torakris
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Posts posted by torakris
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Thursday night dinner:
My husband called at 5:00 pm to remind me (had told me last week) that he wouldn't be home until about 8:00 and didn't need dinner. Whoops, I had forgotten and already had something planned, but not yet made. So instead:
shio (salt) ramen with corn and snow peas for the kids
and galic chives and shitakes for me with a large squeeze or sriracha
dessert:
frozen lychees
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I had a steak in some Neo Asian restaurant in London that came with 3 small dishes one had coarse salt the other coarse black pepper and the third lime juice, you dipped teh steak in to the lime juice then salt & pepper it was so so good
I made this same sauce? dip? (with a recipe from Hot Sour Salty Sweet) and used it with boiled oxtails, it was incredible, never thought about it with steak though.
Would be great with steak pulled off the grill!
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I guess my mom was pretty "normal"?!
I pretty much lived on ham, swiss and mustard and a piece of fruit.
( I hated peanut butter, bologna, and mayo)
Smallworld--
jello powder straight from the pack?
Never seen that before and don't think I want to give it a try.
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Kristin, did you get flooded? Oh, dear.
Cooked dinner for the first time in about a week -- HWOE home, 2 houseguests:
Mediterranean-style Fish Stew:
Broth: fish/lobster stock from the freezer, plus fennel trimmings, shrimp shells, halibut skin and bones, orange zest, saffron, fennel seed, and lots of anisette; cooked down and poured over
Vegetables: sliced shallots, carrot slices, and julienne fennel bulb sweated in olive oil, plus cut-up canned tomatoes and steamed tiny red potatoes; served over
Mixed fish: sauteed chunks of U10 shrimp, halibut, bay scallops, plus mussels steamed with anisette and shao hsing;
Garnished with Sourdough croutons and rouille (mayo, roasted red peppers, garlic, red pepper paste).
Mixed leaves with mustard vinaigrette.
Paumanok Barrel Fermented Chardonnay 2000 and Festival Chardonnay 2001
Cappuccino Mousse Cake (brought by guests).
No not flooded, just a 2 year old who decided his mud pies he was working on in the backyard wouldn't be "authentic" unless they were made in a real kitchen!
I have been flooded once though, by my 5 year old when she was 2, it was a nightmare I don't even like to recall.
Suzanne F that sounds incredible, I need to get back into the swing of things here.
Kim, as to desserts:
I grew up in a family that ate dessert every night at 8:00 on the dot, on the weekends it was usually oneof my mother's wonderful pies and on other nights a different baked treat though in the summer it was normally fruit or ice cream. I like desserts so we have them most days (except when we eat dinner rather late) anything from homemade treats to an apple from the fruit bowl.
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Every country, I am sure, has it's high end restaurants were the elitest of the country eat, the problem is that in the US ( I say US becasue I have no experience in Europe and other areas) we tend to view the "ethnic" cuisines as those or of immigrants.
Torakris - Japanese cuisine is not looked at in the manner you describe. I believe that every high end diner who follows the contemporary dining scene would admit that Japanese restaurants deliver cuisine is the highest possible standard.
Japanese in a way ranks up there with the French cuisine as one that people feel the best about spending money for. Japanese as an immigrant cuisine was very limited to areas where they was a very high population of Japanese people (ie Hawaii), otherwise the Japanese food as we see it today is based on the sushi boom that rode in years ago. Sushi came in as an expensive (thus elite ) food because it is expensive, the freshest fish cost the most money.
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Comparing restaurant cuisine, available to everyone who can afford it, and cuisine served in private homes, truly elitest and revolving around class, are really the apples and oranges here. If there is an Indian cuisine that is sooooooo gooooood that isn't available to anyone, someone should make it available because they could make a bloody fortune. I'd be very happy to support it.
I agree with the statement that comparing restaurant food and home cooking is like apples and oranges, they are 2 completely different things. however I think some may ahve a difficult time initially trying to bring the countires "elite" food abroad.
Every country, I am sure, has it's high end restaurants were the elitest of the country eat, the problem is that in the US ( I say US becasue I have no experience in Europe and other areas) we tend to view the "ethnic" cuisines as those or of immigrants. Thus in our minds immigrants = poor = cheap, this is not saying it it is bad food it doesn't have the status that French food has. Therefore it is hard for people to consider paying a couple hundred dollars for these "ethnic" (really hate this word!) cuisines.
Here is an anology:
The Japanese car makers want to start selling their higher end models abroad, however the image of Jaapnese cars abroad is cheap and efficient, who would want to pay $20,000 plus for a Japanese car? So they change the names, instead of Honda, Toyota and Nissan they become Acura, Infiniti and (I can't remember the other one) and they sell like hotcakes. The thing is in Japan they don't need these fancy names because people here know them as great cars companies that can but out decent models in all ranges. In order to sell them abroad though it was necessary to bypass peoples misconceptions of Honda = cheap by calling it Acura therfore allowing to break into a new market.
unfortunately with cars it was easy, trying to project a new image of a cuisine is much harder, though it isn't impossible, it will just take a lot of work to get there.
Okay back to spicing!
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This is turning into the week from hell (and I am not looking foward to spring vacation which starts today!
) I am still cleaning the mud off the walls, floors, carpets, toys, etc from yesterday.Was unable to go shopping so..............
fusilli with Italian sausage (spicy)- onion- tomato- fennel seed sauce
leftover pecan-oatmeal soda bread
dessert:
Instant pistachio pudding
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Just salt and pepper fro me!
and occasionally a little side of horseradish.
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bamboo shoots
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My favorite Italian book that I own is Antipasti by Julia Della Croce. I have made some wonderful things from this book. I also am currently enjoying Biba Caggiano's Biba's taste of Italy.
I also have books by Kasper and Hazan but find Hazan's stuff on the bland side and Kasper's stuff too complicated and with a lot of ingredients I can't find,
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Oatmeal - Pecan soda bread
Sounds very interesting, can you elaborate. Recipe if possible????
Actually it was a recipe for oatmeal walnut soda bread but I had pecans in the fridge and walnuts were far away in a storage cupboard in another room.
The recipe is from Best Recipe by the Cook's Illustrated guys.
I can't even tell you if it is good or not becasue the only 2 times I have eaten soda bread was last night and about a year ago when I made the same recipe, I have nothing to compare it to (my Italian mother didn't make Irish soda bread!
).I like it though!
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The Japanese do think about food a lot more than other countries I know.
There is no need for the Food network here in Japan because there are cooking shows/ shows about food/ shows about restaurants all day long on various channels. The Japanese just love food.
As Margaret said it all depends on the family. I know a mother who gives her 2 sons snacks consatntly through the day, a bag of potato chips followed by a plate of sausages, followed by ice cream, followed by potato croquettes, etc. I went out to lunch with her once and she ordered a pasta dish for herself and sons to share. Jaapnese portions are quite small and her sons are 5 and 9 and the 3 of them still managed to leave some pasta on the dish! They graze all day long they don't know how to eat regular meals.
Though snacks in Japan used to be quite healthy, rice crackers, seaweeds with sweet-sour coating, pickled plums, dried fish, some nuts etc, it has now become more common to see western style snacks, chips, sweetened breads, cakes, cookies, etc.
Unfortunately because of the hours most men work, a lot of children only see their fathers on the weekends (if the fathers aren't sleeping) and I know a lot of of mothers who rather then dealing with the stresses of being a single mother during the week try to avoid the stress by giving in to their children's demands whether it be for snacks, toys, clothes, etc.
I have one the the extremely rare Japanese husbands who is actually home everyday before 7:00pm.
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Tuesday night dinner:
cream stew of spring vegetables (I could have called it throw everything left in the refrigerator into a white sauce dinner)
--sauteed onion slices in some butter, added flour threw in flour then milk and water (and a little better then bouillion), microwaved 1/4 of a kabocha, scraped out the flesh and added it to the pot (this turns it a gorgeous color as well as adding great flavor. Tossed in chunks of carrot and turnip, simmered until tender then added some blanched broccoli. seasoned it then done!
Oatmeal - Pecan soda bread
Japanese rice
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Thinking about it some more I realized I missed a whole category of snacking and that is the kind of snacking that goes on in either restaurants or food stalls by people with co-workers or friends after work.
This are rarely considered a meal becasue there is usually no rice eaten, they are just otsumami (usually snacks eaten with alcohol) similar to tapas.
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Wow reading back over the last thing I wrote, you can tell I was pressed for time and ahd no organization to my thoughts.
Let's try again
Snacking is huge in Japan and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a bigger variety here then in the US.
Any Jaapnese household I walk into has a large basket or cupboard dedicated just to snacks and has anywhere from 5 to 10 varieties at anytime. The snacks in a household will vary depending on the age of the people living there.
Those with elderly people will have a higher percentage of fruits and sembei (rice crackers as well as the traditional Jaapnese sweets.
Those with small children underschool age will will tend to have things like fruit, yogurt, and sembei
Those with chidren of a young school age will have a house inundated with any type of junk food, chips, cookies, etc.
Those with older children tend to have those kind of snacks as well as, mini-meal kind of foods, instant ramen, instant yaki-soba, steamed filled buns, etc
Housewives getting together to chat normally snack on cakes, fancier cookies, or specialties from a local bakery.
I buy almost no snacks (and my kids complain constantly about this!), instead giving my children fruits, yogurt, or home made snacks.
Fruits are seem to be bought for family consumption (the expensive ones, which is most of them!), though mikan (mandarin type oranges), Asian pears, apples are often set out for guests, the latter 2 being first peeled and cut.
In my house
My son and I might have a snack around 10am, but nothing regular.
sanji oyatsu (3 o'clock snack) happens everyday if it is just myself and the kids we usually have fruits, yogurt, or homemade something. I don't allow my kids to eat a snack any later then 4:30 (we eat dinner around 6:30) though it is unenforacble when they are at someone else's house.
dessert after dinner is not an everyday occurance but we do have it more often then not.
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I am not quite sure exactly what info you are looking for so ask again if I get it wrong or you wan to know more.
Snacking is huge in Japan and recently very little of it seems to be on the healthy side, or fourse it also depends on where (whose house you are in) you are, your age and the age of the people with you. For example my MIL tends to snack on sembei (rice crackers) or Japanese sweets (usually rice and red bean combos) when alone or with her friends but if I take the kids over she pulls out the kid snacks, packaged chips cookies etc.
In your own home (especially with kids) there are usually snacks everyday at 10am and 3pm, the afternoon one being almost never missed. This is the sanji oyatsu (sanji = 3 o'clock, oyatsu =snack).
Depending on the household though snacking can go on all day long right up until dinner time.
As a visitor to someone else's house you should bring some type of snack with you (even children going by themselves to a friend's house afterschool should take a snack to be shared) When you visit a house they will usually set in front of you a large basket/bowl of a variet of snacks and sometimes the bowl in constantly being replenished.
Want to write more but I have to go pick up a friend's child that I am watching today, will be back in about 40 minutes
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I definitely can't pick one
garlic stems
pea shoot
baby bok choy
garlic chives
water spinach (I am not sure of the Chinese name either I usually find it by the Chinese characters for "open heart")
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Right after the BSE scare here a lot of curry roux, furikake, yakisoba packets etc had labels saying no beef products used. Some Japanese stopped buying the products as well.
Just checked my box of curry roux I picked up last week it still says on the front that no beef products are used
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Living in Japan, I now eat rice for dinner probably 5 to 7 days a week, and have about 5 to 7 varieties in the house at most times.
My 2 favorites are Japanese regular (short grain, though sometimes referred to as medium grain in the US) and Thai jasmine rice. I use different rices depending on what I am cooking.
I have finally found black and red rices in Japan (htough extremely expensive) and can't wait to give them a try.
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Kristin, please please tell me the deboned chicken was skin-on.
Yes it was.
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Had a party with some friends last night, as usual the children way out numbered the adults, so we sent them outside..................... until it started raining!
My friend form Hong kong wanted to learn how to make quacamole, so we started off with that and chips and my sangria.
Then we moved onto the main course, fondue!
We set up 2 pots (Ok they were actually Japanese donabe on individual gas burners) one was a regular simple fondue (mostly for the children, who we let eat first) then there was the jack cheese-jalapeno-spinach fondue for the adults.
the fondues were served with:
various breads (from what we believe to be the best bakery in Japan)
various sausages
roasted potatoes
broccoli
asparagus
My friend from Hong Kong brought over the most incredible chicken dish, actually her (Japanese) husband made it from a cookbook he picked up in Singapore:
It was a whole deboned chicken , marinated for a day, then stuffed with a sticky rice, dried shiitake, dried shrimp mixture and roasted, it was incredible.
Too bad he had to work and wasn't able to eat it!
dessert:
what goes better with fondue then chocolate chip cookies!
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I think from now on I will stick with Jin's goma-shio mix!
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This is how the recipe is supposed to go (not necessarily how I made it!)
Place about a 1lb slab of bacon in a pot with cold water bring to a aimmer and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, drain, rinse. Then place fat side up in a shallow baking dish adding carrots and celery (chopped), onions (sliced), bay leaf (crumbled) and equal part s of dry white wine, dry white vermouth and chicken stock to come to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat on the stove to simmering then transfer to the oven (covered) and bake for 2 1/2 hours. Uncover, then rasie the heat to broil for 3 to 5 minutes. Cool completey in the baking dish.
For the sauce:
cut canned whole tomatoes in half and place snuggly in a shallow casserole with about 1/4 inch of juice roast at 500 for 15 minutes, while that is going on saute an onion and 6 gloves of garlic (added after the onions have softened),lots of black pepper and a bay leaf. Then add the tomatoes (cut-up) little salt and sugar. Simmer just briefly.
Cut the bacon into strips (1/4 inch thick and one inch long) and saute for a few minutes until slightly colores, add to the sauce and simmer again briefly.
Add to pasta, topping with romano cheese.
I can't wait to try the real version!
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Saturday night dinner:
Just got the Zuni Cafe Cookbook and deciided to try something (using ingredients in the house)
Pasta with braised bacon and roasted tomato sauce
--I didn't have the bacon slab that she called for, so just used sauteed slices ad I roasted the tomatoes in a pan that had too high sides and think I added too much juice so seem to have steamed instead of roast.
--it was still good and I will give it a try with slab bacon and "roasted" tomatoes again.
fava bean and snow pea salad with a quick mustardy mayo dressing
dessert:
purchased ice-cream
Okinawa
in Japan: Dining
Posted
Okinawa the southernmost prefecture of Japan, and once as the Ryukyu Kingdom an insular isalnd nation with closer ties to China then Japan, has a culture far quite different from that on mainland Japan.
Thus it has different foods as well,
any favorites?
Anyone insterested in a brief history of Okinawa can look here:
http://www.niraikanai.wwma.net/pages/base/conc.html