torakris

Takashimaya's osechi order page: http://www.shop.takashimaya.co.jp/plan/osechi/index_f.html It really isn't that expensive, the 3 dan tend to be about 20,000 yen ($200). They are quite good too! This is where my MIL orders from every year She makes ozouni and a takikomi rice dish with beef and leeks, which is far from traditional, but it is by far her best dish and she makes it for any semi-special occasion. My FIL slices up some nice sashimi and it makes a great breakfast! After breakfast we read the nengajyo, then the kids receive their otoshidama (gift of money from relatives/friends) and we head off to Toys R Us to let them pick out something.

ankomochi in ozouni? That is a first one for me No thank you!

Thanks for that list! I have been to the Asian Superstore and was slightly dissapointed because I quess I was expecting more, but they do have things I can't get anywhere else. It is also only about a 5 minute walk from Kankoku Hiroba (Korean foods store) to I always hit both in one trip!

Roppongi Hills is definitely worth a visit at least to look at the architecture/construction. I was very dissapointed in the shopping, nothing but over priced boutique style stores though there are some good restaurants. I had some great sushi there, though it cost my husband and I $100 for lunch. My husband worked on the Mori Tower (the big building in the middle) and told me that 3 construction workers lost their lives during the construction of that building. That place is like a maze we never did figure out where exactly we were and always ended up taking the long way to get anywhere I recommend going by car just so you can see their incredible advanced car parking system. I felt like I was transplanted 50 years in the future, it was the most incredible thing I had ever seen and I have seen some really cool parking in Japan before!

When I first at Chinese food in Japan I was surprised at how different it was from the Chinese food I had eaten in the US. "Wow", I thought, this must be real Chinese food, then I took a trip to Hong Kong..... Now I know that the Chinese food in Japan is..., well.., very Japanese. What are some of your favorite Japanese style Chinese dishes? I love Nagasaki sara udon, crispy deep fried noodles topped with a saucy stirfry of various meats, seafood and vegetables. picture: http://www.ringerhut.co.jp/mn02.jpg

Weds dinner: a very lazy one mapodofu (tofu simmered in a spicy sauce with a little ground pork) Nagasaki udon sometimes also referred to as sara udon (sara means dish or platter), this is not udon at all though, it is similar to chow mein, hard Chinese thin noodles are placed on a dish and then a cornstarch thickened stirfry of meat, seafood and vegetables is poured on top. It is eaten with copious amounts of karashi and rice vinegar. Japanese rice cucumber pickles

word for 12/4: スィーティー suiiteii (sue-wee-tea) In English this is referred to as sweetie, sweetie grapefruit and sometimes oroblanco. It is a cross between a grapefruit and a pomelo, they are the same size as a grapefruit with green skin but a taste much sweeter than a grapefruit. Though "discovered" in the US, Isreal seems to be the biggest producer. They entered the Japanese market in 1991 on a huge "boom" and were a very popular flavor for gum and candies, sweetie gum is still a popular flavor. Unlike grapefruit which are on the amrket all year round, the sweeties have a short season running November to February. Sweetie: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/sweety1.jpg

I love ozouni, for me it is one of the best things about New Year's Day morning. My, born and raised in Tokyo, MIL makes a clear based soup with thinly sliced beef, daikon, carrots,and gobo, she then places a piece of just grilled mochi in the bowl and tops it with mitsuba. I usually eat 3 bowls! For the longest time I assumed ozouni, like all of the other New Year traditional foods, was the same in every household. it wasn't until a couple years ago that I found out just how much it varies from household to household. While generally those in the Kansai (Osaka and surrounds) prefer a miso based ozouni and those in Kanto (Tokyo and surrounds) prefer a clear broth, what goes in the soup can vary greatly. The mochi preparation can also vary, some grill it while others actually boil it in the soup. So how do you like your ozouni?

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getart...g20031128a1.htm an interesting article on meaning behind some of the traditional osechi foods

Tuesday dinner: I made a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey called Delhi-style lamb cooked with potatoes but I substituted pork for the lamb and cauliflower for the potatoes and then over cooked it so that the cauliflower disintegrated....... It was still prettygood though served it with a cucumber yogurt relish and Japanese rice

here is a picture of mirinzuke fugu (semi dried, mirin flavored fugu) that I cooked up this summer I doubt this is available out side of Japan though....

fugu collars..... that is a new one for me, I have never seen them before. I need to pay more attention I also want to try it now. I have to admit that some time during the New Year's holidays I always pick up a tray of fugu sashimi (at the supermarket), just because it is the thing to do.....

some nice pictures of suikawari (smash the watermelon game): http://www.town.shingu.hyogo.jp/gyousei/ky...u/suikawari.htm

word for 12/3: すいか suika watermelon One of the symbols of summer in Japan, the watermelon is very popular here despite its high price. Watermelons are almost always perfectly round in shape and perfectly uniform in color, they range from about softball size to globe (meaning the globe of the world you see in every classroom) sized with the most common size being somewhere in between. Although you can buy them whole it is more common to buy them cut into 1/4 or 1/6. About 1/6 of a globe sized watermelon will set you back anywhere from $4 to $10 depending on the variety. A popular summer game to play when you have a group of kids (or drunk adults ) is to take turns hitting a whole watermelon with a stick, while blinfolded, until it cracks open, the smashed remains are then eaten. suika: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ture/suika2.jpg

Although I find this lactose intoerance talk fascinating This sounds REALLY good!! Which conbini?

that is a good question. I am not a medical doctor and actually know very little about lactose intolerance but here are my observations on dairy in Japan. The Japanese adults actually drink very little milk, the children however have been drinking it with their school lunches since they were about age 4 or 5 and most children drink quite a bit at home too. In close to 15 years in Japan I have never noticed products designed for the lactose intolerant (milk allergies yes, lactose intolerance no), infact I don't even know the word for lactose intolerance (though that isn't saying much ) The Japanese eat dairy based products on a much smaller scale than in other parts of the world. Maybe it depends on how much you eat? or maybe certain products? For example my (Japanese) husband can have problems with diarrhea if he drinks about 500ml (2 cups) of milk straight at one time, an entire large pizza covered with cheese does not bother him though.... So who know...............

most of the recipes I have found are from Japanese sources..... It was good with tofu and an umeboshi sauce.....

Monday night: kinoko gohan (rice cooked with mushrooms in this case shimeji and matsutake) katsuo tataki (seared bonito) served with sliced red onions and a soy-vinegar-chile dressing yaki imo (whole raosted Jaapnese sweet potatoes) seri (dropwort) with a soy-honey-chile dressing miso soup with cabbage and aburage (tofu pockets) dessert: more chocolate cake

I am still browsing! A lot of the older/locally published ones are impossible for me to get in Japan. I guess I will have to wait until my next trip. I really love the book Foods of Paradise, it is more of a history rather than a cookbook and it is a fascinating read.

more info here: http://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia1620.html

The toxin in fugu CAN NOT be destroyed by freezing! (or cooking for that matter) Please avoid any previously frozen fugu as improper freeezing and thawing can cause the toxin to transfer from the poisonous areas to the normally safe areas. Unless it was frozen after the the dangerous parts were removed.....

A recent Japanese food magazine I just picked up had a recipe for a camembert cheese nigiri sushi.....

word for 12/2: ざくろ zakuro pomegranate There was a big pomegranate "boom" in Japan in 1999-2000 and almost every food/drink manufacturer jumped in by producing various foods with pomegranates juice/extracts, etc. Like most "booms" it was quickly forgotten but the fruits still make an appearance every year. Most of the imports are from either the US, Iran or Spain. the zakuro: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/zakuro1.jpg

Oh dear I have purchased 2 more! One called Tsukemono, a book on Japanese pickles (in Japanese) and Cooking with Master Chefs that I found at Amazon Japan's used book section for 500 yen (about$4.50)

here is a picture of the version I made, the recipe calls for a whole chicken to be simmered with water and seasonings and the melokheya part to be made separately, then to be served together with rice. I didn't have a whole chicken so I sauteed chicken thighs in some EVOO and then made the melokheya soup? sauce? and poured it over