smallworld

Lotus root with carrot. With shichimi- a fancy Kyoto blend- instead of togarashi.

Best pastry shops? Can't answer that- there's just so much good stuff here! Are you dedicating your one day in Tokyo to pastries alone? Or do you hope to do some non-food sightseeing too? I agree with everyone else- if you do the rounds at a few department store's basements, you'll be sure to find plenty of pastries and most of them will be really good. Just pick a few areas and spend a few hours at each touring the depachika, having a good look at everything before buying. If you have time I recommend Ikebukuro, where you'll find the Tobu and Seibu department stores, and Shinjuku, with Isetan and Mitsukoshi. Ginza is also a good bet, but as I'm not very familiar with it I'll let someone else recommend places there. A few of my favourites (I'm afraid some are international chains and might not appeal to you if their pastries are the same as everywhere else): LeNotre, especially their 'croquante' pastry. There are three branches in Seibu's depachika (in Ikebukuro), but only one of them sells it. Flo, for their tarts. Many branches, including Tobu's depachika (in Ikebukuro, a short walk from Seibu), and Shinjuku's Isetan. Cafe comme ca, for creative tarts piled with impossibly high mounds of fruit. Has branches near Shinjuku's east exit and Ikebukruo's Tobu on the third floor of area 4 (this is a HUGE department store- biggest in Japan, so they divide it into areas), amoung other areas. Girandole in the Park Hyatt, Shinjuku. This is a restaurant rather than a pastry shop, but the desserts are excellent. I saw their 'marron plate' featuring three different chesnut-themed desserts on TV the other day and it looked great. It's offered until mid-December. The Park Hyatt's Pastry Boutique is nice too. Not French, but there is some excellent baum kuchen (spelling?) to be found here. Can't think of any specific shop, but I'm pretty sure most big depachika will have a shop specializing in it. There are a few ubiquitous chains to avoid, like Fuji-ya, Ginza Cozy Corner and Italian Tomato Cafe. Not that they're terrible, but you'll be able to find much better elsewhere. I doubt you'll be trying these anyway, but just thught I'd warn you to stay away from apple pie, scones and banana bread or risk extreme disappointment. Good luck, and be sure to report back to us afterwards!

These tentacles were about 10 to 12cm long. The two extra-long ones (there must be a special name for these) were about 20cm long. I'll try the rest of them tonight and just give them a quick wash/rub. Maybe the cookbook meant just the suckers on the long tentacles- those ones were hard and sharp and definately had to be removed. Thanks alot!

At the supermarket yesterday I came accross a huge mound of squid tenticles in the odds'n'ends corner of the seafood section (you know, where they sell bones, heads, innards and stuff). All for 230yen! I'm a sucker for a bargain so I just couldn't refuse. Thing is, I've never prepared the tenticles before, just the body. And I suddeny realized that I had eight or nine squid's worth of tenticles and no idea what to do with them! The most I could get from my cookbooks was to cut the tenticles into twos and chop off the ends to make even lengths, then REMOVE THE SUCKERS. Didn't say how, just said to get rid of them. Great. Tried cutting them off, but the little tenticles were too slippery to stay still. Ended up scraping the thin skin off with the back of the knife, which also took off the suckers. It kind of worked but took forever. After just two squids' worth I gave up. Dinner last night was seafood lo mein (a kind of lightly flavoured Chinese-style yakisoba) and it was great, but it didn't contain much actual seafood. I purposely didn't buy any shrimp since I knew I had all that squid. D'oh! Any ideas on what to do with the horror show sitting in my fridge (If I was back home I'm sure I could make it into some kind of Halloween display!)? Is it even neccessary to remove the suckers? PS, Jokes, as well as advice, are appreciated.

Does sambuca count? I'm sure everyone has a bearded friend-of-a-friend who failed to properly blow his flaming sambuca out and ended up with his face on fire.

I'm sure we'd uncover a lot of hidden talent amoung egulleteers. Count me out though, since I've pretty much used up all my creativity...

Never seen anything like this either, but what a great idea! Someone should right this (in English OR Japanese)! The closest thing I've seen was the Japanese Food guide in the JTB series- you know those little (English language) mini books with the funny illustrations? I lent mine to my parents for their trip here so I don't have it around to check, but I'm pretty sure they mention a few regional specialties. Nothing in-depth though and I don't think recipes were provided.

I have three recipes on an old recipe card of mine. Can't remember where they came from and I think I've never tried them, so I can't guaruntee they'll taste right. Measurements are American, brackets my own: Ginger Orange Dressing Mix the following: 1/4 cup fresh orange juice 4 tsp vegetable oil (I'd use sesame oil) 1 Tbsp minced scallions 1/4 tsp minced garlic 1 tsp grated orange zest 1 tsp grated ginger (this can't be right!! 1 Tbsp sounds more like it) salt and pepper to taste Sesame Ginger Dressing Rub bowl with 1 mashed clove of garlic, discard. Mix the following in the bowl: 1/2 cup mayo (!) 1 Tbsp grated ginger 1Tbsp chopped scallions 1 1/2 tsp soy sauce 1 tsp sesame oil 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard 1/2 tsp honey Ginger dressing Mix the following: 1/2 cup soy sauce 2 Tbsp sesame oil 2 Tbsp rice vinegar 1 Tbsp grated ginger 1 Tbsp sake or sherry 1 tsp sugar This last one sounds about right. Good luck!

Are all of MOS burger's descriptions done in Haiku? The burger sizzles lone Weber on the porch juicy and salty like umeboshi I totally didn't realize how haiku-like that was! The original Japanese wasn't really, but it was in three short lines so I used the same format for my translation. Guess I'm a poet and don't know it! Of course, a true haiku should have a seasonal reference and stick to the 5-7-5 syllable format. Maybe this would be better (but I'm not sure which season jalapenos evoke): chopped jalapeno melty cheese subdues its heat a mild spiciness Or maybe this: hot jalapeno nestled on processed cheddar cheesy harmony Yeah, go ahead and taunt me, Torakris. I'm used to it...

A clumsy translation of the burger description: 'The jalapeno's heat is subdued with cheese. A mild spiciness.' The contents of the burger, from top to bottom (based on the handy diagram): bun (made with sprouted rice) tomato meat sauce onion jalapeno mayonnaise cheese hamburger patty mustard bun (made with sprouted rice) Now I really want to go to Mosburger! Terrible timing- my husband has offered to take me out for a fancy dinner tonight, AND cook dinner for me tomorrow. Both extremely rare occurances. And all I can think about is fast food... Thanks alot, eGullet!

Actually it looks really good! I never did get to try the jambalaya chicken so I don't want to miss out this time. Hopefully I'll find myself at a Mosburger soon...

Found this article in last month's Travel + Leisure magazine. Features six restaurants in Tokyo representing six different cuisines. A few minor mistakes (I hardly think having sobagaki on the menu would identify a place as 'a new-wave soba-ya'), but it still made me want to try every place. Anyone been to one of the places featured? Care to comment? http://www.travelandleisure.com/invoke.cfm...588A2ED388920D1

I had shabu-shabu at the same place years ago. View, service and food were amazing. I really haven't had better shabu-shabu since then. This was the place I wanted to take my parents for their big Japanese beef experience when they visited last month, but we opted for yakiniku instead (not Japanese, I know, but the BEEF was Japanese). So Seryna is on my list of places to go for a very special dinner. Hope something comes up before my husband's birthday- that's MONTHS away...

Well, prepared osechi is really really pricey, so I don't know how many people really eat it. I imagine that 3-dan Takashimaya osechi is in the hundred-thousand yen range! I think my MIL is really typical- she makes most of her osechi at home and only buys the stuff that is too difficult/too time consuming/she doesn't have the equipment for. So the tomago-yaki, kombu-maki, kamaboko and mochi are all store-bought, while the rest are home-made.

I don't make any osechi at all, since we always go to Osaka for New Years. I do help mash the sweet potato through the strainer. Sad, since I don't like the resulting kinton- far too sweet! I wish I could just eat the plain mashed sweet potato (but I realize that's impossible since the whole point of o-sechi is the heavy flavourings that preserve it without refridgeration). There is a chance that my husband will have to work through New Years this year so I may finally have to make my own osechi. Dreading it! My MIL uses a clear broth for her ozoni, but a few years ago she tried a miso broth. We all agreed that the clear broth is better (but maybe because she didn't make it like Helen does!).

Fair enough. Good luck!

Yes! It was really chilly a few weeks back so we were about to do a nabe. Then it warmed up again. Maybe this weekend? I'm thinking a simple yosenabe...

Wow, Rossy! All the cities you mentioned are famous food cities! Amazing. Like Torakris said, there are basics that are mostly the same all over. But most cities or prefectures do have local specialties. Let's see, Kobe has its western style bakeries and sweets, a famous Chinatown, as well as great beef. Osakans are fiercely proud of their local foods, with takoyaki and okonomiyaki amoung the favourites. Yokohama has a long history of western food and is famous for its Chinatown. Hiroshima's got oysters and their own version of Okonomiyaki. Fukuoka has tonkotsu ramen and a huge variety of street food. And Kyoto has an amazing cuisine all its own. And I'm not sure about Hiroshima, but they've all got fairly large foreign communities so the international food scenes are good too. It would be really hard to come up with a better list of food places (just add Sapporo, Okinawa, and a few others). Really. I'm very happy here in suburban Tokyo, but if you have too choose, then I think either Yokohama or somewhere in the Kansai region would be best. A bonus for the Kansai region- no matter where you stay, its possible to make day trips to Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. I'm sure no matter which place you end up in, you'll love the food. But let us know where you end up!

That drives me nuts! It's the same here in Japan, especially at 'family restaurants'- I always end up with the meal that requires a fork and knife, while my husband gets the one that goes with chopsticks. Never mind that I almost always order Japanese food and my husband almost always orders western food! My husband also loves desserts but rarely drinks, while I love alcohol and often skip dessert. Needless to say, he always ends up with the beer I ordered and his dessert gets served to me. Also hate having the bill automatically handed to him. And servers asking HIM if I'm done or if I need another drink...

Last night: Yakisoba- Japanese fried noodles with pork, cabbage, soybean sprouts, carrot and eringi mushrooms, topped with bonito flakes and nori flakes. Yebisu beer.

Dave, your Thai yellow curry popcorn sounds delicious! To make the powder stick, be sure the butter is applied evenly. If you're coordinated enough, or have a helper, you should stir the popcorn while still in the pot while pouring just a thin trickle melted butter. After stirring well, add the seasoning in the same way- just a little at a time, while stirring. Because the popcorn is still in the pot, there is lots of steam. That, long with the butter, will help the seasoning to stick. I've read that dieters can skip the butter and spray a bit of water or cooking spray over air-popped popcorn before shaking on seasoning. The water/cooking spray helps the seasoning stick. I can only imagine that this would produce awful-tasting, soggy popcorn. Or you could just mix your yellow curry powder into the butter. That's what we do with regular curry powder, then we top the popcorn with grated parmesan. That's for special occasions only though.

Last night: Iri-dori: Chicken with lotus root, burdock root, carrot, konnyaku, shiitake and taro, braised in dashi soy sauce, sake and mirin. Lamb-yakko: A piece of silken tofu topped with thin strips of lamb cooked in a sauce of tobanjan, XO sauce, minced negi, etc. Green beans sauted in sesame oil with lemon, soy sauce and sesame. Steamed rice.

Onigiri always does it for me. If you're working/staying in a central area like Akasaka or Marunouchi, you should have many options. Recently there have been plenty of shops selling take out onigiri, soups and sandwhiches (good western-style ones, not wimply little Japanese ones) have been springing up in these areas. Take-out sushi and bentos are good too, and believe it or not, instant ramen. There are some really tasty varieties.

We've tried the double crust one, with camembert, and it's good and cheesy. Haven't tried the matsutake pizza from Strawberry Cones, but we used to order from them alot. Their 'Siciliano' is good- anchovies, black olives, garlic and fresh basil. Good ice cream too. Problem is, since learning how to make our own pizzas, we feel really stupid ordering it. Even if we're too tired/lazy to make pizza, it just doesn't make sense spending 4000yen on delivery. So we haven't had pizza for a while...

Kuri-gohan, of course! But that only gets cooked at home a few times a season because of the hassle. So the typical takikomi with lots of veggies, aburage and konyaku are great too. A few questions about takikomi-gohan: Can I use mochi-gome? Some kuri-gohan recipes call for about a 1:4 - 1:3 mix of mochigome and regular rice, but I've never seen any other takikomi recipe that called for mochi-gome. I went ahead and made a typical takikomi and substituted a quarter of the rice with mochi-gome, and ended up with mush. What went wrong? Should I avoid using mochi-gome alltogether, or can I go ahead if certain adjustments are made? And, do all pre-peeled chesnuts suck? I tried them last year to save time but they had absolutely no flavour. Was this just a bad brand or all they all like that?