torakris

Most grapes in Japan have seeds and if it says nothing on the package you can assume that they have them. If they don't have seeds (this is starting to be more popular) then it will say 種無し　　種なし　　tane nashi (tah-nay nah-shee) on the package. tane is the Japanese word for seed and nashi (not the Asian pear) means without sometimes I have also seen packages that do have seeds labeled as 種あり　tane ari (tah-nay ah-rhee) ari is the opposite of nashi, so basically means " to be with" don't get that confused with another meaning of the word ari that means ant.....

Foodman, Gorgeous pictures!! That Jamie Oliver recipe is called something like Moorish salad, isn't it? I have had that page bookmarked for a while now, glad to know it turned out well, I am going to give it a try. Monday dinner: huge Greek salad with romaine lettuce, red peppers, cucumbers, red onions, tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta cheese panko coated fish fillets (a frozen product) deep fried and served with a tartar sauce, I was gone all day and had forgetton to defrost the chicken I was going to cook..... basmati rice cooked in the rice cooker with green peas, corn, red onion and paprika one piece of leftover spanakopitta

I have been busy emptying my wallet since I last posted. 5 new books for me, 1 in English The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook and 4 in Japanese one about Japanese style sweets one about Thai and Vietnamese street foods one about donburi (rice with various topping) one with Japanese izakaya style cooking

Sunday dinner: spanakopitta saute of octopus and potatoes with lots of garlic and parsley tomatoes sprinkled with Maldon sea salt

Good observations Gus! Today I will explain a little about the Japanese writing system. The Japanese writing system is made up of a combination of kanji (Chinese characters) and two sets of phonetic syllabaries, hiragana and katakana. These are not three separate writing systems, rather three different but complimentary scripts used together when writing in Japanese. 1. Kanji: used for elements that carry meaning or content, such as proper or common nouns and the stem part of verbs and adjectives. 2. Katakana: used mostly for foreign words (loanwords) and certain scientific or technical terms. 3. Hiragana: used for fuctional elements expressing grammatical relations (case particles, conjunctions,etc) and inflectional endings Katakana and hiragana can be distinguished by their "shape", hiragana is sorfter, rounder while katakana is more sharp and pointed, here are the vowels writen in both: vowel hiragana (ひらがな） katakana （カタカナ) a あ　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ア i　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　い　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　イ u　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　う　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ウ e　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　え　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　エ o　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　お　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　オ New words are added daily to katakana dictionaries as more and more words are entering the language. More than 100 years ago when a new "word" entered the Japanese language it was often given a "new", Japanese name. For example take the word car, this was given the name jidousha, written like this 自動車, the separate characters describe what a car is ( "by itself" & "moving" & "carriage") though te word jidousha is still used it is much more common to hear the word kuruma instead. Kuruma is written with just one kanji 車　as most people today don't remember any cars that didn't move by themselves.... Of course you will also see kuruma written in hiragana くるま、　especially in books written for kids just as you will see the word auto written in katakana. The place were I bought my car was called Auto Plaza アウトプラザ. Also a little bit on kanji that we discussed almost a year ago (as if you weren't already confused! ): The Chinese characters used in Japanese writing today obviously came from China, when they did they came with the Chinese pronunciation (in a form adapted to the Japanese sound system), but since the Japanese already had their own word equivalents they ended up with two (and sometimes more) reading for the same character. the ON (ohn) reading in the Japanized Chinese reading the KUN (kuhn) reading is the original Japanese word reading so for example 子　which means child has two readings the ON reading of 'shi' and the KUN reading of 'ko' Most words usually have only one or two ON and KUN readings but then there are kanji like 上　 (which means up) that has 2 ON readings and 8 KUN readings enough to make a foreigner go batty!

saturday dinner: Japanese style curry rice dessert: fruit roll-ups My daughters had 2 friends spending the night....

word for 2/29: トンプソンシードレス tompuson shiidoresu Thompson seedless grapes. I first saw these grapes in Japan 1 1/2 years ago at Costco (Tokyo store) and had never seen them in a Japanese supermarket until less than a month ago. Hopefully they will become more popular in the future.

Friday dinner: my MIL gave me some fish of a questionable age, so I grilled them and then decided against serving them. She regularly gives us food past it's prime..... So I pulled some breaded fish fillets out of the freezers (saved for occasions like this) and deep fried them and then served them with a homemade tartar sauce. also gobo and cucumber salad miso soup with tofu and spinach tomato slices shibazuke pickles Japanese rice

word for 2/28: レッドグローブ reddo guroobu Red globe, this is the most popular imported grape in Japan. Unlike most of the grapes eaten in Japan, these do not need to be peeled before eating, yet I still see people doing it all the time.... These are imported mostly from Chile (January- June) and the US (September- December). red globe: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/veg-fru/i...obe/redglo2.jpg

According to their website: http://www.lotteria.co.jp/html/history_2.html They opened the first store in Nihonbashi (Tokyo) in 1972 in the style of American fast food burger chains. In 1979 the first store opened in Korea in 1986 the first store opened in Taiwan in 1994 the first store opened in China in 1998 the first store opened in Vietnam as of 2002 they had 1500 stores worldwide (Asia wide?), 700 of which are in Korea.....

Thursday dinner: onion, tomato and spinach curry with homemade paneer served over a spiced rice with potatoes dessert: monster ice cream bars from Costco

Ｗｅｄｓ　ｄｉｎｎｅｒ, thrown together at the last minute: spicy couscous (from Jamie Oliver) "beefed" up with some pine nuts and almonds served topped with a simple arugula salad and potato and avocado salad (also from Jamie Oliver) Dessert: cookies ( a gift from one of my new students)

yep, that is the stuff I was talking about a couple posts up, does the restaurant actually use this?

I love gratins! I have to admit though that the first time I ever ate one was when I came to Japan. The Japanese love gratins and they are a common restaurant item and are often made at home. They tend to be made with either macaroni or rice as the main component and the meat and vegetabels as playing a minor roll. The rice ones aren't called gratins though they are called doria. I make gratins out of almost everything and Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone even has a chapter on them and all of the ones I have tried have been great. One of my favorites that I threw together one night was oysters, spinach and hard boiled eggs.... By the way, bleudauvergne, that green you've got there is mizuna, one of my favorite greens!

word for 2/26: グローコールマン guroo kooruman (goo-roh koe-rhue-mahn) These are Gros Coleman grapes and are one of the only winter grapes in Japan, they peak in December. Gros Coleman: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/veg-fru/i...man/gros-c2.jpg

word for 2/25: ネオマスカット neo masukatto (nay-oh-mah-sue-kah-tto) I guess this could be translated at Neo Muscat, created in 1938 as a blend of the Muscat of Alexandria, these have a similar taste and are much more affordable. Their season runs July to September. Neo Muscat: http://www.pref.yamanashi.jp/nouseibu/kajy...ges/neo-mas.jpg

sorry I completely forgot about posting this! I have had these pictures sitting in my camera for days now..... mitarashi dango (enough for 4 skewers, you can probably double this but will need to increase the microwave time) in a microwavable bowl mix together: 70 grams joushinko 30 grams shiratamko 120 ml water then cover it with saran wrap and place it in a microwave and heat for 2 minutes, remove the wrap and mix it well with a wooden spoon, it is quite tough. cover the bowl with wrap again and place it back in the microwave for another 2 minutes. Place it into a wet multi layer cheesecloth or clean towel and knead it for several minutes. (picture is before kneading) Separate the large ball into 12 small balls and place them 3 to a skewer. My kids made these, they should be a little bit smoother. now for the sauce, place in a small pan: 3 Tablespoons sugar 2 Tablespoons soy sauce 1 Tablespoon mirin 1 teaspoon flour mix while heating to boiling and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 seconds. spoon or brush the sauce onto the dango (balls) and place in a broiler, , on a net over a flame, or directly over the flame of your stove (this may drip and make a mess though!) until there are some blackened spots. Enjoy! NOTES: This was made in a Japanese microwave, where the average in only 500 watts (mine is supposedly a 900W but works like a 500W), if yours is stronger you will need to decrease the cooking time. The sauce I made was for the thinner style sauce that I prefer, for a thicker, almost creamy sauce, in a pan add: 3 Tablespoons of sugar 1 Tablespoon soy sauce 1 Tablespoon katakuriko (Japanese potato starch) or a little bit more cornstarch 4 Tablespoons water mix until the katakuriko is dissolved, tehn turn on the heat and simmer until thickened. Spread on the dango and heat over a flame.

All of the talk of okonomiyaki (over on the tonkatsu thread http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=37729) got me craving this yesterday. As I was shopping I noticed in the frozen foods section a one person size frozen okonomiyaki complete with a special sauce, a mayo type sauce (that tasted like a mayo mustard blend), kastuo bushi (bonito flakes), and aonori (seaweed flakes). Pre-cooked you warm it up in your microwave and then add the toppings, have to admit it wasn't half bad.... some pictures, sorry they are slightly blurry

Wow I had some of the same Jin did, though I just threw them all together in one pot and called it dinner.... white (cream) stew with pureed kabocha squash as the base with onions, potatoes, napa cabbage and scallops served with a choice of Japanese rice or baquette

word for 2/24: マスカット　オブ　アレキサンドリア masukatto obu arekisandoria Muscat of Alexandria grape, these are referred to as the "Queen of Grapes" as the Kyohou are referred to as "King of Grapes". Though these carry only 1% of the grape market in Japan, they command the highest prices. They are sold beautifully displayed in boxes and the price can range from $20 to $100, they probably average somewhere between $40 and $50. They are in season from MAy thru November though they peak in the summer. the grape: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/veg-fru/i...ria/alexis2.jpg

Bulldog the biggest name in tonkatsu sauce in Japan lists the following as ingredients: Ingredients: water, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, distilled vinegar, apple, salt tomato, hydrolyzed soy protien, cornstarch, prune, carrot, spices, caramel coloring, onion, garlic and ginger. For a homemade version, Jason's sounds great! and for those interested in okonomiyaki, here is the okonomiyaki thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...=0entry252843 katsu curry rules!!

No I didn't grind my own sesame and there was no barley in the rice, the place was great otherwise. Oh and Jason I love kushiage too, there is kushiage resturant just minutes from my home that is tabehoudai (all you can eat)! I have never been yet as having hot oil on your table does mnot sound like the best place to take 3 young children, oh you cook it by yourself at your table too.

All of the Japanese that I have heard from about it love it! I think it also helps that a lot of Japanese big names are in it and my Mother in law told me she thought Watanabe Ken was sooo much better than Tom Cruise.....

Yesterday my husband and I left the kids at a friend's house and went to go see The Last Samurai, after we popped into a tonkatsu restaurant for a late lunch. It had probably been years since since I had been in a tonkatsu restaurant, sure I eat tonkatsu but it is usually at a family restaurant type place where it is one of a hundred things on the menu. At a tonkatsu restaurant, tonkatsu is all they do and the difference is really amazing! The place all had free refills of tea, miso soup, rice and shredded cabbage, no wonder I ate too much! Any other tonkatsu fans?

Saturday night: I forget the name of the dish but it was from the Babbo cookbook, Lifeguard's something or other with squid and Israeli couscous, it was VERY good. Sunday: I had a 500ml bottle of Pepsi I had a huge late lunch and I gave my kids some retort pack meatballs and frozen french fries (I cooked them first!)