torakris

Why aren't cameras allowed? That seems odd. I found this out two years ago when a tv station was doing a short documentary on our family and they wanted a scene of me shopping. I gave them a list of all of the stores in the neighborhood and out of 10 there was only 1 that would allow a camera in the door. they explained it had something to do with stores competing with each other, but I didn't get it. Also last month when Texan was here visiting her husband tried to take a picture of some melons in the department store basement and he was asked to stop. EDIT scene not seen

no it is not precooked. I too was surprised by the short cooking time, it wasn't melting tender like I get when i braise it, but it wasn't tough either. It probably would ahve been more tender if I hadn't tried to pull a lot of the fat out . I noticed that the pieces with almost no fat were on the tough side..... It is a really quick dish, do-able in 30 minutes and becasue half of it is simmering you can get teh rest of the meal done in that time. I just ate a handful of Cheetos, those curly cheese puffed things. I love those things and my son found a bag and opened them.....

This pork belly and daikon dish I pulled out of the December issue of Kyou no Ryouri a popular amgazine/cooking show on NHK. I am probably the only person in the world who buys a pork belly and then proceeds to trim it of most of the fat...... The recipe calls for 200g (less than 1/2lb) of pork belly and 600g (about 1 1/3lbs) of daikon. I used closer to 500g (little over 1lb) of each. The pork is cur into bite size pieces and then sprinkled with a large splash of soy and a large splash of sake and then set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients. The daikon is cut into a roll cut or other large pieces, mince some scallions and some ginger. Heat a wok and some flavorless oil (I use canola) and stirfry the scallions and ginger for a couple second, toss in the pork (drained of its marinade) and stirfry until the color changes. toss in the daikon and stirfry until coated with oil and then add the marinade that had been drained of the pork mixed with 3 Tablespoons of soy, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar and some pepper. keep stirring until the sasuce thickens and all the pieces are nicely coated, then add 200 ml of water, lower the heat to low and cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until the daikon is tender. It is really easy and really fast and everyone loved! What more can you ask for. It was the first time I made it and I will definitely make it again.

Just finished Tuesday morning breakfast. My husband, son Hide and I had natto, Julia had rice with okaka furikake (these are sprinkles to be put on your rice, this particular one was made with katsuo bushi--bonito flakes). My oldest Mia had instant oatmeal (Maple and Brown sugar) one of her favorite foods. We aslo had the little bit of leftover daikon and pork. I make my natto with negi (Japanese leeks), katsuo bushi (bonito flakes), karashi (hot mustard), soy sauce and a raw egg yolk. We all drank water, I never mentioned before but water is the normally the only think we drink with meals, except for my husband who may have a beer or a glass of wine. Water is the only think I can drink when I am eating. the natto (which by the way for those who are unfamiliar are fermented soy beans) I want to drink some iced coffee but I need to wait until I get the natto/negi taste out of my mouth....

the exchange rate has been fluctuating btween 107 and 108 yen to the dollar for a couple weeks now. It was up in the 120's a couple months back.

Many Japanese people do not have an oven, there is just no need for it is Japanese cooking. I do have an oven that also doubles as a microwave, it is rare to find an oven that is just an oven because of lack of space. That black sitting on the back counter is my microwave/oven and believe it or not that is the biggest freestanding one available. You can get some built in ones, but but they may only hold 5 to 10 liters more......

This is actually the opposite of what I do to get telemarketers OFF the phone. And yes the telemarketers in Japan can be just as bad, I used to try to get them off the phone by saying that I don't speak Japanese but then they they would go into to their spiel in very slow , heavily accenuated Jaapnese and it would take twice as long. Now and I just tell them my mother isn't home and they hang up instantly! Anyway back to the real question, we ignore the phone during the meal, the machine will pick it up and we can call them back after we are done. Occasionally we can tell by the message that it is important and we will pick it up. My husband will answer his cell phone because it is for work only and a call after he has left usually means there is a problem that he needs to deal with immediately.

word for 12/30: 伊予柑　いよかん iyokan (ee-yoe-kahn) Among the citrus fruits in Japan the iyokan, a cross between a mikan and an orange, is the secong most popular. The mikan of course being first. This ahs a long season stretching from the end of November to the beginning of April. It has a nice balance of seet and sour and is easier to peel than an orange. iyokan: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/iyokan4.jpg

I am currently drinking my pre-breakfast coffee, hot rather than cold since I just made it.

I wi;; try to get some pictures but I rarely shop at "markets" only grocery stores. and you are not allowed to take pictures inside. As to my refrigerator, I would say is is an average size for a family of 5. They don't get that much bigger here though, nothing even close to most of the ones I have seen in American houses. The tantanmen packs do not contain the beef.

whatever they added to the bottle! I should have added this was a purchased product...... The shiso dressing is what they call non-oil and it has no oil added, it is probably seasoned with soy sauce, vinegar and a bunch of you that are better off not in your body. I buy this dressing maybe twice a year and use it only on seaweed salads.......

No one can recommend ramen better than BON, check out his world ramen net http://www.worldramen.net/

It has been a busy day trying to finish up the cleaning, which currently seems worse than when I actually started and I have been trying to pull some materials together for an English class I am teaching tomorrow. So anyway, didn't feel like spending time on dinner and am trying to use up the stuff in the house as we are going to be mostly eating out for the next two to three days. I made a daikon and pork belly dish that was simmered with soy sauce, sake and sugar, a kaisou (seaweed) and onion salad with a shiso dressing, and green beans with a sesame dressing. All served with Japanese rice. I would consider this kind of meal fairly typical in Japan but it would also include a soup (most likely miso) and pickles. We also ate Japanese style sitting on the floor in the living room at a low table, the only reason for this was that the dining room table was covered with all the things that had been pulled out of the closet during my cleaning........ I was actually quite nice as the hot carpet warmed me up, I could have done with out watching the Power Puff Girls (in Japanese) while eating though, but it was a nice change from listening to my son sing his rendition of Jingle Bells at the top of his lungs all day long. "Jungle Boy, Jungle Boy, jungle ooh-waaay". We don't normally watch tv during our meals (though a lot of Japanese do) it is that is has just sort of become the thing we do when we eat at the little table in the living room. This normally happens about once a month and usually on the days when my husband is not home.

Also for tofu restaurants I would highly recommend the Umenohana restaurants, they serve tofu kaiseki courses and are wonderful. They are all over Tokyo, here is their homepage in English: http://www.umenohana.co.jp/e/ume/index.html As to the mochi I am not sure exactly what kind of mochi you are looking for, most of the sweet/snack style mochi products sold at Wagashiyas (Japanese style seets stores) are made with fresh mochi, you can also find them in the depachika of any department store.

Well I was off wandering the streets of Tokyo yesterday this is what my husband made with my kids. He made all of it with materials he picked up from his work site (he is in construction) and he put it all together. I was quite impressed. I also forgot to add that when we finished shopping we stopped into the food court and bought some milk shakes from McDonald's. I had half of Hide's chocolate, I actually prefer vanilla. I have also had a couple of tumblers of water throughout the day.

Monday's lunch the kids had the leftover curry (yes that was three meals in a row!), some Japanese people can keep their pot of curry going for 3 days. my husband and I had tantanmen, it is like ramen and Chinese in origin it consists of noodles in a spicy soup topped with seasoned ground beef and negi (Japanese leeks), I usually like to add some greens to it to make it more substantial, but had nothing in the house. After lunch (we spent most of the morning doing some major cleaning) we ran out to the store to buy some food and I wanted to look for a new hand beater as mine broke last week. We went to a "Super" supermarket, the "Super" meaning beside having a supermarket, it has a second floor that sells everything form electronics, to underwear, to pets, to toys, it also has a bookstore, a clothing shop, a shoe store, an amusement center for kids (or adults ), a photo studio, a hair salon and a food court. I got myself a new hand mixer and my husband found some boots to wear when riding his motorcycle. We also picked up some ingredients to make osechi,the traditional foods eaten on New Years day. I have never made osechi before my in-laws who live around the corner from us insist on buying it every year pre-made (this is actually quite common in Japan) and she feels it is too inconveniencing to make it from scratch. I have offered on numerous occasions to make some of it and she has always turned me down, she can't understand that soem people actually enjoy cooking! Well this year has been a very bad year for them financially and they told my husband they would not be buying too much this year, just a couple of the main pieces, so I decided I am going to make some....... We'll see how it goes.

My kitchen, hhmmm......... Western? or Japanese? Good question. By Western standards in is on the small side, though in Japan it is considered to be fairly large. It is a separate room with an open counter looking onto our living room, a lot of Japanese kitchens (even in large houses) tend to be just one wall of a room. It can be just a sink and stove connected by a small counter all on one strip of wall with tthe rest of the room either being just a small dining room or a living room/dining room combo. I have some things you don't normally see in a Japanese home like a toaster, an expresso machine, a salad spinner, a food processor, blender, bread machine etc. I do have the typical "Japanese things like a rice cooker, a Japanese gas range with no oven attatched, a microwave/oven combo, a drying rack in the sink because there in no place for a dishwasher. I just came home from shopping so my kitchen is not as clean as it should be but hear are two pictures. Questions? and for those interested here is my bookshelf the cookbooks are all 5 shelves on the right , the 2 top shelves in the middle and the top shelf on the left.

For my 10:00am breakfast I had a small bowl of leftover kishimen and seasoned tofu pockets from yesterdays lunch and a couple of sips of warm, flat Coke. I don't drink colas and I hate Coke (Pepsi Rules!) my husband must have bought it yesterday and I hate wasting things..... of to do the tradional oosouji or year end house cleaning. At the end of the year the Japanese people all clean their house inside out, and I mean they clean absolutely everything. I do major cleanings throughout the year so don't go too out at the end of the year. But my place could use some work especially in the garden. I need to go hang out my carpets so my daughters' can wash the floors!

We wanted to go check out 3 of the "theme" restaurants put out by UG Growing Up Corporation, theses are places not known as much for their food but for the atmosphere they provide. the is actually pretty good and very reasonably priced. Here is a description of their restaurants in English (they are mostly in Tokyo with some in the Kansai region) http://www.ug-gu.co.jp/english/e-resutaura...estaurants.html We went to Criston Cafe which is set up like a "Gothic-y" Cathedral, I can't even describe the interior it was just incredible, no two tables were the same, the 5 of were sitting at a table that consisted of a huge plush leather couch and two equally plush leather arm chairs. Altars with candles figures of Christ and others were all around the room , there were lots of shrine like enclaves. Unfortunately I didn't start taking pictures until I had had two drink and most of them didn't come out very well! A blurry picture of the altar directly behind me what I saw when I looked up, this was directly above our table then some of our food tuna carpaccio with a ring of baked parmasean cheese (this was really good ) shrimp wrapped and deep fried served with herb mayo I forgot to turn on the flash but this was a roll it yourself fresh spring roll served with a sambal sauce, we all erally enjoyed this one and next to it is a deep fried mochi (pounded rice) cake which was sprinkled with kinako (a soy flour made from roasted soy beans and sweetened with sugar, it is used a lot in desserts) and served with a cream cheese dip--I did not care for teh flavor combination on this one. this is a seafood paella (right) and Fideua (a paella of pasta) (left) these were both served with a garlic aioli and were really good if not tiny..... All of the dishes were in the $4 to $8 range. Other food not pictured included a cheese and okara (tofu lees) croquette (I didn't really care for this) tuna and avocado salad with a horseradish flavored tartar suce served on crostini Turkish style salad of minced vegetables in a yogurt dressing (this was a big favorite) I also had two drinks (I am not a drinker and one is normally my limit! ) Grand Cross-- consisting lychee liqueur and tropical fruit champagne Santa Maria-- peach liqueur, cranberry juice and vodka served with a little sppon of peach jelly I also smoked 1 bidi (spelling? it is an Indian herby "cigarette") My third time in my life to smoke anything and I think I am done now...... We then moved onto Buttu Trick Bar (same company) which didn't have nearly the atmosphere as Criston Cross, it was a HUGE open room with a giant Buddha in the middle of the room, it was really hot, really smokey and really crowded. We had a couple drinks and then left. I had a coke and some water. We tried going to Daibutsukorokoro (another one by the same company) but there was a 30 minute to one hour wait and we decided to try in next time. The dance club was closed so we just came home, I got in about midnight.

I also forgot I wanted to Thank Helen for being here!! keep posting! We are going to have to get together again soon and get some good eating done, all in the sake of egullet of course!

Monday morning breakfast I drank one alrge tumbler of iced coffee and went to get some more and discovered my husband finished it off! I am not used to him being here during the day...... So went he went to the bathroom, I stole his tumbler of iced coffee and am drinking it now. The kids and my husband ate the leftover curry rice that my husband prepared last night while I was out, but I just can't handle that kind of stuff in the morning. I might have something a bit later, it is only 9:00am. The dancing never happened last night, the club we wanted to go to called Xanadu which is a 70's style discc was closed on Sundays and none of us felt like making the trip over to Roppongi (we were in Shibuya). Seeing we started shopping at 1:00 we were quite tired and my feet were killing me because I wore stupid shoes! I did by 3 new shirts and a pair of yoga pants! and we were just drunk enough to wander of the street into a sex toy shop...... Us 5 foreign women scared all of those men out of there pretty fast. I am going to upload the pictures from yesterday, give me a couple minutes.

Although I usually go back to the mustard and soy sometimes my husband and I like to dip our shumai in a Thai style sweet chile sauce.

I think for dish the tofu provides enough protein for the meal and in my husband's case the natto. A lot of Japanese noodle dishes (which are most commonly eaten for lunch) seem to be very low on the protein factor and even lower on the vegetables. I think they just figure they make up for it during the other two meals.....

word for 12/29: 清見　　きよみ kiyomi (key-yoh-me) The kiyomi was creating by mixing the the common unshuu mikan with the common orange. It is orange like in appearance but it is easier to peel and has only 2 to 3 seeds. It season runs February to May and although you will see it in the market is is more common to see one of its offspring. Like we saw with the dekopon above, the kiyomi is the most popular mikan used in creating new types. kiyomi http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/kiyomi1.jpg