torakris

No sandwiches, chips and juice boxes for Japanese kid's lunches, the following are quite typical kindergarten lunches: http://www.ae.wakwak.com/~harumi/bento.html I have to make one for my daughter today, I picked a kindergarten that has kyushoku (catered lunch) so I don't have to do it every day, only once a week!

THANK YOU!!

Some more cool things the Japanese use to make their children's meals more interesting: http://www.yoppi.ne.jp/obento/be_goods1.htm I actually have the stapler like thing that cuts out shapes with the nori (hearts, stars, flowers) and I almost bought the egg press last week!

Is this recipe posted somewhere? I have some cornish hens in the freezer and was debating what to do with them.......

What she said, except for that one with cold cucumbers in it. I've been meaning to try Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup -- kyesamt'ang is the closest transliteration of the name I've seen--which seems to have tons of ginger, garlic, chile and sesame in it. These are probably my two favorites as well. Maybe I will do the cucumber one for dinner tonight!

The reason I was asking is because I usually see recipes calling for either on or the other and it never says to substitute the other though occasionally it will say to substitute either more salt or soy sauce. Are the cookbook authors just assuming if you don't have one type then you must not have the other one either? I always use the Tiparos brand and was jsut wondering if it was worth it to buy a Vietnamese one as well.

Thank you, that is exactly what my zucchini looks like year after year!

I meant animal shit - more politely termed manure - mixed into the soil. Or a chemical nitrogen fertilzer mixed into the soil. Too much nitrogen can lead to great stem and leaf development and that's about it. nope, no animal shit!

Is this strange? I do this all the time, only the easy ones though, tulips, rabbits and the most common - the octopus. I wonder why they didn't have a picture of the octopus?

I had another larb type salady thingie yesterday, this time made with bamboo shoots. I sort of followed a recipe from Thai food and it it turned out great!

What are some of your favorite Korean soups?

Are they substitutable for each other? What are the differences?

I am considering buying this book. There is one copy left at Amazon Japan, how do you like it, do you cook from it. I own none of her books and thought this would be a good place to start.

I'm curious what you think of this one. It's relatively recent I believe. Does it go into sufficient detail covering all those asian cuisines? Cheers, Andrew I'm curious, too, torakris. I've done a couple of receipts from this & I've been happy with the results. However, I've this feeling that some of the receipts will require a bit of adjustment. What's your experience been with your results? I really like this book! It is a great overview of the Asian cuisines, not just recipes but information and lots of it! I have tried a couple recipes and they have been great, way better then average. If you want just one book on Asian cooking I would recommend this one (and I have a lot of books on Asian cooking!)

Weds dinner: Vietnamese chicken with ginger (from May 2003 Fine Cooking) --this was REALLY good! Thai style bamboo shoot salad (sort of like a bamboo laab from Thai Food) tomato slices jasmine rice dessert: chocolate mint mousse from Nigella Lawson

Is there any chance you're feeding it too much nitrogen, either natural or chemical? nitrogen? I'm feeding it water when it isn't raining.............

Fish sauce is wonderful (where did that thread go?) Eggs are wonderful! I can eat them in anyway at any time of day.

There are some people who love the okoge especially from takikomi (mixed rice), but there are no Japanese dishes that go so far as to purposely harden it. I was not aware of the term okoge referring to women who enjoy spending time with homosexual men (guess I am not hanging in the right places!) I wonder if it has anything to do with homosexual men being referred to as okama (kama being the tradional rice pot)?

This I think I can answer. The Japanese shorten EVERYTHING! they have a problem with long words. But actually in the case of bibimbap, I think because it is sort of a soft p sound at they end they leave it off instead of over annunciating it. I have noticed this with a lot of loan words in Japanese, they tend leave off the last constanant, they try to make the words as easy to say in Japanese as possible and like I said before the shorter the better!

If your zucchini are rotting, I would try building a clear plastic cone over the plants so the rain water runs down to the ground instead of collecting on the leaves and rotting them; squash really don't like having their leaves wet. I don't think the heat is the problem for them. Just do whatever you can to keep the leaves dry and you should end up with zucchini. Last year I made the mistake of planting a six-pack of zucchini seedlings in the garden - I ended up with more than 1,000 lbs of zucchini. They started showing up in early June and didn't stop until December; sometime in late October I found a 3' long zucchini hiding under the leaves on one of the plants and ended up carving it and putting some candles inside it for Halloween. I've still got dozens of gallon ziploc bags full of shredded zucchini in the freezer and my neighbors still hide from me when I show up at their doors with produce. I am so jealous!! The problem isn't with the leaves rotting, it is with the actual zucchini rotting, I think my father said it was something like blossom rot.

The Japanese have what they call a Chinese salad, it is usually shredded lettuce, cucumber, carrots, and ham, dressed with a soy-vinegar-sesame dressing. Wonder if anything like this exists in China?

OK let's go on to trying to read menus in Japanese restaurants word of 5/29: 前菜 zensai (zehn-sah-ee) appetizer these can be served as part of a course meal (or like a kaiseki meal) in which case there are usually a variety of small dishes consisting of a bite or two. Like Western style appetizers they can be made from any type of ingredients. In non course meals you can order them of of the zensai portion of the menu, in which case they will be larger portions. zensai are not much different from tsumami (the snacks eaten with drinks), though zensai tend be more formal and elaborate while the tsumami are more like finger foods. Zensai are rarely prepared in homes.

Wimpy you have a very good point. I don't know about the Chinese, but the Japanese don't consider these to be desserts in the Western sense and I can't really thing of anyone who eats these after a meal. Their name okashi actually means snack, the Japanese don't really have a word for dessert. They were originally intended to me side dishes to the green tea which can account for some of their cloying sweetness (to counteract the bitterness of the tea). Even the Western sweets eaten in Japan are rarely eaten after a meal, especially in homes) they are tea time snacks usually eaten in the middle of the afternoon.

I am copying this from the pickles thread: I (and about 10 friends) have all tried growing zucchini here, me for the last 5 years. i have only managed to get 1 zucchini in all of those years! I have tried everything, but it tends to all rot in the middle of rainy season, which just started last week! I have 2 plants now and they are the biggest I have gotten them and I have about 4 pinky sized zucchini, however in the past as soon as they got this big they started to rot. So I guess i will have to wait and see, it is a lot cooler this year than it usually is, so maybe that is helping. Anyone have any suggestions for help with zucchini, I do know that most (if not all) of the zucchini for sale in Jaapn is grown in hot houses, could it really be two hot and humid for it? What makes it go to rot like that?

I am planning to make umeshu this year too! I think I am going to do it this weekend. This was a very ineresting ume, it was the green type they use for umeshu but it wasn't crunchy and it was actually coated with a sugary-syrupy glaze (the ume on the inside that is). It had that great ume flavor that you get from the umeshu umes. Cafe au lait daifuku are my all time favorite, but this ume one is now running a very close second.