smallworld

That's what I thought too, but I found out today there are exceptions. I bought some miso yesterday, a fancy kind with a bunch of barley and rice and stuff added. I didn't see the best-before date until I got home- March 3rd! It's a pretty big amount, and considering I'm taking a month-long vacation in February I'll never get to finish it...

It's a flat lid, traditionally made of wood, that is a bit smaller than the circumference of a pot. It is used when simmering and is directly dropped on top of the food being simmered. It keeps the food from moving around and breaking up, and allows the food to suck up maximum flavour from the simmering liquid. A must-have item for the Japanese kitchen!

I love most of my gadgets, including my garlic press and shrimp peeler (had no idea it could also devein- I always use a toothpick). Only two useless gadgets- one was a wooden drop-lid. Looked cool and did the job but it quickly sprouted a fine fuzzy covering of green mould (due to the hot humid Japanese summers and not to the level of hygeine in my kitchen!). After dozens of scrubbings and bleach soaks it kept growing back so I finally replaced with an ugly metal one, which looks fine and remains fuzz-free. The other is a tempura thermometer which is basicly a pair of metal and plastic chopsticks that you dip in your oil to find out the temperature. Great idea theoretically, especially since it also doubles as a pair of regular cooking chopsticks. Only problem was it was slow to read the tempurature and had to be held in the oil for MINUTES. A complete waste of time, but just leaving them in the oil while I made busy with other stuff resulted in the chopsticks falling out of the (round-bottomed) tempura pot and splashing hot oil around. Once I managed to balance the chopsticks against a neighboring kettle and I forgot about them until the plastic parts melted. Soon after I trashed them I learned how easy it is to tell the temperature by inserting regular old wooden chopsticks and observing the bubbles...

Thank you! I will definately check out 3 Dives and hopefully the other places too. And give a full report!

True. My husband can't eat wasabi so can never to a 'real' sushi place (not that we can afford it!). We've had sushi chefs get miffed and received some pretty bad service at a few places after asking for no wasabi. So we are limited not only to kaiten-zushi, but to kaiten-zushi shops that cater to families. (Many kids can't eat wasabi so it's no problem to request sushi without wasabi at these places.) To save the orders getting screwed up I go no wasabi as well and I have to say that I don't miss it. One advantage of asking for no wasabi at kaiten-zushi places is that each order will be freshly made just for you, rather than taken from the conveyer belt after who knows how many rotations.

Yes! They're so hard to carry home if you don't have a car! I live on the end of a tiny dead-end street so the only vendor that comes near is the kerosene truck (and only because a few neighbors are regular customers). NOTHING else comes (even couriers or food delivery people have trouble finding us!) so I'm in total envy of you all! I'll occasionally hear vendors in the distance and have even tried to track down one of them- the guy who collects old electonics. Very convenient and it saves me having to pay the disposal fee. There are plenty of farm fields (with stands or lockers out front) and some great little shops around here so very few itinerant vendors. The few times I have come accross them- yaki-imo, gyoza, fish- I've always been on my way to work and unable to indulge. The stationary trucks and carts are almost a whole other category. There is an excellent tako-yaki truck infront of a nearby station, a pretty good pizza and pasta truck at another, and a few carts selling ramen or oden that I've been to scared to try. I often come accross trucks in front of a station selling strawberries, melons or other seasonal fruit, usually at good deals. I am afraid to buy from them since they are only around for a day- they don't have to worry about repeat business so who knows if their stuff is good! Further into the city there are quite a range of trucks, with the coffee trucks and Gyros trucks being my favourite. Seems there has been quite a boom in these trucks in recent years! I don't get into the city enough to have a favourite, but if anyone knows any good trucks in Tokyo please let us know!

What a terrible site! The author seems to have been extremely sheltered (culinary-wise) before coming to Japan. This quote is revealing: Funny, I had eaten octopus, squid and seaweed long before I ever came to Japan, or even tried Japanese food, and I don't think I'm unusual. As for fried grasshoppers, I have come accross these (always braised, not fried) so rarely that I would classify them as a novelty rather than a typical Japanese dish. Every single Japanese person I know thinks eating 'inago' is gross (in fact quite a few of my students had never even heard of Japanese people eating grasshoppers), and it seems the only people who enjoy them are old folks who got used to them during and immediately after WWII. A great many cultures do, out of necessity, eat insects, and with extreme poverty a not-too-distant memory for many Japanese, it's hardly surprising that people who acquired a taste for inago during those years of hardship continue to eat them. But what really ticks me off about this site is that the author goes on to insult all Japanese sweets and snacks and calls sweet potato bland! Sweet potatoes are one of my all-time favourite Japanese treats, and they are far from bland. And nothing 'quirky' about them! The history of the yaki-imo truck is really interesting. Although Japan has a long history of itinerent vendors who sold a huge variety of items, the yaki-imo vendors weren't always as ubiquitous as they are now. Apparenly just after WWII food was in very short supply, with few people left in the countryside to grow crops. But somehow the Kawagoe area (north-west of Tokyo) was able to produce bumper crops of sweet potatoes, which would be brought to Tokyo to be sold by itinerant vendors. The little hand carts (no trucks back then) could easily traverse the rubble left behid from the fire-bombings, and soon everybody was familiar with the yaki-imo vendor's cry. The Quirky Japan site mentions the grizzled and rather frightening appearance of yaki-imo sellers, who work in the winter, and unfairly compares them to the summer-time ice cream trucks of America. These guys look tough because their job is tough! Actually, these guys ARE a bit shady, since itinerant vendors, as well as yatai vendors, are usually organized into yakuza-like groups. In fact the yakuza are thought to have evolved from wandering peddlars. I know very little about it but I find it sad that this site doesn't mention anything. A history of the yaki-imo man and itinerant vendors in general would have been far more interesting (quirky even) than a simple comparison to American ice cream trucks, especially given that the Quirky Japan site seems to have quite a few pages of yakuza stuff.

I love that show too! Last night was pork and egg okonomi-yaki versus curry monja-yaki. I thought that was a good fair match but it was pretty obvious the okonomi-yaki was going to win. And it did! Sometimes the competing foods are just too different though, like apple pie versus crepes. Pretty unfair considering apple pie is apple pie but crepes can be stuffed with anything and presented in any number of creative ways. But I guess it's hard to come up with new foods after all these years! I think next week is butter-sauted salmon versus salt-grilled hokke. I'm quite sure that the next day all the shops will sell out of both fish very early!

3 dives sounds great! My husband and I are visiting Negril next month and will check it out. Can you tell me whereabouts it is? Any other good places in Negril? My parents go to Negril every year but are no help as they tend to go the cheap route and cook for themselves or pick up jerk from the roadside grills (not that there's anything wrong with that but we're hoping for a few romantic dinners...).

Smallworld I don't know how you can eat those crepes!! See! Am I the only foreigner who likes them?? Well, that really depends on what you put in them, doesn't it? The crepes themselves aren't so sweet, and depending on the shop, can be really very good. It's the fillings that make it sweet, and seeing as most crepe shops have dozens of possibilities and allow you to mix and match, there's no reason why you have to get a cloyingly sweet one. I shun the whipped cream, custard cream and other super-sweet stuff, although ice cream is sometimes a welcome addition. My favourite: sliced bananas, sliced almonds and chocolate chips/chocolate syrup. You should try it sometime!

Those gyoza look great! I actually prefer my gyoza steamed or boild, with a thick juicy skin. But I like yaki-gyoza too and since that's what we're talking about then that's what I'll stick to! My husband's gyoza are very good (he used to work in a ramen shop) but he makes them so rarely. His is fairly typical with pork, nira, chinese cabbage, ginger, garlic, sesame oil etc. Sometimes a bit of miso and/or sugar. I make the dip, which is a mix of chilli sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, crushed sesame seeds and sliced negi. Helen, you may be right about getting used to homemade gyoza, but we make them so rarely that I've never had that problem! But one way to avoid being disappointed with restaurant gyoza that just aren't the same as homemade is to go to a place that features unusual fillings. Lee Gyoza in Shinjuku is just such a place. Their regular yaki-gyoza are good, as are their tetsu-nabe gyoza (long open-ended gyoza served sizzling on an iron grill) and sui-gyoza (boilded gyoza). But the real fun is in ordering their interesting fillings. The gyoza menu has a few categories: -Vegetable Gyoza, including shiso, asparagus, potato, coriander and more. -Seafood Gyoza, with tuna, iwashi, mentaiko etc. -Special Gyoza, with cheese, mochi, kimchi. -Special Mix Gyaza, with combos like cheese tomato, mochi cheese, mentaiko and potato, and mochi kimchi. -Miss-match Special Gyoza, featuring corn-mayonnaise, tuna-mayonnaise, and shiso-iwashi. -Dessert Gyoza, with sweet potato-butter, anko-mochi, and chocolate-banana (way better than they sound, but be sure to use new chopsticks and DON'T dip them!). Here is their complete menu by the way (in Japanese only, sorry!): http://wactes.actes.co.jp/lee/esinmenu.html My favourites are shiitake, shiso-iwashi, mentaiko-potato, and mochi-kimchi, and all of the dessert gyoza. For dipping they used to offer the usual soy sauce, rayu and vinegar plus chilli sauce and grated daikon. You could make adjust it to your own taste, from light and refreshing to wickedly spicy, or somewhere in between. They seem to have stopped that now.

Eeew! I actually don't really like family restaurants and try to stay away from them. Although I can't avoid them completely- they're often the only choice when I need something to eat in the wee hours, or when I need to kill time with a bottomless cup of coffee, or when a large group of friends can't decide on a place to go. It's not that so much the food, which is usally decent and can even, occasionally, be pretty good (although it can also be pretty bad). There are things like Japanese-style hamburgers or tonkatsu that even minimum-wage earning kitchen staff can't screw up (I think a lot of everyday Japanese food is like that- a little bit of training and strict adherence to the rules are enough to produce good results, and real skill and creativity is only needed for highly advanced foods like sushi or kaiseki). And although the menu is varied, they always seem to have EVERYTHING except what I really want. Like the last time I visited Dennys, thinking for sure they'll be able to cure my pancake craving. Pancakes are only on the breakfast menu and kid's menu, neither of which can be ordered by an adult at 7pm. More than the food, though, I dislike the bright lights, bad service, smokey air and incredible noise. Family restaruants are so noisy! When someone goes in or out the door, a high-pitched electronic bell rings. Not just back in the kitchen, but in the whole restaurant. Then when you're ready to order, you press a button at your table and another bell rings. Again, not just back in the kitchen, but throughout the whole restaurant. It's horrible! Most Japanese people seem to be immune to this (all too common) noise pollution, but it drives me insane! This noise is on top of the regular noise produced by a restaurant packed full of people- chatting old ladies, unruly juvenile delinquents and screaming kids. And even more than the noise, I really don't like how family restaurants are taking over. I've never been anti-chain restaurant, but in the last two years several independently owned restaurants in our area have closed, with two family restaurants, two chain izakaya, and several chain restaurants have opened up. (The two family restaurants are on a large plot of land that used to be a famous Chinese restaurant, housed in an old tradional Japanese house with a huge Japanese garden. All gone now, with the rest of the space taken up by an ugly parking lot and yet another convenience store.) Now there are very few places we can go that aren't chains, but worse than the personal inconvenience is the horror of these unstoppable huge corporations that will wipe out all or most family-run businesses and turn my neighborhood into a generic cookie-cutter neighborhood indistinguishable from every other neighborhood in Japan. I've seen it happen in Canada and it really makes me sad to see it starting here too. So until we become an actual family (maybe then family restaurants will have more appeal), I'll continue to shun family restaurants.

Glad you ate well, Pastry Boy! Baumkuchen is the best! I'll be bringing some to Canada as a souviner next month and I'm sure it'll be a hit. It's amazing how different sweets are here. I used to hate cake, pastries, doughnuts etc back in Canada but now I can't get enough. I always thought I was just picky, but I guess it turns out I had good taste! The rest stops here are very good (they almost make up for the insanely high tolls). Though they are getting a bit chainified, it's still a treat to visit one. I'm curious to know if you tried crepes, and what you thought of them. I mean the Japanese-style ones, filled with various sweet gooey things, rolled up, and held upright like an ice cream cone. I love them but I know a lot of non-Japanese who hate them and think they're a blasphemy.

I think they'll do really well in the short-term, much like Cinnabon did (they were wildly successful for about a year, with a dozen or so shops in key trendy areas always attracting long lines and lots of media coverage. After about a year the lines were gone and soon after that haf (or more?) of their stores shut down. Now they seem to be doing fairly modest business at their few remaining shops.). Don't know how well they'll do longterm though. Food fads come and go here. The location is definately right. Harajuku is a trendy area full of young trendy people buying trendy clothes and eating trendy food. Fad foods seem to do very well here, especially ones that can be eaten on the street. I don't see any problems with a highly specialized menu with only a few items, as opposed to a full deli menu. This is, after all, the land of tiny specialized restaurants that only serve one thing. Will Japanese people like the hot dogs? If they're good, I'm pretty sure they will. I think Japanese people who have had bad hotdog experiences overseas were simply reacting to bad hotdogs, and probably had nothing against hot dogs in general. Anyone who's ever been to a Japanese festival, or a ball game, or any event with yatai (outdoor street-stalls) knows that such an event wouldn't be complete without a 'Frankfurt' stall. Sure, it comes on a stick rather than on a bun, but at least that shows that hotdogs, or frankfurters, or whatever you want to call them, are already a familiar and favourite food. Plus, I know several Japanese people who became Costco members more for the hotdogs than for the discounted merchandise! I'm sure a trip to Nathan's is in our future, what with my husband's unfulfilled chilli-cheese-dog infatuation...

Tonight is Christmas Eve and we're having shabu-shabu. Lasagna is the traditional Xmas Eve dinner back home but I find it a bit heavy for the night before the Xmas day feast (or, to be more truthful, my lasagne is not nearly as good as my moms so I just don't bother!). So shabu-shabu is light enough not to seem like overkill, but still special. My husband is insisting on beef rather than pork so I may have to forget my no-beef rule (and since BSE has now been discovered in the US, I might as well get Japanese beef!).

What happened???

I'm making my favourite now- buri daikon (yellowtail simmered with daikon)! Often made with the unwanted parts of the fish like the head, it's not a pleasent dish to prepare, but few dishes are more satisfying. I'll second Helenjp's kinkan (but I thought kinkan is kumquat?) and dried sweet potato. And add oden and any kind of nabe.

Just as it should have been! Here is the link: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/livin...ide/7423720.htm And another food related item from the Dave Barry Gift Guide, the Food Suit. It would be right at the top of my Christmas wish list, except that the urine draining catheter appears to be for men only. Will us women never achieve equality? http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/livin...ide/7423809.htm

I think it's good stuff, although I don't know how it would compare to what's already available in San Fransisco. Certainly way better than the mall food court! The company seems to have several different lines and everyone I've tried have been good. The salads especially- they have a special salad created by a different famous chef every month. Also like the fresh spring rolls.

I used to hate Japanese Chinese food and found it incredibly greasy yet lacking in flavour. But it's grown on me and now I really like Japanese style fried rice, ramen, gyoza, niku-man, spring rolls etc. But my favourites are the miso stir-fries. I have no idea if these are based on any kind of real Chinese food at all; I suspect not. But nothing beats a miso stir-fry with cabbage and green peppers! Still, 'real' Chinese food is best! I sometimes make more authentically Chinese version of a Japanese-Chinese favourite, like yaki-soba, ramen or yaki-beefun. And my husband always vastly prefers the 'real' Chinese one! Prasantrin, sometimes udon can just mean noodle. I think if the word 'udon' is used by itself it really means udon- thick wheat noodles. Only when combined, as in 'sara udon' does it mean something else. Just like soba- alone, 'soba' means buckwheat noodles, but 'chuuka soba' or 'yaki soba mean somethng else. Now I think I'll have to visit Ringer Hut for their sara udon- one of the cheapest- and tastiest- fast foods available. Ecr, I love both Chinese style and Japanese style, but of course Chinese is best and that's what I cook at home. It is possible to find real mapo dofu made with szechuan pepper (and black beans), but it doesn't seem to be popular at all. Pity!

I like fugu- I wouldn't exactly call it bland, it's kind of sweet and mild. And the texture is great- the crunchy skin; the firm sashimi; the meaty, chicken-like cooked flesh; the soft rich shirako- ummmm! And the broth leftover from fugu nabe is really delicious and delicate tasting- it makes great zousui (like a congee, as described by Tissue. But I agree 100% with Kristin- it's not really worth the money. It's fine as a once in a lifetime meal, or at the most every few years or so, but I definately wouldn't want to eat it regularly. It is also over-hyped in the west- I have never felt any tingling sensations and wouldn't want to- the tingling is the first sign of poisoning! That said, recently several restaurants have popped up offering very reasonably priced fugu. Portions are small and they don't use the highest-quality fish, but they allow you to try authentic fugu without breaking the bank. One popular place is called 'Genpin Shimonoseki Fugu', with branches throughout Tokyo. 'Techiri', a kind of fugu nabe, is available for the low price of 1980yen and courses are offered for 3700yen and 4980yen. http://www.tettiri.com/ (Japanese only, sorry) We tried to go one of their places a few years ago but found it badly over-crowded so we opted for another place instead, with courses from 3500 to 8000yen. It was excellent and I'd recommend it to anyone except that it's way out in Kichijouji. Let me know if you want details (the website is Japanese). http://daibizen.co.jp/ikesu-kichijoji/ Finally, the English version of Gourmet Navigator lists nine restaurants that serve fugu in the Tokyo area. Can't get a direct link to work but you can search here (they call it 'globefish'): http://gnavi.joy.ne.jp/kanto/index-e.htm

My quest for good fast food has failed again- a couple of weeks ago I was too sick to cook dinner and asked my husband to pick up dinner on his way home- I thought I was finally getting the chance to have my first tsukimi burger in years. Shoulda known- tsukimi burger season had just ended. Had to eat a regular hamburger and crappy cold fries. I think it made me feel worse. Wish me luck with my next fast food goal- Mosbuger's 'modan-gohan'! PS, what is it with McDonald's fries? When fresh they're really really good, but after getting cold in a take-out bag they're inedible. Do they get like that just because they're cold, or do they get steamed in the bag, or what?

Your card should be good there. Really? Thanks for the tip, I will have to check it out- sriricha is a real pain to bring back.

Three things I'm really glad I brought are my coffee maker, hand mixer and coffee mill. Especially the coffee maker- the ones here tend to be tiny, expensive and badly designed (ie, they take up way too much space). If you like gadgets you'll want to bring those too- I love my shrimp peeler and lemon rinder and have never seen them on sale here. I've also been having a very tough time finding a good garlic press. The FBC is no longer the only place to get import stuff. There is also: http://www.expatexpress.com/index.jsp?save...vecoookies=true (the English site seems to be down) Costco is here now, with a wharehouse in Amagasaki, Hyogo-ken. They don't have online shopping, but two companies sell Costco products online: http://theflyingpig.com/tfp/Shop.ASP http://costcost21.com/cgis/top.cgi And finally, Amazon sells kitchen stuff now (thanks for letting me know, Kristin!): http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/tg/bro...4818430-1395426

For the longest time I thought my local supermarkets didn't carry hon-mirin, but a few months ago, after reading about it in your Daily Nihongo thread, I checked the alcohol section and there it was. Thanks!!