torakris

The dinner looks and sounds wonderful! there was nampla in the soup? I just went back and looked and sure enough, 2 tablespoons! I don't know how I missed that... I was thinking next time I would add the cilantro at the end, I didn't care for the dark color it turned and actually got very little cilantro taste.

I use the Japanese suribachi for my pastes but a nice mortar and pestle is on my 'things I must buy in Bali' list when we visit this Christmas.

Yes, I made everything. The minced chicken loaf was actually leftover from when I minced chicken thighs in the food processor to make laab. I normally use ground chicken but it was really expensive!

the non-cilantro one was for all of the kids, mine included they still don't enjoy the taste.. Of course I disn't like cilantro until I was 25.

It is nice to know Hide is not alone in putting things where they don't belong.... I am getting worried about this pasta tonight as the last time (the disaster) was also on a rainy day. Today is a antional holiday but my husband has to work, so I am thinking of taking the kids to Carrefour (a French supermarket that was recently sold to a Japanese company--only the Japan stores not the whole company). The kids are going stir crazy already and they are out of school until Thursday for their fall break... The house is also a mess but I see no point in cleaning if the kids are going to be home for the next 3 days.

The wonderful bento thread from the Japan forum with lots of pictures to look at.

The (short) history of the bento from wikipedia I have to admit I never gave much thought to its origins or meaning.... There are many kind of bentos, most consist of many small dishes with rice. you might see very fancy lacquered box bentos in restaurants, ones in styrofoam boxes from the supermarket or convenience store, and plastic ones like in my picture for use by the family. It was quite hard to get used to making bentos after coming from the US where most lunches consisted of as andwiche that has been smashed in the middle by some kind of fruit. This past one that I made was probably the fastest one I made to date and I was actually quite embarassed to post it as it was quite lacking in variety... After making bentos for 10 years now I have gotten quite used to the little tricks that make it look good like lettuce leaves used as cups, lemon slices for color, mini tomatoes also work nicely for color but the stores always jack up the prices the weekend of sports day (about $2.50 for 10) so I no longer buy them.

The Japanese don't sue a whole lot, except for some very serious cases you rarely hear about it. I was going to mention what happened to te preschool so they don't make the mistake of buying this same jump rope again. The give a jump rope every year as a gift (my daughters received them as well) but they use different ones every year. As for hide, he has a very short memory..

anyone interested in learning more about omuraisu can browse the omuraisu thread.

the kids had great time and pretty much snacked all day long, around 7:00 they were hungry for a little more so we made up some more onigiri and they finished of the grapes and mikan (mandarin oranges). At 8:00 the men finally came back in announcing they were hungry so my friend threw together some omuraisu. For those unfamiliar with the Japanese dish of omuraisu, it is short of omelet rice and consists of rice (normally with some kind of meat and vegetables) sauteed with ketchup then wrapped into a thin omelet and served with more ketchup on top.

My friend's mother makes fake foods that look good enough to eat, these are two examples

As the men's talk turned to sports we suggested they go outside since it had stopped raining. They stayed out there for 4 hours and went through 3 bottles of wine... meanwhile inside the children scarfed through about 40 cookies in 5 minutes while the women enjoyed cappuccinos and a nice selection of desserts

some of the nice Japanese meat we grilled (we went through 4 packs of this) the beef was sprinkled with Maldon sea salt before eating the "bar" I enjoyed two small glasses of lychee liquer with a lot of soda water

Yesterday (Sunday) we spent the day at my friend's house, we arrived at 11am and came home at 10pm... There were three families, with a total of 8 kids--we tried to keep them upstairs as much as possible. For the lunch I made roasted chickpeas, chips with 4 salsas (2 tomato salsas, one with cilantro and one without, guacamole and a kidney bean-smoked chipolte dip) and for dessert I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. the kid's table in additon to my contributions there are onigiri (rice balls) and roasted spare ribs the men's table more spareribs and lots of beer the women's table we kept the eye on the hotplates with the vegetables and meats the men then decided to be closer to the food so they moved to our table and we addded more food, salad and some of the grilled chicken

Welcome to dreary day #7! I don't think I have ever seen it rain for this many days straight before...and it is supposed to rain tomorrow as well. I am going to start with breakfast today and then work my way back to yesterday. A couple days ago I tried eating a coconut bagel but found it bland so I froze it until I could buy some jam, well I have jam now so the kids and I had coconut bagels with jam. My Toddy coffee was gone (my husband drank the last bit ) so I made up some "instant" cappuccino. all put together (with raspberry jam) the bite in the bagel is from when I tasted it earlier this week... :

I am finally back! Sorry to be away for so long... I am still having a cookie problem and not the kind you eat but I am currently able to log on trough a different browser. Susan that dinner looks fantastic, I am going to try those baked beans as well. I really love baked beans and that recipe looks great. Chipolte tabasco was one of the things I brought back that summer. I am really jealous of your Asian market, I wish I had something like that in Cleveland.

oh dear the last 12 hours has just been one crisis after another.... Last night Hide was playing with the new jump rope he received from the preschool as a gift for the sports day festivities. It had wooden handles with a round opening on the end, just the perfect size for a 4 year old's finger... Of course he stuck his finger in and then couldn't get it out. It took a saw, tweezers, half a bottle of dish soap and 20 minutes but we were finally able to free his finger. The jump rope is now in the garbage. Then when I logged in this morning, I was unable to do anything, I couldn't post, see pictures, nothing. It has taken about 1 1/2 hours to fix it but I can finally post again. Thank you Jason!! unfortunately I need to prepare the food for today's BBQ (indoor BBQ since it is another dreary day), I will try to answere some questions inbetween cooking and salsa making... breakfast is a glass of iced coffee, my husband made fried rice for himself and the kids.

I am so jealous! I am definitely going next summer, just need to figure out just where North Royalton actually is...

Saturday dinner was clean out the refrigerator day for me! fresh spring rolls, do-it-yourself style. This is one of my favorite meals. In the back: sriracha, soy sauce (the kids dip in this) and lettuce leaves on the cutting board top row: avocado, peanuts, cilantro, cucumbers, garlic chives front row: tuna sashimi, kaiware (daikon sprouts), bean sprouts small bowls from the left: dipping sauce of nampla, lime juice, sugar and ginger, harusame (bean thread noodles), carrot and daikon with vinegar, sugar and salt

I was having a chocolate craving this afternoon so I pulled out the Polish chcocolates! I have never actually eaten choclate from Poland before but on Friday at the store they had them on sale, 5 bars for $2, how can you pass that up? They had three varieties, hazelnut, almond, and fruit & nut mix, I am guessing this because I can not actually read what it says.... then I received a call from a friend that I haven't talked to in a couple months and was on the phone for about 2 hours... dinner was a little late getting started and I almost considered going out.

I was actually thinking the same thing last week! I will make a pinned thread of links for all of them as soon as my blog is over. By the way, I think this chicken dish is on the menu for next week!

I didn't have time to think about breakfast so I sent my husband to the store to by some onigiri (rice balls). He got an ikura (salmon roe) one for me. inside see, we did take out too!

good night Susan, I can't wait to see that brisket tomorrow!! I only had 1 1/2 hours to get everything ready this morning and take a shower, so my fastest bento ever! top left: sausages, onigiri with wakame (seaweed) and sesame seeds, blanched carrots and broccoli with cucumber sticks and a kochujang-miso dip top right: more of the same onigiri, apples, lychees (they look white because they were frozen, they were perfectly thawed by the time lunch rolled around) bottom: minced chicken loaf with hijiki (a kind of seaweed), scallions and ginger, more of the vegetables and dip

I forgot to post dessert last night.. My husband took the kids to the nearest convenience store and let them pick out some ice cream. He does this about once a week. the goodies vanilla, banana-chocolate, chocolate-chocolate chip and mont blanc ice cream (chestnut flavored on top with vanilla underneath) They don't sell large tubs of ice cream here, individual serving like this are more common. Haagen Dazs and Lady Borden both have flavors in pint sizes.

smoked zucchini? Am finally back from the sports day, except for 10 minutes of rain during lunch it was pretty decent weather. The clouds kept it cool but it looked like it was going to pour a any moment.