torakris

Oh god, no. that would have taken quite a bit of time. I was actually at home recovering from a stomach bug and my friend brought it over for me.

Pizza-La--I've never had any good pizzas from Pizza-La, and that includes their basic cheese! I do like the Korean BBQ one from pizza hut, on occasion, but I usually stick with basic pizza with pepperoni and pineapple. ← I agree with everything Rona just said! Pizza-La is definitely the worst pizza I have had here. I too am a fan of the Korean BBQ pizza but tend to prefer it a little more simple, pepperoni and pineapple is a match made in heaven. By the way, I just received the new Pizza Hut flyer and it looks like they have brought the salmon and ikura pizza back again this fall.

I am not a huge fan of the loco moco's gravy sauce, however this is actually quite hard to find in Japan. Most of the loco moco's I have eaten in Japan have more of a teriyaki like soy based sauce. I make a bastardized version of loco moco at home with ground pork and a teriyaki sauce made with some pineapple juice, I often add either pineapple or avocado to the dish instead of an egg. A couple days ago at Denny's I had an interesting cross between a loco moco and bibimbap, it is called a mazemaze bibimbap hamburger patty. Rice is served in one dish and the hamburger and namul are served in another, here is a picture. It is actually quite good.

Seijo Ishii? The Seijo Ishii here by my house in Yokohama always has chives...

I bought 3 of these.... They are in the freezer as I type, I did manage to remove the puzzle and star shaped ones yesterday but it wasn't easy. I was hoping we can use them for making homemade gummies or jello shapes, do you think this will work?

Chris, That is just genius. I have been drying my sausages on cookie racks on my dining room table but that means we have to eat our dinner that day on the coffee table in the living room... Just as I assumed Ikea was packed, I did manage to find everything I was looking for though and we did have some planning how we would design the rooms if we ever bought a house. I do plan on going back maybe next month during a weekday with friends so I can look around a little more carefully. Next on my list are the laundry rack and some wine glasses.

In Japanese the product/brand name of Yakult is pronounced yakuruto ヤクルト and yogurt is pronounced youguruto ヨーグルト (it is a long yo).

The pepsi had a sort of non-descript flavor, it wasn't really orange tasting which is why the orange color threw me off. If I had drunk it straight from the can I never would have known it was orange. I was sipping it really slowly trying to figure it out, the closest I came up up with just cheap generic cola flavor...

Sometimes bentos are almost too pretty to eat...

Some drinks I have had recently. Pepsi Carnival, I wasn't prepared for the orange color! Fanta's Loves Berry--this was really good and I as I type I am drinking this one a lemon tea, I am worried that this was a summer product I missed. This was really good but I found it at a drug store for 75yen (half of the 150 it normally would be) so i have a feeling it is the last of the stock.....

New Pocky Goka (5 fruit) flavor the 5 fruits are peach, apricot, chestnut, jujube/red date, and Japanese sour plum not bad, but far from my favorite

New Pocky Goka (5 fruit) flavor the 5 fruits are peach, apricot, chestnut, jujube/red date, and Japanese sour plum not bad, but far from my favorite

yuzu flavored gummies they had no flavor at all...

Yakult is Japanese....

I am glad to hear all of this. I am not really in the market for new pans and knives but is so easy to get tempted by low prices... I will just close my eyes and keep on walking. I am definitely going to pick up some ceramic pieces, I have been wanting to replace my coffee cups/mugs for sometime now. I also need a bunch of plastic cups for kids. these are really hard to find in Japan for some reason. I think I will get that gratin dish as well, the one I have been using for 10 years isn't going to make it much longer and is just too small for our family of 5. I will also be checking out the food.

Ikea has come to Japan. Store #2 opened not far from my house yesterday, I have been browsing the catalogue that mysteriosly appeared in my mailbox a couple weeks ago and have been circling items I am interested in. The prices on some of this stuff just seems to good to be true, especially for Japan. Some of the things I am interested in are various dishes, coffee mugs, glassware and silverware. Also roasting pans, gratin dishes and some cute ice cube trays. I would love to hear other's experiences with Ikea products, good and bad. Any product recommendations? Anything I should avoid?

For more on Japanese cheesecakes check out the Western style sweets thread starting with this post.

That looks huge! I see there is a spoon with it, did you drink it like a soup or actually pick it up and sip it? I know the cafes you are talking about, they are completely different from my image of a kissaten, which are increasingly harder and harder to find. This seems to be the new trend popping up in my neigborhood, they seem to be either Asian ones focusing on teas or more western style coffee and cakes. I would love to have a more Japanese style one around here.

I prepare joubi sai frequently but not for their intended use. They are usually eaten on the day they are made, though sometimes I will save some out for bentos the next day. If I cooked Japanese food 7 days a week I would probably prepare these in large portions much more often. Most meals in my MIL's house consist mostly of store bought joubi sai to which she adds rice, soup a main and a salad. She can have 2 to 4 joubi sai on the table at one time and she will pull them out everyday (breakfast, lunch and dinner) until they are gone.

The more processed it is the less fiber it is going to contain, the white and flavored versions are going to have the least fiber of all. I couldn't find too much info (and I don't have any konnyaku in the house at the moment) but a couple sites gave 2.2% fiber (per 100g) for konnyaku made from the powder and 3% (per 100g) for that made with fresh yams (potatoes/tubers/whatever you want to call it)

I know nothing about live cultures exploding but count me in as another fan of Japanese yogurt. I ate almost no yogurt when I lived in the US so my first experiences with it was in Japan. Now on trips back to the US, american yogurt tastes so awful to me I don't buy it except for cooking purposes.

I have merged this thread with a previously existing one, so you might want to start at the top again. As to the green tea question, remember the baby could have been on a bottle for a couple years, I have seen 3 year olds with bottles.... Many babies start off on non-caffeinated teas such as hoji-cha or mugi-cha before they are even 1. Though I didn't give them green tea as infants, I honestly can't remember the first time they drank it, my oldest almost devoured my matcha ice cream cone when she was just 7 months old.

I too am curious as to how these words are usually used. Since I watch less than an hour of Japanese tv a week I don't hear them much. I have never heard my friends refer to restaurants like this and though I regulary read cooking/restaurant magazines (in Japanese) I can't recall seeing these words. Is it pretty much just used for ranking purposes? Are the prices given for without drinks?

Cooking doritos??? I guess they have to find a reason to charge more for them...

I love the idea of kimchi in okonomiyaki. I order it in monjyayaki all the time I wonder why I never thought of doing it with okonomiyaki?? My kids would love it too. The teriyaki chicken one looks great as well, I think I am going to need to pull out the hot plate soon..