helenjp

I'm curious - do you have open (that is, not hermetically sealed) packets on your shelves? We live in an old (bug-prone) house, and despite fumigating once or twice a year, that's my biggest...er...bugbear. Rope storage - good idea. I don't have much cooking equipment that I don't use, apart from a few seasonal items, but my husband and I are both sentimental about old china - he brought his mother's china, and I brought my grandmother's china...

Water pepper or Polygonum hydropiper is actually "yanagi-tade" in Japanese (there are an awful lot of plants called something-tade in Japanese). You may also find it as Persicaria hydropiper. Beni-tade (red) and Ao-tade (green) are both forms of this plant (yanagi-tade). Sapporo Nouen sells seeds for sprouting, including beni-tade. Sorry, I don't know anything about the company.

John, if you hurry to a "home center" or home hardware/outdoor goods/hobby store, you should be able to get some cheap home smoker outfits (the cheapest are made out of cardboard). They are only sold in summer, unless you go to a really specialized shop.

Sounds as if you got plenty out of your garden this year! I wish I'd planted melokhia this year!

Oh, you mean the stuff my husband bought?!! Seriously, while recipe files and gadgets are big space eaters, the real puzzle is how to keep storage neat but accessible. My dry goods are in deep vacuum-seal (=roach-free) boxes, and how I hate to drag out a heavy box, rummage through it for one type of flour, and then put everything back again... Debbster, you're right about using a narrow over-sink board - I have a full-depth one which is fine for things like rolling pastry, but smaller is better.

It's wonderful when you can start from scratch and build a whole new kitchen...but this is the Real World. I keep telling myself that I can't afford to spend money on our 25-year-old kitchen, so I decided to canvass you all for skinflint ideas for all those well-known Japanese kitchen problems...and most of all ROOM TO MOVE!!! Top of my list is replacing our small, inefficent extractor fan that doesn't work with another ditto that does work. What other wonderful improvements to efficiency and mood am I missing out on?

Forgot to say, freezing what you pick now is probably more reliable than canning.

An old-fashioned favorite of my mother's: Apple Snow. Light enough for the beginning of autumn. I think you could adapt it to other soft fruits, though the mild flavor has its own attraction. Cook up apples, lightly spiced, preferably without water, add a little water or wine if needed. Sweeten, sieve, set aside. When ready to assemble, whip some eggwhites (about 1 eggwhite to every 3 apples, depending on size of apples???Way too long since I made this, sorry) and fold into the apple. My mother claimed that it was supposed to be served in individual pastry baskets assembled and/or decorated with caramel, but that was not something I ever got to see .

This is a strip between the house and the street - some 8 inches wide. The only bigger creatures infesting it are the local middle schoolers, but we find a video camera and microphone deters them effectively . Specifically, the smooth-leaved mint is planted UNDER the outside water-heater, where previous unwanted invasions of other mints and ferns throve wonderfully (without that protection, the area is surrounded by so much concrete that it's a bit dry for mint). Even the most hell-bent middle schooler couldn't get under there!

split tomatoes...depends on whether the split is small enough, and the weather cool and dry enough, for the tomato to "heal over". Otherwise... Now for my question: MINT I have no trouble growing hairy mints, but a great deal of trouble with smooth-leafed mints. Bugs eat 'em, even in places where I don't think there are many bugs. The only one that got by the bugs fell victim to my husband's enthusiasm one "Neighborhood Clean-up" Day. I bought another one, and SOMETHING strips every leaf off it every time it has the temerity to sprout any. The area is relatively dry, and I don't see snail or slug tracks, but I'm reluctant to spray or lay bait around herbs that are eaten fresh.

Enz is NZ=New Zealand=enz of the earth, etc. I found some southern US recipes just like the Plum Melange as "Plum Conserve". Funnily enough, we used to make this to add a little variation to the endless sea of red plum jam that came out of my grandparents' farm orchard, but in Japan, I make it to eke out the expensive (close to $1 each) red plums I can buy!

I did find some "dry-cure" bacon in among the tiny packs of specialty hams and deli meats - not with the other hams. Expensive but good...

Recipe of my grandmother or great-grandmother's: Plum Melange 3lb red plums 1/2 pint water 3 lbs sugar Juice and grated rind of one large lemon and one large orange 3/4lb walnuts 1 lb raisins Boil and sieve plums, add sugar, return to boil, add juices and rinds, Add nuts and raisins when ready. In my experience less sugar will do, as the raisins add considerable sweetness. About the date/walnut combination in Queensland - wonder if this fruit/nut mix in jam is a British tradition or an Oz and Enz thing? We used to have a peach or apricot jam with almonds in it too.

You found it! What a hero! Country breakfasts...I often wonder whether the length of urban commutes isn't the biggest factor in breakfast food choices here - people eat dinner late, and then of course they're out of appetite and time to eat in the morning. Sounds as if lots of people would eat a Japanese breakfast if somebody else cooked it (and washed the dishes), and they had more time to eat.

I've never been sure if there is a difference between "mochiko" and "mochitoriko" (which is used for dusting surfaces when mochi is turned or kneaded). Since the labels just give the ingredients, and don't state different grades or levels of starch/protein, fineness of grind etc., it's hard to know.

Oh dear, never mind, there's always the shelving, which son1 says he can't live with out!

Sarashi-an has relatively more changes of water and soaking time than koshi-an - it is paler and more delicate in taste. To tell the truth, a lot of people feel that it is too delicate in taste, especially if they are used to the very dark color of canned, commercial an. I would change the water once while boiling even if I were in a hurry, but more than that is up to you! It does make a difference - you get less scum with each change of water. However, if you do it more than 2-3 times, I think the flavor becomes insipid. As for allowing the sieved beans to settle, you can short-cut that if you are making koshi-an rather than sarashi-an. A mix of shiratama-ko and joushin-ko is normal - thanks for steaming them all together, it was very interesting to see the differences side by side. When I said that boiling creates a softer texture than steaming, I meant "when the same flour is used". I think the mochi-ko may not be so finely ground? I like to use a kombu-dashi in the sauce for mitarashi dango - motly nostalgia for my time in Kansai, I think.

review in English of the restaurant at IKEA in Minami Funabashi, Chiba. I still haven't managed to drag myself there yet, but it will happen...

Hard to say without seeing it, but probably that type of mold is not a problem. Remove the wrap, wipe the walls and top of the jar and the lid with alcohol or a cloth dipped in boiling water, cover with fresh wrap, and away you go.

We've been using the Seagull IV listed in Hiroyuki's top 10 for years and years. We bought that one assuming that the model wouldn't go out of production too easily, and sure enough, we've been able to buy filters easily, even on Amazon. However, they are not too cheap. At the time we bought our Seagull IV, the local water filters were not living up to the claims, but I believe that they are much better nowadays. 浄水器 try sticking that in the search function of amazon.co.jp and you'll find the ever-popular Brita filter jugs, cheap but do the basics; and a Toray filter that screws on to your tap (if you have the right kind of tap) for under 3,000 yen, as well as more expensive options. Toray have very advanced fiber technology, so they have been leaders in this market in Japan from the beginning. The main thing is to find something that you can afford to replace filters at the recommended intervals - if you skimp, the water quality deteriorates noticeably (unsurprisingly! ).

They are sembei, but of a particular type. I think the sweetish ginger ones might be found in different parts of Japan, but the plain or salty/sesame ones seem to be more common in northern Japan. My Hokkaido-born husband likes these, and thinks that his Akita-born mother probably introduced them.

Rhubarb by mail-order! The site was listed in the September issue of NHK's magazine "Kyou no Ryouri"

I was sure there was a thread on this, but where??? Today's Asahi newspaper carried a survey on who eats breakfast, and what is most popular. There were some surprises - no surprise that bread is the most popular, BUT beverages of any type come a fair way down the list. Do people munch on a pastry at home and then pick up a can of cold tea at the station??? Here are some of the results: - more people skip breakfast for lack of appetite than lack of time - men become breakfast converst in their 50s - but nearly 1/4 of men in their 20s skip - only 19% of people think that elementary and JHS schools should provide breakfast for those who need it. Popular breakfast foods among 3070 interviewees Breads (1861 people) Milk or dairy (1640) Rice (1381) More would eat rice if they didn't have to cook it... Coffe, tea (1348) Eggs (1023) Miso soup (953) Salad (860) Fruit (849) Natto (701) Pickles (521) Nori (377) Fish (337) Juice (260) Cereal (208) Meat (202) This would include sausage, ham, bacon Supplements (194) Soup other than miso soup (154) Noodles (48) Frozen foods (46) Instant foods (23) Other (215) So our year-round menu of toast, yogurt with fruit, and tea is pretty ordinary fare here in Japan - and it's my Japanese husband's preferred menu, not my choice!

I tend to think of shiratamako as better quality than mochiko, but maybe that's only hype. Texture depends largely on cooking method - steam for chewiness, boil for softness.

Living in a non-western country, the Internet has stopped my English and the "non-Japanese" side of my culture from fossilizing. Not only can I read what you all think about a cookbook written in English before I order it (it's really hopeless trying to order an unseen cookbook online), I can find nerd-level obsessive discussions on pickling cabbage in one place, and Indian housewives's resources on Sify.com, etc. I can help expat Japanese living in NZ where to find Japanese herb seeds in NZ. Although it hasn't happened so much in food, I've made new friends in my native NZ over the internet, which means that when I go back to NZ and get together with my friends, I'm not time-traveling back to high school, I'm meeting with a much more diverese group of people. Internet recipes - it's easier to google something than to sift through the avalanche in my recipe cupboard. The big recipe collections seem to offer mostly the same undistinguished recipes, though epicurious is interesting. However, I've hauled my share of treasures back from the great google fridge, from simple things like Andy's Mom's Snickerdoodles (very exotic-sounding for kiwis!) to new versions of my favorite middle-eastern vinegar/brine open jar pickles.