torakris

I have been through three pregnancies and have three very healthy children, I didn't need to give up alcohol or sodas because I don't drink either to begin with. I gave up coffee because my body refused it, I couldn't even stand the smell. I ate raw fish, meats and eggs but only when I knew their source and was sure of their freshness. If I had been living anywhere except Japan I may have avoided these more. I was pregnant with my son (now 5) I was talking to a Chinese friend and she told me there were quite a few vegetables and herbs pregnant women are told to avoid. One is bamboo shoots because they say it can cause contractions. When I was 8 days overdue with my son I went out to a Chinese restaurant and ordered a dish full of bamboo shoots, 4 hours later I was holding my son....

Well Thanksgiving is over... Nov. 23rd is a national holiday in Japan so many foreigners I know here celebrate Thanksgiving on this day, I am also 13+ hours ahead of most of you. All of my 3 dishes were a success! That wild rice salad from recipeGullet was incredible and everyone asked for the recipe. I added some chopped up persimmons as well as the apples because I was swamped with them. The gratin also had everyone asking for the recipe though I thought it would have been better with real sweet potatoes instead of the Japanese very pale fleshed variety. My pumpkin pie was also a winner, I adapted a recipe from Cook's Illustrated's Best Recipes using Japanese "raw" black sugar and changing the quantities of spices. My one friend was also going to make a pie and she had done the crust but didn't have time to finish it, so one of the other women said she would do the filling part for her. She just followed the recipe on the label but added no sugar, because SHE is on a no sugar diet! Everyone was quite surprised when they ate it as she didn't tell anyone she had left the sugar out, it tasted eating the pumpkin straight out of the can...

Are you going to use Japanese sweet potatoes? Or do you have a mysterious source for North American-style sweet potatoes? I've not yet found a source for them, but am wary of using Japanese sweet potatoes. ← We had our Thanksgiving party last night and this dish was great! I used the Japanese (very pale fleshed) sweet potatoes and it worked out fine except the ones on top turned quite brown, even though I soaked them for 30 minutes before cooking. Everyone really loved the dish, I think it would be better with American style sweet potatoes though.

I must have missed this post originally..... I don't know too much about either ramen or tempura as they are not foods I go out to eat much. What about a place like the ramen museum in Shin Yokohama? You can order the small sizes and get to sample a couple types. What kind of breakfast are you looking for, Japanese? The Japanese don't really eat breakfast out much and even a couple of the 24 hour restaurants (think Denny's) that I have been too don't even have a breakfast menu... Most coffee shops and fast food places won't open until after 7:00am. I am sure the Shiodome area has some good bakeries, the Japanese bakery or panya-san is a wonderful way to start your day. If you are interested I will see if I can find something close to your hotel. Definitely head out to Kappabashi! You can't possibly leave Japan without picking up some plastic food samples. Staying in Shiodome you are quite close to both Kappabashi and Tsukiji so it is quite convenient. As to other things to see, what kind of things are you interested in? architecture? museums? shopping? By the way, for a great site on figuring out the trains check out Hyperdia at the top left of the screen it says English, click on that and then type in the names of the stations you departing from and want to arrive at and it gives you times, prices, etc and at least 5 options. I use it anytime I take the trains.

I don't know about all of Japan but no highschools in Yokohama have school lunches. None of the jr. highs either, there are talks to bring kyushoku in jr. highs in Yokohama though and I hope it happens before my daughter starts... I know some other parts of Japan have school lunches at the jr. high level but I have never heard of high schools having them. It is a bento lunch from home for these kids.

Regular visitors to the Australia/New Zealand board may have noticed it seems to be changing daily... We are working on moving some stuff around, pinning some important threads, etc, etc in an effort to make this forum the place to talk about food in Australia and New Zealand on the web. Unfortunately it is too big of a job to be done in one day so it may look like things are disappearing but they aren't really they are just being merged/moved around. In about a week you will be able to see the new and improved Australia/New Zealand Forum. If you notice any threads that look odd, seem to be missing something or just have any general comments/suggestions let me know.

Hi Kris, I realize you are going to be very busy but when it's convenient for you could you elaborate with a recipe or how you make that sweet potato gratin???? It just sounds so much more together and interesting than the usual sweet potato mush business we make y'know? Thanks ← I am going to attempt the sweet potato with chipolte gratin talked about in the sweet potato thread starting with this post. The wild rice salad I found in recipeGullet: Wild Rice Salad by chantal

Having read this thread after coming directly from the crispy rice thread, I must have misread your original post.... I didn't realize you said rice krispie snack and in my head I was thinking crispy rice, something like an onigiri. Umeboshi in rice krispie snack???!! were they about the size of raisins? I can't really think of any umeboshi I have eaten that were the consistency of raisins unless they were dried ones that had been rehydrated. Did they say they were umeboshi? could they have been kukonomi? kukonomi these are often used in sweets here, though usually those that are Chinese in origin, sorry but for the life of me I can't remember their English name....

yeah butter is expensive too.... (about $3 for 3/4 of a pound...) but since I will save money on the cream... The sushi is cheaper over here though!

Umeboshi come in many kinds. I noticed you said water-packed, these ones are probably crunchier and quite sour. Most of the umeboshi used in onigiri are of the softer type and look like this These can vary in taste from mouthpuckering sour/saltiness to sweet as candy. What you will want to look for is the salt content. This is almost always displayed right on the package, even if you don't read Jaapnese all you have to do is look for the percentage mark. The package above says 6%, this is about the least salty they come so you will want to look for something around this. The higher the percentage the saltier they are, I honestly don't know how people can eat some of those 13-14% ones.

I really want to make this recipe! Do you think it would be as good if I used half and half? well actually I can't get half and half either but I make regular potato gratins (that calls for half and half) with half milk and half cream. Here in my little part of Yokohama 200ml (3/4 cup) of cream will cost $4, so 4 cups is a little out of my budget....

I don't remember, it was about 12 years ago, I just remember they couldn't use them.

I am so jealous! Obviously Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in Japan and I only went through the hassle my first 2 years here. This year a group of foreign friends decided to get together and have a big (13 adults 8 children) party. My friend is hosting and I told her I would bring an apple pie, a sweet potato gratin and a wild rice salad, this morning I received the following e-mail from her: (names have been xxxx'd out, though trust me none of them read here....) Other dishes: xxxx and I bought 2 turkeys today at Costco (they only had smallish ones), cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy. xxxx is bringing appetizer type things--dip and chips, and veggies; and a refried bean type spread in a flour tortilla. xxxx is bringing a green salad and another (salad?) dish. And I will make another pumpkin pie. (We bought a caramel apple pie at Costco today.) Oh, yeah. We have to make our stuffing from scratch, since Costco didn't have mix. So we got some instructions and will try. Maybe I should volunteer for the stuffing as well.... I like how she calls it instructions instead of a recipe, these are really wonderful people unfortunately they don't cook.

I had the same problems in the US... I would ask (the non-Asian grocer) to slice it paper thin and I would get something 1/4 inch. They were trying to slice it in a non-frozen state though, which is next to impossible. I think it needs to be completely frozen. Also he told me the meat slicers in the meat department weren't set up to slice thinner than that but the ones at the deli counter are but for health reasons obviously they can't use them. I found I just had to spend more money at an Asian market where they had a variety in the frozen section including specific cuts for shabu shabu, sukiyaki and even shougayaki (a pork dish with a slightly thicker cut).

also kurozatou/kokutou thread and wasanbon thread

I use granulated sugar in all my American recipes and the regular Japanese sugar in Japanese recipes that don't specify granulated. If I have to substitute the Japanese white sugar for granulated because I am out of it then I pack it in the cup just like you would do for brown sugar. The Japanese brown sugar in called sanontou 三温糖、I use it in place of light brown sugar and dark brown sugar. I have noticed someplaces sell a product called "brown sugar" (in katakana) but I am not sure how this differs from sanontou. I have never had a probelm or noticed a difference in flavor when I use sanontou in place of brown sugar.

Do you remember what it was that was different? Texture? Flavour? I made my first batch with butter, since I wasn't able to make it to Costco over the weekend. Making relatively small cookies, I was able to get 102 cookies. Minus the two I ate, I have just about 200 more to make! I think I may just do the butter thing, rather than risk losing my reputation as a decent baker...either that or I'll just give the cookies to one grade (<150 students) rather than both the grades I teach. And eat the leftovers myself! ← It was a textural difference. It was also quite a long time ago so I can't really describe it any more but I remember thinking I WILL NEVER do that again.

The downside is that they are probably not as suited for double-duty when making a hot pot (nabe). ← no they aren't.. this is the main reason I think most homes don't have one

There was some discussion on salmon and parasites in the making sushi thread, starting with this post. In my local supermarkets there is always salmon sashimi for sale but it is always of the imported, farmed type. We just recently passed the big season for the Japanese wild sake (salmon) and I can't recall seeing any of it sold as sashimi. I did eat it as ruibe (luibe) though, this is wild salmon that is actually eaten while still semi-frozen..

the traditional pan ued for shabu shabu looks like this. Not everyone has this in their home though, at my house we use a regular donabe-- the pan used for most other nabes. Here is a picture of a donabe along with a recipe for shabu shabu in English. Sometimes I don't feel like pulling out the donabe so I just use my Dutch oven, the most important thing though is that you have a portable heat source. These dishes, especially shabu shabu, should be cooked at the table over a low flame. Every Japanese home will have one of these they run on casettes that look like this

my oldest daughter, soon to be 10 Breakfast = English muffins Lunch = cheeseburger Dinner = mashed potatoes, nothingelse... 2nd daughter soon to be 8 Breakfast = bread with nutella Lunch = curry rice Dinner = a rice dish cooked with thinly sliced beef and scallions that my MIL makes Son, he will 5 on Weds Breakfast = pancakes Lunch = curry rice Dinner = meatballs We are having a birthday party for my son tonight (the cake is in the oven ) and when I asked him last week what he wanted for dinner he said meatballs, hamburgers and chicken. I am making Greek style tomatoes with bulgur and spinach in a tomato sauce...

Was it actually labeled as shabu shabu? Like prasantrin said I have never seen some of those ingredients in shabu shabu especially fish balls. It sounds more like a chirinabe (fish and seafood hotpot). Also with shabu shabu the broth is normally made of just water and a piece of kombu (kelp), if it is a stronger flavored broth it is most likely a nabe. In shabu shabu the foods are cooked very quickly thus the shabu shabu (swish swish) name, this the sound the food makes as you swish it a couple times through the water. The food usually meats but sometimes fish are sliced paper thin so that they cook in just a few seconds. The food should never be chunked. I love shabu shabu and do it quite a bit at home, when the price of beef permits me too....

and if they all did switch to "real" chopsticks, then the art of chopstick wrapper origami would fade away.....

You know until I read this thread I never gave a thought to the kind of chopsticks I used in a restaurant before.... I actually had to really think about it before I realized that you are right and I don't think I have ever used "real" chopsticks in any Japanese restaurant in or outside of Japan. In Chinese restaurants in Japan you will often be given the big, slippery plastic ones to use, in cheaper places you will even pick your own from a holder on the table. Jason has pointed out all the points above and like he said I doubt any restaurants owned by Japanese will change. When I married my (Japanese) husband the first thing my MIL did was take me to the nearest department store to buy me my own chopsticks, tea cup and rice bowl. She even bought new ones for my husband as well since he was entering a new phase of his life. 10 years later whenever we enjoy a meal at my in-laws house the chopsticks, rice bowl and tea cup are set out for us.

I know quite a few Japanese who use the cake margarine in their sweets. I tried it a couple times as a substitute for butter (in recipes that I make quite a bit) but they didn't turn out the same. I actually have a tub of that hotel margarine in the refrigerator we use it only for toast, I never thought to use it in cooking.... I would go with cake but you may have to play around with it a bit.