torakris

There has been a lot of talk of Roppongi Hills, but one of my favorite places in Tokyo is Odaiba. Besides a lot of (affordable ) shopping there are lots of restaurants, the a museums, beaches and a humongous ferris wheel all with in walking distance of each other. More on the area: http://www.tcvb.or.jp/en/infomation/2area/11rinkai.html

had the first ichigo (strawberrry) daifuku of the season and was slighly disappointed because it was filled with just anko, no fresh cream. I really like the ones that have fresh cream inside......

Friday dinner: iridofu - a dish of crumbled tofu sauteed with vegetables (last night was shiitake, carrots and scallions) then simmered in a dashi-soy-sugar sauce and then thickened at the end with eggs kabocha slices "sandwiched" around ground chicken that had been flavored with scallions, ginger juice and sake, these were then sauteed and served with karashi (Japanese mustard) Japanese rice with 7 grains added

You can buy these in the supermarkets in Japan (as well as from catalogs) for a variety of mushrooms not just shiitake. I too thought the yield would probably not be worth the amount I was paying considering the fact they are selling it next to a good sized bag of shiitake that only costs about $1....

words for 12/20 (my daughter Julia's 6th birthday! ) two citrus imports we have already covered オレンジ orenji (oh-rhen-jee) orange Although there are some domestic growers, most of the oranges eaten in Japan are imported, mostly from California, South Africa and Australia, ensuring fresh fruit all year round. The two types mostly likely to be seen in the Japanese supermarkets are the navel and Valencia varieties. oranges: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/orange1.jpg グレープフルーツ gureepufuruttsu (goo-rey-poo-foo-roo-tsu) grapefruit Both the regular and ruby grapefruits are popular in Japan and they rank second (behind) bananas in the number imported into Japan. The US controls most of the market here with a good 80% other countries include South Africa and Swaziland. The Japanese tend to cut them up and eat them like oranges and they are also added to salads and dressed foods.

I just ran across this interesting article about the different types of ozouni all over Japan. Ozouni form Nipponia

I can really only speak for Japan, the most popular oil here for everything from salad dressings to deep frying seems to be plain old vegetable oil. Canola oils seem to be edging them out for home use though and a variety of others have popped onto the market recently including a lot of "healthy" oils. Peanut oil is rarely used in Japan and for the foreigner (me ) who is looking for it it can be impossible to find. Deep frying in restaurants will of course depend on the restaurant and the food but in general it is a mix of lard and vegetable oils. Some tempura places do use all sesame oil, others a mix and I have often seem recipes calling for just a couple of tablespoons to be added to the regular at home. Sesame oil also is used for stirfrying some dishes like kinpira or dishes of Chinese origin.

The Sushi Yasuda thread http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=33561&hl= got me thinking about this one again. I have eaten a lot of sushi in Japan and find that most times there is an ideal amount of wasabi attached but occasionally there I run across a chef who puts on so much that I have a problem tasting the fish and once it was so bad I was starting to worry about brain damage. Just last month I went out to lunch with egullet member Texan while her and her husband were visiting Japan, we had lunch at this sushi place that was quite good except that the majority of the pieces had a nose pinching amount of wasabi. We had all ordered sets (and 3 different sets at that)but it seems like they were all made by the same guy. The sushi was good though at at about $10 for 10 decent pieces plus soup you just can't complain. Another time my husband I were in a pricey kaiten sushi place with 3 guys behind the counter you could tell that one of them was a little heavy on the wasabi because every now and then I had a piece that caused smoke to spurt from my nose.

Sitting at the sushi bar is really the best way to get the right amount of wasabi to suit your taste, after the first piece you can easily tell the chef to go easy (or heavier) next time. I think most chefs reach for a middle range but occasionally you come across a chef that has a heavy hand. here is a former thread on "too much wasabi": http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=2977

Thursday dinner: kani kamameshi (this is a type of rice dish that is tradionaly cooked a a type of container called a kama - hence its name, kani refers to crab the flavoring I chose and it was made in a rice cooker, the finished dish was topped with ikura- salmon roe) corroke (meat and potato croquettes) satiomo (taro) simmered in soy and topped with lots of minced scallions namasu (a "pickle" made with salt, sugar and rice vinegar) of daikon and carrot dessert: brownies made to cheer up daughter #2 who had been rejected by daughter #1 and her friends.....

words for 12/19: let's start with 2 citrus fruits that are used more for seasoning than eating and don't play a huge role in traditional Japnese cuisine. レモン remon (ray-mon) lemon ライム raimu (rhye-moo) lime ************* "r" is a difficult sound in Japanese think of it as a cross between an r an l and a d.

I clipped a recipe out of Kyou no Ryouri a couple years back for an anzu (apricot) kinton made with dried apricots, satsumaimo, mizu ame and sugar. If I ever make osechi I am definitely going to make this! It reminds we of the sweet potato-apricot casserole that is one of my favorite dishes at Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house.

Last month's Kyou no Ryouri had a pretty decent osechi section with traditional preparations of the traditional foods (as well as a couple twists on the favorites) and it including a time schedule for making as well as info for how long to store them. Almost everything was able to be stored for at least 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, one of the joys of osechi. Kinton I am sure would freeze well, namasu (I made some last night for dinner) has a refrigerated shelf life of 1 to 2 weeks. Datemaki should be fine in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Weds night: fettucine with a kabocha-cream sauce spinach frittata kidney bean and celery salad with red wine vinegar and EVOO

word for 12/18: かんきつ類　柑橘類 kankitsurui (kahn-key-tsu-rhue-ee) citrus This word covers all of the fruits in the citrus family, some we have discussed already but we discuss some of them again here in case you have forgotten..... from tomorrow....

Tuesday dinner: grilled miso marinated flounder somen noodles stirfried with shiitake, baby bok choy and lots of garlic, ginger and chiles (from Donna Hay) simmered kabocha Japanese rice

word for 12/17: 李　すもも　or プラム sumomo (sue-moe-moe) or puramu (pooh-rah-moo) This is the plum, sumomo (the meaning is actually sour peach) is the traditional Japanese word but it has mostly been displaced by the English word plum. Though plums have been in Japan as long as the peaches most of the ones on the market today are crosses between Japanese sumomo and American plums. The most common ones I see in the market are: 大石 ooishi (means large stone) ソルダム sorudamu サンタローサ santaroosa 太陽 taiyou (means sun) pictures of plums available in Japan: http://www.tnt.jp/~ishido/plum..html#17

Tuesday dinner: a soy simmered dish of thinly sliced beef, potatoes, gobo and fresh shiitake egg and baby bok choy soup leftover coleslaw Japanese rice

anyone else sick of melons? word for 12/16: もも　桃 momo (moe-moe) This is the peach, and this fruit has been in Japan for close to 1,000 years. When you speak of peaches in Japan you are almost always referring to a variety of the white peach (hakutou 白桃. This is by far the most popular peach in Japan with a creamy white flesh and a fuzzy skin with pink and white tones. In Japan the skin is not eaten. There is a golden peach but it is not as popular and tastes nothing like the peaches I grew up on in the US. some pictures of peaches for you to drool over: http://www.tamano.or.jp/usr/ranmaru/fruit/...older/momo.html

BREADS Pan de Euro (online--frozen bread from Spain) http://www.style-i.net/spain/top.html Moomin (Finnish bakery with some Finnish food products) ("real" store only--Tokyo) http://www.chara-world.com/moomin_bc/main.html Lists of bagel shops all over Japan and online shops as well http://homepage3.nifty.com/bagel/japan/

Thanks! I got the idea because when people find out that I really love cooking they always ask me "do you know where I can buy xxxxx in Japan?" You might want to check back frequently because I am adding new places almost daily and they will not be shown as new posts rather they are edited in to the existing posts. I really hope people can get use out of this!

I haven't actually been, but from what I can tell it looks as though there is no admission charge.....

Sunday night: BBQ'd pork ribs with my mother's BBQ sauce (a simple mix of ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, worchestire sauce, vinegar and cloves) simple coleslaw with Chinese cabbage, red cabbage and carrots corn

word for 12/15: 夕張メロン yuubarimeron (you-bah-rhee-may-rhone) Named after Yubari City in Hokkaido, this is one of the prefectures most famous foods. The skin is off the netted variety and the flesh is a deep orange. The yubari melon is a popular flavor for snacks, jellies,, and sweets, at one time I even saw a canned yubari melon drink. Yubari melon: http://plaza8.mbn.or.jp/~yuukin/index.html

these horseradish stories are reminding of me of a funny (ok it was actually cruel)thing that happened in college. My then boyfriend, who was Japanese, had just received a care package from his mom in Japan. We were sorting through the goodies when his roomate gave over to check the stuff out. He saw a green tube of wasabi and asked what it was, my boyfriend told him it was a special kind of Japanese green chocolate and to give it a try. I thought he would just put a bit on his finger and taste it but no, he tosses his head back and squirts what must have been half the tube into his mouth.......