Jump to content

torakris

eGullet Society staff emeritus
  • Posts

    11,029
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by torakris

  1. I couldn't bake cakes in the first oven I had here in Japan so I made cupcakes out of everything. Now I have a new oven that bakes like a charm and I still make cupcakes all the time. My favorites right now are the coconut ones from the Barefoot Contessa, very, very good! Snowangel, I think I am going to give yours a try today they sound great!
  2. torakris

    Throwing it away

    I have such limited cupboard space that I have to clean it regularly. When i do notice something close to or just past an expiration date, I pull it out and keep it on the counter. I HATE having things on my counter so that way I will use it up as soon as possible. I have no problems throwing some things away, but I tend to hang onto spices for longer than I should, beans too. I buy way too many beans and they end up on the shelves for years. I end up using most of them when blind baking pie/tart crusts!
  3. The food at Japanese sporting events is typical Japanese street food. Yakisoba, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, french fries, hot dogs, fried chicken, beer and lots more beer. Vendors also walk through the seats selling popcorn, ice cream, other snacks, and beer. Sometimes you will see inarizushi (vinegared rice in tofu packets), other types of noodles and bentos. I am assuming it is the same for most sports although I personally have only been to (American) football games, I have no interest in baseball or soccer. A friend offered us tickets to the past World Cup (the stadium is less than 30 minutes from our house) and my husband and I turned them down!
  4. I hadn't been to a ball game in the US in years and last summer decided to see the Indians play the Mariners at the new Jacob's Field in Cleveland. I am not a big baseball fan but my (Japanese) husband really wanted to see Ichiro, so during the came I was wandering around the stadium looking at all the food. I ended up coming back with a huge container of nachos piled high with jalapenos, but was quite surprised at the variety of food that was offered. Sushi was the biggest shocker though, They don't even sell that at stadiums in Japan!
  5. torakris

    Dinner! 2003

    Jin, that sounds great! How do you make your miso dipping sauce?
  6. Thanks to everyone for educating me! I had no idea these little flat rice cakes were even used in Chinese cooking. I had never seen or even heard of them before! I usually used the Korean ones and they always went into soups or hot pot type of dishes. Now I can stir fry them!?! The possibilities are endless. They used to have these same types of pounded oval rice cakes in Japan after WWII, according to my Father in law the country lived on these for years when food was scarce. Then they disappeared from sight because no one wanted to eat them anymore. I can't rember the Japanese name for them now but just a little while back we had them in a chankonabe (the hot pot of sumo wrestlers) and he told me they are be found in the shitamachi areas of Tokyo. These are the very old areas that seem to survive despite all the change going on around them. He said that people eat these rice cakes for nostalgic reasons now. There is another type of rice cake that is also quite popular in hotpots and these are long cylinder with a hole in the middle, about 5 to 6 inches long. The rice isn't pounded as finely as a normal rice cake so it is a little chunky, I can't remember what these ones are called either, but they are very good.@ they are called kiritanpo, trying to get a picture, be back soon. Back again, here's a link http://www.media-akita.or.jp/akita-shoku/k...kiritanpoE.html
  7. There was a diet fad here in Japan a little while back where you would take the shirataki filaments (long thin white ones) boil them, rinse them, then mince them up to the same size as rice and then mix it into your in 1:1 proportions. I never actually tried it though!
  8. OOOOH, I am so disappointed in everyone!! This is such a wonderful food product and 2 to 3 forms of it are always in my fridge. In Japan we have the thick rectangular blocks in both brown and white as well as shirataki ( the ling thin threads most commonly seen in sukiyaki), ito-konnyaku the "thread" konnyaku a little bit thicker than shirataki, there are also various bite sixed shapes in balls, triangles, and thumb shapes these can be the normal brown color as well as white or green. One of my favorites in konnyaku sashimi, which is usually green and is served raw. Konnyaku is one of the favorite of my 5 year old daughter, the blocks are chunked and tossed into soups or hotpots, or they are grilled and topped with a miso sauce dengaku style. The threads are usually tossed into saucy (usally soy based) dishes. I really like the shirataki tossed with some tarako that has been simmered in a soy based sauce, and the thicker ito-konnyaku are great gently stirfried with tofu and kimchi.
  9. Yep, the little buggers squirm like they're alive - cooool. On top of the okonomi sauce and kewpie mayo, of course. Oh I am starting to drool!! Don't forget a nice heap of benishoga (slivered pickled ginger usually a very deep dark fake pink color). I also sprinkle bonito flakes on yakiudon. Stirfry some meat and/or veggies toss in some boiled udon noodles and a splash of soy sauce, throw onto a plate and throw on a handful of bonito. Dashi has hundreds of uses, I use it mainly for simmering veggies in usually with a little sugar added, and also in dashimakitamago (sweet egg omelette with dashi).
  10. I currently have both types in my pantry, the brown and the white. In Japanese the white ones are called shirokikurage, shiro meaning white and kikurage being wood ear. I don't know if they are really the same thing or not, though they do taste similar.
  11. I have just recently gotten into couscous and now am addicted. My first tries were of Morrocan style tagines on a bed of couscous and I found it bland and felt I could use rice instead since that was much more readily available to me in Japan. THEN I made a couscous salad a la Jamie Oliver and my world has changed! I now make it almost exclusively in salad form either hot or cold. My favorite cold (room temperature) salad is couscous tossed with various grilled veggies, such as zucchini, red peppers, scallions, or asparagus (usually done on a griddle pan). Then dressed with red winevinegar and EVOO dressing, S and P and handful of herbs. My newest "creation" was a warm salad of couscous tossed with roasted cubed butternut squash and slivered scallions tossed with EVOO and lemon juice seasoned with a little chile paste and honey and some mint. It makes such a quick lunch lunch because I can through together the ingredients while the couscous is soaking. In addition to the 10 boxes of regular (?) couscous I brought back with me on my ercent trip to the US, I have 3 bags of Israeli couscous that I can't wait to try.
  12. a small saucer or soy sauce with a dab of karashi (Japanese hot mustard) on the side. Dip in the karashi, then the soy, take a bite and repeat.
  13. Do they have a similar section for blowfish-related deaths? What is the number one killer food in Japan? I think they just do the mochi at the new year because that is when it is most commonly eaten and there are a lot of deaths in a short period of time. They do a similar thing during the 1 week summer holiday with reporting the # of deaths by drowning. Cases of fugu poisoning would be random occurances and would probably make a small note in the newpaper although I never never seen one, of course I don't read the newspaper cover to cover. A couple years back there were quite a few deaths of young children dying from eating a small molded jelly made from konnyaku. The kids would pop into their mouth whole and then get it lodged in their throat, killing them because unlike jello it doesn't dissolve. I have no idea what food causes the most deaths but from what I have seen I think mochi is a much bigger killer than fugu.
  14. torakris

    Timing your cooking

    Ditto I have found that if I don't set a timer I can forget about the food. Just a little while ago I forgot about a lunch I was going to heat up in the microwave. I discovered it when I went to make dinner, the microwave had never been started!
  15. After grilling it brush it with soy sauce and wrap it in a piece of nori. One of my favorite winter snacks! It is also great plopped into a bowl of soup either miso or dashi broth based after grilling. This is known as ozouni the traditional soup eaten in Japan on New Year's morning. The version we always eat is a dashi based broth with thinly sliced beef, daikon, carrots, burdock root and topped with mistuba and a huge piece of grilled mochi in the middle. In Japan the the newspapers during the first week of the new year run daily counts of the # people dying from eating mochi. Usually it ends up being around 15-20 people, you think they would learn to take smaller bites?!!
  16. Since we are on the mustard topic..... What exactly is prepared mustard? I occasionally find this in recipes and have never been sure what was meant. I thought it might be something like French's yellow mustard ( the stuff us Americans put on hot dogs and hamburgers), but I recently ran across it in the Babbo book and really think it might be something else now. Maybe the Coleman's mixed to a paste (and thus "prepared")?
  17. Don't worry too much about not eating real wasabi, most Japanese have never eaten the real stuff either. Occasionally it can be found in supermarkets in Japan (usually about $5 to $6 for a large finger) but it doesn't seem to be a really popular product. Most people are happy with the tubed stuff (which contains real wasabi) rather than grating it themselves. The tubes only cost about $1 to $2. I don't know anyone in Japan who uses the powdered stuff, in fact I think I have only seen it once. I prefer the freshly grated but don't find it worth my time to search it out.
  18. Wow! Great Thread! I have about 85% of what Suvir mentioned, so I guess I am on the right track here. I did my Indian Pantry gradually since I don't cook it as much as someone from Indian would. I started with the bare essentials, similar to what Monica mentioned in her article, and simple recipes. Then when I wanted to make something new, I would buy that extra spice or two that I didn't have. Sorta like a spice a month kind of thing.
  19. I know it is hard to copy restaurant food at home, but I have always had the most trouble with Chinese. I actually gave up for a couple years and stopped cooking it. Then I moved to Japan where I live in Yokohama near a wonderful China town and even have one of those wonderfully high gas burners great for woks, however I was dissapointed in the recipes I was using as I found them very bland. So I stopped cooking it again. A year and a half ago I picked up a book by Nina Simonds called A Spoonful of Ginger (about 60% of the recipes are Chinese and the rest a mix of Japanese, Korean, and S.E. Asian) and have fallen in love with Chinese food all over again. Her foods are actually bursting with flavor and rely heavily on hoison, oyster. and black bean sauces. I don't know how authentic they are but I liked them enough to just pick up two more books by her, Asian Wraps and Asian Noodles. Thanks for the tips and the suggestions of other books, I know I still have a lot of studying ahead.
  20. Cookbooks are the only thing under my tree this year! I told my husband not to buy anything for me,that I would get everything I wanted. I am 2 1/2 weeks into my 4 week trip to the US and have lost count of the # of books I have bought. I stopped at 30! Some of my favorites: Babbo Biba's taste of Italy Asian Wraps and Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds BBQ Bible and the next book on sauces Thai Food by David Thompson Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini (Incredible book!!) Mediterranean Grains and Greens by Paula Wolfert Off the Shelf by Donna Hay The Classic Cookbook (Christopher Kimball's The Cook's Bible and the Dessert Bible in one volume) only $15.99 at Costco Still waiting to get (haven't arrived yet) New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking by Claudia Roden Alton Brown's book A new way to Cook by Sally Schneider Some of the books were bought on ebay and the others were bought at half.com with their $15 off a $50 purchase special. Used it three times with a different sister's name and address each time. I really got some great deals!
  21. My grandfather just passed away 3 months ago and last week my grandmother,mom and dad and mom's three siblings all went down to Florida to close up their house their and bring the stuff up to their house here in Cleveland. A lot of the stuff was given away except for the valuable things acquired on trips abroad and other sentimental type things. My grandmother gave to me 3 cookbooks, Joy of Cooking, Fannie Farmers and one of James Beard. These are the books she used as a newly married woman and as I was paging through them I noticed handwritten remarks next to many recipes. This is something I do as well. I always write comments next to recipes, noting if it was good or bad, suggestions for improvements or serving suggestions. No one else in my family and none of my friends do this. It actually brought tears to my eyes to read the notes, not only do we both write in cookbooks but we write exactly the same things! Some of the writings were recent as well, one of the coconut tarts had a note saying she made it again at Christmas 98 and that the changes she had noted years earlier were just perfect. My grandmother is my greatest inspiration for cooking and I often strive to make something just like Grandma's, now I know I always will be able to.
  22. I guess I am a fan of both. They both have their uses. I always have tons of cans of kidney beans and garbanzos and a can or two of cannellini and black beans. These last two are usually reserved for bean mashes or purees. When making a salad I always go for the dry beans because the texture is not nearly as mushy (especially for the canellini and black beans). You just can't beat the convenience of canned, the only thing I want for my birthday is a pressure cooker!
  23. Check out this link for some information on Kaiseki restaurants in the Tokyo area, reviews follow most of them. http://www.bento.com/search4.php Just tried this url and since it is a search it isn't coming up. just type kaiseki into the search and you willsee the page I tried to get. As to the best...... The few that I have eaten at have all been about the same, the more money you spend the better food you get. Personally I prefer the out of the way ones where each party is in their own little "house" and everything is connected by little walkways and bridges.
  24. torakris

    Dinner! 2002

    Thank you! I love that sauce it goes with everything! It also holds in the refrigerator for quite a while,so it makes a simple lunch when poured on tofu and some raw or steamed veggies. If only I could get my hands on some kaffir lime leaf and some lemongrass here in Cleveland......... Last night's dinner: rigatoni with a cauliflower, pepper (red, orange and yellow) and anchovy sauce baby leaf salad with a simple dressing of oil and vinegar homemade pastries filled with either apricot or cherry jam
×
×
  • Create New...