torakris

some more food display pictures: http://www.greggman.com/japan/theroof.htm

I am sure that many who have never been Japan and our unfamiliar with some of the dishes talked about here, although I try to link to pictures in the appropriate threads, occasionally I run across sites that just have a lot of various pictures that don'treally fit in anywhere and thought it would be nice to have a thread to just post some pictures. For example I found this site with lots of pictures from one person's trip to Japan, really gorgeous pictures of many kids of food (mostly restuarant and department store stuff): http://fjordaan.redgecko.org/photos/2003_0...japan/food.html Feel free to add your own personal pictures or interesting sites that you run across, also feel free to ask questions about anything you may be unfamiliar with!

some gorgeous pictures of food displays (interspersed with some real food): http://fjordaan.redgecko.org/photos/2003_0...japan/food.html

Helen, that is almost identical to the one I make. Somtimes I go all out and make them chijimi (pa'jon) style and dip them into flour and then into a beaten egg before frying. My kids go crazy for these!

Seryna has a couple branches through out Tokyo, I have heard good things about it but never been. Seryna homepage: http://www.seryna.co.jp/index-e.html this is the English site which doesn't have much but the Japanese side has some nice pictures and details of the dishes

next time you are in Japan give monjya-yaki a try, similar to okonomiyaki but runnier (?). I tried making it at home last winter and it just doesn't taste the same. Okonomiyaki is one of my really lazy dinners, especially when I have nothing in the house but cabbage, I feel an okonomiyaki mood coming on!

80% sounds realy high to me too. I would estimate more at 50% at least in the area where I live. Most family restaurant (Denny's like) have given them up and now have menus with pictures of all the dishes. I actually do find them useful when deciding on a restaurant, they seem to be the most common on restaurant floors of malls/department stores and it is fun to go around and look at them and you know that what you order will look EXACTLY like the model! Although most people know what something like soba looks like, you can order say tanuki-soba at 10 different places and never be served the same one, everyone tries to make theirs stand out in some way. No trip to Tokyo would be complete without a trip to Kappabashi to see all of the stores that make and sell those plastic food models, they are REALLY expensive!

come on don't tell me no one else was even slightly grossed out by the though of beef brisket on cinnamon bread.

Tuesday dinner: kimchee soup with onions, pork, tofu and nira (garlic chives) salmon kama-yaki (grilled collar) gobo (burdock root) and carrot salad with a mayo-sesame dressing Japanese rice beefed up with a 5 grain mix

all you need are sesame seeds, either black or white, and salt. I prefer kosher salt for its larger grains, so any larger grained salt is best (comparing to everyday table salt) I toast the sesame seeds in a fry pan until fragrant and a nice brown (if white) then I add them to a suribachi (or a bowl) add the salt (in about 3:1 or 4:1 proportions, it is all to taste) and bash them together a little for the flavors to meld.

word for 10/23: Â[Ø@ƒ`ƒ“ƒQƒ“ƒTƒC@ chingensai (cheen-gehn-sai) This green, originally Chinese in origin, has made quite an impact in Japan. Normally quite low in price chingensai is a regular on produce shelves. Normally boiled, steamed or stirfired, and sometimes added to soups this vegetable is called by various names outside of Japan the most common being baby bok choy. chingensai: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/chinge6.jpg

Maybe someonelse can help you find an internet site, since I have no experience buying Japanese foods over the net in the US, but just one question... would you consider making your own?

for me nothing is better then a French onion soup in the dead of winter or a thick gazpacho in the dead of summer

This is the Nobu black cod with miso thing, right? I'm curious, is it true this is a trad. Jap dish? People seem to assume that Nobu invented it (he certainly popularised it); would be curious to know the real background cheerio J PS has anyone heard of Arctic (Antarctic?) Icefish? Have ran across it in the supermarket a few times (previously frozen) - it is white, meaty, also has a sort of gelatinous texture (something to do with deep sea fish having different fluids in their blood, I think) This dish has been in Japan since looong before Nobu was even born. This is a very popular way of preparing fish in Japan, though nowadays people tend to buy already in the "marinade" and grill it rather then "marinating" it themselves. As to its official history I have no idea but it sounds like Kyoto thing to me because of the use of white miso.

I know it is a bit off topic but still relavant. Could you talk a bit about the vending machines, including the ones that make sushi, you have in Japan. Is it true there is one that makes french fries? more of a question for the Japan forum! It could get lost in here.... I don't know or any vending machines that actually make things, they usually just sell them....

Interesting, you recieve a bag of chestnuts from a friend in Cleveland, I grew up (25 years) in Cleveland and didn't have a chestnut until I moved to Japan...... They are a major pain to peel and the only way I eat them now is to roast htem and then eat them out of the shell while still hot. When using them for anything else I buy them pre-peeled!

I but supermarket sushi all the time, hell I even buy it in convenience stores! of course I live in Japan................

do you help at all with the cooking?

Margaret, did you see this thread? http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...=28253&hl=tteok is what you made similar to what I am talking about? if so do you have a recipe?

Tuesday dinner: chicken thigh and kabocha stirfry kicked up with some tonbanjian kaiso (seaweed) salad with homemade (not by me) konnyaku and some iceberg uri (gourd) pickles miso soup with tofu and mizuna stems Japanese rice

The fried rice in Japan is better then anything I have eaten in the US, here they use mostly lard (some places use oil) and LOTS of it, combined with VERY high heat and some soy sauce, not a lot and of course a heavy sprinkling of msg. soy sauce does have naturally occuring msg, but nearly enough to give the oomph of umami that manufactured msg has.

word for 10/22: ‹Ê‚Ë‚¬@‚½‚Ü‚Ë‚¬ tamanegi (tah-mah-neh-ghee) onion You may remember that negi refers to the Japanese long onion, the word tama means ballor spherical object, thus a round "negi". The most common onion in Japan is a medium sized yellow onion, white onions are popular in the spring and red onions can be found all year round, though they are not as common. the uses for onions in Japan are endless just as in most other countries around the world.

The front page picture of my newspaper this morning was of very happy 6th graders in Toyama-ken ( #16 on the map http://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1002.html ) whose school lunch yesterday consisted of a whole boiled crab (as well as other dishes). The crabs are being given to all the 6th grader (and teachers) in the prefecture by a local fishermens asssociation because "many kids nowadays are unfamiliar with the deliciousness of fresh crabs and very few know how to eat a whole crab". All of the schools in the prefecture will recieve their crabs by the end of November. The story from a different newspaper: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/200...0031021i515.htm

Yesterday a friend brought over a block of homemade konnyaku, yes homemade! She told me she helps her mother make it when ever they are given the konnyaku-imo (potato) by a farmer friend. This konnyaku potato is not normally in supermarkets. I am saving it for dinner tonight but i tried a couple slices and am now worried I may never enjoy the packaged stuff again, this homemade version is incredible! I found this information on how to make it, Japanese only butit has pictures of all the steps: http://www.vill.ryujin.wakayama.jp/~ryu-ch...u/konnyaku.html

your typical Chinese family meal sounds very similar to a typical Japanese family meal! more leftovers then "new" food and sometimes the leftovers here get pulled out for days on end, if I am lucky my MIL will actually refrigerate them between meals.