torakris

It is the middle of Friday afternoon at we just came back from karaoke. The kids love it and we go once every 2 to 3 months. I am not sure how popular karaoke is in other parts of the world, but in Japan it is everywhere, most of it is private room style with rooms ranging in size 2 people rooms to 50 person party rooms. We have song books that are bigger than dictionaries to choose from and though theya re mostly Japanese songs there are over 100 pages of just English and other languages as well, mostly Korean, Chinese, Tagalog. The English songs cover all the genres from show tunes to country to rap to the latest Britney Spears song. Becasue it is a private room no one will hear you singing except the people with you! The room looks like this we get the kids room, which has another half room (divided by a low wall) that has toys and a small indoor jungle gym. This place that we go to has a great deal that is you buy their special lunch (at $11 a person, kids under 7 are free) you get the karaoke room for 3 hours free. So the 5 of us had lunch and 3 hours of karaoke for less than $35. The food of course isn't the best, but it isn't that awful either, equivalent to what you would get in Denny's or the like. You get one pizza, a plate of pasta, a salad and one drink person. we choose the mixed pizza and carbonara pasta, we also decided to get the drink bar at $2.50 person for all you can drink soft drinks, tea and coffee. lunch

I have to admit I only watched Iron Chef a couple of times during its Japan run, it hasn't been on in years not even in reruns. It was so overly dramatic it grated my nerves raw and there were better cooking shows on. I do like the idea for it and just wish it could have been done a little better.

oshiruko? http://www4.ocn.ne.jp/~nichino/re-syouzu1.html

osechi 2004 Here is what we ate at my in laws house, all of the following products were purchased except for what I made. The ozouni or New Years Day soup, my MIL makes this typical Kanto style (Kanto being the name for the Tokyo and surrounding areas, in comparison to Kansai the Osaka area) with a clear, soy based broth (Kansai ozouni usually adds miso) and beef, carrots, daikon, gobo (burdock root) and garnished with mitsuba (trefoil) and naruto (the white and pink swirl that is made from fish paste), a piece of grilled mochi (rice cake) burned as usual is placed inside. Next come the typical osechi products various simmered vegetables (shiitake, carrots, gobo, bamboo shoot, butterbur--fuki in Japanese, and taro), two kinds of sweet beans--black and green, two kinds of "candied" fish--cooked with soy and sugar these are sort of a sticky sweet, herring rolled konbu (kelp), and in the middle is kurikinton the Japanese sweet potato pureed and heavily sweetened and mixed with chestnuts. then there is the kazunoko (herring roe) the long brown pieces, these ones are soy flavored and the sweetened egg omelette formed into a roll, the yellow stuff is the kinton that I made with sweet potatoes and dried apricots, in front of it is matsumaezuke a popular dish of dried shredded konbu (kelp), dried squid, carrots and sometimes kazunoko (herring roe), next to those are the grilled shrimp. the sashimi platter, my FIL cuts all of this himself, he refilled the platter 3 times! All of the fish was bought at Costco

word for 1/2: 金柑　きんかん kinkan (keen-kahn) kumquat The characters for the name mean golden citrus, the kumquat came to Japan from China in the 14th century. Its season runs December to April and it is eaten plain, used as sort of a tonic for good helath/cold or sickness prevention usually by simmering it in honey, or it is made into a type of liquer. kinkan http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/kinkan2.jpg

I have my iced coffee and am now very happy. the happiness also stems from the fact that my husband and all three kids have left the house and there is now silence......

I don't know of any of my Japanese friends who send Christmas cards, it just isn't a tradition here and why bother if you will be sending out the postcards less then a week later. Most of my foreign friends have also switched to just writing Happy Holidays on the nengajyo and sending those to friends overseas. I don't write Christmas cards, but I wouldn't write them even if I am living in the US....... guess that is why I am so lazy about the nengajyo.

Now it is January 2nd and we have finished breakfast. We had the leftover soup from last night and rice with natto and nori (laver). I am still waiting on my coffee, I just amde some but really want it iced and it get too watery if I drink it right away. I really need that coffee though........... I still have 3 full days of meals and then it is back to regular days of instant breakfasts for me and the kids, quick lunches for Hide and I and more time to spend on dinner. We spent most of last night working on our nengajyo, these are New Years greeting sent on postcards to everyone you know. Well not really everyone (though some people do!) just those you want to send to. You usually send them before New Years Day and the post office holds them and delivers them all to you in a bundle on New Years morning. It is a lot of fun to get them and a lot of them have pictures of the families, kids, dogs,etc, we are really lazy about ours and normally don't send them out until after we recieve our first bundle. For about a week they will keep popping up in your mailbox as people seem to get slower and slower every year. You need to save the nengajyo because they have numbers on them (from the post office) and there is a lottery on January 19 and if your numbers match you can win cash, prizes, etc. The most I have every won is postage stamps but hey it is something!

New Years day dinner We were still pretty full from brunch, so I just made a very simple dinner a beef tataki (seared beef, very rare in the middle) with a ponzu sauce and some grated daikon and topped with Japanese leeks, normally I would use the greener scallion but I didn't have any in the house. It could have used more color...... and a miso soup with everything I had left in the refrigerator: konnyaku, satoimo (taro), satsumaimo (sweet potato), cabbage, and Jaapnese leeks, prepared with instant dashi and genmai miso. I topped my soup with yuzu-koshou, a wonderful meibutsu (local product) from Kyushu, it is a paste made from green chiles and yuzu (a citrus fruit). I am currently addicted to the stuff. I made enough soup so that there are leftovers for breakfast I had one cookie for dessert, leftover from the afternoon snack and have drunk a lot of water.

I was hoping you wouldn't ask...... The actual mix of various things doesn't seem to have have a name (or at least one my husband and I know), we just buy packs of them and the name is different depending on the maker. One is simply called almond-fish, this is a mix of almonds and fish, another one by the maker Bourbon is called Aji Gokomi (or something like that). The fish also seem to go by what ever the maker calls them. My husband likes to eat the niboshi that are used in stock making, but these are not normally eaten out of te bag..... Ones I buy specifically for eating are usually called taberu niboshi (I guess that could be translated as niboshi for eating), I have seen other names but can't recall any of them now. I will pay more attention on my next trip to the supermarket.

by the way, the osechi feast was a brunch, so I will be thinking about dinner soon... I am currently drinking an iced coffee and eating some packaged Italian cookies we picked up at Toys R Us.

My husband was like that as a child, his sister was 8 years older and out of the house by the time he was in jr.high, when all of the employees of his father's company would come over to wish his family a happy new year he recieved otoshidama from everyone. He said from jr. high until he was almost done with college he was pulling in close to 100,000 (about $1,000) in just one day!

Do you know what are they called Kris?? With the number of Asian supermarkets in Adelaide I'm pretty sure I could find them - in which case I'll be in heaven and my wife will hate me (that's sarcasm it's amazing some of the weird stuff that i eat that she puts up with) Are you wanting the name of the just the fish? or of the snack that contains a mix of things including fish. They both go under a variety of names.......

Call me stupid but what are pocky?? I'll try anything once, hell I'll try it twice The Pocky thread!! http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=7303&hl=pocky only 3 pages....enjoy! and then go find yourself some immediately and try to get your hands on the Pocky G, the king of pocky!

I have sort of forgotten about this thread while working on my bog..... word for 12/31 大晦日　おおみそか oomisoka (oh-me-sew-kah) This is what the Japanese call December 31st, the last day of the year. word for 1/1 明けましておめでとうござます akemashite omedetou gozaimasu (ah-kay-mah-she-tay oh-may-day-toe goh-zai-mah- sue) This is the New Years greeting, it basically means "Happy New Year"

After we had our fill, we took the kids to Toys R Us so they could buy something with their otoshidama. Otoshidama is a gift of cash that children recieve on New Years Day, from parents/relatives/close friends of the family. The amount depends on the family and the kids age. Since my kids recieve it from their grandparents my husband and I don't give it to them. The girls picked out barbie dolls and Hide bought 2 bey (bay?) blades, not even sure if these are popular outside of Japan. This where we went yup, Toys R Us, Sports Authority and Starbucks! and if you just turn to the left.... Baskin Robbins!, Sometimes I don't even feel like I have left the US!

Well the osechi feast is over! Here is what we ate at my in laws house, all of the following products were purchased except for what I made. The ozouni or New Years Day soup, my MIL makes this typical Kanto style (Kanto being the name for the Tokyo and surrounding areas, in comparison to Kansai the Osaka area) with a clear, soy based broth (Kansai ozouni usually adds miso) and beef, carrots, daikon, gobo (burdock root) and garnished with mitsuba (trefoil) and naruto (the white and pink swirl that is made from fish paste), a piece of grilled mochi (rice cake) burned as usual is placed inside. Next come the typical osechi products various simmered vegetables (shiitake, carrots, gobo, bamboo shoot, butterbur--fuki in Japanese, and taro), two kinds of sweet beans--black and green, two kinds of "candied" fish--cooked with soy and sugar these are sort of a sticky sweet, herring rolled konbu (kelp), and in the middle is kurikinton the Japanese sweet potato pureed and heavily sweetened and mixed with chestnuts. then there is the kazunoko (herring roe) the long brown pieces, these ones are soy flavored and the sweetened egg omelette formed into a roll, the yellow stuff is the kinton that I made with sweet potatoes and dried apricots, in front of it is matsumaezuke a popular dish of dried shredded konbu (kelp), dried squid, carrots and sometimes kazunoko (herring roe), next to those are the grilled shrimp. the sashimi platter, my FIL cuts all of this himself, he refilled the platter 3 times! All of the fish was bought at Costco not pictured are my other two dishes, oops! I made a platter of nagaimo (the slimy mountain potato) wrapped in smoked salmon and sprinkled with lemon zest, lemon juice and EVOO, I also made a snack of toasted almonds and baby sardines that had been sauteed in EVOO and sprinkled with Maldon sea salt. We also ate ice cream and strawberries and hot sake was drunk thoughout the meal, had some and then switched to oolong tea with my MIL, the kids had pink grapefruit juice. Speaking of the kids Mia holding sumooru (Japanese pronunciation of the English word small), Hide and Julia holding Jackie (named after Jackie Chan) these are my MIL's dogs

Thank you! I am going to give it a try.

I taught Nobu everything he knows...... Try it, you will be surprised by the crispness and the change in flavor. You only need 3 to 5 second per side, I hold it with my hands but you can be tongs. It can not be done over an electric range! Yes, I actually tried this once about 15 years ago...... Must be a gas flame. for a great snack with a bowl of rice, very lightly brush a sheet of nori with sesame oil and then run it over the flame, quickly sprinkle it with sesame seeds, incredible!

Irwin, Is your almond jelly the very firm kind that can be cut into shapes or the very soft almost pudding like one? I really prefer the soft kind and have been looking for a recipe, if yours is of this style please share!!

AKEMASHITE OMEDETOU GOZAIMASU HAppy New Year to everyone, it has been 2004 here for over 8 hours! I am drinking my morning tumbler of iced coffee and in just a bit we will be heading over to the in-laws (around the corner) for our traditional new year's breakfast of osechi treats, ozouni, and wine The fight last night was just as I expected, Akebono went down just halfway into the first round. I felt sorry for his wife, they kept flashing to her in the audience with their two kids and she looked absolutely terrified.

If possible I would try to make it at the last minute. This is one reason supermarket sushi will never taste the same as restaurant sushi, the coldeness hardens the rice , softens the nori and the whole thing just loses it freshness. You can make the rice ahead of time (and leave it at room temp) also slice up the ingredients so they are all ready to go and refrigerate them. I like to make mine standing right next to my gas range so I can toast the nori just before using for extra crispness and flavor. You could also try serving it temaki style, where everyone rolls their own. This is the most common way to do it in Japanese homes, just set all of the ingredients out and let everyone go at it. The only kind of roll I make ahead of time is a Korean style roll that contains no fish, just flavored beef, spinach, egg, takuan, carrots, shiitake, etc. Oh and sometimes the Jpaanese style futomake with no fish, but I like the Korean style one better.

Hey you guys are better than me, I don't even do anything with my wrapper. I am useless at origami, I can only make the cup which you only fold like 3 times my 3 year old can make it too..... My 7 year old actually creates her own origami, she has come up with some incredible stuff and she can make anything in any book. you might want to try to find just a general origami site and see if they have a glossary of terms.

Thanks for pulling this back up. Except for this week which is quite unusual in the number of times I am eating out, I normally cook 7 breakfasts a week (ok 5 of those might just be make if you don't count things like toast or instant oatmeal ), and usually 6 lunches a week. For dinner we may eat out once or twice a month so generally I am cooking 7 dinners a night. Breakfast and dinners are always for 5 people, the weekday lunches are usually for 2 (my son and I), though I make my husband a Japanese style bento lunch every morning before he goes to work. Basically I spend a lot of time in the kitchen!

one of my favorite and easiest dessert is tapioca in coconut milk. I have never had anyone turn it down.