torakris

here is the food shopping in Tokyo thread that Ohba mentioned

I take it these are sauce packets and you just add the meat? TP do you have a picture (or link to one) of the box? That looks so good. I made rendang once from a recipe I had but since I have never had the real thing I wasn't sure if the taste was even close...

I would like to give a big welcome to our newly appointed specialists for Australia/New Zealand, PCL and shinboners. They have both been doing great work in the forum up until now and I am sure we will see even better things in the future!

I discussed ikura and sujiko on the Daily Nihongo thread a little while ago: 8/31: 筋子 sujiko いくら ikura These are both salmon roe. Sujiko are the eggs that are salted intact in the sac, while the ikura are removed from the sac, separated and then salted. The word ikura is from the Russian word for fish eggs, though in Russia apparently it is used to refer to all fish eggs. In Japan it is only used to refer to the eggs from salmon and trout. While most people ar quite familiar with ikura, sujiko can be quite hard to find outside of Japan. It is also one of those foods that you tend to eat at home, I have rarely seen sujiko on a menu. Sujiko is quite different than ikura in that is is sold whole in the sac and is quite firm and somewhat sticky (for lack of a better word..), it often is cut into bite sized pieces with a knife before eating. Though it is more common to purchase these already seasoned, sometimes you can find , 生筋子　nama sujiko (raw sujiko) and then you can make ikura at home.

Beaches??? People eat oden at the beach?? ← They sure do! I don't think I have been to a beach in Japan that DIDN'T sell oden at one of their rest houses and with a surfer husband I have been to a lot of beaches. Some Japanese enjoying oden on the beach

maze-gohan last night with daikon leaves, ginger, sesame seeds and salt

Two nights ago I soaked a little (ok a lot) more wakame than I needed to last night we had a another wakame salad. This time with tofu and a prepared creamy sesame dressing.

It sounds like nama ikura shoyu-zuke. Shoyu is soy sauce and nama can have a couple meanings such as raw, fresh and even unripe. I don't think I have ever eaten ikura that I would describe as tough or even al dente. Could it have been sujiko?

I have never heard of this but it sounds so good. What is the typical meat served? You also said it comes in two bowls, do you know why? Is the bowl with meat also served with soup? Final question, is this a Malaysian dish or is it popular all over Southeast Asia? I am working on a list of products I want to pick up in Bali and this sounds intriguing...

I came home last night to find the latest Pizza Hut flyer in my mailbox, they have a new shrimp and crab pizza which isn't too out of the ordinary but it was their Black Truffle and Turkey pizza that caught my eye. Black Truffle and Turkey pizza (in the back) It consists of a pizza made with a black truffle sauce and topped with turkey, asparagus, mushrooms, onions, chestnuts, dried cranberries and mayonnaise

Wow Helen we must be on the same wave length... tonight is the first oden of the season in our house too! Your sounds much better though as I am using a premade set. The same one I posted above, this is a really good product. It is just the kids and I tonight and I have 30 minutes to feed them in between my English lesson (that I teach) and basketball lesson (that I play). As to the konnyaku I pay very little attention to the kind I put in oden but I probably should...

Cooks working in restaurants that used to serve Mexican-style meals to American servicemen experimented with taco ingredients in an attempt to create a dish more appealing to local tastes and came up with an idea of spreading minced meat over rice. It is said that the first taco rice meals were served in the Kin Town area outside Camp Hansen. from this site they also have a lot of information omn other Okinawan dishes

We had the first mochi of the season, with kinako (roasted soy bean powder)

wakame salad with onions and dressed with a mixture of ponzu and garlic oil

I just picked up this new kinako it is a blend of kinako (roasted soy bean powder), black sesame seeds, almonds and kurozato (raw black sugar) I softened some mochi cakes (in very gently simmering water) and topped them with it. It was great! I can't wait to try more things with it.

I don't remember exactly what I use but it was probably sesame oil, a chile pepper, soy sauce and mirin.

I know of two stores in the Tokyo-Yokohama area that regularly sell lemongrass, galangal is a little harder to find. I was so excited when I found this set at one of these stores for about $6.

I can find limes only at larger supermarkets here and even then they cost 200 yen (about $2) a piece!! I try to pick them up at Costco where I can get them for the bargain price of $1 a piece.... I love limes, more than lemons and use them any place I can. I am currently eating lunch which is a leftover dish of sauteed (shredded) beets with lime butter.

Kinpira!

Thatw as our very own FoodZealot! He was visiting Tokyo so I dragged him along to eat monjyayaki (my husband hates it), he said he really enjoyed it.... Maybe his pictures will look a little better.

This is the monjyayaki menu from the place we went to. It is quite similar to most other places I have also been to. Cheese is quite a common addition though I must admit I have avoided it because I thought it was odd but I really loved it. You barely tasted the cheese but it gave the monjya a nice crust. Some of the most popular types are kimchi and pork and mentaiko with mochi.

mine did! Making it yourself really lets you play around with the flavor, mine wasn't salty at all. I like more of a sweeter soy taste which is why I added the mirin with quite a bit of soy sauce.

here is a whole thread about it

They are pretty closely related. A dekopon is a cross between a ponkan and a kiyomi mikan and is one of the newer citrus fruits on the market here. It is called a dekopon because it has a ryuuki or deko (protrusion) and the pon is from the ponkan. This is a speciality of Kumamoto

I normally make a big Penzey's order every summer but this year I orderd from the Spice House. In addition to my regular selection of spices I needed smoked Spanish paprika (hot and sweet) and pomegranate molasses, neither were carried by Penzey's. I was very impressed with the quality from Spice House and will be using them again I am sure, but now I am divided....