torakris

Right! This is one case were a close-up is NOT better. It was excellent by the way.

any idea what these are?

One of the 100 yen shops near our house has a small dagashi corner with about 30 to 40 products, you can buy 4 of them for 100 yen (less than $1). Our latest trip included some of the following Though I don't care for most of them (especially the long flat thing that supposedly tastes like corn and cream corokke), I really like the black one on the right. It is a sour lemon candy and each bag has three pieces, while two are normally flavored one is extremely sour. You are supposed to share it with two other friends and see who "wins".

I haven't seen those at all! I am waiting for something new... their latest in their decorer series just doesn't appeal to me at all. White chocolate and a peach and strawberry mix? yuck!

I have never heard of it. Do they describe the taste? Is the 200ml 100% juice? If so it sounds like a pretty good deal for something so rare..

I only do 3 things with chestnuts and you listed them all in your first two sentences.. Until I can find a fast way to prepare them, I won't be doing much with them. Even for the kuri gohan I use the already prepared ones....

There isn't any place close to me that sells Kateigaho International, I do have two copies and while they are beautiful there wasn't much I was interested in reading. I am interested in seeing the newer issues with the food/recipe section. When you know which issie Eddie's article in is let me know!

I am pretty sure we discussed this one before, but these Fran are really good: matcha (green tea) with chocolate. Another 100 yen shop find.

Morinaga has taken their caramels and made a cookie out of them! These were quite good AND I found them in the 100 yen shop.

I haven't had time to go shopping for the past couple days so last night's dinner was thrown together with a bit of this and a bit of that. I had a couple leftover mandu (still frozen--never cooked) so I tossed them into a soup with my last bit of kimchi and some mizuna stems (I used the leaves for the bibimbap a couple days ago). It was pretty good!

satumaimo kinpira! I will be going to the elementary school on Monday to help my daughter's second grade class make "sweet potato". I will report back with recipes and pictures..

My son returned home from preschool yesterday with a large bag of satumaimo (that he pulled out of the ground himself ), so I turned two of them into kinpira!

Though you won't find most dairy products in traditional Japanese food, you will find it used almost daily in modern kitchens. The dairy in Japan thread

I love these! They are called kaiware in Japanese and a pack costs about $.30 to $.40, they have a nice spicy kick and the flavor is the same as daikon. They are a great cheap way to add a lot of flavor.

I love sashimi! Besides things like katsuo tataki (seared bonito served with many garnishes) and the western technique of ceviche, what do you do with your sashimi? Soy sauce and wasabi get boring after a while.... Last night I picked up a gorgeous block of katsuo (bonito) and couldn't decide what to do with it so I prepared it two ways. on the left it has a kochujang based sauce with kaiware (daikon sprouts) on the right it was tossed with slivered ginger and shredded shiso with soy sauce

Some more thoughts: I understand how intimidating it would be for someone to follow a recipe strictly by the text if one is not familiar with Chinese cooking: the special ingredients, the sauces, the processes. That's why I decided if I were ever going to write a cookbook, I will make it all illustrated. That's the motive behind these pictorials. Basically: let me show you how I do it. Just follow me... If I can do it, so can you. (Hey, isn't that the motto of Yang??? I hope he didn't have it trademarked. ) ← This is such a wonderful idea and I wish my more cookbook writers would pick up on it. The Japanese put out the most beautiful cookbooks, every single recipe has a photograph and often many of the steps as well. I think this is especially important for learning to cook cuisines that one is unfamiliar with. I often cook a recipe (from a typical American cookbook with no pictures) and have no idea if it came out right or not.

and i have felt that hwe salad is a great idea. a cousin of bibim naengmyeon...to the sprouts and hwe add some sliced pears or watermelon, YUMS ← pears! that would have been a wonderful addition. I know bap is rice and hwe refers to the raw fish/meats but what does deop mean?

Sure, be glad to: Chili Bean Sauce: 豆板醬 Brown Bean Sauce: 磨原豉 Sweet Flour Sauce: 甜麵醬 Hoisin Sauce: 海鮮醬 ← Thank you! I have 豆板醬 (the Japanese call it tonbanjian) and 甜麵醬 (tenmenjian in Japanese), I know where I can get some hoisin (I usually have it but am out) and I need to be on the look out for the brown bean sauce.

chapchae I normally make this with beef but it was just way too expensive yeasterday so I used pork. Beef is better.... I also picked up a block of katsuo (this is the Japanese, in English it is bonito), I dressed it with a kochujang based sauce and mixed it with some daikon sprouts. Not sure how tradional it is but it sure was good!

I hate to be a pain in the butt, but could you write the names of these sauces (brown bean sauce, chili bean sauce, sweet flour sauce) in Chinese characters? It is hard to see in the picture and unfortunately in Japan they can't be found under their English names....

That sounds wonderful! Please take a picture. Oh and welcome to eGullet and the Japan Forum...

I see! It is soboro in Japanese. Another question: I have noticing that in these food title the Chinese character for pork is just　肉, in Japanese this is the character for meat in general and is usually preceded by a different character to specify a certain kind. 豚肉 pork 牛肉 beef 鶏肉 chicken Is it because pork is the most common meat? Sometimes in Japan you will see only the character 肉 in a title and it means different things depending on where you are, but in general meat names will consist of two characters. Are the Japanese characters similar to the Chinese ones. I love Chinese characters they fasciante me.

After I uploaded the picture of my bibimbap to imagegullet, I m not sure what I did but when I went to turn my computer off, I had a bit of surprise My beautiful Stonehenge scene had been replaced by a bowl of bibimbap! I couldn't figure out how to change it back so I left it up. Now after a couple days I sort of like it.

what is pork silk?

I can't believe you have gained that much!! Since a couple years ago when we were both whining about being underweight I have only managed to gain 5 lbs and I think it is all in my hips... Having 3 kids only managed to add a total of 5lbs( and this was before my recent 5lbs). Maybe turning 40 will help, still have a couple years though.. I have come to the conclusion I am just going to have to live with my skinny arms and legs and be happy with it. Weights and pilates don't seem to be helping but I have recently joined a basketball team. I am going to pay careful attention to your 7 to 9 meal a day routine. I am so glad to you blogging!! You really need to put up a picture of yourself.