smallworld

Time for some fridge pictures: I swore I'd clean it up before I started this blog. The top door is littered with recipes and half recipes (Like when I'm following a recipe from the internet but don't want to print out a full page so I'll just jot down key measurements), held to the fridge by souvenir magnets from various travelling students of mine. The basket holds large ziploc bags and used ziploc bags of all sizes. The measuring spoons are there because I couldn't find a better place. The fridge is a Toshiba Electrolux and we bought it about 7 years ago (I survived our first year and a half of marriage with a mini-fridge). My husband wanted a bigger one with an ice maker and I argued against him, because I am an idiot. I thought it would take up too much space (I was used to the mini-fridge) and was sure that the ice maker would break. My dad has a highly irrational suspicion of ice makers and I guess I inherited it. Funny thing is I love ice (I'm an ice muncher, and no I don't have anemia!), and really regret not getting an ice maker. The top door is the regular fridge part. As you can see, all three shelves are cracked. The top 2 are actually replacements, and it looks like I'll be needing to buy new ones AGAIN. Is it just this one, or are all Japanese fridge shelves a bit on the week side? In the back right is an ginormous bottle of maple syrup I picked up on my last visit home. I love maple syrup and wish I was more of a dessert person so I could eat it more often. The lableless pop bottle is full of home-made ponzu. I always have a shortage of proper bottles for my concoctions, and my husband knows not to drink anything without a label. The small milk carton on the right contains the yogurt I made this morning. It will only last a day or two, but for some reason the failure rate is higher when I try to do two cartons at once. So I just make it little by little. The door (that's my foot on the bottom right, holding it open). I have a lot more condimenty-type things than most people in Japan, because I cook food from so many different cuisines. So many that each cuisine only gets spotlighted once a twice a year, so I go through stuff very slowly. I haven't done a purge lately, so there's definitely some expired stuff in there somewhere. The middle compartment is slightly cooler and is for fruit and vegetables-- I love having a whole extra section like this. You don't need to see the freezer. It's just full of frozen stuff.

Only one breakfast today so I did two lunches instead. The first lunch was a small bowl of miso soup leftover from last night, and half of the store-bought chirashizushi I bought for lunch yesterday. I didn't realize it until I started eating it, but that was a huge amount of food! It must have been family size or something. Second lunch was onigiri (often translated as "rice balls" even though they are usually triangular in shape) made from yesterday's takenoko gohan (sprinkled with gomashio and wrapped with nori seaweed) and a salad of cucumber, carrot and cherry tomatoes dressed with olive oil, ponzu (a wonderful soy sauce-based condiment with yuzu or other citrus juice) and pepper. These cherry tomatoes were amazingly sweet and I hope I can find them again. It was the first time I'd seen them- they are long and pointed and with a nice deep colour. They were labeled simply as "mini tomato" (Japanese for cherry tomato) but such special little tomatoes must have a special name.

I don't usually find shows like that helpful as I find the "tips" often don't work at all. I prefer regular cooking shows but they can often be hard to watch due to a lack of chemistry between the host and cook. I wish cooking shows here would adopt a more American format and just let the cook do his or her thing, without having to interact with a useless host. I've never used a co-op before. I checked out a few long ago but they seemed to expensive and was intimidated by they way they just send you whatever's in season (this was before I knew how to cook many Japanese vegetables). I really should consider joining one, because I often have trouble finding local stuff. I've had frozen mussels in Japan, and they weren't very good. Not sure if they were crappy mussels, or if mussels just shouldn't be frozen. I also wonder why people here don't like them. Maybe they tried the same bad mussels I did? Yes, I didn't explain it well but I do know that the black part of the scallop is the gut and needs to be removed. What intrigues me is that in North America everything except the muscle part is thrown away. I've read guides to cleaning whole scallops that the roe/milt is only eaten in France, and that the frill is inedible! I also think it's fascinating that the scallop is a hermaphrodite and can switch back and forth between male and female. I like the coral (as in the eggs of the female) better than the milt and wish someone would invent a way to turn all scallops female before harvesting! I've never had fresh smoked muscles before, only tinned (will check out Yamaya, thanks for the tip). But oh my, those look good. I'm guessing the shrimp, gravlax (smoked salmon?) and caviar weren't bad either! I've been to the New Sanno once as a guest of a very fun American lady who taught on base. We didn't eat, just hung out in her very nice and unbelievably cheap room before heading out to Roppongi. Very convenient location, I can see why the US military doesn't want to give up that land! Sadly my "connection" moved to Germany so I have little chance of going back there...

My coffee set up. I use this little kettle because it heats up faster and the long thin spout makes pouring easier. I don't know too much about coffee but I do know that a well-poured cup of coffee tastes much better than a poorly poured one. If I'm making more than one cup I'll just use the coffee maker though. I use a very simple technique for making yogurt. Making it right inside the milk carton saves me from having to sterilize a jar. I just sterilize the spoon and the little cup that I use to liquify the starter. The milk carton gets sealed with a metal clip and sits in a hot water bath for a few hours (I usually use the rice cooker on "warm" because it mantains a steady low temperature, but I haven't washed out the rice pot yet). Below is my breakfast: half an apple (it's brown because I sliced it this 2 1/2 hours ago while I made my husband's breakfast), a kiwi, and a smoothie (made with yogurt, milk, a banana, strawberries and frozen blueberries). My husband had the apple and kiwi but instead of a smoothie he had an English muffin with egg and cheese. Note my filthy keyboard: eating in front of the computer is a habit I just can't break! I have a student coming soon, so just the one breakfast today. After that I have telephone lessons from noon to 6pm, but hopefully it won't be a busy day and I'll get some time to blog.

Or Homer Simpson: "I've discovered a new meal between breakfast and brunch". Smallworld, thank you for sharing your week of food-related activities. I also appreciate the detailed biography - it sure helps tell the story. (BTW I went to Brampton Centennial Secondary School for five years - there were five grades of high school back then). ← I often find myself wishing there were more meals in a day. I think Homer and the Hobbits have it right. There were still 5 years when I went too. The four year system was brand-new and I was the only one of my friends to finish quickly, which I regret. They stayed on and had fun and I was plunged into the real world, which wasn't as fun as I'd imagined. I went to Central Peel by the way. The store-bought chirashi-zushi certainly did have a neon glow! I think the fish roe was its natural colour but I find the bright pink of the sakura dembu to be a bit gross. I do think that in general there is a lot of importance placed on colour in Japanese cuisine, although it is usually a bit more subtle than that sushi. I'm curious to know what the reason is for avoiding imports, if you care to share. Is it something most people in Japan would try to do? ← It's just sensible to buy local: there's less pollution from shipping, it's usually fresher and tastier, and it supports the local economy. I've always thought that way about certain things, like bottled water (I'd never buy Evian unless I was actually in France, for example) but since getting used to Japanese cooking I've really noticed the difference in quality between domestics and imports. Not that non-Japanese produce is inferior, it's just that it loses so much on the journey here. I have an environmental streak which I will discussing soon, I hope. Ah geez, I wrote that long introduction and still managed to forget stuff! Yes, I work part-time teaching English, mostly from home. This week I have a very light schedule, luckily. I'm not fluent, even after all these years. I'm terrible with languages-- after 6 years of studying French (grades 4 to 10) I couldn't even remember how to answer "Comment ca va?" the last time I went to Quebec. I've never formally studied Japanese, so I'm just learning as I'm going. I know enough to get by and can survive most simple conversations, but anything complicated and I'm lost. Since getting married my biggest Japanese language input has been from my husband. So naturally I pick things up from him, but because men and women speak a bit differently here it's a bit of a problem. I go around saying "dekai" (big) instead of the proper "ookii", or "umai" (delicious) instead of "oishii" until someone corrects me. I'm sure foreign spouses of both genders can relate to this. I can read as well as I can speak, which is a bit unusual because the written language here far more difficult than the spoken language (I've met plenty of non-Japanese who are fluent or near fluent speakers but completely illiterate). I learned to read at first by going to karaoke with friends (I hate karaoke, so I'd just sit there and watch the words on the screen), and then with Japanese cookbooks and cooking magazines. Now I'm fine with most recipes, I can understand most of the stuff on food packages, and menus are mostly no problem. But I still run into problems occasionally, and there's no way I can understand a newspaper or anything not food (or karaoke) related. I wouldn't go all the way to Fujisawa just for pho, but I'd make a detour if I was already out that way. Let me know how it is. The most useful resource has been NHK's "Kyo no Ryouri". Watching the shows while following along in the monthly magazines helped me both learn to read and learn to cook. It is the best cooking show and food magazine and they really do everything right. EGullet has also been helpful, but I didn't discover it until I'd already learned the basics. Btw, I'd never heard of a panzarotti until I moved here. I was very familar with calzone's though. I think the difference is that a calzone has ricotta( at least mine do as does every calzone I've ever had at a restaurant) and a panzarotti doesnt. To me, a panzarotti is like a folded pizza. ← Thanks! So maybe panzarottis are a Canadian thing. I wonder if both panzarotti and calzone derived from the same dish in Italy, or if they are based on separate foods, or if one or both are just completely made up? *Oh my, none of the quotes are working and I can't seem to fix it. I hope this isn't too hard to read...

It's Tuesday morning here and about time I got around to blogging last night's dinner. I took lots of pictures because I realized that many of the ingredients I used would be unfamiliar to some folks and are also quite attractive. On the left is abura-age (thin sheets of deep-fried tofu), beside it takenoko (bamboo shoot) and behind is rice (regular Japanese short grain rice mixed with mochi-gome, or glutinous short grain rice) draining after being washed. The takenoko and half of the abura-age will be added to the rice along with water and seasonings: sake, soy sauce, mirin (sweet cooking sake) and salt. They all get cooked in the rice cooker to make takenoko gohan (bamboo shoot rice). The rest of the abura-age will go into the soup. Takenoko is a spring vegetable that is now available in some form all year long. It's still a bit early so this one comes pre-boiled, but I'll know when spring has truly arrived when fresh bamboo shoots start showing up at the markets. Renkon (lotus root), one of my favourite vegetables. Little flavour but a wonderful crunchy texture that water chestnuts only wish they had. Shin gobou. "Shin" means new, gobou is burdock, a long root. In spring there are all sorts of shin vegetables, in the same way that we have new potatoes in North America. Shin vegetables are sweeter and more tender than their regular counterparts. The shin gobou and renkon will be sauteed with thinly sliced carrot to make a dish called kimpira. Nanohana. This vegetable seems to have dozens of names: I know it as rapini but it's usually called rape blossom or other names in English. Another spring vegetable, it will be parboiled, soaked in ice water and then breifly simmered in dashi (Japanese stock) flavoured with soy sauce and mirin to make nibitashi. Wakame, a type of seaweed. Wakame is sold fresh, semi-fresh (slightly dried and packed with salt) and dried, and in this case it's semi-fresh. It needs a quick soak before slicing off the "spine" that holds the strands together, then cutting the strands down to size. This will go into miso soup and also garnish these: Hotate (scallops), in their natural state. These kind of frightened me the first time I saw them as I was used to seeing the pristine, bleached white muscle only. I had no idea there was all that other stuff. I bought these whole, which means I had to slice the muscle from each shell (not easy as these guys are strong) and remove the wata (guts), which you can see in the bottom scallop. The two on the top are ready to go as the frill and roe* are both edible. They cost 140 yen apiece, by the way. * Or is it milt? As far as I know scallops are hermaphrodites; when the sac is beige it's in a male stage and when it's coral pink it's in a female stage. If anyone knows better please pipe up. I've placed a bundle of wakame next to them and drizzled it all with a mixture of soy sauce, dashi and sake and topped with a pat of butter, then I broiled them for about 5 minutes. Here's dinner. Clockwise from left: nanohana no nibitashi, garnished with katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes); renkon to shin gobou kimpira; hotate kaiyaki; homemade tofu (made from prepared soy milk using Kristin's directions from her soy tutorial) dressed with katsuobushi; miso soup with maitake mushrooms, abura-age and wakeme; takenoko gohan dressed with gomashio (black sesame and salt). Seems like a lot of work but most dishes have leftovers so there'll be less work for the next meal. We eat a meal like this a few times a week (although the hotate is a bit fancier than usual). We rarely have dessert during the week but I had all those cheap strawberries so we had a pack of those. They were good-- about as good as Japanese strawberries can be (more on that another day).

OK, here's a bit more background (by "a bit" I mean "several pages"-- sorry for the length): I was born and grew up in Brampton, a suburban city northwest of Toronto. I never imagined I’d go to, much less live in, Japan, but I always did have an interest in Eastern cultures. One of my few memories from my elementary school days was when we studied Japan in grade 3, I found it fascinating. I have a younger brother, who still lives at home with his girlfriend (our basement has been remodeled and they have quite a place to themselves) and an older sister, who married an American and lives in San Antonio with their 4 kids. All three of us helped in the kitchen when we were kids, but I didn’t really learn to properly cook until I became a vegetarian in high school. That lasted about a year (I became an ex-vegetarian by giving into a craving for Genoa salami—I scarfed a half-pound down in my parents’ car in the deli parking lot), but I continued to like the “exotic” stuff I had been exposed to, like tofu, eggplant and the like. We grew up eating standard 70s and 80s North American fare. “Ethnic” foods included Chinese (buffet or delivery) and Italian. I loved our trips to a tiny Italian take-out place where we would eat panzarotti (which doesn’t seem to exist in the rest of the world—is it the same thing as calzone?) and drink Brio. I didn’t even like Brio, but I loved the specialness of it so I’d always order it. My mom, whose mother came to Canada from Sweden as a girl, would occasionally made split-pea soup, Swedish meatballs or hard bread. Apparently they are the only things my mom learned, as her father was a die-hard meat-and-potatoes type. We went on a lot of road trips, driving across the northern states to Vancouver, down the east coast to Jekyl Island Georgia, and a big trip where we circled America. We all loved trying the different foods each region offered and I have an enduring fondness of the truck stop. I didn’t really fall in love with Asian food until I went to Bali with a friend when I was 21. We stayed for almost a month and I was just blown away by how good the food was. I also loved the place itself and vowed to get back to Asia as soon as I could. Which was a year later, in 1996. It was actually my back-up plan: I was living in Vancouver at the time and hoping to work at a ski lodge north of the city for the winter (where I could finally learn to ski in my free time) and then plant trees in the summer. The idea was to spend a year or two raising enough money to backpack around Asia, after which time I’d hopefully have sorted out what exactly I wanted to do with my life. Unfortunately winter came late to Vancouver that year and by the end of January I gave up and headed to Tokyo to begin what I imagined would be a working holiday in Japan followed backpacking trip across the rest of Asia. I chose Japan because it seemed to have the right blend of differentness and familiarity and also was the most promising for finding work. As luck would have it there was a snow storm the day I left and my flight was almost canceled—if only I’d stayed put a little bit longer I could have stuck with my original plan. But then I wouldn’t have met my husband. We were introduced by mutual friends within a few weeks of my arrival (which means we’ve been together for just over 12 years). Neither of us took the relationship seriously at first because I was still only planning to stay a few months, but we quickly fell in love and the rest is history. I loved Japanese food from the minute I landed, although there were a few flavours that took some getting used to. I didn’t learn to cook it until I got married, 3 1/2 years after I arrived (I wasn't in Japan non-stop during that time as I went back to Canada for a few extended visits to get visas in order and do a little soul-searching before deciding to marry) and it was a very steep learning curve for me. My parents-in-law live in Osaka and we visit just 2 or 3 times a year, so I never learned to cook from my MIL. I also had hardly ever eaten real home-cooked food, so had little idea of what most dishes were supposed to look or taste like. I learned from cookbooks and magazines, both in Japanese and English (my Japanese reading ability improved at the same rate as my cooking), and also Japanese cooking shows (of which there are many). I still have a lot to learn and there are so many things that just don’t come naturally. I don’t know what goes with what or how to properly serve food and set the table. I’ve only recently managed to remember the placement of the rice and soup bowls (it’s rice on the left, soup on the right) and still can never remember which direction a whole fish is supposed to point. My husband is of limited help as he cared little about such details when he was a kid and then lived in Southern California for several years from when he was 18. When we met he’d only been back in Japan for a year and a half or so, and now he has a big gap of general knowledge about his country. About half the food I cook is Japanese, the rest is a mix of Chinese, Italian, “Canadian” (or general “western” food), and the occasional “other” (Southeast Asian, Indian, Mexican/Tex-mex, Jamaican, French). It really goes in phases though and I can happily go weeks without eating Japanese food or weeks eating nothing but. These days I'm in a Japanese food phase, which tends to happen when the seasons are changing. I guess it's because all the food from the previous season is still available and I realize I have just a short time left to eat it, and at the same time the food from the next season is coming onto the market and I get all excited and want to try it as soon as possible. One final thought: I may occasionally make a negative comment about Japan, and I hope nobody is offended. I actually totally love it here and am quite sure that I'd have just as many complaints if I was living back in Canada. It's just that I'm a venter by nature and making the odd complaint is a form of therapy.

Forgot to answer some questions. OnigiriFB, I've met Kristin and her family once, at a non-food related event: we were part of a panel /audience for a TV show-- Kristin has been on TV so many times she is practically a celebrity! I really do hope there is a Tokyo eGullet get together soon so I can see here again and meet some other folks. Suzilightning, there are only a few cravings that can't be fulfilled here, as Tokyo has nearly every type of cuisine there is. The only three items I've never ever been able to find are patties (I mean Jamaican hot patties), smoked mussels, and pierogies. Certain cuisines, like Greek, can be hard to find, and some international foods are either not authentic or inauthentic in different way than in Canada. Pho falls into the former category (I've yet to find good pho here) and Chinese in the former (I like the Japanized Chinese food here but it's not the same as Canadianized Chinese food). When I can't find something here I usually just wait until my next trip home-- I get back every two years or so. After all, there is a LOT of good food here to distract me. Sometimes though I just go ahead and attempt making it myself. I've done patties (good but not close enough to the real thing to justify all the work) and pho (well worth the effort) and will hopefully do pierogies soon. As far as ingredients (like those smoked mussels) go, my mom kindly sends me a few care packages a year and a few times I've done an exchange with people who got in touch with me through my blog, where I send stuff from Japan and they send me stuff from N. America. I'm always touched that strangers are willing to be so helpful. I find though that the longer I live here, the less I need stuff from home.

I did my big shop at a discount supermarket which, because it's a bit far away (15 minutes by bike) and not on a regular route of mine, I only go to once every one or two weeks. But it's cheap and has good fresh seafood and meat so I go when I can. On the way there are a few smaller supermarkets, which I ignore, and a few vegetable stands. The one above is a good one, with lots of produce that lasts until mid-afternoon, but usually everything is sold out by the time I get there. Like most vegetable stands here it goes by the honour system, which I think is just great. A few local farmers have upgraded to lockers, but I suspect it's more to do with the inherent Japanese love for gadgets and machines than any problems with people stealing their produce. That's my bike in the centre, all loaded up. It was a present from my husband two Christmases ago and I love it. It has dual suspension and gears (just 6 though) like a mountain bike, but a comfy seat, low bar and shopping basket like a charinko (the cheap shopping bike favoured by housewives). I dreamed of such a hybrid for years before he found one. I do kind of want a rear shopping basket like on the two bikes behind mine in the picture, but that would make it much harder to park in a crowded bike parking lot. This is what I just bought. It all came to 5875** yen and everything except for the bananas and raisins is domestically produced. I try to avoid imports as much as I can, which can be expensive. Stuff like lemons and kabocha squash are easily grown in Japan but the imports are usually more widely available and are sold for half the price--or better--of their domestic counterparts. If it's kabocha than I just don't buy it, but there aren't many substitutes for lemons so I end up paying 100 yen or more for tiny domestic ones. Nakji, you brought me good luck by mentioning cheap strawberries: this place actually had the little ones for 180 per pack. I was so happy I bought 4! Today's lunch: chirashi-zushi (scattered sushi). This is one of the special foods for Hina Matsuri (the doll festival, a holiday for girls). It is sushi rice topped with tobiko (flying fish roe), thin sliced omelet, sakura dembu (fish paste that is highly sweetened, dyed bright pink and dried to a moist powder), soy-braised dried shiitake, renkon (lotus root), boiled shrimp, nanohana (rapini) and ikura (salmon roe). It cost 598 yen and is a very fancy lunch; I usually eat leftovers or at the most will buy a few pieces of futomaki-zushi (thick-rolled sushi). It wasn't bad but was rather sweet and just reminded me how good home-made chirashi-zushi is (not by me-- I mean home-made by other people). Here is an example of good home-made chirashi-zushi. Yesterday my husband and I went to my sister-in-law's place to celebrate Hina matsuri with her husband and daughter, 3. SIL made a great feast, with a healthy grown-up type of chirashi-zushi topped with smoked salmon, ikura and omelete. It was way batter than today's lunch. For dessert she made sakura mochi, which is sweet red bean paste wrapped with mochi (sticky rice) and a preserved cherry leaf, and dango (rice flour balls) with mitarashi (a thick sauce made with soy sauce and sugar) and sakura-an (sweet white bean paste flavoured with preserved cherry blossoms). Hina matsuri is really for girls and their families, and since I don't have kids we don't celebrate it and I don't know much about it. But if you're curious there is a thread about it in the Japan forum here. ** I'm going to just use yen for this blog since I don't really follow exchange rates. According to the Currency Converter, 100 yen is currently worth 0.97 USD, 0.96 CD and 0.64 Euros.

Thanks for the warm welcom everyone. OnigiriFB, I will totally be doing some spring-related food. I love love love the way the seasons are celebrated through food here, and spring is one of my favourite seasons (what am I talking about, I say that for every season!) Hiroyuki, it is certainly spring-like. The ume blossoms are out and today's high is predicted to be 14C. Nakji, I'm so jealous. I haven't seen strawberries for under 300 yen yet, and I've only ever seen the small ones once. They were labeled "jam you" (for jam-making) for some reason. I love the small ones too and can't figure out why nobody else does. I'm glad I'm not the only one to eat two breakfasts! I'd forgotten all about the LOTR "second breakfast" but I like it much better than "pre-breakfast".

Oatmeal with raisins and toasted walnuts. I made it in my rice cooker, which is pretty ingenuous if I may say so myself, because it saves me from burning a pot and ruining breakfast. Which is what used to happen quite regularly (my kitchen is tiny and there's no way I'm going to stand in it watching my oatmeal for 20 minutes), and last month I burnt a good pot so badly that it took two weeks of soaking and scrubbing to get it back to normal. That inspired me to try it in the rice cooker, and to my great joy it worked, and to my greater joy the rice pot is a breeze to clean. It's not as good as properly made stove-top oatmeal (especially when the oats are toasted with butter first), but is far better than rolled oats. My husband prefers rolled oats, sadly (it's a Japanese thing, same goes for rice and bread-- the whiter, softer and mushier the better), so I only make this for myself. He had some sweets leftover from a lunch that my sister-in-law made yesterday, but that was hours ago. He's long gone for work, and it's high time I started my day as well. These are the supplies for today's shopping trip: Reusable shopping bags: all different, as I am forever searching for the perfect one-- still haven't found it. Wallet: full of yen and ready to be stuffed with receipts, which I collect. Tissues: it's hayfever season here. House and bike keys: I'm shopping by bike today. It's a lovely day and I prefer to walk but this is the biggest shop of the week and my bike basket holds much more than my hands can. Cell phone: huge and clunky by Japanese standards. Last year when I went home for a visit my brother saw it and said "aren't Japanese cell phones supposed to all tiny and cool looking?" and held his up for comparison-- it was smaller than mine. But it's waterproof and shockproof, which comes in real handy for a klutz like me. It also has an electronic compass, which doesn't really come in handy at all. Shopping list: in the form of a little notebook and 100% inspired by the shopping list thread (I told you I'm a lurker). This is one of the greatest things I've gotten out of eGullet. Not that shopping lists are new to me, but remembering to actually bring them along? That's brand-new. Thanks eGullet. I've written in bus schedules and a wine vintage guide written on the front and back covers, which are both quite helpful. Sunglasses: never leave home without them, all year long.

Good morning and welcome to my foodblog! I'm Amy and I'm blogging from Tokyo, where spring is just getting underway after an unusually snowy winter (by "snowy winter" I mean it snowed a few times, even piling up as much as 10 cm in some places). I'm more of a lurker here on eGullet and mostly stay in the Japan forum-- I just checked and I have a grand total of 606 posts. I also just noticed that I joined in March 8th 2003, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate 5 years of eGullet membership than this foodblog. I actually have a regular blog, which is almost a foodblog, but I post just a few times a week so this will be a bit more intense than usual. I think it will be fun though, and I hope you enjoy it. I'll be happy to answer any questions, although among the frequent posters in the Japan forum I am probably the least knowledgeable about Japanese food. I'm also happy to take requests: if there is any particular food or dish you are interested in I'll see if I can make it. Let's get to it then. I just ate this: Fruit salad with strawberry, apple, banana and kiwi; homemade yogurt. Eaten in front of the computer, this was my pre-breakfast-- I'll have oatmeal later. I sometimes eat in stages like that because I don't have much of an appetite in the mornings. I'll post a bit more about myself later, but right now it's time for my morning coffee. See you in a bit!

smallworld, The buckwheat Soba noodle from Japan is obviously excellent in cold salad. I like Soba both hot & cold- much better than WW. ← I love soba but I've actually never tried soba in a cold salad. I know it's popular in some parts of the world but I'm used to eating soba Japanese style and it just seems weird to do anything else with it. I certainly don't consider it a pasta substitute. How is pasta salad any less about the pasta? ← Um, it's got more stuff in it? OK, I'm not huge on pasta salads, but in my experience they just seem to have more distractions and are more of a harmonious mix of ingredients (pasta, dressing, chunks of stuff) than traditional hot pasta, which is just pasta dressed with sauce. Hope that makes sense...

Mine wasn't fresh either and to me that totally defeats the purpose of deep-frying it. What good is fried food if it doesn't have that crunch? I guess McDonalds Japan really has switched to pre-cooking everything. When my husband and I went last everything we got was lukewarm and soggy, even the fries. They can't possibly get away with pre-cooking the fries, can they? Do you know any tricks for getting stuff freshly made (My husband's usual tactic of asking for no mustard and ketchup didn't work)?

Isn't it common Italy to break spaghetti and other long pasta into small pieces for soups?

I agree that whole-wheat pasta sucks, but then again I only ever served it the regular way, hot with sauce. You know, as a dish where the focus is on the pasta. No surprise that didn't work, but now I wonder if it would be less icky in a dish that is less about the pasta. Like a cold pasta salad or a hearty soup. Before I go buy some whole-wheat pasta to find out for myself, has anyone tried this? Are there ways to make whole-wheat pasta more tolerable?

At the risk of shameless self-promotion, I've got a takoyaki recipe and step-by-step tutorial on my blog here. ← Wow, excellent tutorial and a wonderful blog! Thanks for sharing.

Another Fillet-O-Fish sold, thanks to this thread. It was enough of an experience to post about on my blog, here if you're interested. It's too long to reprint here so I'll sum it up quickly: not nearly as good as I remember. And I think Prasantrin is right, at least in Japan, that the the FOF is not made to order. Too bad, because I have very fond memories of the sandwich. This is a fascinating thread though, so I won't hold a grudge...

Yes, my whole post was pretty much either quoting or summarizing from the linked sources, sorry if I didn't show that clearly. I wanted to do two things - show what issues are being discussed by Japanese consumers, and also show what kind of information is available to the averagely curious consumer. I'd be interested to hear what other coastal and island East Asian and Southeast Asian countries are saying on this issue, because the impression I get is that there is quite an east:west divide regarding the safety of wild fish. Thanks Helen. It really is good to know that some information is out there. I'd be interested in learning about the situation in other countries in the region too. But in some places I can imagine that simply getting food on the table is a far bigger worry than potential mercury poisoning, so it might not be that fair a comparison. This is so true, and I think the current gyoza scare is a very good example (although it's more a case of an "individual country"). Many of my students have vowed never to shop at Co op again and are completely avoiding anything marked "made in China". Somehow JT has escaped their wrath and nobody seems to be examining just why frozen prepared foods have become so prevalent, and why Japan is so dependant on imports. And in 6 months the issue will be completely forgotten (I mean, did you see the huge line up for Akafuku's reopening last week?). I think that a big swing away from fish is inevitable in Japan, considering the way the world's waters are being overfished. Mercury in seafood is just one more reason why people here need to start examining the so called "traditional" fish-based Japanese diet. Not that I am suggesting that people stop eating fish and/or start eating more meat. But claiming that fish is a traditional part of the Japanese diet doesn't tell the whole story and the way people consume fish now is completely different from the way it used to be, when fish was locally caught, in season, and served in more reasonable quantities. There is nothing traditional at all about the current tuna fixation, and I think it's perverse that in most supermarkets (at least in my area) tuna gets its own large section of the seafood area. No other fish is given that much space. That is definitely information that needs to be made available in English. At the same time the recommendations aren't too different from those of other countries, and considering that a lot of the fish is imported anyway, a woman can probably safely follow recommendations from her own country or from the Monterry Bay Seafood Watch.

Thanks for finding the hijiki thread, Hiroyuki. And although I was aware of the other mercury thread, I wanted to start a new one because I think it's a different issue. In my opinion this is not just about the diets of pregnant women, and in any case the advice that expectant mothers receive is so different in each country that mercury levels are just the tip of the iceberg, and it would be necessary to go way off topic to really explore the issue. Rather, I am curious as to why people in general aren't more concerned here, as mercury poisoning can effect anyone. Granted, an adult would need to eat a LOT of tuna or whale to see any signs of mercury poisoning, but it is still at least theoretically possible, especially given the extreme popularity of tuna here. But what about kids? Especially infants and young children are at risk of mercury poisoning, but I haven't heard of any warnings. In fact, consumption of high-risk seafood seems to be encouraged in some cases: I understand that whale has been re-introduced to school lunches in some whaling communities. I find that alarming, and was just wondering if anyone else did, too.

Thanks for the replies and links. Helen, I'm not sure if you're quoting from the site you linked here or not, but this is just wrong. The 70 day elimination is for non-pregnant folks, while pregnant women eliminate mercury at twice that rate-- it goes straight to the fetus. In Minamata young mothers mostly escaped harm as their bodies fed all the mercury to the baby-- one of the saddest effects of Minamata disease was the high incidence of miscarriage (we will never know how many, as miscarriages weren't always recorded, especially before the disease was acknowledged). Also, the third and fourth months of pregnancy are considered to be the most dangerous time, when both the developing brain and nervous system are vulnerable, but mercury can be a danger from conception until childhood. So only cautioning pregnant women is irresponsible, and widening the at-risk group to include all young children and women of childbearing age would make much better sense. Equally irresponsible is the notion that a woman can simply reduce her consumption of high mercury fish once she discovers she is pregnant, since plenty of women take a few months to realize they are pregnant. Jason, thanks for the article. I'd be interested to hear what Yuichiro Ejima, the health ministry official in charge of food safety (of the "groundless rumours" quote) has to say about the current gyoza scare. Budrichard, I wasn't sure if the mercury found in large fish and whales is naturally occurring (like the arsenic in hijiki, another seafood I'm avoiding) or the result of pollution. It's interesting to hear that swordfish and tuna may always have been high in mercury, but I can't help but suspect that the current high levels of mercury in tuna are at least partly due to man-made pollution. I wonder if there is any study of mercury levels in tuna from different parts of the world; perhaps a regional comparison would help clear things up.

Has everyone read the New York Times article about toxic levels of mercury in tuna purchased in New York? The article is here (free registration may be required), and there is already a thread about it on eGullet here. The article is specific to New York, but considering they get their tunas from many of the same places we do, I think this is worth discussing in the Japan forum as well. I'm really surprised that there is so little discussion in Japan, both in the media and in general, about toxins in food. Especially in seafood like tuna, whale and hijiki (there was a thread about arsenic in hijiki a few years ago but I can't find it). Given that the high levels are well known, as are the ill effects of said high levels (or has everyone forgotten Minamata), the lack of information, debate and government control is troubling. What are your thoughts about the issue, and do you have any insights on the apparent lack of interest in the subject here in Japan? Personally, for the past few years I've been eating far less tuna than I used to, due to concerns about both overfishing and mercury levels. I still eat it occasionally but it's a treat. I haven't had kajiki (swordfish) for years, and I don't like whale much to begin with so that's not a problem. Thank god there are so many other fish to choose from (but I still miss tuna and swordfish).

And a couple non-blog sites: http://www.japaninfusion.com/ http://www.eat-japan.com/ And another blog: http://1tess.wordpress.com/ It's by an American woman, with little previous background in Japanese cooking, who is cooking her way through an entire Japanese cookbook. She's been chronicling her cooking adventures for almost a year on Cook's Talk (another food forum), but has just recently started her own blog (which I only discovered now as I searched for the address of that other forum).

Japanese food blogs seem to fade away even faster than those in English, and I've seen many a promising site disappear. So if you're looking for Japanese updates, I can't help you-- I no longer bother keeping track. There are a few newer English blogs that focus, at least in part, on Japanese food: http://www.japanesefoodreport.com/ http://contemplationrose.wordpress.com/ http://sushiday.com/ http://hwnpakeokinawa.blogspot.com/ http://www.konbini-life.com/ And then there's my blog, which is still around . Not technically a food blog but that's what I end up posting about most often: http://blue_moon.typepad.com/blue_lotus/

I guess I'm not the only one! Somehow I missed your post before I posted-- with exactly the same answer. Only I don't really care for kani cream korokke (there's been little evidence of either kani or cream in the ones I've tried so far) and go for plain. I'd like to say that Whole Foods, Dean and Deluca et al. are not necessary to enjoy shopping when you live in a country like Japan where food is still respected. But now that I think about it, I loved shopping back in Canada too, even at the megasupermarkets. Maybe some people just naturally love to shop?