torakris

In line with today's daily nihongo word, what are some of your favorite Japanese hoshimono?

word for 5/11: 干す hosu (hoe-soo) this means dry, but dry in a good way as in on purpose. so for example you will see it in these words: 干ししいたけ hoshishiitake (dried shiitake) 梅干umeboshi (dried "pickled" plums) 干物himono or hoshimono (literally "dried things" dried fish being some of the most popular)

omu-raisu (omelette rice) and napolitan spaghetti (usually onions, carrots, peppers and cocktail sausages in a ketchup sauce, not ketchup based, just ketchup!) are two "Japanese" foods I have eaten just once and have no desire to ever eat again. But they are very popular especially in homes with kids and make freuent appearances on dinner tables. This person had omu-raisu twice in less then one month.

I'd second Bittman, I turn to this book over and over again.

Friday night dinner: the last dinner with my friend's kids, now I can start getting a little more creative and use up those beets in the fridge. Chicken with a sherry vinegar sauce (this recipe from A New Way to Cook is so unbelievably good!) Roasted carrots with thyme and garlic (not that you need a recip, but I got it from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and will be making it again a lot!) sugar snap pea and cannelini bean salad with lemon and EVOO leftover honey-whole wheat bread Japanese rice dessert: ice cream

I read the title and was going to come in here and rave about the CI meatloaf, but I see it has already been done! I actually make it with out the bacon and the sauce, preferring instead to smear ketchup over the top, the way mom did! By the way, my MIL loves this meatloaf and she requests it at least once a month!

word for 5/10 薄い usui (oo-soo-ee) this is the opposite of koi (strong tasting) and when referring to food can mean light or pale in color thin referring to a soup or a sauce weak referring to coffee, tea, any flavor in general this is part of the word for the light in color (not taste!) usukuchi soy sauce.

based on my experience eating in Japanese homes, I would say for most people up to 50% is normally some type of prepared food. pickles or gyoza was bought, the flavored rice was made with a packaged mix, fish was seasoned at the store and then grilled at home, pasta sauces are almost never home made rather canned, etc. There are of course variables depending on the family, the farther out in the boondocks you live teh more homemade food you see, the busier the person the more pre-made food you will see, having a mother or grandmother living with you and you may have freshly made pickles and other goodies.

what kind of soup, just mountain potato? sliced? pureed? other flavorings?

the marble sodas are called ramune, it took me a while to figure out what you guys were talking about! thought I was missing something. That awful sugary sweet taste has moved to various products ramune candies, ramune ice crem, ramune slushies, etc.

I guess it doesn't really count since i live in Japan and have but little choice to eat it every day, either for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack. We eat it out much less often maybe 1 to 2 times a month.

Yeah, yeah I know I just stole the thread idea from Suvir and the Indian board, but I liked it. So.....................how often do you eat Japanese food? In your house? In a restaurant?

I found this interesting homepage of a Japanese person who takes pictures of their meals every night, it is in Japanese but you don't need it to understand it to look at the pictures. From my experience eating in various homes it is VERY typical: http://www010.upp.so-net.ne.jp/lelelenolen.../bangohan-5.htm

Those porno ones are quite interesting, I have to admit. There used to be one right next to my house for about 6 months about 8 years back. It was full of various porno things books, magazines, videos, toys,etc and a lone Pepsi machine. At the time I was heavily pregnant with #1 and Pepsi was quite difficult to find, of course I would get these Pepsi craving a couple times a week and had no choice but to wander in there. I can't even imagine what my neighbors were thinking to see a very pregnant, very foreign woman walking out of a very pornographic area.

and here is what the Yamaguchi's ate last night: cream stew made with roasted salmon, cabbage, onions, broccoli and leftover satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potato) Japanese rice honey-whole wheat bread (made in the bread machine) dessert: ice cream

Shoyu and wasabi? oh yeah that one too!

You can use it to cook with!

Here is a list of some of the things sold in vending machines in Japan: http://www.sonic.net/~anomaly/japan/vending.htm What are some of your favorite things to buy? What are some of the strangest things you have seen? According to another website there is 1 vending machine per 23 people in Japan!

and I thought the Japanese put strange things in tubes.......................

I prefer raw sauces to cooked and like everything mentioned plus a couple others I can't think of at this moment but when someone else posts it I will say oh yeah that one too!

Depending on the "phase" I am in I will cook Indian anywhere from 2 to 3 times a week to 2 to 3 times a month, eating it out is maybe just a couple times a year. Though it is not necessarily Indian food, I use Indian spices and flavoring in other foods as well. my kids eat pretty much anything I make, though I do tone the spice level down to medium for them. If I am making Indian it usually consists of three to four dishes a meat and/or vegetable main with sides or either rice, bread and/or beans of some sort and always a yogurt or relish.

well it is coming into rakkyo making season, so I picked up some raw rakkyo (the name of the vegetable and well as the pickle, so it can be confusing), already cleaned and trimmed of course! and I am planning to make 1kg of the red wine rakkyo, I will keep you posted as to how they are and then posting a recipe if they work out ok.

word for 5/9 濃い koi (koh-ee) this refers to food that is either thick or strong tasting, not necessarily in a bad way. You might hear people say that food in Kanto (Tokyo area) is more koi then in Kansai (Osaka-Nara-Kyoto areas), this just means it is usually heavier on the soy and other seasonings. for example: koi kohi 濃いコーヒー strong coffee koi supu 濃いスープ thick soup

OOOHHH!! these make me gag!

There's nothing unusual about that. In fact popping the rice/kimchi/bacon maki onto a sheet of nori and rolling that and eating it by hand is also not unusual. Which reinforces my belief that there is no such thing as an original flavour/food combination, its all been done before. Particularily when it comes to bacon - goes with everything! Often in our staff caf we were given barely coddled eggs (in shell) at breakfast - is this common and how are they normally eaten? I would mix mine in with my misoshiro like a straciatella. I agree with Jin that actually sounds pretty good!! the barely cooked egg is quite popular, the stores even sell them like that, occasioanlly they are referred to as onsen tamago (hot spring eggs)