jeniac42

Oh, wow. 凄いですね！ I looked at the recipes and watched several videos from the third site you listed and it seems like a good resource for someone like me, who doesn't have very many good ideas for Japanese home cooking. The videos make it easy for me to understand even when it's difficult for me to read the directions. What a great idea!

I second the recommendation for Hungry Planet, and the excitement I have about this thread, which reminds me very much of the book. I'll be participating; I do a majority of my grocery shopping at individual shops in Pittsburgh's Strip District, but also go to Giant Eagle, our primary local chain, from time to time. I will provide prices from both. One price I can give you is that of beer. A six-pack of 12-(US)ounce Straub bottles is $7.50 at most any bar and the carryout near my house. A case of 24 16-ounce bottles is $15.99 to $17.99 plus a bottle deposit of $1.50.

I, too, would recommend this cookbook. By my spoiled tastes, it's a little shy on pictures (the book has color plate sections, so there aren't photos of everything; I'm so used to, for example, hrtz8w's pictorials that it seems strange to me anymore!) but it really seems very thorough. He covers all the basics, including ingredients, equipment, and techniques, and for the money I would say it's the best English-language "basics of" Japanese cookbook I've seen.

I got a copy of Elizabeth Andoh's Washoku book recently. It really is wonderful just to read. I wish it had more complete menu suggestions because I don't feel very confident in my ability to put together meals that represent Japanese ideals. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. I look forward to reading Kris's interview!

I have a general question about donabe. The Chinese market near my house sells pots that look like donabe, and I saw upthread that these might be less durable than the Japanese type. That's fine by me, because they only cost US$3 to $6. Now... they have both glazed and unglazed types. Are the unglazed ones really horoku? Which type should I buy for making nabe? Also, is it safe to use them on an electric burner? I don't have a gas stove and can't afford to buy a portable burner right now. I will be getting one for next winter, though.

Hmm, I might like the really salty part, but I'm someone who drinks pickle juice from the jar sometimes.... I bought some sakura denbu (桜でんぶ) at the store the other day. I haven't eaten much of it yet but it doesn't seem to have much flavor. They have a lot of sakura products so maybe I will try something else soon.

Thanks, Kris. I found that meaning for najimu but I couldn't think how it applied to food, and I have never seen that "ndara" ending before... I'll ask my teacher about it next week (it's Spring Break). The translation for "until it wilts" is really helpful, too. Aaaaah! Now I see. So rub the ingredients into the pork by hand, THEN put it on the burner. That will make a big difference, I think. Tomorrow I am going to buy the ingredients for this, so I'll post a picture as soon as I can.

Wow, translating the directions is very difficult for me because I don't know much grammar yet. So, here is my best try. It won't be very accurate because the best I could do was to get the general idea and make a guess. At least, I think I could use the translation as a recipe. But I'm sure most of it is incorrect. I especially don't know what なじんだら means, or how many words it is. 作り方 １．キムチはかるく汁けをきり、食べやすい大きさに切る。玉ねぎは縦に薄切りにする。ねぎは斜め薄切りにする。 ２．フライパンを火にかける前に豚肉を入れ、下味の材料を順に加え、そのつど手でもみ込む。充分になじんだら中火にかけ、ごま油大さじ１を加える。ときどき混ぜながら炒め、肉の色が変わりはじめたらキムチを加えて炒め合わせる。全体がなじんだら、玉ねぎ、ねぎを加え、しんなりするまで炒め合わせる。 ３．どんぶりにご飯を盛り、（２）をのせる。仕上げに万能ねぎの小口切り、白いりごまをのせる。 1. Lightly squeeze some of the juice from the kimchi and cut into pieces that are easy to eat. Cut the onion vertically into thin slices.　Thinly slice the green onion on the diagonal. 2. Put a frying pan on a burner. First, add the pork to the pan; then add the seasoning ingredients in order, mixing each one in thoroughly(?). Once it is cooked adequately, put the pan on medium heat, and add 15ml of sesame oil. Stirfry, mixing occasionally. When the meat begins to change color, add the kimchi and stirfry it. Cook all together(?), then add the onions and green onions, (??), and stirfry. 3. Put rice in the donburi bowls, and place the result of step (2) on top. For the finishing touches, put the chopped bannou-negi and toasted white sesame seeds on top.

Thanks for the help! I did translate the sesame oil and donburi bowls of rice, but I forgot to type them here because I was in a hurry to leave work. The bannou negi look a little bit like chives. Since they are only being used for a garnish, I probably won't worry about it too much. This summer I'm going to try to grow some Japanese-style bunching onions because I believe they do have a different flavor from what I can buy here. I thought the red pepper might be Korean-style because of the photo. Thank you for the correction! And now I'm not sure if the butabura is boneless rib meat or belly meat. In the pictures I found it does look a lot like American-style bacon, which is made from pork belly, so maybe I will use that. Oh, and as for "あれば", I wasn't quite sure what it meant, but the directions say to substitute extra kochujang, I think. I didn't copy that part because I do have crushed red pepper....

OK, I am trying to translate a recipe from the February 17 Orange Page magazine (the one with donburi on the cover). This recipe is for 豚キムチ丼　(Pork-Kimchi Donburi). I am going to post the original wording here as well as my translation. I would just post a link to the original recipe but I am not sure if it is online, and I can't seem to find it on their website I didn't manage to get through everything today so this is just the ingredients list. I was wondering if someone whose Japanese ability is better than mine could look at it for me and tell me if I have anything very wrong before I try to buy these ingredients! 材料（２人分） 豚バラ薄切り肉、　１５０ｇ 白菜キムチ、　７５ｇ 玉ねぎ、　１/８個 ねぎ、　１/８本 下味： みりん、大さじ１　１/２ しょうゆ、コチュジャン、　各大さじ１ 砂糖、ごま油、　各大さじ１/２ にんにくのすりおろし、　大さじ１/４ 白いりごま、　少々 あれば粗びき唐辛子、　大さじ１/２ 万能ねぎの小口切り、白いりごま、　各適宜 温かいご飯、　どんぶり２杯分 ごま油 Now, here is what I have come up with. I tried to translate the Japanese spoon measurements into ml so I can use them. Ingredients for 2 servings Boneless pork ribs, sliced thin, 150g Chinese cabbage kimchi, 75g bulb onion (regular yellow onion here in the US?), 1/8 onion green onion, 1/8 stalk Seasoning: Mirin, 22ml Soy sauce, kochujang, 15ml each sugar, sesame oil, 7.5ml each grated (???) garlic, 3.25ml white sesame seeds, a pinch crushed red pepper (??? Korean style?), 7.5ml All-purpose onion(just scallion?) cut in small pieces, white sesame seeds, to suit Whew. It only took me about an hour to look up all those kanji... yoi. I can only imagine trying to translate the directions. I hope this tastes good!

Kris, did you always enjoy offal, or is it a taste you've acquired? I try to be open-minded with food but the texture of some of the offal meats really puts me off... I can't imagine I would have enjoyed the yakiniku you did last night!

Ah, thank you so much, Kris and Hiroyuki! That really helps. Today I am going to try to translate a full recipe so I can make it on Tuesday (I have the Donburi issue of the Orange Page magazine), so I might have more questions.... Japanese counting words can be confusing, but I find them helpful for translating recipes! At least if something is measured in 本 (hon) I know it must be cylindrical, etc. edited: A lot of the recipes call for 2かけ (kake)　of にんにく (ninniku - garlic?). Is kake a clove?

I was going to post this in the translations thread, but I thought it might be more helpful as its own topic. Kris, if you want, feel free to merge it in. Since I am studying Japanese, I have been trying to read and translate recipes. So far I haven't had a lot of success; I can recognize words but definitely not come up with a usable recipe. Part of the problem is that I can't translate the measurements! So, if anyone can help me, that would be really great. I don't expect you to tell me what the US measurement is, but maybe there is an equivalent in cc or ounces? For example, I have figured out that ?? means a "cut piece" or a "slice", which is a good enough translation for me. (Sometimes knowing the measurement also helps me to figure out what the ingredient is.) But what about ????????????????and others? (Some I have been unable to look up even by their kanji; I know that ? is a counter for long objects, so it might mean "stalks" of herbs, but I am not sure.) I would appreciate any insight on this! In the meantime I'm going to keep trying on my own and I will be sure to post any translations here. edit: it looks like my kanji did not translate properly when I posted. The first I had was romanized as "kire" (cut piece, slice); the second is "hon"; third is "ko" (the one that means "individual" or "article"), then the ones that I think mean something like "tablespoon" and "teaspoon" and which I think are read "oosaji" and "chiisasaji". I am sorry - I'm using a Mac and can't make it work! I'll post the real kanji tomorrow.

Fortunately the grocery store had a large number of sakura mochi available. I bought the ones that came in a package of four individually-wrapped mochi. Unfortunately I don't have a photo because I forgot to take my camera, but one of my classmates took a photo, so I'll post it if she sends it to me. I ended up buying 16 mochi, and it only cost me around US$12. So, not so bad. I had a lot of extras, though. It was the last day of classes before spring break, so I guess people didn't show up. So I just took all the extras next door and passed them out to all of our sensei. I couldn't eat more than one - they're too sweet! I eat the leaf, but many of my classmates removed it. It was a fun day. I still want chirashi sushi for dinner but my boyfriend is returning from a business trip and he doesn't like it, so it might have to wait until tomorrow.

きれいな雛ですね！ It's still only March 2 here, but tomorrow I think I will have chirashi-zushi for dinner. I asked my teacher if I could bring sakura mochi to class tomorrow and she said that it would be OK, so I just have to see if I can find enough for everyone. There's only one shop here that sells them....

Hina Matsuri is coming up on Friday, and it's also our last day of Japanese class before Spring Break. I'd like to make something to take in for my classmates and teacher to share, which would also give us the opportunity to ask her about the celebration. I'm not sure what, though! I love sakura mochi (the kind with the grains still visible and the sakura leaf wrapped around), but I'm not sure if I will have time to make those. I looked at the recipes linked (I love the Kit-Kat dome cake with ice cream... good grief) and still couldn't figure out what to make. Maybe I should just buy some sakura mochi?

Welcome, Hiro!

Since I can't seem to find a kimchi recipe on RecipeGullet, would anyone mind sharing theirs? I've found various confusing and conflicting recipes online, which is to be expected, but I'd like just some basic beginner's version. I will confess that I don't like my kimchi to be too fishy; I think I'll have to work up to that.

It's funny, I made quiche for the first time yesterday, and I didn't even realize this thread existed. I just threw together a flaky pastry dough which I made with 100g unbleached AP flour, 65g of cold unsalted butter, 2g of salt, and some water to hold it together. I blind-baked the crust, which was pressed into a 1qt All-Clad straight-sided saucepan (because I didn't have anything else clean to bake it in). I definitely didn't bake it for long enough, because in the end the crust was underbaked. For the filling I used 3 eggs and probably 3 or 4T of milk, with maybe 2 or 3T of grated Parmegiano-Reggiano. I put cooked, drained spinach and cooked, chopped bacon into the crust, poured the egg mixture in, and baked it at, um, 350F until it looked done. It didn't really brown on the top, and it didn't turn out watery or rubbery at all (thank God). Amazingly, it came out OK (aside from the underbaked crust), but I doubt it would meet any of the expectations set in this thread! I'll have to try everything mentioned above. Still, I'm glad my impromptu "Valentine's Day" breakfast didn't turn out a total disaster....

OK, I hope you don't mind, but I just found my new signature.

That's for people like me, who worked in a restaurant kitchen with sidetowels in back pockets for too long and therefore wipe their hands on the back of their pants. Or, you know, people who dry their hands on their butt?

That just made my day! I love the headings for the different inventions....

Well, yesterday was the Super Bowl, so of course there had to be beer involved. We wanted to go out to watch the game, but didn't want to be anywhere near an area with a lot of bars (i.e. post-game madness), so we went to the Sharp Edge. We were there for eight hours, and so I may be missing a few of the beers, but I think this is everything we drank: - Hoegaarden (draft, good as usual) - Unibroue Ephemere Cranberry (big bottle, not as good as the blackcurrant kind but still tasty) - Pilsener Urquell (draft, good) - Chimay white label (big bottle, I still prefer the blue, but this is Eric's favorite) - Delerium Nocturnum (big bottle, good) - Ayinger Ur-Weiss (medium bottle, had some banana flavors? but the glass was cool) - Flag Porter (small bottle, also good) - Van Steenberge Bornem Dubbel (small bottle, good)

Thanks again for the advice. We do have a hygrometer but somehow the measurements fell by the wayside. What can I say; not everyone is as OCD as I am, and in order to preserve happiness in the relationship I decided not to be too contentious about every step of the process. I figured I'll fix it when it's my turn to have a go, and show by example rather than by nagging. Heh. I do think it is yeast producing the extra carbonation, because weeks later there's still no off taste to the beer that would indicate it's gone bad. And it hasn't made us sick yet, so that's a good sign. We did cool the wort somewhat before pouring it into the fermenter but the picture does make it clear that it wasn't cool enough. I think impatience got the better of us on that one. I may or may not have time to do my own batch before the end of the semester. If not, beer brewing is one of my projects for this summer, when I'll only have work to worry about. I will certainly update on Eric's next batch, which should be getting started soon.

Thanks. The fish is just Atlantic salmon, which is easy to get here. I pan-grilled it with some salt, and the sauce in the bottom of the container is some of the liquid from braising the kabocha, which is one of the side dishes. I also had hijiki with carrots, shibazuke, and kimchi. I put two umeboshi in with the rice because I was a little greedy that day. I love umeboshi! I agree with Helen, though - when they're in the container with the hot rice, they get sort of dried-out. They still taste delicious, though! There's a lot of food there because I eat it for lunch and dinner. I am usually away from home for about 15 hours a day....