torakris

Ok, I really couldn't think of anything else to call this and I am not even sure if there is a collective Japanese term. I am talking about the trucks usually with loudspeakers attached that drive through the neighborhoods selling certain food products. The yaki-imo (grilled sweet potato) truck is probably the most familiar of these, but in my neighborhood we also have a yaoya-san (vegetable seller) and a sakanaya-san ( fish seller) and not too far from my house I have run across a traditional tofuya-san (tofu seller) pulling her cart full of various tofus as she walks down the street. Well yesterday for the first time I saw a panya-san (bread seller) on wheels, this man said his actual store is a good 30 minutes from our area but he has been delivering from his truck for some time now and yesterday was the first time to try in our area. He plans to return every Friday around 2pm. He truck sells teh typical offering available at every Japanese bakery and it was quite good, we will definitely be enjoying more of his sweets. Being the good reporter that I am I even took pictures! The truck (and my neighbors ) the goods So what kind of roving vendors do you have in your neighborhood?

Friday dinner my husband had a dinner meeting so the kids and I had leftover curry rice chocolate mint ice cream bars for dessert

I make this quite often. It is really best with pork belly, thinly sliced and depending on the mood I am in I make it differently. Sometime I cook the pork over a very high heat (with some canola oil) until it is almost crispy and bacon like, then I add the kimchi a splach of soy and a splash of mirin and some scallions, stir for a couple seconds and ermove from the heat and drizzle a little sesame oil. Other times, I cook the pork belly over a lower heat so that it just cooks through, not really even changing color, so that it remains soft, then I add the kimchi, soy, mirin and scallions cook for a little longer and then drizzle with sesame oil. Tofu is a great addition and I sometimes make it more of a meal in one by tossing in some soy bean sprouts and maybe carrots as well. Pork and kimchi is such an incredible combination.

BAKED GOODS Mrs. Fields (online/"real" shop--Tokyo) http://www.rakuten.co.jp/mrsfields/

word for 1/17: back to the berries! Lets go back over the most popular berry in Japan. いちご　　苺 ichigo (ee-chee-goh) strawberry Strawberries were brought into Japn in the 1830's by the Dutch, they took hold and are probably one of the most popular fruits today. Strawberries in Japan are grown almost entirely in green houses and the season runs from the end of November to the end of May, the season peaks in March. Many of the greenhouses open their doors to the public for ichigo gari or strawberry picking, usually in the form of all you can eat in a 30 minute period. This is a very popular activity for families and groups in late winter to early spring. To see some of the Japanese strawberry varieties scroll to close to the bottom of this page: http://www2.nns.ne.jp/pri/bigitigo/

The food on this show is so incredible, they present it in such a way that you will be drooling over a hard boiled egg! The showcase the main ingredients and can make a regular old cabbage look as sexy as hell, I missed the show on Thursday but I have no doubt they took to the farm of the best cabbage farmer in Japan and then plucked a ripe, juicy cabbage right in front of the camera, slicing it in half right in front of your eyes and then the moans of ecstasy from the guests as the cabbage is bared in all its glory. This show is really food porn at its best! I am sorry I mised this last show, monjyayaki is one of my favorite foods and it never gets the recognition it deserves!!

My favorite currently is the Pocky G (so good it has its own thread! http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=19212&st=0 ) followed by the coconut one.

just typed "water saute" (with quotes) into google and came up with loads of recipes that use the phrase. water saute the onions water saute the fish water saute the ground beef most of the recipe sare from low-fat, no-fat cooking sites....

We just discussed this (briefly) on a different thread, sorry I can't remember which one, but there was a cooking show on PBS back about 15 years ago where this woman sauteed everything in water. It was some show about Heart healthy or low cholesterol or something like that and I believe she used the term water saute.

Thursday dinner: I had 2 extra kids in the house so I made them all happy by making curry rice

word for 1/16: おたふく otafuku This is food, sort of The otafuku I am thinking of today is the mumps, which daughter Mia has come down with today, not too much of a surprise since daughter Julia had it exactly 2 weeks ago. The otafuku that most of you will be more familiar with is the okonomiyaki sauce , for more information on the nmaing of the Otafuku company look here: http://www.otafuku.co.jp/us/company/default.htm click on the origin of the company name on the bottom left side

Terebi champion is a great show and a couple years back it seemed to be mostly about food where nowadays it seems to be more focused on crafts. I watch almost all of the episodes about food and am astounded by the knowledge these people have, but there has got to be soem kind of prep before the show because with all of the pastry shops in tokyo there is just no way they can taste a bit of cream and no where it came from. Back in April, egullet member BON won the crown of the Tsukiji fish market challlenge, here is the thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=19447

Akiko, this is my favorite show! It is still on but I am not sure about videos, they do have a couple books though, take a look here: http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/search...9041153-7348223

Weds dinner: pasta with baaaad tomato sauce, my MIL brought over a bag of bad tasting winter tomatoes that were way past their prime (if they ever had one) and tried to liven them up with lots of onions, butter and cheese. You could still tell they were bad tomatoes.... , that is a problem with being too cheap to throw anything away. dessert: ice cream

word for 1/15: ベリー berii (bay-rhee) berry or berries, the next couple days we will discuss the berries available in Japan.

Heavy cream here is very heavy. It ranges anywhere from 35% to 47 or 48%, the most common being the 36% and a 46%. I think only one company offers the 35% and it is called the "light" cream. I don't think there is anything below 35% that is real cream, they do have some called pantry cream that is in the 20's but I am not really sure what that is.

Smallworld I don't know how you can eat those crepes!! I have had them twice now and trashed them after a couple bites, it is a cloying sweetness that I don't care for, even my kids couldn't finish them.......

Pastryboy, sounds like you had a great trip, I can't believe you hit of those places in ONE DAY!! Jucheim die Meister is a wonderful place and I was going to recommend them but I thought you were only looking for the French pastry.... I think food at the rest stop areas in Japan deserves its own thread, I am addicted to these places. On my first trip to Japan I made my boyfriend stop at every single one on a trip from Tokyo to Osaka. They are even better in teh summer when all of the stands are out selling grilled corn, grilled squid and every other seafood imaginable, then there are the dango stands.......... I think it is time to take a car trip.

Tuesday dinner: steaks marinated with soy-seame (oil and seeds)-apple-sugar-garlic-scallions then seared and thinly sliced and stuffed into lettuce leaves with kojuchabg, shungiku (chrysanthemum leaves) and rice and eaten turnip miso soup turnip pickles

I don't know the Korean name fort he fermented shrimp but in Japanese they are ami no shiokara and they look like this: http://store.yahoo.co.jp/kimuchi/242.html These are what I prefer to use in kimchi making though when I can't find them, I substitute the ika no shiokara (squid fermented with its guts)

and for anyone who may have missed the hotdog carving thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=21759&st=0

sorry I missed yesterday, had a very busy day and barely made it to the computer. word for 1/14: マンゴ mango (mahn-goh) It looks just like it is spelled, the mango. These have really risen in popularity in the past 3 years, at one time you were only able to find them at International supermarkets but now they are available at even the smaller shops and all year round to boot. There are two popular kinds the pelican mango (ペリカンマンゴ　perikanmango) from the Philippines and the apple mango (アップルマンゴ　appurumango) from Mexico. The apple mangos are also being grown in Japan just the other day I saw them from Okinawa. the pelican (yellow) and apple (red) mangos http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/veg-fru/i...ngo/mango.2.jpg

Helen, I know what you mean about the sausages, they make me sick to. Well the cheap ones at least, and even the cheap ones are on the expensive side. I rarely buy sausages, but my favorites are those shiso or lemon-parsley ones you mentioned, my kids don't know about nitrates yet! I always look at the nice freshly made sausages in department store basements, thinking that someday I can afford them.....

Monday dinner: vegetable pullao ( basmati rice with carrots, potatoes and onions) yougurt relish with zucchini, cumin, cayenne and mustard seeds dal of yellow and red lentils dessert: chocolate-chocolate chip meringue cookies

When I buy sashimi style fish in Japan, the packs usually have an expiration date of the same day. To get the freshest flavor try to eat it soon after buying, if you need to store I would suggest putting it in the coldest part of your refrigerator. If you are really worried put some ice on it. It should be fine for 24 to 48 hours but there will probably be a decrease in flavor. For the best flavor buy a block and then slice it just before eating, you don't want it to be warm but you don't want it to be too cold either.