torakris

like smallworld said, you have bought kikurage. the characters should look like this: 木耳　きくらげ I have never seen it in its fresh form, only dried, you are very lucky. In Japan it is mostly used in Chinese style stir fries.

Okay, I will go first. Kimchi chige with lots of pork, tofu, and negi (Japanese leeks)

Tuesday dinner: Lebanese keftas served with onion and parsley salad, lettuce, and homemade pitas green bean, white asparagus, feta, and Greek olive salad the keftas, onion salad, and the feta salad from yesterday were all from Mediterranean Street Food by Anissa Helou, an absolutely incredible book!

iced coffee

I am a big fan of Nina Simonds stuff, I have 3 of her books.

goyatofu, I was so busy thinking about flour, I never took the chance to welcome you to egullet! Let us now how your making of double soft goes! That stuff makes the best toast.. The Å‹­—Í•² that I used is called Super King and is put out by Nissin (it is only sold at speciality bread stores) has a protein content 14%, the regular bread flour that I use is called Super Camellia (kameriya?) and has a protein content of 11.5%. Maybe if you mix two of types like that?

word for 6/18: たれ tare (tah-ray) sauce, usually of Japanese origin, though it is often seen describing Chinese and Korean sauces as well. Western styel sauces are almost always described with the word ƒ\[ƒX (soosu), the Japanese pronunciation of the word sauce. when there is a word placed before it, it ousually becomes dare goma-dare (sesame sauce) miso-dare (miso sauce) wasbijoyu-dare (wasabi-soy sauce)

today as I was paging through my local co-op catalogue, I noticed cranberry rakkyo! besides being pink they also have whole cranberries inside. I will order them next week and they will arrive the week after, I will definitely report back on this interesting find!

Flour in Japan There are three main types of flour you will see for sale in the local Japanese supermarket 強力粉(kyourikiko) protein 11.5 - 13.5% bread flour,used pretty much only for bread making 中力粉(chuurikiko) protein 8.5 - 10.5% this is the flour to make udon (this can be a little harder to find) 薄力粉(hakurikiko) protein 7.0 - 8.5% cake flour, used mostly for okashi (snacks) okonomiyaki & tempura In addition to those there are 3 that are pretty much used only professionally saikyourikiko protein 13.5% plus very strong bread flour junkyourikiko protein 10.5 - 11.5% for making french breads and Chinese noodles (ramen etc) futsukyourikiko this is pretty much the same as the above one

What is the proper translation for chigae? and while we are on it what are some of your favorites?

Monday: falafel rolled in lettuce leaves with cucumber-yogurt, chopped tomatoes, jalapeno peppers feta salad with tomatoes, red onion, peppers, parsley greek olive mix with spices homemade pita bread dessert: rolled cake filled with raspberry cream (gift from a friend)

Fresco, I just remembered the chicken thigh thread started by Monica: chicken thighs which I thought was really interesting and hardly exotic. While I am fascinated by the exotic, it's the day to day cooking that so often requires a touch of genius to make it interesting. In time I am sure other threads like Monica's will emerge. I am prepared to wait. Anna N I had a chicken breast thread!

breakfast: iced coffee roll cake with raspberry cream filling cherries

this cake is wonderful! I have made it quite a few times and always gets rave reviews. It was my first egullet recipe!

I love cold soups. gazpacho (and it many varities) cold vegetable soups (tomato, potato, spinach, carrot, pea, etc) pretty much anything can be served cold!

words for 6/17: since we have already learned tabhoudai and nomihoudai let's take a step back and learn about the words that these words come from. 食べる taberu (tah-bay-rue) to eat 飲む nomu (noh-moo) to drink

non-stick rice cooker

Some days nothing is better then an umeboshi onigri umeboshi and shiso are perfect matches, I like to make a paste of the umeboshi and place it and a shiso leaf into a piece of meat (either a pocket or like a sandwich) and panko it and fry it. I really like the hachimitsu (honey) umeboshi, these aren't nearly as mouth puckering and can be popped into the mouth as snacks.

raw fish and rice kimchi and rice natto and rice

Friday: went out to an all you can eat yakiniku, sushi, ramen, salad, various main dishes and dessert place Saturday: very simple early summer dinner of panzanella with tomatoes, red onion, lots of basil and oregano potato and onion fritatta dessert: chocolate pudding Sunday: per husband's request: dutchoven (outdoors) with a whole chicken, stuffed with garlic cloves and lemon, potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbage, all cooked until delicious corn on the cob dessert: lamingtons

Anna N great idea, I remember something similar to this a little while back. Someone bought a cut they were unfamilar with and and ended up with a couple pages of replies, I have seen it on a smaller scale as well. More recently there was a thread on how to prepare razor clams.... So if you have a question about a specific cut, just go ahead and ask it, we are all here waiting to help out (if we can! )

breakfast: iced coffee cinnamon toast

stuff a bunch of leaves under the skin of a roast chicken (before roasting ) great with sausages

word for 6/16: 飲み放題 nomihoudai (noh-mee-hoe-die) all-you-can-drink A lot of "family" restaurants are set up with drink bars (non-alcoholic only, usually coffee, tea, colas, juices, and soup) that you can help yourself to over and over. Some bars and karaoke places have choices or alcohol or non-alcohol nomihoudai for a set price, and they are very popular at izakayas, especially for large parties.

We were at one the other night and it had yakiniku, sushi, ramen. soba, udon, salads, hot dishes (Japanese and Western), and lots of desserts--all for one price.