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Shortbread with kinako (toasted soybean flour) and rice flour, shaped into square logs, rolled in sesame seeds and sliced...I was afraid the lack of wheat flour would make them too crumbly to hold together, but that wasn't a problem. There were about 6 dozen of them, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera!

Parsley makes good tempura too. Replace a good proportion of the flour with cornflour, to maximize crispiness. However, if you use 100% cornflour, the finished tempura is so brittle that it shatters if you happen to drop it !

The shine comes from the sugar rather than the butter, doesn't it?

We get a slightly different range of "minor" grains here in Japan, all expensive. I use them because I have a minor allergy to rice, and don't like to eat it 7 days a week. Apart from the price, compromise is necessary because 2 family members like white rice and lots of it, while the other 2 prefer whole grains, in smaller amounts. This means that I prefer flavorful grains that can be frozen in small amounts for son1 and I to reheat and eat instead of rice - while I like quinoa, it is very mild tasting and best freshly cooked. As it cooks up "fluffy" and absorbent, it goes well with curries. Amaranth - I hear that some people eat it sprouted, haven't tried that yet. Amaranth and some types of millet which are particularly sticky when cooked, and in Japan are eaten as "awa-mochi" - the thick porridge-like cooked grain is pounded briefly in a mortar, and served either with bean jam, or in a sweetened azuki soup. A very old-fashioned home-style winter treat here. Because the grains are so fine, I most often cook amaranth together with white rice, and plan to try it steamed along with sweet potatoes, or as a coating for meat chunks or meatballs to be steamed or simmered in soup. Millet is also good cooked like sweet (sticky) rice together with ingredients like dried funghi, bamboo shoots, Chinese preserved meats or sausages etc. Millet...

I think I'm too embarrassed to show it, but mine is probably Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book, in the Penguin paperback edition (well, "paperback" is still half-accurate, but the front is long gone...). Dogeared, stained, I'm sure you can all imagine what it looks like. Why did I turn to this book so often? I use it much less now, because the vegetables are western ones, and the style of cooking doesn't match our "has to go well with rice" style of eating. It's a very eclectic book, so you don't feel that you've mined everything after you make two recipes from it, and of course, it's great bathtime reading!

Occasionally frozen cherries are in the supermarkets in Japan! Wonderful baking, wonderful packaging!

...so the thought of studying kaiseki is in itself enough to get you into a properly humble frame of mind? Kiwifruit sorbet - those tiny black seeds can be bitter (or rather harsh) and irritating to the throat if they are crushed (i.e. don't put them in a blender(mixer)). I think they are not so harsh cooked as when they are raw. That bacon ramen looks like a good way to use your kaiseki knowhow! Kumquats - simmer in shochu (rice spirits) to get them mellow but not bland. I wonder if there's a preference for fruits of Chinese origin in kaiseki, or just whatever looks most luxurious?

So where was this place in Arashiyama? I was just looking for info on places to eat this weekend in Arashiyama and northern Kyoto (Kita-ku...Kitano Tenmangu sort of area)...when I looked at your photos I remembered that some of the very first multi-course kaiseki-type meals I had in Japan were in the autumn in Arashiyama, looking out over the river. Also wanting ideas for lunch or snacks in Uji...lunch in Nara... Can you tell that I'm headed south on the sleeper train this weekend with my family? I don't think we'll have trouble finding things to eat Monday afternoon in the Namba area (vaguely) before we head off to KIX later, but please shower us with recommendations for things to eat or see, and PM me if you'd like to join us!

While we didn't consider going with plastic, we did consider making "fake" foods like temple-style vegetarian tofu "meat" etc, in honor of last year's official character..."fake"!

Mashed swedes (rutabaga) or turnips are good, though at some seasons of the year you need to beware of extra-fibrous roots.

Yup, as a former tour guide and interpreter, I've seen countless young couples overwhelmed by an ambitious schedule. What looks do-able on paper might be too much after a long flight and a few unexpected hiccups. In restaurants, you are in the public eye...I'd sacrifice some of those meals for impromptu if ordinary "finds", or even a chilly but more relaxed and private wander, wearing warm coats with pockets big enough to hold a paper bag of something nice and even a bottle! ...but your plans sound wonderful, anyway!

These are the two BULK bulk vinegars in my kitchen at present. The Tamanoi grain/cereal vinegar at left, and the Tamanoi Kome-su or rice vinegar at right. For a bulk rice vinegar from a discount grocery, I was fairly pleased with this. For specially "choice" su-no-mono dishes or sushi, I usually use genmai-su - it has a mellower, richer flavor. The difference between that and grain vinegar is quite noticeable. Haven't tried the black vinegar in Kris' photo. P.S. Many Chinese style soups benefit from a few drops of vinegar, and a good mild vinegar can be substituted for some of the mirin/sugar when making standard sweet-salty Japanese dishes like kinpira. P.P.S. cell-phone photo, sorry.

I am just sooo beyond all these little worries... because I store my larger towels in a retired diaper dispenser (that is, a fabric bag that hangs off a clothes hanger, with a square/rectangular hard bottom, and an opening right down the front), and the smaller dishtowels and whatnot in a pull-through plastic bag dispenser. ( Fabric bag, with an elasticated opening at the top, and an opening at the base). My mother in law is a bit towel-challenged, I swear the same towel has served,unwashed but occasionally rinsed for years, so I have dragged out a bolt of narrow-width, plainweave "sarashi" cotton to sew her up some new ones. I'll quilt them "sashiko" style, like this - fancy modern or traditional geometric patterns (from a popular Japanese crafts brand, Hobbyra Hobbyre), or just plain dots or running stitch. The cotton is very absorbent, and the stitching in heavy cotton thread makes them very durable, as well as attractive. P.S. I'm very spoiled by having heavy, absorbent cotton dishtowels my sister sends me from the Netherlands. Maybe Chufi will show us her collection?

Oh gosh, question time here! Even without trying to reverse the weight that snuck up on me over a few stressful years, I have a hard time balancing meals for hungry teen boys, underweight husband and overweight me. Great idea to do a troika - it's interesting to see different approaches. 1)That salad colander - does that maybe go in the fridge with a lid on, and keep salad greens usable for more than one meal? If so, does it work, and how many days will salad greens keep? 2) Lactose intolerance - my Japanese husband (just to differentiate from all the OTHER husbands!) can and does eat a lot of yogurt (whole milk, unsweetened, home-made), a little cheese, and almost never milk. 3) Carbonated drinks. When I was helping out with food and drink for my mother in hospital, the medical staff were adamant that she should not have carbonated diet or sports drinks because of the high sodium content. She flatly refused to drink plain water, and despite a considerable weight problem, staff told me they'd rather she was drinking watered down juice or still drinks than diet sodas. Do any of you diabetics get warnings about diet sodas, or is it a non-issue for people in reasonable health? Here in Japan, I can fortunately drink Japan's single greatest contribution to human culture - mugicha, or roasted barley tea! 4) Does the weightwatcher point system combine easily with the diabetic "food exchange" system? 5) What kind of starches do you find easiest/best for weight loss.

My husband buys me a bottle of wine from my NZ homeland for my birthday every year, and we've just enjoyed the latest - Cable Bay 2006 Sauvignon Blanc. It's absolutely typical NZ Sauvignon Blanc, I think (I'm not an expert, and have been away from NZ so long that I only get an occasional chance to taste more recent wines). At 13% alcohol by vol., it's higher in alcohol but also more fruity and aromatic than the SBs of my youth, which were lighter, but also grassier. The Cable Bay SB was also green, but more like crushed leaves from a spicy bush than outright grass. Very citrusy, (I thought) and none of the sometimes faintly bitter or harsh aftertaste you can get with some sharp wines. A definite bottled "WAKE UP!!!!" call of a wine! I enjoyed it. As for food pairing, I think one of the reasons that NZ SBs have become popular is because they are rather easy to drink with almost anything - you aren't going to squash them in a hurry. When I think of this particular wine, for some reason I think of crab and lobster ( but more realistically I should be dreaming of something like eggplant parmesan or pumpkin soup or a funghi risotto or Japanese mixed rice dish...maybe pasta cooked with broccoli rabe?). In other words, things with lots of flavor, but for myself, I wouldn't want competing sharp flavors, or something like a hotpot or curry where the aromas will drown out the fragrance of the wine.

I can't read Korean either, but I think it's probably mirin too - notice the same symbol on the right of each of the first two characters, which suggests it has the same vowel sound, and a non-vowel consonant sound for the last character...(I think...I thought I would study Korean over the radio once, long ago, but morning sickness intervened!).

Yep, it's quite well-known, and has a reputation for tasty ramen. My ramen-loving husband has marked it in his mental ramen map of Tokyo, but hasn't had the chance to try it.

You should buy expensive mitsuba...with roots！ Ｃut all the stems off (and use them) leaving about 5cm or so, stick the roots in water (or even better in a pot of soil that you can put outside in spring). Seri can be grown the same way, in a jar or bucket half filled with soil and topped up with water. That way you will always have a few leaves of mitsuba for soup. So how did the flavor of the dashi made at lower temperature compare to the flavor of "boiled" dashi?

Those purple beans get simmered in shoyu in Shikoku。 They are not sweet, which seems rare in Japanese bean cookery. Haven't had any recently, but they used to be extremely salty, and rather hard and powdery. So did you hand out a few macarons at the piano recital?

Favorites? Universal answer was "Namasu". Partly because it tastes really good when made in a double marinade (first marinaded in a basic marinade, which also removes any bitterness, then re-marinaded with kobu-dashi/sweetened vinegar/yuzu juice. This method is a little different from the recipe I gave upthread). Secondly, namasu goes so well with strong-tasting or rich osechi foods. Other favorites were more individual... kumquats cooked in shochu/syrup kobu-maki kuri-kinton buri teriyaki with mimosa snapper "fried" in sake The money I spent on packing up the gift osechi (forgot to show the separate packs of nimono/yakimono/ebi, and sekihan) was not much more than a couple of hundred yen per set. It was totally worth it - faces lit up in big smiles when I handed over the pretty boxes. Total expenditure...I allow about JYE1,000 per person perr day for all food and drink over the 1 week end of year/New Year holiday. I've tried to cost the actual osechi, but it's dfficult - so many things are kitchen staples, and/or preserved foods which can be bought months before New Yera prices kick in. * There is very little waste - dried beans and dried fish fingerlings keep well, and can be used many different ways. I only use part of a pack of black beans for osechi, but the rest is used over winter. Trimmings from fish went into broth; vegetable trimmings made about 3 separate dishes (daigaku-imo-no-kawa, carrot peel and dried shiitake kinpira, takikomi-gohan) - extending the use of the food bought for osechi to around 5 days. Osechi makes good bentos for my son1 to take to his holiday job, too! * Using non-traditional ingredients is another way to avoid the silly prices for fresh produce at this time of the year - for example, asparagus was cheaper than snow peas. * Some of those ingredients are not as gorgeous as they look! The buri with mimosa came from a pack of cheap offcuts - I trimmed nice-looking pieces for teriyaki and sprinkled sake on the scraps, which were used for today's takikomi-gohan. The ebi and the snapper were ridiculously cheap, bought from an isolated supermarket just before closing time on New Year's Eve while doing my mother-in-law run. The honey/salt pickled salmon I make each year works perfectly well with farmed salmon, so we don't spend up on big plates of sashimi. * A lot of osechi is made from extremely seasonal vegetables - no matter how much people crank up the price for certain varieties of daikon, carrot or sato-imo, they remain cheap, seasonal, produce, and you get plenty of mileage out of one Miura daikon! * My husband isn't a person who really enjoys eating out in restaurants or traveling, he doesn't smoke or drink much - I could make the osechi cheaper by cutting down on the treats that go into the second tier of the ojuubako, such as ham, ikura, pickled fish and squid etc, but these things are his ONLY New Year treat. And with 4 men in the house over the holidays, plus the mostly male gift recipients, I'm resigned to including more fish and flesh in the osechi than is strictly necessary! I doubt if it adds more than 2,000-3,000 yen to the total cost though - enough for about 20-30 servings, yet comparable to the cost of a single person's meal at a moderate restaurant. So the answer is, we get at least 20 servings for 5-10 people out of the osechi I make, and I estimate that it costs between 10,000 and 20,000 yen (including sekihan, ozoni, and stuff that just doesn't fit in the ojuubako), varying a little from year to year. However, we also get good mileage out of the ingredients and any leftovers.

About bad kohada...I wonder if they prepare it with extra-strong commercial/industrial vinegar - sometimes it is dry and flaky instead of having a smooth raw fish texture plus a sharp vinegar taste. Japanese rice vinegar is not strongly acid, so it shouldn't alter the texture a lot. I've been enjoying Hiroyuki's pictures and blog too - other people have said it too, but I also think that there are many reasons to avoid eating sushi in big cities - mostly, you get better prices and better quality in smaller towns.

Pictures... Individual sets of osechi ready for delivery And inside For home use, our three-layer juubako, arranged by son2 and photographed by son1: Top layer bought datemaki egg roll, dried persimmon, shrimp "fried" in sake center: tazukuri dried fingerlings fried with parmesan cheese center right: lotus root in sweetened vinegar and honey-marinaded lime slices bottom L to R ginger-flavored black beans, snapper grilled with salt and doused with sake Second layer top L to R yellowtail teriyaki with mimosa, vinegared octopus, kazunoko herring roe center L to R squid dressed with roe, ham with lotus root in sweetened vinegar bottom L to R some musubi konbu (kelp ties) scattered over kobu-maki (kelp rolls with salmon and dried tofu) Third layer Top left chicken, top right tataki gobo (burdock with sesame) bamboo shoot, konnyaku jelly, shiitake, carrot, little bit of lotus root and sato-imo Decorated with ginkgo nuts...and striped balls of wheat gluten, which I remembered half way through the meal! Finally, left plate yellowtail teriyaki with mimosa chicken wings simmered in shochu rice spirits and spices (shichifuku-ni) sato-imo small taro with three types of dengaku-miso center bottom sekihan (sweet/sticky rice with red beans - in this case a large type of azuki rather than sasage) center top namasu daikon and carrot with kelp, mitsuba, and yuzu, topped with ikura salted and marinaded salmon roe, and tiny vinegared kohada fish right green cup cheese, olive, gherkins parmesan cheese tazukuri dried fingerlings lotus root boiled and marinaded in a garlic, turmeric, and mustardvinaigrette NZ-made salami! Also kuri-kinton sweet potato paste flavored with orange and scattered with preserved chestnuts...and ozoni soup. They didn't make it into the photo, sorry.

From my favorite easy Japanese sweets and snacks book by Okumura Ayao, "Okashi tsukutte, ocha de mo ireyo ka". You wouldn't be following this recipe would you? Because this book is usually straightforward, but the karinto recipe isn't clearly written. The method is much the same as for daigaku imo - fry X in a wok, drain off oil, make an oily syrup with water and sugar in the bottom of the wok, heat till bubbly, return X and toss to coat. The karinto ingredients given in my book are put together like so: Dough: Flour 200g + 2 t baking powder 1 med egg mixed with 1 T white sugar, 1 T oil Make dough, kneading just slightly, cut into strips, fry at a fairly low temperature (160-165deg C in a wok, remove and drain dough strips when puffy and golden. So far, most recipes are about the same, right? Drain oil out of wok. Get a couple of tablespoons of whole toasted sesame seeds ready to hand. Kurozato 160g 50 ml water Dump in bottom of unwashed wok, shake over steady-strong heat till sugar bubbles up in coarse bubbles. Needs to be covered pretty much all over the surface in bubbles. Dump in the fried dough sticks, turning to coat in the glaze, and sprinkle over the sesame seeds. I think the dough sticks should be hot or warm - temperature of the glaze is likely to drop too soon if they are cold. Quickly dump out onto a rack and pull apart with chopsticks. Photos of karinto-making process and recipe in Japanese There is a similar Chinese snack where the karinto are made smaller, glazed with a white sugar glaze, and are not pulled apart, but rather pressed into a greased tray, then turned out and cut into squares when cold.

Important point! Miso is reputed to drive away the God of Poverty, who will ride on your back and bring you bad luck if you give him a chance. Take no chances, grill some boiled sato-imo with a dengaku miso topping! Eat warm, or seve cold in the New Year box. Dengaku Miso (Three Types)

Fish for New Year Delicate fish like snapper: sake-yaki Rub small whole fish or slices with salt, grill, then sprinkle liberally with sake (sake with a very little soy sauce) while still hot. Not traditional, but goes pretty well with a dollop of Thai sweet chili sauce. More traditionally, boil an egg, sieve the yolk, and sprinkle over the fish immediately after applying sake. Must be in serving-sized pieces before egg sprinkles are applied - gently move garnished fish to serving dish. Traditional but simple - place a few shreds of ginger and maybe yuzu on each piece of fish. Teriyaki Buri (yellowtail) is a great candidate for this. Equal quantities of soy sauce, mirin, and sake but you may adjust these, using more soy sauce, honey or sugar instead of mirin, or adding ginger juice, as desired. For 2-3 slices of fish, bring 1/4 c (50 ml) of each, plus 1 tsp of ginger juice, and ideally one sieved umeboshi to the boil, cool slightly. Put fish on a hot grill or put each fish on a strip of baking paper in a frying pan, begin to grill or fry carefully, brushing on sauce and turning until the fish is completely cooked. Ebi "fried" in sake Clean 8 good-sized kuruma-ebi, pull gut through back, slice along belly to make shells easier to remove when eating, cut partway through between scales on belly side to prevent curling and shrinking. Bring about 1/4 c sake and 1/4 tsp salt to the boil in a pan (you don't want to drown the shrimp), drop in shrimp, shake and turn in sake until bright pink, turn off heat, sprinkle over about 1/2 tsp or so of soy sauce, turn once or twice, drain and cool. Planning ahead: Saikyo-zuke This takes the pressure off last minute efforts. Make a white miso pickle bed with 200 g white miso mixed with 3 T mirin Spread over fish, place in a ziploc bag in the fridge for 2-4 days). Wipe miso off very well, and grill carefully - can burn very easily.