar to what she mentions. It is a Japanese product and I am not sure if they have anything similar in the US, it is just called "yogurt maker" and it looks like some kind of padded thing that you wrap around a carton of milk and then plug in. For 1 liter of milk you remove about 4 to 6 tablespoons of the milk and stir in 4 to 6 tablespoons of yogurt, close the top with a clip and plug in, it turns to yogurt in 7 to 8 hours. I make this anywhere from 1 to 3 times a week, depending on how much we are using. looks like this: sorry this is sidewise, but if I try to turn it around imagegullet says it is too big..... this cost me about US$10

word for 3/24: マグロのユッケ　or　　マグロユッケ maguro no yukke (mah-goo-rhoe noh you-kay) or maguro yukke This is a tuna version of the Korean dish of yuke (yukwe and 100 other spellings) that normally uses raw beef. This became really popular a couple years back and it is still a popular izakaya menu item and easily made at home. http://www.ja-aichi.or.jp/pearlrice/5minutes/2003/no02.html

If anyone asks me what I miss the most about being out of the US, I usually reply Mexican food. It just hasn't caught on here yet. Some friends recommended El Torito in Yokohama a little while back and Iw as really disappointed it was like a Japanese Chi Chi's. I once ventured into a Jaapnese style "tex-mex" place at World Porters in Yokohama and it was awful. The absolute worst were some tacos I ordered off a menu at a cafeteria style restaurant in Narita airport, don' t even know what I was thinking...... In a different thread Jim said: QUOTE (meguroman @ Mar 23 2004, 10:19 PM) With the absence of good Mexican food here, this mixture of carbs and spices will go a long way to curing what ails you. Have you tried Salsita... just behind Ebisu Station (the Hibiya line one) along the tracks? It's a little place with one four top and maybe eight to ten counter seats. Salsita Ebisu-Nishi 1-3-2 5489-9020 Perhaps I'm so starved for Mexican food after living in Seoul that my tastebuds have gone to sleep, but I really liked it. And it's pretty damn reasonable too. Enjoy, Jim I have to give this place a try, especially if Jim recommends it.... Anything else out there that is decent?

The strawberries here really are incredible, the absolute best way to eat them is to take a trip to a strawberry farm and pick them yourself and eat them right there, the warmth makes them seem incredibly juicy and I doubt I have ever tasted any better. We take the kids to ichigo-gari "strawberry picking" at least once a year, near the end of the season the price drops to about 1000 to 1500yen per adult for 30 minutes of tabehoudai "all you can eat".

in another thread meguroman says: Anko, while delicious in it's own right, is pure contemptiousness to the first time visitor to Japan, looking at what he thinks is a plastic model of a chocolate sundae, only to get soft-serve, covered with chunky reddish-brown stuff. Beans and ice cream do not mix. If they did, Ben and Jerry would be doing Red Beanie-Meanie Ice Cream. They are not. I almost agree I would not touch anko for about 2 years after I came to Japan, the idea of sweet beans really bothered me and to make it even worse it looks similar to choccolate (from a distance) and it is used in ways that we would use chocolate. I have to admit I love it now sometimes a bowl of shiruko really hits the spot, warm in the winter cold in the summer. For those unfamilar shuruko is a soupy like dish of either smooth or chunky azuki beans very heavily sweetened with "dumplings" made of rice flour. What are your feelings about anko? any horrifying experiences? favorite uses?

I can't handle the yakisoba in a hot dog bun and would never think of pairing natto with wine, but I do prefer cakes in Japan and love anko and tamago-yaki.... Interesting article

Me too! They started appearing close to a month ago and most of them I ahd never seen in the supermarkets before.

yup! the answer: Tsukemono (tsuke= pickle mono=thing) is the broad category of pickles, encompassing the following: shio-zuke-- salt pickling,these are usually quick pickles made with just salt, can be used with cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, etc (these are what is usually meant by oshinko) nuka-zuke--rice bran pickles, vegetables are placed in tubs of rice bran for hours to days depending on the type, takuan (sometimes yellow colored pickled radish) is one of the most common of this type. nukamiso-zuke--pickled in rice bran mash, the picjkling matter iswetter then the dry rice bran pickles above miso-zuke--vegetables pickled in miso su-zuke-- pickled in vinegar umeboshi--pickled plums senmai-zuke--a special turnip pickle made with konbu plus many, many others Oshinko is just the generic name for the pickles that you receive with your rice bowl, usually of the shio-zuke variety but occasionally nuka-zuke.

The fridge is almost empty! Monday dinner: sake steamed chicken breasts with julienned celery and cucumbers with a soy-sesame dressing shrimp with chili sauce (a wonderful purchased product! ) minced raw tuna with okra and wasabi-joyu (I had this yesterday and it was so good I wanted to eat it again.....) shibazuke Japanese rice

for some reason I have been a shibazuke kick for the past couple days, I eat them with every meal, I snack on them throughout the day...... Love the stuff!

Looks like the cherry blossoms are going to be early this year, due to the mild winter, of course the snow that was falling in some parts of Kanto yesterday may set them back again. By late next week they should be in full bloom, time to start thinking about those bentos again!

it is that time of the year again......

http://www.pomunoki.com/menu/top10.html the top 10 menu items from a popular omuraisu restaurant....

the sauce isn't always ketchup, some more variations: http://www.akarenga-jazz.co.jp/menu1/omuraisu/omuraisu.htm

word for 3/23: マグロのステーキ or　マグロステーキ maguro no suteeki (mah-goo-rhoe-noh-sue-tay-key) or maguro suteeki Maguro steak This usually is a block or bite size pieces of tuna that have been seared aon both sides and served with some type of sauce, anything from soy based sauce to cream to tomato. one version of maguro suteeki: http://home.c06.itscom.net/maruko/02recipe...omisakifuu.html

I just picked up a new cookbook today, it is in Japanese and I can't wait to try it out, it is called Bio farm Matsuki no yasai recipe zukan (Illustrated book of vegetable recipes form Bio farm Matsuki) by Matsuki Kazuhiro The author, a former chef at Taillevant Robuchon (Joel Robuchon's Tokyo restaurant), decided to leave the restaurant world after 17 years and in 2000 he moved to Shizuoka prefecture and started an organic farm. His vegetables a nice mix of Japanese and European are sold to restaurants and are available for personal home delivery. His book also combines a nice nice mix of Asian and Western, a recipe of an asparagus oven omelette is follwed by aspara gohan (asparagus rice), a couple pages later is a dish of Indian spiced okra and then teriyaki style corn and a grilled corn and marche salad. For information on the man, the book or his produce, look here: http://www2.odn.ne.jp/bio/ (Japanese only)

There are an incredible number of varieties of rice in Japan, some of them are difficult to find outside of their growing region though. Here is a list of some of te most popular ones that can be found all over Japan and pictures of individual grains: http://www.c-matsumoto.com/yomimono/hakubutukan.html for those who don't read Japanese they are in this order koshihikari akitakomachi hitomebore hinohikari kirara397 milky queen mochi rice red rice black rice Indica rice wild rice

word for 3/22: まぐろのかぶと焼き maguro no kabuto-yaki (mah-goo-rhoe-noh-kah-boo-toe-yah-key) The kabuto is the traditional helmet worn by the samurai and the dish of kabuto-yaki refers to the cooked whole head of the fish. Tuna is not the only fish this is done to, but it is by far the most popular, the price can average about $100 per head, of fish! the following fish head is slow cooked in an oven for 4 hours....... http://www.misakikan.com/images/kabutoyaki.jpg

Cleaning out the refrigerator before my parents get here on Weds a sukiyaki inspired dish of beef, komastuna (greens), onions, shirataki and tofu maguro tataki (finely minced raw tuna) with some okra and soy and wasabi shibazuke pickles, it is going to be a while before these are gone as I am the only one eating them! Japanese rice

to continue with the different cuts of tuna..... word for 3/21: マグロのカマ maguro no kama (mah-goo-rhoe-noh-kah-mah) this is the tuna collar and of course the best way to eat it is grilled! Either with just salt or with a soy based sauce. this is called maguro no kama-yaki (マグロのカマ焼き） and the type that is seasoned with just salt is sometimes called maguro no kama shio-yaki (マグロのカマ塩焼き）, where shio means salt. start drooling now: http://www.fnw.gr.jp/7rinhonpo/koretabe/kamayaki.htm

If you can read Japanese, here is a recipe for the double soft type of bread: http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/e-pan/doubl.../doublesoft.htm couldn't find any recipes in English, interesting additions include mizuame ( a thick sugar sryup) and fresh cream.....

Saturday dinner BBQ at a friends house was cancelled due to rain and VERY cold weather, so we ended up with penne in an alfredo sauce with sugar snap peas and onions cookies for dessert

eeewwww! curry pan flavored soup???? So is it safe to say that you have not tried this. And is it safe to say that one would not find this in a restaurant in Japan nope haven't tried it, actually I avoid anything eaten out of styrofoam containers.... You will NEVER find this in a restaurants, well maybe I can't say never as this is Japan after all....

had two extra kids for dinner last night so I made: chicken fajitas with cheddar cheese salas guacamole