torakris

I have really been into daifuku recently. Yesterday I picked up two budo-daifuku (grape) for my husband and I but they were so good I ate them both before you came home!

this past weekend I tried wasabi ice cream..... once was enough.

Tueday dinner: ground pork, chopped enoki, and scallion patties in a teriyaki sauce (kids love this!) soba noodle salad with nira (garlic chives) and mung bean sprouts with a soy-sesame-vinegar-wasabi dressing tofu and baby spinach salad with a creamy sesame dressing Japanese rice dessert: ice cream sandwiches

iced coffee with milk!

For me the biggest trick has been salting. Using both a good salts and salting at various stages and salting enough. this includes brining as well, my life has changed since I started brining!

If you are going the true traditional route, then in addition to appetizers, rice, pickles, soup and tea you will need yakimono, mushimono (steamed), agemono (deep fried), nimono (simmered), sunomono (vinegared, not pickled), etc. Like smallworld said about the soup, I would go with clear soup (suimono) with maybe 2 or 3 seasonal vegetables or fish. If you really want to make miso soup go either the white or red route avoiding the plain brown stuff as it is too homestyle like. For the middle of August I might consider doing it chilled (also saves last minute prep and space on the stove). Miso soup can be quite good chilled or maybe a vegetable, like edamame, soup. I also would forget the gyoza as you would never see it a part of a Japanese meal and it is a very informal food. Tempura would be nice (as the agemono part) but keep it very simple just 2 to 3 items, use what is in season and may some fish or seafood. Tempura is really best served as soon as it is made, so if possible this should be down at the last minute. You can make (or purchase) a dipping sauce or you can use either just plain sea salt or a mixture of salt and pepper. Smallworld gave a great suggestion for the beef or you could do one of my favorite gyu tataki, the beef is seared on all sides, plunged into ice water and then sliced or cubed and topped with grated daikon and a ponzu sauce. For dessert use what ever are the best fruits you can find and keep them simple, not too heavy and not too sweet. Strawberries are a winter fruit in Japan (December to May), but if they are at thier peak where you are then it is perfect. In Japan it would be either melon, white peaches, or the Japanese big black grapes.

From the last couple of posts you may have figured out that the Japanese have a color problem. While we translate their "ao" to mean blue it is actually a color that covers a very small part of the blue spectrum and is actually closer to green then blue. So you will see the word ao referring to many green plant words. By the way they also refer the traffic light as "ao" or blue.

word for 7/16: 唐辛子 tougarashi (toe-gah-rah-shee) Chile pepper Japanese food isn't really known for being spicy and thus chile peppers aren't often used but they are quite popular in some regional cuisines. There are a couple different varieties and vary in heat levels but they are basically divived into 2 groups. 青唐辛子 aotogarashi "blue" meaning green chile pepper 赤唐辛子　akatougarashi red chile pepper They are rarely referred to by actual names either just green or red and occasionally cookbooks will clarify it further by specifying "nama" or fresh to differentiate from the more commonly used dried version.

I have never made anpan before, what other kind of pan (breads) are you interested in? While looking for a recipe, I found this nice page of pictures of Japanese breads: http://www.shejapan.com/jtyeholder/jtye/li...pan/anpan4.html By the way, welcome to egullet!

I love summer rolls and make them a lot! The sauce I am using depends on what the filling is and even then I still have 2 to 3 sauces always on the table. My favorite is equal amounts of nampla and lime juice with some sugar, minced ginger and minced chile this one goes with everything but is especially good with seafood/fish (sashimi style) I also make a ccouple of peanut sauces, my favorites are my smooth sauce (recipe is somewhere in the middle of the dinner thread) and chunky sauce made with hoison and chile paste from Cook's Illustrated Magazine. I also like sriracha, sweet chile sauce and just plain hoison sauce (smeared inside the roll, this is really good with pork)

Monday dinner: cooking from the freezer again (trying to clear it out) grilled salted mackeral fillets corn with salt and butter baby bok choy and shiitake soup Japanese rice salt pickled rakkyo umeboshi dessert: donuts, my mil brought these over again

at the moment sriracha, it gets squeezed on everything.

first thing How many people is this for? Formal or casual? and indoor or outdoor? How traditional are you wishing to be? If you want the true essence of a Japanese meal, you need to focus on the season and ingredients at the peak of perfection, which would mean no nabes in August, save that for a winter month. For starters, I would scratch the sushi (this is rarely served as part of a larger meal) and in addition to a platter of sashimi (if you can get decent fish) how about some hiya-yakko (cold tofu topped with anything you desire) and of course some edamame (fresh or frozen) for snacking.

word for 7/15: みょうが myouga (myou-gah) These are the pink buds of the ginger plant, the best seasons for them are early summer and fall. They are often thinly sliced and eaten raw as a garnish to many salad-y type foods, often in combination with negi and shiso. They can also be salt pickled and pickled in vinegar and in season are a very common addition to miso soup. They have a very distinct flavor for which there is no substitute. picture: http://www.e-recipe.org/series/foods/foods28.html If you are able to find them in your local Asian market here is a good recipe in which to try them: http://www.sugawara.com/cook/kyuri/kyuri-e.html

The ones that look like puffy Cheesies but aren't? What flavours are available in Japan? I've tried the maple syrup & strawberry ones, and yesterday I saw the green tea one & am going to try that flavour next time. I tend to like salty snacks though. they have flavored ones? Maybe we are thinking different things, these are actually corn kernels puffed up they are sort of a yellow brown and taste a little like sugar smacks (the cereal) but not as sweet.

These are pocky, and have been discussed here many many times, here is one thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...t=7303&hl=pocky

word for 7/14: しそ shiso (shee-sow) Most people are familiar with this Japanese name of the Perilla plant. The taste is often describes as a cross between basil and mint though I would find neither an approriate substitute. There are two types: 青じそ(ao-jiso) "blue" shiso meaning the green ones, also known as 大葉(ooba) 赤じそ(aka-jiso) the "red", actually more of a purple color It is not just the leaves that are eaten, they sprouts (mejiso) are also used in garnishes (a common sight on sashimi platters) and are in both colors ao-me (green) and murame (purple). They also use the flowering seed pods (with pretty purple-pink flowers) called hanajiso or hanahojiso as garnish and you will occasionally see the hojiso, the stem with yet unopened pods, called for in recipes. I couldn't find pictures of anything but the leaves, both green and red can be seen here: http://pippimama.com/perennials/17_shiso.html

Saturday dinner: couscous salad with roasted kabocha and sugar snap peas, dressing heavily laced with sriracha potato and onion fritatta cheese plate dessert: watermelon

cold iced coffee with lots of sugar because there was no milk in the house!

I have never been to Kanazawa, but take a look here: http://www.infocreate.co.jp/hometown/kanaz...awa/tabe-e.html and this market looks like fun: http://www.bento.com/phgal5.html

word for 7/13: 青ねぎ aonegi (aow-neh-gee) Literally blue (meaning green) onion, these are closer to scallions. In Japan there are many different types, some are very regional, some have more white, some have more green, some are fat, some are as thin as chives, and they have a hundred different names. Sometimes they are generally referred to as aonegi, sometimes as konegi (small onion), other times by specific names, such as asatsuki, wakegi, etc These are used mostly as garnishes, but can also be found in "dressed" foods, simmered and sauteed foods. lots of negi: http://www.vegefund.com/panfu/negi/negi.htm

first question, they fall into a couple categories, some like shako (also called gasaebi) and uni are regulars at the sushi bar, others like same (shark) and tsujiko (salmon roe) are seasonl/regional products that are popular in some areas at certain times. Namasu (sea cucumber) is a very popular new years dish and izakaya (Japanese pub) dish. Some of them I have never seen or heard of before and are probably very regional as I doubt they would travel far. As to the maguro akami, the color diferences are probably because they are coming from different kinds of tuna. For example in Japan (sorry don't know English names) there are kuro-maguro minami-maguro kihada-maguro binchou-maguro

forgot to mention they have some new desserts. Their cafe au lait frozen parfait actually looks pretty good.

Just found a new Pizza Hut flyer in my door and it seems the sausage crust is gone forever. The new thing is the "herb rich" crust, a regular crust infused with basil, oregano and garlic and two new pizzas to go with it: Three tomatoes --sundried tomatoes, Italian tomatoes, "fresh" tomatoes and basil Chicken Caponata --tomato sauce simmered chicken, eggplant, red pepper and onion Then there is the new pizza just for kids! the kids 4, with 4 pizzas combined into one, each covers 1/4 of the pizza BBQ chicken-- BBQ chicken, onion, mushrooms Idaho Special-- potato, bacon, onion, parsley, black pepper, mayo Tamago corn-- scrambled eggs, corn, onions, potato, parsley Hawaiian-- ham, pineapple, onion, corn picture: http://www.pizzahut.jp/new/index.html the three tomatoes with the herb rich crust, scroll down to see the kids 4

Pringles has a curry flavor here in Japan. here http://www.skz.or.jp/saita/ruru/pringles/PRING206.jpg