torakris

the sugar you are looking for is called wasanbon (there is no n after the wa) the characters look like this ˜aŽO–~ The only way I know of using it is in these pressed shaped wagashi thingies picture: http://www.hohgetsubo.com/kiwa_omo.htm Later today I should see a friend of mine who owns a French style bakery with her husband who also grew up in a wagashi-ya-san family, they should know something about it.

Weds night: grilled hokke (a type of fish, sorry have no idea of an English name, that was semi-dried) with grated daikon and soy sauce salad of arugula and tomatoes leftover alphabet soup tako-wasabi -- a purchased product of octopus and wasabi stems in a wasabi sauce Japanese rice ice cream for dessert

I have tasted a couple, the ones that are based entirely on the green vegetables are pretty nasty and even the people promoting them on tv admit that they are good FOR you, not necessarily good TASTING. One I do like is called yasai seikatsu which translates to something like vegetable lifestyle and is a vegetable (carrot based) and fruit mix. My son drinks this almost daily and it is even on the menu at McDonald's (at least the ones by my house). I know nothing about cosmetics, I can probably count on 2 fingers the number of times in one year that I put make-up on and even then it is usually just some lipstick and mascara, both of which are probably close to 10 years old!

I don't know of this particular drink, but the past couple years in Japan has seen a surge in the health product market specifically the drink department. Every drink manufacturer in Japan seems to have a kenko (health) line consisting of various various vegetables and juices, usually consisting of 15 plus vegetables in one can, the most popular vegetables at the moment seem to be kale, melokhiya, and goya. look here: http://www.kenko.com/product/seibun/sei_891001.html

here is a direct link to the sushi article: http://www.kateigaho.com/int/apr03/sushi.html click at the top of the page to link to the sushi restaurants and sushi types and tips.

‚h@will answer what I can. I don't know too much about salt and admit the salts I have in my house are Morton's kosher, Morton's table and Maldon sea salt! I have eaten both ume-shio and kaiso-shio they are normally served like condiments or "dips" to be sprinkled on foods or have the foods dipped into them. They are popular with deep fried foods and rice and pickles, other salts used this way include goma-shio (mix of sesame seeds and salt), sanshou-shio (mix of Japanese "peppercorn" and salt) and matcha-shio (mix of green tea and salt). Thank you Margaret for explaining the process of making them I had no idea. Hondawara is a type of seaweed and it is also the name of a family of seaweeds of which hijiki is part. As to jlurie's question about the word shio and dual meanings, yes both the word salt and the word for tide are the same pronunciation but the character for writing them is different. shio for salt is ‰– and shio for tide is ’ª@Athere are a lot of words in Japanese that are pronounced the same but have different characters for writing. For example the word kami means paper, hair and god! My absolute favorite dual meaning word (my friend and I discovered this when we were 3rd year Japanese students) is reikishi, the most common usage is the word history but it can also mean to come to an untimely death by being run over by a train! sanso-shio and the take-shio I am not familiar with and I will see what I can find. wansanbon I am not familiar with either, is there anyway you can post the characters for it?

word for 10/2: サラダ菜 saradana (sah-rah-dah-nah) Translates literally as salad leaf, this is similar to what in the US is called bibb lettuce though I find the taste is slighly different. This has more flavor then iceberg and is popular in salads and sandwiches, it is also used to wrap foods like yakiniku. The heads are small, a little bit bigger than adult hand size and are a medium green in color. picture of sarada-na: http://www.e-taneya.net/01yasai/01yokei-ht...1018013002.html

Kateigaho a very popular "woman's" magazine has come out with an International Edition (in English ) that will cover arts and culture in Japan. The first issue which went on sale today (10/1) has a gourmet section which discusses sushi, including a list of 25 exclusive sushi restaurants. Here is the website: http://www.kateigaho.com/int/

just me and the kids so I made up some alphabet soup! To chicken broth I added alphabet pasta kidney beans cabbage onions potatoes tomatoes corn bacon eaten with white bread and tub, pseudo, butter dessert was ice cream

mizuna is a wonderful green, I prefer it in salads but if you do cook it make sure to cook it for mere seconds, maybe even after the dish has been pulled from the heat or it will lose its wonderful flavor. Blog is looking good!

I get Japanese food quite well! What I can not for the life of me understand, and it is far from particular to one culture, they are everywhere, and just have the hardest time with them..... SAUSAGES There I said it, I DO NOT LIKE SAUSAGES! in any way shape or form, who first thought let's squeeze these leftover aninmal bits that no one wants in a part of the animal that no one eats and then serve it to people? Oh and lets make sure they are least 95% fat and while were are screwing around with them anyway let's toss some blood in and really gross out people, and we have to make sure each link has at least one hard piece of something unchewable that will keep the people wondering what the hell is this made of. I don't like hot dogs, kielbasa, brautwurst, any of the Asian sausages, even salami. Apparently there is something about them because every country seems to have them in some form, but I just don't get them................

I just saw some hoshi-imo yesterday, dried strips of sweet potato. Fall is officially here!

I went to the store yesterday to get an ume daifuku fix and silly me, it is now autumn and ume are a thing of summer! I picked up instead a kuri daifuku (chestnut) and was very disappointed, the chestnut was very dry and had no flavor to speak of, the whole thing was bland bland bland I want my ume daifuku back!

word for 10/1 グリーンリーフor グリーンカール guriinriifu or guriinkaaru green leaf or green curl This is another leaf lettuce in Japan and goes by a couple of names, it looks just like the sunny lettuce but it is all green. Uses are the same as that for sunny lettuce.

The chestnuts need to be peeled which can be quite time consuming, it is easier to cook them first either by roasting or boiling, the peeling becomes a lot easier. I have never seen a recipe that calls for them to be tossed into the rice raw. Usually there is some kind of cooking either before or after peeling. I prefer to roast mine in the shells, it adds a lot more flavor then the boiled ones.

I have only bought the pre-peeled chestnuts once and they were so bad I have never bought them again. They aren't even close to the real thing. I know what you mean about it being time consuming, kuri gohan is one of my favorites but I probably make it only once a year. For the past couple weeks I keep walking past the bags of kuri at the supermarket thinking "next week, next week......" Most takikomi recipes don't call for mochi-gome but I have tossed it in as well, usually 1/4 of the amount, but have never had a problem with mush.....

I love the bento places in the depachika that let you choose the fillings for your bento. There is usually a choice of a couple types of rice, then and then a choice of one main and 3 or 4 sides and pickles as well. The one I buy costs ony \500 ($4.50) really a great deal. Another one of my favorite "fast" food places by my house is the Ishiyaki bimbimbap counter at a local food court. They have only ishiyaki (stone bowl) and about 7 or 8 varieties of it, the price is great as well.

Smallworld, I know what you mean about the price, I wish they would lower the prices instead of sticking all the fancy toppings on! With a family of 5 and a husband who can eat a large pizza by himself, we are looking at over $50 (\5000) just for pizza. Needless to say we make our own now and pizza delivery happens maybe once a year.

it seems the most popular dressing for seaweed salads is a dressing made with soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and a pinch of sugar I like to thow some chunks of tofu in my salad and dress it with a (purchased) sesame dressing for a quick meal. in Japan it is also popular to dress it with the non-oil shiso or yuzu dressings.

My husband threw out his back at work yesterday and couldn't walk so I had to drive into the depths of Tokyo and pick him (at the most congested time of the day) and then take him to the hospital. We got home after 5 and didn't feel like cooking so i tossed some Jasmine rice into the rice cooker (just one washing required! ) and tossed some cauliflower, zucchini and orange pepper into a pan poured in some coconut milk, added some red curry paste and kaffir lime leaves (from the freezer) and voila Thai curry! I chopped up the romaine lettuce and tossed it with a sesame dressing (purchased). dessert was some ice cream bars we picked up at a convenience store on the way home

I really think fall is the best season for takikomi-gohan, so amny of the fall vegetables are a perfect match to be slowly cooked with the rice. I am determined to make my family love this stuff as much as I do! What are some of your takikomi favorites?

word for 9/30: サにーレタス saniretasu (sah-nee-rey-tah-sue) Sunny lettuce, this is probably the second most popular letttuce in Japan behind iceberg. This is a leaf lettuce that is tinged with red on the top, besides salads it is often found wrapped around a piece of yakiniku. sunny lettuce: http://www.shun-mall.co.jp/goods/goodsimg/9.jpg

Because for the past 8 years I have spent every lunch time with at least one child I avoid the crowds and on the run I usually stop into a convenience store, or pick up some type of prepared food at either a depachika (department store basement) or a supermarket, then of course there is always the McDonald's drive thru!

I have to admit to buying and actually enjoying that bulgoki pizza from Dominos!

Dorna, welcome to egullet and the Japan Forum! About the seaweed salad Your wakame probably became slimy becasue it was overcooked, wakame needs a gentle handling and is best prepared right before serving. For a salad you should soak it in warm water for the specified time and then rinse it in cold water. For a variety of seaweeds in your salad look for something called kaisou sarada 海草サラダ or seaweed salad, this a mix of various seaweeds and often even contains a dressing packet. Or look for kaisou mikkusu 海草ミックスor seaweed mix which is a package or various seaweeds. If there is nothing like this available then you may need to buy individual seaweeds, good ones for salad are: aka-tosaka nori -- this is the lacey red one (aka meaning red) this is also available in green (ao-tosaka nori) and white (shiro-tosaka nori) shiro-ogo nori -- the white "crunchy" one" also available in light green (ogo nori) matsu nori and fu nori are also nice additions to salads