torakris

My daughter, Julia (age 9), and I are going to be making bentos on TV! The show is called Ufufu no Pu and it will be mostly Julia preparing a bento for her father. So far the plans are to show us discussing what to put into the bento and then Julia actually making it by herself (while I watch on) then us taking the bento to my husband at work. We are still unsure about the logistics of the last part as my husband works on a high-rise construction site. We are scheduled to film 5/18 and 5/19 and once I find out the air date I will let everyone know. For those of you located outside of Japan I be sure to post pictures of the finished bento on this thread!

I just saw this interesting vegetable on a Japanese news show, they grafted cabbage onto a daikon and voila, a new vegetable is born! Lots of pictures here.

← I have never seen currry pan with sugar sprinkled on it, it doesn't sound very good. The longer curry pan in my picture also has a sausage inside, thus the long shape.

I was a huge fan of the small plates but the new menu looks fantastic. I really want to try that octopus salad! I have a feeling I am going to spending a lot of money on food this summer...

For ideas of what to do with the miso sitting in your house don't forget the Miso based sauces thread and the Miso Soup thread.

Cold tofu with wakame and cucumbers in a su miso dressing, I have added the Su-miso dressing to RecipeGullet.

Not technically hiya yakko but still it was a cold tofu dish Cold tofu with wakame and cucumbers in a su miso dressing, I have added the Su-miso dressing to RecipeGullet.

Another tamago-toji dish, this time with beef, gobo and mitsuba

Unagi-don for dinner a couple night ago One of the best ways to make two unagi feed 5 people

Unagi-don for dinner a couple night ago One of the best ways to make two unagi feed 5 people

A lazy mom's lunch from the convenience store

A recent purchase from a local pan-ya (bread shop) teriyaki chicken sandwich, mentaiko (spicy cod roe) on French bread and a cinnmamon roll

Hi Lannie, Since you seem to be more interested in things for your 11 year old to see rather than food I would stick with your original plan. My only change would be to hit Shibuya instead of Omotesando. I have kids the same age and they find both Shinjuku and Omotesando immensely boring. My kids could spend the whole day in the Harajuku surrounds and still get swept away by the scene at the big Shibuya crossing (center gai) which is probably one of the most famous images of Tokyo. I would start in Harajuku at Takeshita dori while you still have some sunlight then head over to Meiji-jingu and then get back on the train and over to to Shibuya (It is walkable but I recommend the train) to see Shibuya at night including the big crossing, Hachiko, etc. If you have time he might enjoy a trip into the huge Tower Records shop. Just remember it will take about 1 1/2 hours by train to get into central Tokyo from Narita, so you will need to plan accordingly.

New Kit Kat Matcha Milk Run out now and get this one while it lasts!!

Su-miso (Japanese Vinegar and Miso Dressing) This is a very simple dressing/sauce that has a multitude of uses. Leave out the dashi for more of dip like consistency that goes great with vegetable sticks. It makes a wonderful dressing for cold tofu,　seaweed salads and seafood. The most common brown miso works best in this recipe, white miso can be used but you will want to decrease the sugar as it is sweeter. Miso can vary in taste and salt content so taste it as you are making it adjusting the amounts to your taste. 4 T brown miso 3 T sugar 2-1/2 T rice vinegar 2 T dashi (powder is fine, just add a little to 2 T of water) 1/2 tsp karashi (Japanese mustard) Mix the miso and sugar together then add the vinegar. Slowly add the dashi, while mixing, until it reaches the desired consistency. Add karashi to taste. Keywords: Salad, Easy, Condiment, Japanese ( RG1966 )

I did a little searching on google Japan and it seems to be split pretty evenly on 18 months and up or over 3 years... The sites that say 3 and over say it it because raw fish can be hard to digest for small children. It does seem perfectly fine though to give your kids ikura and uni (sea urchin) from 18 mos though, I know my kids weren't eating that well that young.

I have choked on nori as an adult (I really need to learn to chew properly) and my son has also, though he tried to eat an entire sheet of nori at once... In the small amount used in a roll I don't think choking is too much of a problem as long as the child has teeth. As to the actual sushi all 3 of my kids were eating maguro (tuna) and ikura (salmon roe) by age 2. These seem to be the 2 most popular in the "raw" department for kids. If you take a look at the kid's sushi plate in any restaurant it will almost always include tuna, omelet and (cooked) shrimp. Depending on the restaurant you are also likely to find one or more of the following: ikura, squid, inari (rice pocket), some kind of hosomaki (thin roll).

On May 9, Baskin Robbins (called simply 31 here) is offering a Free Scoop Night with proceeds going to unicef.

I was just given knowledge of this thread. I have yet to try miracle fruit in any form yet, I heard a lot about it about a year ago here in Japan but not much recently. If anyone is interested in tablets or other forms, the exchange rate in currently in your favor. Send me a PM and I will see what I can do for you.

I go away camping for 2 days and the foodblog is up to 9 pages! I am curious about the amazake ice cream, in the picture of the fake man lying on the floor there is a sign of amazake soft cream. Is the a popular flavor?? Have you ever tried it. I hope your son feels better soon! I think I must live in one of the cheapest parts of Japan.. maybe there are just more people and more stores thus more competition? I also admit I do search out the cheapest price for almost everything, a couple years I made my husband call every shaken (car inspection) place in the phone book to get the cheapest price. We only (?) paid 100,000 yen for our mini-van.

Chicken breasts are very cheap because they are flavorless and the Japanese don't care for them. I never pay more than 28 yen per 100g and last week I picked up a 2kg pack for 398 yen (4 1/2 lbs for $3.30). I often tell people the only things that are cheaper in Japan than the US are chicken breasts and cigarettes.

Sausages are definitely a western influenced food but the Japanese probably use them more as an everyday food than you will find in the US, especially breakfast. The most common sausages are a little bit bigger than the cocktail sausages sold in the US. Outside of international supermarkets you will rarely see other sausages, like hot dogs, brats, Italian sausage, etc. The sauages in Japan thread! Some of the things japanese can make with sausages Hiroyuki I really like your breakfasts! I wish I had the energy in the morning to cook like that. We usually have cereal or toast...

The 100 yen shops here are really incredible, the quality of some of the stuff is amazing. Most of the dishes my family uses are from these shops... Check out the 100 yen shops thread for pictures of of purchases many of us have made.

To continue... No matter where in Cleveland Heights you are you will be close to Coventry Rd. The main shopping strip runs between Euclid Heights Blvd and Mayfield and there are quite a few restaurants worth trying. My favorite Japanese in Cleveland is Pacific East right on the Mayfield Corner, I go there a couple times for lunch when I am in town and get either the sushi or maki (roll) set. Great food for the price! Hunan on Coventry has long been my favorite for Chinese. Mint Cafe (Thai) is supposedly quite good but it is new and I never did make it last summer, I will be there this year though. For some cheap filling food stop by Grum's Subs and Winking Lizard Tavern. For great Thai take out stop by Bangkok Thai on Warrensville Road just north of the Cedar Rd intersection. There are a couple tables to eat in but I have never seen anyone sitting there except waiting for their food. It is just seconds away from the new Whole Foods Market on the Warrensville-Cedar corner. I really love their tofu-green bean stirfry, in fact I love it so much I rarely order anything else. While you are up at Cedar Center check out Anatolia Cafe for some great Turkish food. Moving back down to Mayfield Rd, if you are looking for some nice take-out Italian or need a quick meal at home you must stop at Alesci's. It is an Italian grocery store and while I feel the variety of the actual groceries has gone down in the past couple years, their prepared foods/deli is worth checking out. I love their subs and growing up Friday nights were always pizza night with the freshly made pizza dough and sauce from Alesci's which we assembled at home.

I was born and raised in Cleveland Heights! Half Price Books is just a couple miles down Mayfield Rd in the Golden Gate Shopping Center and is my home away from home. In the same shopping center is World Market a nice store that I often go to for various kitchen goods and International type foods. I also love http://www.josephbeth.com/, I could live in this place! It is too expensive to actually buy anything but I look and then go home and order from Amazon... It is located in Legacy Village, it is overpriced shopping at its best but it is worth a visit at least once. It is also home to one of the the best "regular chain supermarkets" on the East side, Giant Eagle. There is another Giant Eagle on Mayfield Rd, but the Legacy one is so much better. Also in Legacy is La Gelateria, I have never had better gelato! I actually prefer their older location though down at Cedar-Fairmount, I don't know why I just think it tastes better. Cedar -Fairmount also has two restaurants I really enjoy, the Mad Greek (Greek and Indian) and Aladdin's Eatery. I need to run now but I will be back tomorrow with more.