torakris

I think in general children in Japan eat a lot better (healthier) than children in the US. On my recent trip to the US I was surprised that in almost any restaurant I took my kids into the offerings were the same, hamburger, cheese burger, grilled cheese. After their second hamburger lunch we started ordering from the regular menu.

I copied my post from the School lunch thread and am posting it here as well, what do you think? Do you think it would be better if they had a choice? Do you think this helpd them grow into less picky adults? I love the school lunch sysytem in Japan. Everyone eats the exact same food, there are no choices, if you finish everyhting on your plate you are allowed to have seconds or whatever you would like. The monthly menu is the same for the entire city, so you know what every child in Yokohama is eating and the amounts are controlled as well. The menu lists calories and protein as well as every single ingredient that goes into the making of the food. All of the food is made hot at the school and served in the classrooms by the students themselves. here is a sample of next week's menu: Mon-- bread rolls, milk, deep fried chikuwa (a fish paste product) with sesame seeds, suiton (a soup with pork, potatoes, daikon, carrots, komatsuna- similar to spinach), peach jelly (100%) fruit Tues-- white rice, milk, mabodofu (tofu and ground pork dish), chinese salad made with bean sprouts, cucumbers, carrots and peaunts with slighly spicy dressing, mandarin orange Weds-- raisan bread, milk, spaghetti with meat sauce (with onions, carrots, celery, and mushroms), daikon, cucumber, carrot salad, apple Thurs-- white rice, milk, sukiyaki style braised dish with beef, shirataki, tofu, chrysanthemum (sp?), and scallions, napa cabbage ohitashi, and for dessert something called ougiage which I have never heard of before. Fri--milk, egg salad sandwiches, vegetable soup with pork, bacon, potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, and komatsuna, ice cream They use no instant products all of the food is made from scratch, for example the vegetable soup lists pork bones, water, soy sauce, salt and pepper in the ingredient list as well. The parents are also invited at least once a quarter to come and "sample" the lunches, I actually found them to be quite good! But what is most important is that the kids like it and eat it. The lunches at my second daughter's private kindergarten/preschool are even better! But those come from a private catering company. The following link shows children serving and eating kyushoku (school lunch) http://www.e-village.jp/earth-c/html/cultu...tml/000018.html Edited for link

As a mother of three grown children, my experience is that children don't as yert have enough experience to be able to have preferences. Only obsessions and fetishes. I like the Japanese system. But Jin, didn't you have vegetable kids and rice or past a kids and eat everything kids? Kids that love salads and kids that love burgers? I recall a very strong preference for certain food from a very early age..when kid # 3 was born, I thought I knwe how much Gerber's pears to buy..but not compared to the other kids..he ATE 3x the amount of fruit, and at age 12 yrs. 6mo continues to prefer to start his day with an orange, a banana and some seasonal fruit 9 currently into pears) ...and then, perhaps, oatmeal or slices of toast. Picky kid #2 never liked food. and continues to think any food is suspect, unless it is beige, low fat and carbo or protein ( rice, poached chix, pancakes, bagels, white rolls, turkey breast, white land o lakes cheese.) I don't know, maybe I indulg3ed them...but itseemed like their preferences were so distinct from such an early age. Kim I agree with you that most kids are born with certain food habits. I am not yet sure about my son's habits yet, he just turned two and it currently surviving on gallons of milk and a couple of bites a food a day. My two daughters on the other hand are as different as light and day. My older one (7) would survive on junk food it I would let her while the second one probably eats better than I do. At the supermarket yesterday, my oldest daughter went straight to the snack food aisle want me to buy her various things while daughter #2 went to the fresh deli and really wanted the hijiki (type of seaweed) salad with edamame and carrots. As a child I ate almost no vegetables, so I guess we do change. I really like the school lunches here because, since the kids the all eat the same thing they actually eat it! I guess it is a kind of peer pressure, they don't want to be the only one not eating. My oldest daughter eats stuff at school that she would never touch at home and the only thing on the lunch menu that she won't eat is natto (fermented soybeans).

Panko in soba or udon? I have never seen that before, are you sure it isn't the agedama, the little fried bits that are left behind when making tempura? I can't imagine eating panko in soba.

It is nice to see that in some places school lunches are taken a turn for the better. I remember lunches at my high school (private catholic girl's school) being absolutely disgusting. I love the school lunch sysytem in Japan. Everyone eats the exact same food, there are no choices, if you finish everyhting on your plate you are allowed to have seconds or whatever you would like. The monthly menu is the same for the entire city, so you know what every child in Yokohama is eating and the amounts are controlled as well. The menu lists calories and protein as well as every single ingredient that goes into the making of the food. All of the food is made hot at the school and served in the classrooms by the students themselves. here is a sample of next week's menu: Mon-- bread rolls, milk, deep fried chikuwa (a fish paste product) with sesame seeds, suiton (a soup with pork, potatoes, daikon, carrots, komatsuna- similar to spinach), peach jelly (100%) fruit Tues-- white rice, milk, mabodofu (tofu and ground pork dish), chinese salad made with bean sprouts, cucumbers, carrots and peaunts with slighly spicy dressing, mandarin orange Weds-- raisan bread, milk, spaghetti with meat sauce (with onions, carrots, celery, and mushroms), daikon, cucumber, carrot salad, apple Thurs-- white rice, milk, sukiyaki style braised dish with beef, shirataki, tofu, chrysanthemum (sp?), and scallions, napa cabbage ohitashi, and for dessert something called ougiage which I have never heard of before. Fri--milk, egg salad sandwiches, vegetable soup with pork, bacon, potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, and komatsuna, ice cream They use no instant products all of the food is made from scratch, for example the vegetable soup lists pork bones, water, soy sauce, salt and pepper in the ingredient list as well. The parents are also invited at least once a quarter to come and "sample" the lunches, I actually found them to be quite good! But what is most important is that the kids like it and eat it. The lunches at my second daughter's private kindergarten/preschool are even better! But those come from a private catering company.

The flavor is more simalr to fresh breadcrumbs, a little softer and not quite as crunchy.

Kentaro is about as far from the Smap guys as you can get. He is very quiet and reserved and you rarely seee him on TV. He is a single guy in his mid to late 20's (my guess) and most of his recipes are simple but good food for either one or two people. He has a lot of "one dish" meals like donburis, curries, sauteed meats with simple sides. One of my favorites in called Chinese tuna salad : In a bowl combine 2 tablespoons cashew nuts 1 tablespoon each of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce then add: 1/2 block sashimi style tuna 1 stick of celery, thinly sliced on the diagonal 1/2 Japanese scallion, thinly sliced on the diagonal In a small pan heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of sesame oil until just starting to smoke, remove from heat and pour over the salad. Serve immediately.

I buy almost everything from Penzey's. I try not to let them go for more than a year, but I am cheap and occasionally will hang on to them a little longer. I have stopped buying in bulk, except for those I use alot (peppercorns, cumin ground and seed, coriander ground and seed). Penzey's offers various sizes, so those that I am experimenting with or use very infrequently I buy the smallest size. I do grow my own herbs , but I don't have a very good green thumb. Sometimes they do well sometimes they don't. Mint is all over the backyard, planted by a previous tenant, and can be used all year round. Come spring I will purchase seedlings of basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, tarragon, shiso and lemongrass.

Once I bought the tellicherry from Penzey's I have never gone back. For white I use their Indonesian Muntok and am very happy.

Sounds like fun! Think I will give it a try too.

I have been to 2 Costco's in Japan and one in Cleveland. One in Japan (Chiba) is a two sory while the other one and the one in Cleveland are only one story, but there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in floor space. I was quite surprised that all of the books in the Japnese Costco were in English, not too good for the Japanese people but great for me. I love their wine selection, some great deals there. Their non food items seems to be converted into yen directly at the current rates, making them seem very cheap. But the food items are priced higher, making them cheaper then buying at an Intenational market here, but quite a bit more than what I would apy in the US. The meat prices are similar to Japanese stores except they are sold in MUCH bigger chunks. They have great deals on fish and sushi. The snack bars offer only pizza and hotdogs. I like the apple pie, but the muffins were the most disgusting things I had ever eaten, even my kids wouldn't touch them!

I use it mostly for my two favorite fried foods, tonkatsu and ebifurai (deep fried shrimp) I also use it in any recipe that calls for bread crumbs, any type of fried cutlets, meatloaf, gratin toppings, etc. If the recipe call for finer crumbs, I just put them into a ziplock and smash them. In Japan there is alo what is called namapanko ( fresh or "raw" panko) these aren't hard and dry they are soft just like freshly made bread crumbs. I prefer these although they have a much shorter shelf life.

Is this book in English or Japanese? The only Japanese cookbooks I own are Shizuo Tsuji's Japanese Cooking a simple art and Practical Japanese cooking. At one time I owned about 15 but they were all basic cookbooks and covered the same things. I still really want Nobu's book as I am more interested in "newer" food than the traditional stuff. Since I read Japanese I prefer books in Japanese. I really like this guy here that just goes by his first name Kentaro, sort of like Jamie Oliver but not nearly as annoying. My favorite Japanese author is Makiko Fujino (who actually lives down the street from me!) she cooks most European style foods, but her Japanese stuff is wonderful as well.

I love dried shrimp and use them often in salads, stir-fries, rice dishes etc. I usually buy Chinese ones and have never noticed instructions like that before. Just last month I was making shumai and a sticky rice dish at a Malaysian friend's house and she pulled out these huge dried shrimp she had brought back from Malaysia and in addition to adding them to the rice we also muched on them straight from the back. They were by far the best dried shrimp I had ever tasted. I wonder why your bag would say that, maybe there are different types....................? Sorry to be of no help!

Last night: Chicken thighs braised with sherry, sherry vinegar, and tomatoes (great recipe from New Way to Cook) roasted potatoes, carrots and garlic avocado chunks tossed with lime juice, a very nice EVOO, salt and white pepper served on a bed of lettuce A very nice dinner using up the last of everything in the house!

I have seen cookbooks telling you to store vanilla beans in sugar to make vanilla sugar. What do you use vanilla sugar for? And Rachel, how long could you store your vanilla sugar for? And does anyone know if you can use the vanilla bean that is in the bottle of Penzey's vanilla extract? If I can get it out that is.

I hope so! But honestly, the pediatrician has been saying, "Don't worry, he'll get bored and his body will crave new foods than bagels, pasta and grilled chicken" ...EVERY year! He won't eat chocolate, even won't eat certain brands of potato chips ( whcih are on the short list of acceptable foods) because they are "too salty". His diet is SO bland, it is amazing. I have a 22 year old sister who only eats two foods: grilled cheese (breakfast and dinner) and macaroni and cheese (lunch) all are washed down with deit cherrry coke. I don't know how she has survived this long! Last night's dinner was leftover recreated: Chapche (Korean noodle dish) was turned in chapche deep fried gyoza roasted sweet potatoes were turned into soup and all the left over veggies in the fridge were made into a stirfry with a black bean sauce

Living in Japan and having three small kids I eat this a lot! I actually prefer it as is, but my husband (who is Japanese) likes to mess around with it. He adds anything he can find in the refrigerator, such as pineapple jam, tonkatsu sauce, ketchup, and coconut milk, usually all at the same time! The ending result is actually quite good, but if I watch him doing it I have a hard time eating it. I guess I like to eat it as is, because that is Japanese curry, by adding various spices it becomes and "Indian" curry and adding coconut milk makes it "Thai". I do like it in different ways, ie: curry udon, or ladled over tonkatsu. I also usually serve it ladled over finely shredded cabbage. A couple years back I bought a Curry cookbook (Japanese publication) to give me some ideas and I do use it occasionally but I always return to the basic. Some examples from the book: Colorful curry-- beef chunks with broccoli, red and yellow peppers, pearl onions and mushrooms "Chinese" curry-- chicken livers, baby bok choy, broccoli, onions, garlic, ginger and in addition to the boxed curry roux, star anise, cloves, oyster sauce, tenmenjian, and tobanjian. Seafood curry-- squid, shrimp, scallops, clams, onions, garlis, red peppers, and white wine. Tofu curry-- tofu, onions, shimeji mushrooms, eggplant , garlic and ginger then garnished with shiso. Natto and ground beef curry-- no explanation needed. Kabocha curry-- kabocha, pork tenderloin, onions, red and green peppers, coconut milk, nampla and basil. Then there are the seasonal currries using the veggies that are in season. Spring-- Soramame (like fava beans?), asparagus, peas Summer--tomato, kabocha, eggplant, okra Fall-- satoimo, sweet potato, mushrooms Winter-- lotus root, turnips, burdock root, broccoli, cauliflower

My friend and I split a Penzey's order of spices and I now have 8 vanilla beans. Because the beans we find in Japan are very expensive and very bad quality, I sort of want to hang on to these as long as possible. What is the shelf life of vanilla beans and what is the best way to store them?

Of the 35 cookbooks I picked up on my month long trip to the US, Babbo is by far the most gorgeous and I want to make practically everything in the book! The problem I have is almost none of the recipes can be made with out a trip to grocery and sometimes more than one. Most of the meats and even some of the fish I have no access to here in Japan and honestly I would have a hard time finding back in Cleveland as well. This isn't going to stop me from trying it though, I will just have to come up good susbstitutions.

Gingerbread would hit the spot for me too! Those will come after I make Snowangel's burnt sugar cupcakes from the cupcake thread.

Jin, That sounds great! I have only baked pasta a couple of times (usually leftover) and always find it bland. I've done it with and without the ricotta and prefer it with, but like the idea of serving it on the side. As of today I have started keeping a little notebook next to the computer, so I can jot down recipe ideas so I don't forget them. I always think, surely I won't forget that one................

cherries followed very closely by raspberries and blackberries (but only those picked fresh out of my dad's garden!)

The best abalone I have eaten was at onsen hotel in Atami, Japan. Part of a kaiseki dinner, each guest was given an abolone about the size of a man's palm and it was cooked just briefly at the table on a personal hibachi, then sliced and served. The only way to describe it was juicy, it was actually bursting with juice! Incredible, absolutely incredible!

Anna, That is such a great idea! I actually do something very similar with a friend of mine. We both love to cook ( and to eat!) however between us we have 8 kids uder the age of six, so preparing "gourmet" meals for dinner is really out of the question. Although the kids are adventurous eaters there is the time and money factor. Soooo, we get together every other Thursday from 9:00 to 2:00 (we each only have one baby at this time) and create a meal. Usually an appetizer or soup, a main dish, possibly a bread, and always a dessert. The person who is hosting that week decides the menu and does the shopping (we split the cost of ingredients). Sometimes we stick with one cuisine or times we focus on one particular chef or cookbook. It is really a lot of fun to browse through cookbooks and look for recipes, I have even pulled recipes from egullet! We usually fax a copy of the recipes to the other person so we can both read them through and have an idea of how to proceed and in what order.