torakris

word for 10/30: ƒgƒŠƒ…ƒt toryufu (toe-ryu-fu) truffle The ones seen in Japan are only imports, only in seaon and only in specialty supermarkets.

russel, welcome to egullet and the Japan Forum!

I have never really tried to get rid of the tentacles I just sort of rub them under running water and whatever comes off, comes off and the rest gets eaten! Kristin the lazy cook! they are edible aren't they?

Tuesday night: leftover beef stew (Husband made this on Sunday) carrot and spinach "pilaf" dessert: kabocha and coconut milk pudding

just what we all needed, the kimchi refrigerator! http://www.acebiz.net/e-cataloge/happyline/start2.html

I would say that it depends on the type of kimchee and its age when bought, the best way is to taste it and find out. When kimchee is past its prime for eating straight use it in cooked dishes, soups, fried rice, stirfries, etc.

I think I want to go to Malaysia!

word for 10/29: ƒ~ƒjƒgƒ}ƒg@or @ƒvƒ`ƒgƒ}ƒg minitomato (me-knee-toe-mah-toe) or puchitomato (pooh-chee-toe-mah-toe) These are both words for cherry tomatoes, the minature version of tomatoes. In Japan they are used mainly as a garnish especially in bentos where they add a nice color with no effort! They are also popular in salads and a popular otsumami is to wrap them in bacon and grill them.

I just ran across this set of newly published books called Furusato no Katei-ryouri (Hometown Homestyle cooking), it is not broken down into regions rather types of cooking. Each of the 20 books has a type of food as the theme and then breaks in down into the variations by region. Not all of the books seem to break down into regions however... here is the website: http://www.ruralnet.or.jp/zensyu/furusato/

sorry about that! I never did get a chance to make it, so I will just pass on the recipe, this version is a very simple soup and all the spice comes from the pork topping. In a saucepan, heat up 900ml of torigara soup stock, this is a Chinese style chicken stock usually sold in granule form at the store (you could probably substitute chicken broth) then add 2 Tablespoons of red miso and stir to dissolve, and then season to taste In a wok, heat up 1 Tablespoon of sesame oil then add 1 minced garlic clove 1 minced piece of ginger 1 minced dried chile pepper 1/2 Japanese long onion, minced (substitute scallions) stir-fry until fragrant then add 200grams ground pork 1/2 of a small bamboo shoot, minced when the pork has just lost its pinkness add 1 teaspoon tobanjian 2 teaspoons tenmenjian and stirfry for a couple seconds, then add 180ml of the torigara soup stock bring to a boil then turn the heat to low and simmer until thickened, season to tase Boil according to package directions 4 packs of fresh Chinese egg noodles drain and then place into 4 bowls pour the hot soup over the noodles and then add the pork mixture garnish with finely sliced long onion (or scallion) and more tobanjian and/or sliced dried chile pepper

here is a dog and a boat: http://www.geocities.jp/btnk/origami/hasi/.../hasibukuro.htm

Another book I would recommend is Essentials of Asian Cuisine by Corinne Trang, she covers 8 of the Asian cuisines and everything I made has been great. If you just want to focus on Vietnamese her earlier book Authentic Vietnamese Cooking might be worth taking a look at.

and this is what the origami version looks like: http://homepage3.nifty.com/yuuyuu-sya/sele...ct/syuriken.htm

Shuriken? shuriken! that is it. Thank you! what a website

Monday dinner: buri no kamayaki ( grilled yellowtail collar) with a teriyaki sauce mizuna and tofu salad with a ginger-soy-sesame dressing topped with katsuo-bushi (bonito flakes) sauteed kabocha with a butter- honey glaze ankimo (monkfish liver) poached and served with ponzu and scallions Japanese rice

I can't wait to hear more either! keep eating!

word for 10/28: ƒgƒ}ƒg tomato (toe-mah-toe) The most popular tomato in Japan is probably the momotaro, a Japnese tomato that has been breed as a mild tasting tomato with little acidity and (not sure how to transalte this into English ) no taste of "green-ness" or "raw-ness". Tomatoes in Japan are probably used the same as other places, raw in salads, cooked in stir fries or sauces or added to soups. the momotaro tomato: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/tomato2.jpg

this is really starting to fascinate me, for a country that loves to travel so much why wouldn't there be at least one series of recipes from around the country. I gave up at Amazon and spent a better part of the day searching the internet popping in nearly all the prefectures as well as regions and sometimes cities and still came up blank! Okinawa was really the only exception.

Creacha welcom to egullet and the Japan Forum! You sound like you might be interested in this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...T&f=19&t=22965& (the mayo in Japan thread! )

My husband always makes this swan like chopstick rest that has a fan-like tail, I am absolutely skill-less when it comes to origami. Now my husband and 7 year old make these things ( I have forgotten both the English and Japanese names! ) they are like a 4 bladed weapon maybe used by ninjas? Well anyway they flick them across the table at each other and I always get hit in the eye! My 7 year old (Mia) is incredible with origami, she can actually create her own.

I was intriqued by this question sice I can't recall ever seeing a book (or series) like that. I spent some time both on the internet and a bookstore looking and came up empty handed. All I could come up with were more like guide books that pointed out the best foods and restaurants of all the different areas. I didn't look up all the prefectures, but the only prefecture that came up with cookbooks exclusively for their area was Okinawa. I will keep looking!

I was trying a while back to replicate that dressing and I never did get it right! I rember the first time I came to Japan in 1990, I was determined to find out how they made that dressing, the thing was every restaurant I went into only served thousand island dressing! I swear I felt like it was the only dressing in the country at that time. No one knew what I was talking about when I asked about the ginger dressing........

I just ran across a great Japanese site all about kyushoku. You can see pictures of all the meals served at this Hokkaido elementary school all the way back to 1997!. Here is what they have eaten this month: http://www.nikonet.or.jp/~kana55go/kon310/kon310.html click on any menu to see what the meal looked like

word for 10/27: ‚Æ‚¤‚à‚낱‚µ toumorokoshi (toe-moe-roh-koh-shee) corn It is usually referred to as tomorokoshi when it is in its whole state, but when it is just the kernels either canned or frozen it is usually called coun (ƒR[ƒ“ cohn) after the English pronunciation of corn. Teh kernels find their ways into may dishes including the corn soup that is so popular in Japan and as a pizza topping. the whole corn on the cobs are either eaten "Japanese" style, brushed with soy sauce and grilled, or they are boiled and then served with.a meal, usually broken into thirds or quarters for easier eating and they are rarely eaten with buuter or salt. One of my favorite Japanese cookbooks gives the following directions for boiling corn: drop into salted boiling water and boil for about 9 minutes, drain and then cool.............

I was at the supermarket yesterday and I stopped to pick up some genmaicha teabags and I started looking at all the different teas and every different pack that I saw that listed instructions had the double brewing method. I have to admit I am a coffee drinker and rarely brew teas at home but from now on I am going to pay more attention when I go out! I know my MIL doesn't double brew but that is just laziness on her part.