helenjp

Water chestnut - eleocharis dulcis - kuroguwai, oo-kuro-guwai, inu-kuroguwai. Written with characteers for "bird potato", just to make them harder to find. You *might* find them somewhere like Kyoto or Nara. I used to sometimes find old-fashioned vegetables there that weren't on sale in Osaka. Kuwai itself is actually a different plant, Sagittaria something-something, and doesn't have the crunch that water chestnuts do. Might even be better to substitute lotus root? Apparently water chestnut came to Japan from China first, but then kuwai arrived and took over the name and somehow supplanted the water chestnut in popularity. Bamboo shoot - not canned, but water-packed. They'll be in the vege section, near the root vegetables. Should be able to get everything from slender shoots to fat tips, cheapest are the shredded ones, which are usually tougher too.

Kita Akari are notorious for falling apart! They are so soft and fluffy that they make wonderful mash or croquettes though. Even Danshaku are sturdier than Kita Akari, but you might want to try one of the cultivars that have "kogane" in their names if you spot one. May Queen won't fall apart, but it may not be the perfect texture! I can't help much, because when I make fries I usually make wedges rather than fries, and a good proportion of sweet potato fries too. Hints on French fries.

Nope, this! Dancyu is mostly a magazine to part you from your money, but when they occasionally do a more practical feature, they make a good job of it. My favorite fried chicken recipe came courtesy of Dancyu (many years ago).

The January 2008 issue of Dancyu (the issue on sale now) has a special feature on Tsukiji. I thumbed through it and yawned, put it down....picked it up again, looked some more, and had to buy it. There are lots of simple-but-good mini-recipes in there. Four ways with maguro zuke... Also enough "hot" fish dishes to interest me, even though I have several fish cookbooks already. There is also a big map of Tsukiji, and even a few bits in English on how to behave like a nice boy or girl when visiting Tsukiji.

I'm curious - I get the impression that New Zealand is more "traditional" in Christmas baking than Australia, but I'd appreciate a reality check! What desserts or sweet things do you make or eat at Christmas? And which items do you really enjoy most? My family made all the traditional British sweet things, from mincemeat pies to Christmas pudding, to Christmas cake, to black bun for New Year. And trifle or watermelon fruit salad as well, most years, though sometimes a strawberry water ice or a "cassata" frozen dessert managed to fight it's way onto the Christmas table. Or pavlova with strawberries. Baking cookies/biscuits other than a batch or ten of shortbread wasn't something that happened - the shortbread and the mince pies were made partly for big staff "tea-times" as Christmas was the busiest time of year for my parents' business. My December birthday usually meant that my mother made me yet ANOTHER fruitcake, even though I always protested that I would rather a) make a different cake for myself, or b) do without one! Even though I hated fruitcake then I enjoy it now, just not in December. I thought Christmas pudding was forgivable, because it tastes as good cold as it does hot, but if I were living in NZ now, I think I'd make a Christmas cake at Christmas for fun, with all my family involved, ...and then store it till winter! Alternatively, the white Summer Solstice version of The Old Foodie's Chocolate Alcohol Cake (in Recipe Gullet), with it's sharper-tasting glace fruits, and laced with lemon zest and/or shredded fresh ginger, is a compromise I'm willing to make.

Ah well. It was good to know, thanks!

Since it's somebody else's cookies I'd be ruining, I'd be tempted to try subbing half lard/half butter. Or half margarine or shortening plus half butter, of course. I wonder if those older margarine products had a lower water content than we see now? In Japan, I sometimes see a "cake margarine" for baking, which includes animal fats, and also has a higher solid/fat content than regular margarine - and I think that regular table margarine has more and more water in it these days to make it appear light, and to make it more spreadable.

That puzzled me for ages too, until I figured out that many people mean something like "Pennsylvania Dutch" = Deutsch = German! So "Dutch" apple cake" is really "Apple Cake with German-style dough"!

Ohitsu were still around in real-life kitchens when I first came to Japan, but really, even in ryokan these days the maid usually totes in a rice cooker and plunks it down and sometimes plugs it in and sets it to keep warm. If I were buying something lacquered (rather than a sushi-oke type white-wood item) now, I think I'd look for a high-end synthetic lacquer rather than natural lacquer. You can get synthetic lacquer on wood rather than plastic these days. Much as I love my natural lacquer items, they are not robust enough to withstand extreme temperatures, or regular washing with strong detergents - my synthetic lacquer items get used much more frequently, and most people at the table can't tell the difference.

John, I can see you are the experimental type! Go to the store and pick up those "single serving" sizes of shochu (try to get as high a proof as you can) - one each of a rice shochu, barley shochu, and sweet potato. Recently there's a potato one too, but I've hear nothing about it, which I assume is bad news rather than good news. Remove about 50ml from each one, drop in a few kinkan, and sit back and wait! I think you should pierce the kinkan all over with a bamboo skewer first though. I did this with red shiso shochu earlier this year, but shiso is sufficiently dominant that I can't really tell a major difference - that is, I noticed that the barley (mugi) shochu tasted different, but that's probably because I've never drunk barley shochu anyway. Hiroyuki, plain shochu with hot water sounds terrible, but umeshu is different!

Well, anyway, just in case anybody remembers the original query, I wonder if Infernoo found any toro or ootoro grade tuna??? I'm curious to know how much of the local sashimi market is locally supplied!

If the pomelo in US supermarkets is the same as in the news clip below, it's a bit different from what I see here in Japan - usually pale yellow pulp. I wonder how different the pith is? News clip on pummelo/pomelo in the US The crosses like Sweetie/Jaffa/Oroblanco certainly seem to have thinner skins, and they taste a little different too.

The thing that's puzzling me is that the pomelos with really thick pith mostly come onto the market much later in the winter over here - are those already on sale in the US? (Especially the huge ones with elongated tops). Do you have a photo of the type of pomelo you were using?

As a nightcap, it's even better with hot water!

This is embarrassing - my knives need some serious TLC! These knives were bought in Sakai, Osaka, over 27 years ago. They were stored lovingly in oiled paper while I was out of the country, until my mother tossed them into a cardboard box and put it directly onto the dirt in the crawlspace under their house. My current home is also very damp - mold on cupboard doors etc - and old-fashioned knives hate it. The "classic" knives with white-wood handles rust the worst, and now need professional attention. I also ineptly over-sharpened my nakiri when I first got it, so it has a few nicks along the blade. The lower knife I think was called a "bannou" (all-rounder) and is obviously related to a santoku, it'smy workhorse knife, and fairly rust-resistant. A special knife for filleting small aji (yellowtail), my little-used sashimi knife, and the nakiri again. The aji knife is again a classic knife, and although not old, rusts very easily. Boring old Kaicut knife from Daimaru Peacock Supermarket's store in Senri, Osaka. Used every day for 27 years... Not pictured - My deba, which is similar in construction to the all-rounder, and which I use regularly. There's also a heavily-used ceramic petty knife with a broken tip and a knicked blade. Also a serrated bread knife, and two pairs of Henckel kitchen shears. Also a very thin serrated knife for slicing tomatoes - does the job well enough to make it worth digging out of the drawer. My other single-purpose knives - the sashimi knife, the aji-gutter - rarely see the light of day. I don't think a home-based cook needs dozens of knives - a knife is only as good as my ability to manipulate it. The knives I use daily are the all-rounder and the Kaicut, the ceramic petty knife, and the kitchen shears. I may have better knives for certain purposes, but then I know exactly how my all-rounder knife will respond to pressure.

Right here. Click the "specials" button under "prdoucts" and scroll aboutr half way down. Alternatively, include "Hitachi" and "HRC 66" in your search criteria.

Yes, to me those miso-pickled yolks look just right in terms of texture! They are good with congee, and I hear they make a good beer snack too.

I use mine all the time, in fact I wouldn't mind having another one. And yes, the Shuttle Chef Hiroyuki refers to is one brand. They are in the stores now in all kinds of bright colors, and they must have improved the insulation, as they are noticeably more compact than my trusty old one (which of course is never going to "break down" and need replacing ). Cooking with stored heat is only part of the attraction - most of the time I use it to keep food hot until the last member of the family gets home 3-4 hours after dinner was first served. During winter, it's nice just to keep food warm at the table for those who want a second helping (the insulated lid is detachable, and while food naturally cools faster without the top lid, it will certainly stay warm over dinner. I've never seen a dedicated recipe book, even in Japan where these things are quite common. You do have to make allowances for the fact that the cooking liquid won't reduce any further once it goes in the pot - but food usually needs to be covered in hot liquid to cook through. Stews and soups are obvious choices, but it's also good for getting a head start on things (such as soaking porridge oats in hot water overnight, or bring unsoaked beans to the boil and then put them in the pot for half a day - large beans may need both overnight soaking then a reheat and additional cooking during the day.) Because the heat is so gentle, it is particularly good for fish or chicken, which tend to lose a lot of taste in a crockpot. Conversely, when I did a comparison test on pulled pork using a pressure cooker and my thermal pot, the pressure cooker produced much softer meat. I also use my pot to make bechamel sauce or very thick white sauce for croquettes - it can taste horrible if it is not cooked properly, and that takes much longer than recipes usually say. I bring the milk and seasonings to the boil, put them in the thermal pot to mature for a bit, cook the sauce over heat, then leave it in the thermal pot for 2-3 hours to make sure the starch is properly cooked and the sauce matured. It's also very useful for mulling wine!

Mom of Little Foodies, plum brine is a great idea (my homemade stuff is dreadfully salty, so I never thought of that, though I use a home-made mashed ume "sauce" that isn't dried like umeboshi). Fish sauce (pronounced nan-puraa in Japanese, or rarely, gyo-shou) also *shouldn't* contain soy. I'm glad to hear that FoodAllergyMom's daughters don't have really severe problems - otherwise traveling here would be dificult and very worrying!

FAST FOOD Information from various blogs, websites Macdonalds (2006) frying oil is soybean oil plus some kind of suet The Macdonalds Japan allergy page lists no items as free of soybeans or not fried in soybean oil. Wendy's (2006) frying oil is 100% palm oil Mos Burger Drinks OK except for Coffee Milk Kid's Menu Chicken Vegetable Rice Burger OK Green salad OK Apple (Ringo) Jelly OK Kodomo Niko-niko (fruit and vegetables) Toast OK Convenience Stores (7-11) Lists soybean as ingredients in frankfurters, yakitori (grilled chicken) and all the oden ingredients I checked (oden is various stuff simmered in broth, will still be in stores in early spring). There are rumors that vegetable oil is used to prevent rice lunchboxes and onigiri (rice balls) from drying out, but I can't confirm this. You should check with counter staff, and if I can find out, I will post again. *Calpis drink and corn soup both contain soy products as emulsifiers.

I don't think waiters/waitresses will smile and ignore you, I think they are more likely to usher you out of the restaurant! The problem is that buying food at the convenience store is likely to be just as risky. It's possible that family restaurants (big chains) will be your mainstay, but of course they tend to be more common in suburbs or residential areas than in downtown areas. If you care to PM your hotel locations, I can send you a map with the closest family restaurants marked. You must be ready to deal with the fact that soybean oil is the most commonly used (=cheapest) vegetable oil, so anything that contains oil or has been fried is a risk, unless you are in really specialist restaurants. People with really severe soy allergies in Japan tend to avoid eating out, period. Or they stick to sushi, as I mentioned above. With Italian restaurants, check that it's olive oil, not the dreaded "vegetable oil" that is being used. However, if you think you can deal with it, why not post the things you want translated and either another Japanese eGullet member (hint hint) or myself in consultation with my husband (who is also a career translator) will send you what you want. The problem is that Japanese fonts may not display on your computer, so it may be necessary to post hard copy to your hotel.

DAIZU-ARERUGII = soy allergy (totemo binkan = very sensitive (to soy)) (inochi ni sawaru = life-threatening) SHOKUBUTSU-ABURA = vegetable oil, usually contains soy MAME-RUI = legumes NATSU-RUI / KI-NO-MI = nuts BIRYOU = trace, tiny amount I'm allergic to soybeans too, and to a lesser extent, other legumes and various nuts. The baddies are green soybeans (pure evil!), whole soybeans (of course), fried tofu (more because of the oil or the heating than from the actual tofu), and toasted soybean powder (kinako), with cotton tofu (drained tofu, "momen-doufu") trailing a way behind. Silken tofu (kinugoshi-doufu) is somewhat more allergenic. Properly fermented soy products cause me much less grief - that includes soy sauce, miso, and natto (in the amount that I eat them, anyway). Dark red miso (aka-miso, hatchou-miso) is made mostly or entirely from soybeans, with little or no added rice or barley. If they are fermented for less than 2-3months though, the protein is not broken down properly. Badly made cheap soy sauce is not fermented, so it's worth carrying a substitute soy sauce. Soy-free "soy" sauce - best known brand is "Daizu-non Shoyu" (There is also a "daizu-non Miso"). These are made from things like barnyard grass, foxtail millet, sesame seeds etc. If you like to PM me your address in Japan, I'll buy you a bottle and post it to your hotel ready for you (there's a healthfood shop near where I live). EATING OUT OPTIONS favored by Japanese soy-allergy sufferers Sushi shop and bring your own soy sauce (because neither soy oil nor soy sauce is used in the preparation of the sushi, BUT don't buy negi-toro (chopped tuna fillings or toppings) as they often have soy oil mixed with them). Italian restaurants (but watch the salad dressing - and some salad bars use a little oil to prevent raw vegetables from drying out). Other words to know (collated from a Japanese soy allergy site: VERY STRONGLY ALLERGENIC Soy = daizu Black soybeans = kuro-mame Soybean oil = daizu-abura. Sesame oil (goma abura) MAY have traces of soy. Green soybeans boiled in the pod = eda-mame Tofu lees = okara Soy milk = tounyuu Nuts = natsu (likely to be fried in soy oil, same danger for tempura or other fried goods) Peanut butter = piinatsu-bataa Vegetable oil = sarada-abura (salad oil), shokubutsu-abura (vegetable oil) Therefore...tempura, margarine (maagarin), mayonnaise (meyonneezu), crisps (poteto-chippusu), donuts (donatsu), popped-rice snacks (pon-gashi) also need to be avoided. Assume that cakes with cream may have oil in them too. Some fish products - mirin-boshi or dried fish usually with seeds sprinkled on them, and some smoked fish. Tunafish sandwiches (tsuna-sando) and tunafish onigiri (sea-chicken onigiri, tsuna-mayo onigiri). Dried fruits often coated with soy oil (dorai-furuutsu). Nori - yaki-nori or plain grilled laver seaweed sheets is OK, but aji-nori/ajitsuke-nori (seasoned laver sheets) or Kankoku-nori (Korean seasoned laver sheets) usually have oil on the surface. STRONGLY ALLERGENIC Chocolate=chokoreeto Cookies = kukkii Snacks = sunakku-gashi Senbei = fried senbei (age-senbei) Instant foods = kappu-raamen (instant noodles) Fried items = furai, also watch out for meatballs, fried potatoes etc Fried tofu = aburage Curry = karee (soy oil) RELATIVELY ALLERGENIC Toasted soybean powder = kinako (used in confectionery, light brown powder) Azuki = azuki, anko (bean jam - watch out for youkan (beanjam jelly) or manjuu (baked or steamed goodies with beanjam inside them) Beancurd = tofu Dried beancurd = koya-doufu White beans = ingen-mame Green beans = saya-ingen, guriin-biinzu Snow-peas = saya-endou Green peas = guriin-piizu, endou-mame WEAKLY ALLERGENIC Fermented sticky soybeans = nattou Fermentend soybean paste = miso Soy sauce = shouyu Beansprouts = moyashi (daizu-moyashi are soybean sprouts, usually mung bean sprouts are used). I think it's best to avoid beansprouts, as individual sensitivity varies. UNKNOWN beanthread vermicelli = harusame emulsifiers = nyuukazai (canned milky drinks, cocoa) flavorings = kouryou which include soy elements/derivatives (daizu-seibun) Substitutes: (pure= junsui, 100% = hyaku-paasento)) olive oil = oriibu-abura Rapeseed oil = natane abura Safflower oil = benibana abura Sunflower oil = himawari abura Imo-youkan = sweet-potato jelly, substitute for bean-jam jelly, make sure it's not WHITE BEAN beanjam jelly or shiro-youkan. I think green tea youkan is also made from white beans). Tokyo Disneyland Hokusai, Polynesian Terrace, Eastside Cafe all have children's meals that are low-allergenic (free of the most common allergens) - some list these on the menu, some are available on request, according to a blog I checked. Family Restaurant Chains Seems that almost all have a "low allergy plate" (tei-arerugii pureeto") mostly aimed at children with allergies. Usually spaghetti, hamburger steak, curry. OOPS! I checked some more and they don't include SOY in their list of "5 top allergenic foods" so you would need to check separately. However there is a good chance that family restaurants with low allergy plates can deal with soy allergy. I think some take-out sushi places have low-allergy packs, but unable to confirm.

From the spotted look of the fruit and the way it has no visible stem, I think it's Chaenomeles x superba (the C. japonica I've seen weren't spotted). This makes wonderful clear red jelly, one of my grandmother's favorite preserves (add the juice of a lemon to keep the color bright and if there is any doubt about pectin content). C. x superba doesn't seem to have the problem of bitterness that plagues Pseudocydonia sinensis (Chaenomeles sinensis) Photos of P. sinensis in this thread in the Japan Forum.

This version (scroll about 1/3 way down) is interesting for it's simplicity! Even simpler. Love the way she's morphed the boiled egg into Totoro. The neko-basu is made from two types of slice cheese - she says she found a reddish "cheddar" sliced cheese to contrast with the regular pale yellow type. Actually my favorite on that page is the Baba-papa bento. There are lots of versions on the internet using sliced cheese eyes stuck onto nori-covered round onigiri, but the version in the link, where the onigiri are rolled in cut nori, looks better to me! You could also roll meat balls in cut nori or crumbled dry ready-cut wakame and deep fry them, then add eyes later - especially if you want to save the Neko-basu theme for the rice. Simple neko-basu made with the katsuo flakes moistened with soy sauce and nori strips. Don't know what those evil eyes are - maybe takuan - but they look great! Grey Totoro made with black goma (ground) and salt looks effective too...though shirasu and katsuo could easily end up as a big mess on the lid of the bento instead of a pretty picture... I've seen other totoros shaped from two onigiri molded together - with the top one made from rice mixed with a furikake such as ground black sesame and salt, or wakame, or "yukari" (dried salted red shiso). Or even those tinyish salted fish. Have fun! Meanwhile, having made today's bento of fried chicken, quick-pickled turnip slices with lemon, broccoli rabe boiled with a little sesame oil in the water, and maitake/aburage takikomi-gohan, I'm GOING BACK TO BED!

Forgot to ask, is the yellowing and leaf drop recent, or has it been happening all year? Are the affected leaves shriveled, and do they have any other discolorations? And are they yellowed all over, or spotted/streaked? Also, are the affected leaves mostly the oldest leaves, and has the tree continued to pop out shoots and new leaves over spring and summer? If so, and if the leaf drop has just been occurring recently (as temperatures drop) then nothing much to worry about.