torakris

#8 Fried Stuffed Puff Tofu (Fish Cake) #9 Pan Fried Prawns with Superior Soy Sauce #10 Red Bean Dessert Soup #11 Chicken with Lemongrass Black Bean Sauce

#4 Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms #5 Stir-fried Mustard Greens #6 Pork Chops, Honey and Garlic Sauce #7 Bok Choy with Garlic

hzrt8w has made some incredible pictorials of various Chinese dishes, I am going to use this thread to post links to all of them so they are easier to find. #1 Fish Cakes with Sa Cha Sauce #2 Soy Sauce Chicken #3 Stirfried Bitter Melons, Foo Yu

I second (third) the suggestions to start off with the veggies and tofu from the soup rather than just feeding the soup itself. I am pretty sure by a year though my kids were drinking a pretty thinned out miso soup. Around two I would normally stick an ice cube in the bowl to thin it out as well as cool it down. At 3 they were drinking it like the rest of us. Miso varies greatly in the amount of salt so I would stick with ones in the lower range and thin in out. What I often did was take the leftover miso soup (with the vegetables/tofu/etc) and place it in a blender, add some water and the leftover rice and blend it to an age appropriate size. I would then spoon out portions onto saran wrap and freeze them into a ziploc bag. Voila! instant baby food. Some other words of warning, read labels carefully. If you are using instant dashi products they are seasoned quite heavily with msg as are some miso that are the dashi added types.

could it get any easier? My kids are going to love this one.

The new Gourmet Tour Vietnam series from Frito Lay a fresh spring roll flavored corn snack beef and red chile stir fry flavored tortilla chips pho flavored popcorn I haven't tried the first one yet but the beef and chile chips were ok, but I wouldn't buy them again. The pho popcorn was just gross....

my latest left: jyako and mentaiko (baby sardines and spicy cod roe) --that just sounds better in Japanese... right: tomato and mozarella I am eating the tomato and mozarella one right now and wow! it tastes like a pizza without the crust, how do they do this?

I have recently been noticing a new influx of kissaten style coffee shops in my neighborhood. None of them actually use the word kissaten though. One has expandanded into selling foods as well (pasta and sandwiches) while the other two are still pretty much strictly coffee. These are pricey places where a cup averages 700 yen ($6.50) a cup and considering there is a Starbucks or Tully's not too far away I wonder how they are doing... The other new thing in my neighborhood are the manga kissa (comic kissaten), at one time these were pretty much just manga but the ones around here have a little bit of everything. The bigger ones are multistoried and in addition to reading manga you can also browse the internet, get a masssage (in a massage chair), play video games or even play games like badminton and ping pong. You pay an hourly rate (the going rate around here seems to be 400 yen--about $3.60) an hour. This includes free drinks, though they are called kissaten the focus seems to be far from coffee.... An article on the new manga kissa

There is a Trung Ngyuen store in Roppongi? It was about two years ago that I tried it and I haven't really looked for sources since then, maybe if I get up the courage to make it again...

Brooks, Thank you for starting this topic. I really love Vietnamese iced coffee and often order it when I am out, I bought the filters and some coffee a little while back and tried to make it and it was just awful. I have no idea what I did wrong, but it could have been a number of things... can it be made with regular coffee? I have a really hard time finding the vietnamese stuff...

Bulggogi and bukalbi marinade (think bibimbap) This marinade works for about 2 pounds of meat. I use this for any type of beef. For ground beef use it in bibimbap, or try wrapping it in lettuce leaves with either rice or julienned veggies such as cucmber or daikon, don't forget to add a dollop of kojuchang to the leaf as well. If you can buy strips of meat already cut that is fine (the last time I was in the US I noticed a stirfry cut in the meat department), you can also cut your own. If you have access to an Asian market that sells meat, look for the thinly (paper thin) cut slices. This is what I usually use. It is also great on steaks, but my favorite is with short ribs or the ribs (I don't know what they are called in English) that are about 6 inches long, 1/2 an inch thick and have 3 half circle shaped bones. I always had a hard time finding them in Cleveland, but every store in Hawaii sells them. 1/2 c soy sauce (preferably Japanese, NOT the American Kikkoman) 3 T sugar (white granulated) 3 T apple or nashi, grated preferably on a daikon or ginger grater 2 scallions, thinly sliced 2 cloves of garlic, grated (same way as the apple) 4 T sesame seeds, toasted 4 T dark sesame oil 1 T black pepper Mix everything together and add to meat, use right away or marinate a couple of hours. Keywords: Easy, Beef, Main Dish ( RG1430 )

That was one of the funniest things I have ever seen!

These pictures are gorgeous! I am really getting hungry for bibibbap and it is only 6:00am. I have only 4 cups of short grain rice left and I was hoping to stretch it until Tuesday when I go to Costco. I don't think I am going to make it.....

this was a prize for coming in third place in a tug of war at my son's school, mini ketchup and mayo tubes for bentos

the second sports day bento of the season and the fastest made one to boot.

the kezuri-ki and a block of katsuo the shavings

takenoko no tosa-ni (simmered bamboo shoots in the Tosa style)

I have never eaten tofu-yo, let alone ordered it in a restaurant but I did a search of restaurants in Japan that have it on the menu and found prices from 300 yen up to 950 yen ($2.75 to $9) of course it doesn't say what the portion size was. So the one you ordered was in the pricey range. Was it good?

It is nice to just sit back and watch the show this week I can't wait to see the bibimbap!

Susan (or anyone who knows), I have a question as too the pronunciation of durian. In Japanese they pronounce it DO-rian... what is the actual pronunciation. the smell is slowly dissipating

I am just curious are cakes part of modern day birthday celebrations among Chinese? and if so what kind of cakes are most popular? I know in Japan birthday cakes are a relatively new addition to a birthday celebration and they tend to be of the strawberry shortcake variety...

The kids and I just finished the pasta leftovers for lunch... ....on paper plates

I don't know why but I always had you pegged as a blonde....

I forgot to show the picture of the prize my husband and I won at Hide's sport's day. We were on the team that came in 3rd place for the tug of war (out of 16 teams) they are mini ketchup and mayo tubes for bentos... along with a cap that can be attached to mayo or ketchup bottles for writing or decoration

Susan, it looks great!! I could really go for some smoked brisket.... I hope Heidi is ok. off to the video store.