torakris

Thursday dinner: rigatoni with fresh tomato-butter sauce (one of my favorite recipes from Bittman's How to Cook Everything) fava beans drizzled with a peppery EVOO and some shavings of romano crostini toscani from the Babbo cookbook, chicken livers sauteed with onions, red pepper, anchovies, capers and red wine, pureed and then served on toasts. This was so incredible! the pasta quickly became an afterthought as my husband and I devoured these. We had to toast more crostini just so we could finish it up.

Here in Japan we ahve the choice of Skippy, Skippy, Skippy, or the Japanese stuff. we eat Skippy, I prefer crunchy but the kids like smooth and since they are the ones who eat it............. Anyone who thinks that American peanut butter is sweet has never tasted the stuff the Japanese call peanut butter, it is a whipped product (not dense like "real" peanut butter) that tastes like marshmallow fluff with a drop of peanut flavoring added.

OK I have to admit I am a dried fruit freak, I use them mostly as snacks for me and the kids since my husband doesn't care for them, especially in cooked savory dishes! Pineapple and mango are some of my newer "discoveries" and my kids devour them. In Japan fruit chips are also quite popular, fruit slices are completely dried so that they resembles potato chips, they do various fruits and veggies. a store by my house also sells freeze-dried berries (strawberries and raspberries) that are quite good too. One of my favorite memories of my grandfather (who passed away 6 months ago) is sitting on his lap after dinner and eating stewed prunes together.

I stuck a vote in too! Who is Bitsy (currently #1) anyway?

I quess I have been out of the US too long, do they not use retort packing there that much? In Japan they use it for everything, glass and even cans are rarely used everything is retort, curry, stew, sauces, pasta sauces, baby food, etc. Some of the stuff that comes out of it is decent too, no TVP though. As part of my job as an Army food inspector I was required to taste close to experiation date MRE's, to see if they were still OK........ they did not pay me nearly enough!

Butter in Japan is always wrapped in foil and then a nice thick box, the thing I hate is that it is sold in 200 gram blocks only and when I use American recipes that call for sticks it screws me up.

I hesitate to refer to these as street foods, because in Japan they aren't sold so much on the street as they are in the parks, at the beaches, in highway rest areas, and every tourist attraction. A lot of them contain the the world yaki (which means grill, burn, roast, broil, etc) yakitori okonomiyaki yakisoba takoyaki what are some of your favorites?

This is why God invented airplanes!

unsalted butter can be hard to find in Japan (usually they sell unsalted margarine!? ) and is quite pricey at about $4 for 200 grams (less then half a pound). Every couple months a store close to me will put it on sale for almost half price and I almost buy them out freezing it all! I have never noticed any problems with it.

My two favorite summer lunches are naeng myun and bibimmyun. These are quite popular in Japan and now you can buy close to instant versions in the refrigerator section of most supermarkets.

Weds dinner: pork tenderloin with a orange-teriyaki marinade/glaze seared on the stovetop and finished in the oven couscous with orange, ginger, almonds and herbs (Fine Cooking #55) onion and sherry vinegar frittata tomato and red onion salad with EVOO and sherry vinegar dessert: double hazelnut biscotti eating these biscotti leftovers for breakfast as I type this!

I have yet to come across a dried version of a fruit that I don't like. The most incredible was this sampler of dried cherries (some chocolate coated) that a friend brought back after a trip to Seattle. I had had dried cherries before but these were beyond words! My next favorite would be apricots. I usually eat them as soon as I get home so they are rarely used for cooking!

I knew I liked you. This is one of the best. Nobody believes me, though. Thank you. I like my chocolate and cheese separate but together, in the form of 2 pots fondue. "Chocolate and Cheese" is also the best Ween record. I thought this was a joke! Please explain more what kind of chocolate? what kind of cheese? how?

I have 2 Hanami BBQ's this weekend as well as one picnic and I am not sure what to do with the bento for the picnic since it will be a busy weekend. I have to admit I make bentos everyday for my husband and once a week for my daughter in kindergarten, so I am not new to bento making, but I just want something seasonal. probably will a make my traditional 30 minute family of 5 bento: variety of onigiri (sake, edamame, chirmen-jako, yukari, etc) cucumber, carrot, and celery sticks with a kojuchang-white miso-sesame-green onion "dip" dashimaki tamago (Japanese omelette) some kind of vegetable wrapped in some kind of meat and sauteed fruit a couple cherry tomatoes thrown in for color

isn't this a thread about bibimbap?

I guess I was spared the "helper" series as a child and never grew to like the taste. The first time I ate it was in college when a room mate prepared it. Nastiest stuff on earth! But I guess if there is the nostalgia factor there it could taste better. One of my favorite foods as a child was this veal parmagiana that my mother used to buy frozen in these big trays in the freezer section of the supermarket. We called it veal but I truely doubt that it was. It was pre-made you just popped the whole tray of the soupy soggy mess into the oven to heat it up. Wonderful stuff! I still think about it sometimes occcasionally.

a quick search of various rcipes on the internet, shows various ways of eating it no condiments salt salt and pepper salt pepper and sesame seeds so I guess it is up to you.

In Korea ginseng is called imsam. I have never dipped it into salt before eating in any of the places I have had it at.

can you describe the mung bean cakes? do you know what they are called in Korean? Is is chijimi? often made from mung bean flour? a type of savory pancake?

I mentioned this in the Korean foods thread, and have remembered its name: samgyetang. It is a wonderful soup made with chicken, glutinous rice, ginseng, jujubes(red asian dates) and some garlic and it a tradional summer dish, normally served during sambok (the 3 hottest days of summer in Korea). I had this in a restaurant in the Korean part of Tokyo just a month ago and it was soo wonderful! It is so easy to make at home, yet I always end up ordering at restaurants instead

I am glad someone else doesn't like the chocolate-orange combination! I aslo hate chocolate and bananas, but then I hate bananas with anything!

It is hanami (cherry blossom viewing) time in Japan right now. The blossoms (at least for the Kanto area) should be at their peak this weekend, that means it is time to make a bento (boxed lunch) and go to the nearest park. What are some of your favorite bento additions?

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE A DROOL ICON!

Check out this site for information on Korean food! http://www.asiafood.org/types.cfm

I always though I hated fruitcake, until this year I ate the one made by a Scottish friend of mine. Incredible! I love fruitcake, only if it is made right though!