torakris

The first time I made samosas, I used Madhur Jaffrey's recipe with vegetable oil and according to the notations I wrote the crust was very flaky and I really enjoyed it, though I didn't care as much for the filling. I know I just made these a year ago or so using a different recipe (which I can't remember at the moment) but I didn't like the pastry at all, I am assuming it was butter or shortening. I have finally gotten my hands on some ghee and will try it again with that. Any specific proportions? After opening ghee does it stay at room temp for storage? For how long? I don't really think of samosas as crispy rather a very flaky interior with a semi-hard shell.

I drink my coffee iced out of a kid's meal cup from TGIFridays! --Honest! I don't own any glasses that are big enough and I have already shattered two plastic tumblers

Wimpy, I was instructed on the proper art of natto making by my Edo-ko husband! Must be a Tokyo thing!

I have never actually seen natto in onigiri (rice balls) when it is sold in the convenience stores it is sold in one of two forms. Either the te-maki zushi style which looks like an ice cream cone, or in the kappa-maki (cucumber roll) style, usually sold in about a 4 inch long roll. The convenience store onigiri in Japan are really wonderful, a little while ago I had a king salmon onigri (grilled salmon was gently flaked) and was sooooo much better than the usual salmon flake. My two other current favorites are a maguro wasabi-joyu (raw tune with wasabi and soy sauce) and shio-kalbi (salt flavored kalbi style grilled beef). Every convenience store here has their own specialities.

Margret, welcome! I do the saran wrap on the hand thing too! I don't know what I was thinking when I made yamakake last week though, I kept scratching my hands all though dinner! I love mozuku too, I onced used it as a topping for the julienned mountain yam, and it was great, maybe I will do it again next week.

Let us know how they go down!

Looks as though I was deprived as a child eating eating only the fennel ones!

Sorry, no Sbarro's in Japan! I made sloppy joes once about 6 or 7 years ago and my husband didn't care for them and haven't made them since. This weekend (if I can bring myself to do it) I might make corned beef hash, with the canned stuff! For me, I would like Jin's dinner to consist one day of cream of what ever soup casserole and a bagged lettuce salad with purchased no-fat Italian dressing!

Actually this is what I do for my husband's lunches. He likes corned beef (the cans) so occasionally I pick up a little can and make a hash, the little can will last for two meals. I've always salted it and because I don't taste it before putting it in his lunchbox, it could be way too salty................ oh dear, he has never said anything. Maybe I will try something with this monster can this weekend for lunch. I just can't bring myself to tate it, it looks too much like pet food!

Thursday dinner: chawan mushi (Japanese savory egg custard) with wakame (type of seaweed) and chicken meatballs infused with yuzu (Japanese citron) daikon and yuzu salt pickles eggplant roasted with sesame oil then tossed with a kojuchang (Korean chile based miso) sauce and garnished with shallots yuba with special sauce --yuba is something like tofu skin, forget the exact translation --this was a purchased product and the sauce packet just said "special sauce" dessert: bittersweet chocolate cookies with hazelnuts (forget the exact name) from the Babbo book made by me and 3 2-year old helpers I'm sure they are not nearly as pretty as the ones Mario makes!

Wimpy that is exactly the same way I make it! I use only the yolk though and sometimes instead of adding the nori to the top I use small pieces (about 1 by 3 inches) to pick up some of the rice and natto. Tissue, the chopped up ones are usually for natto maki, the natto and rice rolled in seaweed snack eaten out of hand. You should see the variety they have in Japan, some come withnan umeboshi sauce instead of the regular tsuyu another one has something like 5 different grains added as well.Then there are the bean differences, anywhere from little tiny brown ones to jumbo black ones.

I have Daley's book and really like it. Her chocolate stuff is wonderful, especially the brownies, chocolate chip cookies and the French mousse and truffles. Her blueberry muffins are also worth making. The only thing I didn't care for was her chocolate-espresso biscotti. Maybe I will take on a project this weekend as well. Maybe a tart of some kind................

ditto what everyone is saying. I was paging through my Babbo cookbook last night and noticed mario Batali uses it A LOT! Mostly for the color contrast I am sure.

Weds. dinner: Italian sausage ragu served over polenta (with lots of fennel seeds tossed into the sauce) potato and onion fritatta fava bean salad with mint, pine nuts, lemon juice and EVOO dessert: Chocolate pudding (instant ) My polenta stirring, potato & onion sauteeing, fava bean peeling BGM of choice? Celine Dion's Decade of Song, listened to 1 and 1/2 times.

I love mountain yam! I still remeber the first time I ate it though, it was part of a kaiseki course at this very exclusive restaurant just on the outskirts of Tokyo. I took one bite and though I was going puke under the table! I looked and tasted like nose snot (I know I know I will never become a professional food writer!) That hand itching thing is really annoying, I have no idea how to prevent it except wear gloves, maybe I will ask around today. I have heard of putting it in eggs, but have never tried it myself. I do love putting it in okonomiyaki though. It is also great deep fried and then simmered in a soy based broth with chicken thighs, or julienned and served "sashimi" style with either wasabi-joyu or a mentaiko sauce. Of course nothing can beat yamakake, whether on rice or maguro, my 2 favorites.

I have made the flourless orange cake and it is really wonderful. I was sent the recipe from a friend and since then have been seeing it pop up in a bunch of books I own, including Nigella's, Claudia Roden's and one more book, but I can't remember which one (maybe Donna Hay?) I have also made the flourless cake from the Best Recipe with good results. Congratulations on your weight loss!

I occasionally use a garlic press depending on the texture/flavor that I am going for. I owned one many many years ago when I started cooking, but through it away when I read many frowning on their use. I picked it up again 2 years ago after the Cook's Illustrated guys gave me the go ahead! A lot of their recipes even call for garlic put through a press. And it sure is a time saver!

I grew up eating Italian Sausages, usually home-made ones made by my Italian grandmother or her neighbor. These were wonderful sausages filled with fennel seeds, garlic and other spices and the ones my mom bought from the store tasted similar (though not quite as good! ) I just found Italian sausages for the first time in Japan and as I was looking through various cookbooks on ways to cook them I noticed they all specified sausages with out any spices added. Quite surprised I ran to my freezer to look at my sausages and sure enough no fennel seeds, no garlic, nothing! How can you make sausage without fennel seeds? Is this just some regional differences in Italian sausages? What happened to the fennel?

My MIL gave me 2 large cans of corned beef, I have to admit I have never eaten this before and actually don't even care for the real stuff. Are there any good uses for this? I am too cheap to just through it out.

I will use the shortened versions or acronyms only when I am typing, because I am so darn slow! When speaking I never say veggies or EVOO or S & P (salt and pepper), etc because i don't like the way it sounds. but when you are a really slow typer.........................

It is quite common in Japan to mix it with either mayo or kimchi, neither of which I have any intention of trying!

Tuesday dinner: Leftover Mulligatawny soup from yesterday pork and napa cabbage "casserole" -- thinly sliced (raw) pork belly was rubbed with salt, pepper, and garlic then layered into a casserole with napa leaves, cut in large pieces, a couple bay leaves, then drizzled with EVOO and baked. This dish, from a Japanese magazine, was even better than I imagined it would be yaki-imo (whole roasted Japanese sweet potato) eaten fresh of the truck! Sort of like an ice cream truck in the US, the yaki-imo man drives around@in a small truck with the sweet potatoes roasting on a bed of charcoal in the back. Unbelievably good! Japanese rice

Ah, but 220V? Looking for this? http://www.rakuten.co.jp/masanios/431675/4.../433696/433728/

Why limit yourself to just one? I use both!

Monday night dinner: fried panko breaded cod served with steamed broccoli. lemon wedges and a homemade tartar sauce (hard boiled egg, shallots, and green olives) mulligatawny soup(embarrassed to admit it but I pulled this recipe off of one of those copycat recipe sites and was actually for the Soup Nazi's mulligatawny from Seinfeld) --quite disappointing, though I don't know what I was expecting. I have to admit hough that my pickiest eater had 4 helpings. Becasue I made so much it is probably going to be prominent in tonight's meal as well. Japanese rice