torakris

Not specifically Brazilian, but the Art of South American Cooking by Felipe Rojas-Lombardi is a wonderful book.

the very very last of my papaya-passionfruit tea this time with grated ginger added. yesterday a neighbor told me that drinking black tea with grated ginger every morning for breakfast would reduce your body fat percetage , she said she already lost 2%. It can't hurt, I mean I am drinking the tea anyway aren't I? The things we do for a decent body...............

Tuesday dinner: beef and potato corroke (croquettes) kenjiru-- a soup of satoimo (type of taro), carrots, konnyaku, tofu, scallions and a handful of tteok (Korean rice cakes) and some shinshu miso added corn and gobo salad daikon kimchi soy simmered konbu and shiitake Japanese rice dessert: donuts (brought over by my MIL)

I don't know of any of the models available here in Japan that have a self cleaning function. They barely heat up your house at all, unless you are running it all day long. They do bake quite well, the downsides are the size (mine can't fit that 9 x 13 inch dish without the sides bent down by pliers), You can't finish up dishes in the oven if your frypan doesn't have a removable handles and most baking tiles don't fit inside.

meibutsu can probably be translated as famous local foods, every area of Japan has a couple dishes that they are famous for. hitsumabushi is one of the dishes Nagoya is famous for, it is an eel and rice dish but it has a very strict way of eating it. Here are some pictures: http://www.maruuo.co.jp/hitsumabushi.htm (you need to scroll down just a bit) first you are served a large bowl of rice topped with slices of eel on a tray with various condiments, hot tea, pickles and usually a soup and then in the corner of the tray is an empty bowl with a rice paddle in it. There are 3 steps to eating the eel: 1. You place 1/3 of the rice and eel into the empty bowl and eat it. 2. You place another 1/3 of the eel and rice into the bowl and then you top it with the condiments (this can vary but something like scallions, shiso, nori, etc) and then you eat it. 3. You place the final 1/3 of the rice and eel in the bowl add a little wasabi and then pour the hot tea over it and eat it as ochazuke. Now you are done!

word for 7/9: からし karashi This is the yellow Japanese mustard, it is quite strong. About the same heat level as the stronger European mustards but with no vinegar added, much, much stronger then the mild American mustards. In Japan it is mostly sold in a tube, though it can also be found in a powdered form (to be mixed with water to make a paste) Karashi is the traditional condiment for oden and it is often served with various Chinese dumpling and as a kick in salad dressing or some tares (sauces).

Something that seemed to be quite popular this past winter was soy milk nabe. You basically filled up the nabe with soy milk, heated it and then added the ingredients of your choice, I could never bring myself to try it................

iced papaya-passion fruit tea (the last bag! ) and some mini oatmeal-choclate chip cookies that I bought for the kids, but one is still at school, the other is at a friend's house and the third is sleeping so I am eating them all!

Maggie, I am moving to wherever you are! $5.31 would buy me 2 limes and 2 potatoes I don't want to play anymore

this stuff grates beautifully on a microplane!

yesterday I ran across a yaki-udon recipe with kimchi and processed cheese................

word for 7/8: ラー油 raayu (raah-you) This is actually Chinese chili oil, but you will find a bottle in almost every household in Japan. It is mainly used in gyoza tare (the sauce eaten with dumplings) but can be used in other sauces, soups, and in dressings. You can usually find it on the same shelves as the shichimi and ichimi. here is a picture: http://www.katagiri.com/ctlg/jpgf/j/j1461.htm

http://www.mos.co.jp/menu/index.html menu in detail (from the top left to right) NAAN 1. chorizo naan with spicy tomato sauce and drizzled with a mango sauce 2. naan taco with ground beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese sauce and tortilla chips BURGERS 1. mos burger-- burger with chilli (not very spicy) 2. teriyaki burger 3. fresh burger-- wih tomato, lettuce and fresh burger sauce 4. mos cheeseburger 5. ros-katsu burger-- deep fried pork cutlet with tonkatsu sauce and cabbage 6.ebi-katsu burger-- shrimp katsu with cabbage and tartar sauce 7.chicken teriyaki burger 8.chicken burger --deep fried chicken cutlet 9. hot chicken burger-- with a spicy vegetable salsa 10.fish burger 11.hamberger 12.cheeseburger 13.spicy mos buger-- witht the chilli and jalapenos 14.spicy mos cheeseburger RICE BURGERS (instead of bread, there are two "patties" of rice) 1.kinpira--soy and sesame sauteed gobo and carrot with a piece of nori 2. seafood kaki-age-- a tempura "clump" of shrimp, squid, scallop, onions, carrots, and asparagus with a special sesame based sauce 3.yakiniku--thinly sliced grilled beef with lettuce HOT DOGS 1. plain dog 2.chilli dog 3.spicy chilli dog-- with jalapenos clicking on any of the pictures in the menu with give you a bigger picture and well as layer by layer detail of the product and nutrional information (all in Japanese)

dinner for Monday: leftover lasagne potato and onion fritatta

It was HOT Saturday! How do you use your oven without heating up the whole house? Do you use it all summer? Once August hits we usually eat out if we want something hot. yes it was hot! but I wasn't actually in the house. I put the stuff in the oven then went outside to chase the kids around, when the timer (in my pocket) went off I took out one tray and then put in the next..

Baby star ramen are a snack that are basically toasted chicken flavored ramen noodles in a bout 1 inch pieces. They taste a little like the noodles my mother used to put on top of chop suey (the kind in the can with the noodles in a seperate can). They are great for crunch.

Sunday dinner: Korean style fried chicken, marinated with galic (a lot), ginger, soy sake, sugar, sesame oil and kojuchang, then mixed with an egg and some potato starch and deep fried tteok (Korean mochi-rice cakes) stirfried with cabbage, carrots, and scallions in a kojuchang sauce Chinese cabbage kimchi cucmber kimchi daikon kimchi Japanese rice dessert: chocolate chips, was tpp lazy to actually make the cookies

word for 7/7: 七夕 tanabata (tah-nah-bah-tah) OK this isn't food, but July 7th is the the day of tanabata (characters read 7th night) in Japan. Tanabata is a day for making wishes, people write their wishes on a piece of paper and tie them to a young bamboo branch in hopes that they will come true. Tanabata is the story of two stars (in the sky kind of stars) who were in love but were forced apart only to meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month. more information is here: http://www.jinjapan.org/kidsweb/calendar/j...y/tanabata.html

Sat. dinner: lasagne with roasted eggplant, zucchini, and onions and mozarella, parmasean and a roasted tomato sauce green salad with sherry vinegar and EVOO and lots of croutons

just gulped down a toasted bagel with guacamole, red onions and smoked salmon

At the Thai festival here in Tokyo last month, I tried a larb burger. It was larb, not shaped into a patty but loose and sandwiched between to english muffins, it was an interesting way to eat it, but I think I prefer it with out the bread. Your version sounds good though Jason!

I currently have a Toshiba one, and my one before this was a Sharp. In Japan there isn't enough space for full size oven in most houses, so these combos are the only thing you can buy. I am very happy with my combo unit, though I do occasionally long for a "real" oven. My Sharp broke down rather quickly and never had the the power that my current Toshiba does, that model was bought in '95 so I am sure they have improved it by now. It was so weak that it took twice the time to cook everything and cakes never turned out right. I can pretty much use it for everything (except an average sized turkey!) though it is a little frustrating to only be able to bake 9 cookies at a time! My new one has 3 rack levels so I can do 18 at a time now! Just make sure it comes with two trays. The one other problem I have is that the biggest size they have in Japan (30L, not sure of cubic ft) doesn't fit a 9 x 13 inch pan. They are wonderful in the summer though!

took the kids to MOS burger for lunch yesterday and I tried the naan-taco thingie. I have to admit I rather enjoyed it, maybe enjoying it again. I think MOS is one of the few places in Japan you can get onion rings and damn were they good!

no milk in the house so therefore no coffee I am instead enjoying iced passion fruit papaya tea, some very good stuff from The Republic of Tea.

add two more for me, I am really going to stop now!