Anna N

Chocolate chip and butterscotch bars.

You put us all to shame.

I can imagine them being completely lethal on their own without the chocolate. I will resist. I will resist.

OK now I need another explanation, please. Are the noodles made from snails? Maybe I just need another cup of coffee.

That is an amazing undertaking and must require some serious organizational skills. It appears that all the dishes are brought to the table at the same time. Am I interpreting that properly?

Oh no! I was not aware of that.

“Maggie Calabash and Derek Smith may have met online, but their love story really began in the kitchen.” They are both in their mid 70s, met online, but neither had mentioned anything of their culinary background. It’s a heartwarming story and it’s food related. Here.

Somebody is going to be thrilled with such a one-of-a-kind bunny! I bet when he’s auctioned he raises a bazillion dollars!

Certainly this one is not the size of an egg plant but is probably a little bigger than a teacup. As I said my brain is not working so well tonight. Must be all that sake. It is approximately 9 cm in diameter and 9 cm in depth.

Thanks I think I knew this but my brain shut down tonight so I really appreciate you jumping in and explaining it so well.

@Smithy Does this help?

@Smithy That is a noodle strainer. I have never thought that it would be used to hang on the side of a pan but I suppose if you had the right pan.... Someone with more knowledge of Japanese kitchenware will surely jump in here and fill in the blanks. It is quite small, perhaps the size of a Japanese tea cup. While shopping in this Japanese dollar store I got the sense that I had entered the world of lilliputians. It wasn’t “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”, but honey, I shrunk all the kitchenware. So much seemed to have been miniaturized. Yes the item you think is a grilling gizmo is for serving cold noodles. If you do a search on ‘zaru’ you will see that they are normally round rather than square. I fancied a square one.

Thank you. The one that you think is a tray with gripper is a zaru. It is meant for serving cold noodles. Traditionally they are made of wicker but this one is a little more sanitary and easier to clean as it is plastic. Eventually I might like a traditional one. This one will serve well for now. The white tray has a stainless steel rack in it and is used, or will be used, to drain breaded food before and after deep frying it. I have larger ones that would serve the purpose but I’m taken with this one. I think if you click on the website you will see photographs of the store which is why I didn’t bother taking them. Here you go.

Yes. It is for when you wish to have your leeks sliced in carefully measured and consistent centimetres. I don’t often fuss quite that much but every once in a while I find myself wishing that I had something to guide me. I probably should just get a life. Thanks. I couldn’t resist the word play.

Today, @Kerry Beal and I headed out to North York in search of a Japanese dollar store, Oomomo. Since it was on the way past Goûter, member @Alleguede‘s lovely Patisserie, and since we knew it was his birthday today, we stopped in with our best wishes. I left with one of his incredible kouign amanns. Sorry, I should have taken a photograph but where it is now would belong in a medical text, not here. We found the Japanese dollar store and I have posted about it and its own newly created topic. But after out wander through this Crystal Palace-sized emporium we were surely ready for some sustenance. Within a three minute walk of the store, Memories of Japan , called out as having possibilities. It might better have been named Faded Memories of Japan since in certain ways it was hardly reminiscent of Japan. And yet we enjoyed our food. The first clue that perhaps we were not in the most capableof hands was noted by Kerry. Our server, though pleasant enough, found it challenging when we didn’t order by number as it were. I don’t know about you but number 10 and number 19 don’t sound nearly as appetizing as Beef Sashimi and Mixed Tempura. Ultimately ordering by number seemed likely to be the most efficient way to make sure that our order was transmitted to the kitchen correctly. I am sure there is a perfectly valid reason for the numbering of dishes on the menu, I just think the staff should also know the dishes by name. But that’s just being ornery I guess. Once again we decided to share a few appetizers. Tea for Kerry, as usual. Sake for me. Beef sashimi. And this is where you know that their memories of Japan are rather badly faded. The beef was tender and its accompanying sauce tasty but the beef rests on a bed of thickly sliced onion. In the dimly lit restaurant, I thought it was a bed of iceberg lettuce. Not until I took rather a generous portion did I discover it was onion. I am quite a fan of onion but I do think it should’ve been finely chopped and treated so that some of the sulphurous notes were muted. Mixed tempura in the foreground and pork tonkatsu in the rear. The fried calamari was very tender but again the presentation is very un-Japanese. All in all it was a pleasant lunch and we did get to do some people watching.

We have a topic devoted to 100 yen stores, and one devoted to dollar store shopping. I don’t have a yen to my name and not much of a yen to acquire any. And dollar store shopping while exceedingly interesting, pales in comparison to shopping in a Japanese dollar store. Hence this new topic. Today @Kerry Beal and I ventured out to North York to find Oomomo. Here is my haul (well at least the food related stuff). I could explain everything but I think it’s much more fun if I leave things alone. Lots of you will know what each of these things is and for those who don’t, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer. I have to say this place was enormous. We only skimmed the very surface of it. By the time I got to the really interesting merchandise, the tableware, my feeble body was begging for mercy. We shall return as someone else once said.

Kerry didn’t post her wonderful suturing job so I will. I think this is a mighty fine job of suturing. It should heal well with little scarring. Not that the rabbit will give a damn since he’ll be eaten before he needs those sutures removed.

Mattress sutures then we can finally put this damn bunny to bed.

Please do not encourage her. All she needs is one person to point out a new toy and she’s off and running.

I want nothing more than a chair that doesn’t attempt to amputate my legs at mid thigh, with a back that has some likelihood of conforming to the human spine, and of a height that permits my feet to touch the floor. After that we can talk about food.

Simple ginger snaps but with chunks of crystallized ginger waiting to surprise. So good I didn’t even wait to find a plate or even a paper towel. They must be quickly packaged and sealed so they go to their destination and not to my hips.

It is beginning to sound very much like an Alice in Wonderland dressing. It is whatever one wants it to be! Thanks for all the input.

OK I will admit to my complete ignorance. I have never eaten green goddess dressing. Except for the stuff they put on these fries which wasn’t a bit green. Is it green?

Since you did not take my first suggestion, sent by email, of giving him his head tucked underneath his arm, perhaps you could behead him and let him stand on his head.😂

It is definitely a thing! I also, mentally, read “loaded fries” as just another version of poutine. But it would be shameful to water down the meaning of “real” poutine. Not that anyone will give me a say in the matter. I just think there should be dressed fries and poutine (the latter being always chips that have some heft, beefy gravy, and squeaky cheese curds). Anything that fails to meet those criteria, might be innovative, could be tasty, might even change your life, but it won’t be poutine. Therefore I can live with garlic fries, dirty fries, loaded fries and any other variation so long as it’s not called poutine.