helenjp

Yum, we had satoimo miso soup with greens tonight, but this morning we had... ...light-colored miso soup, made with oysters simmered very briefly in the broth, and a handful of chopped scallions added immediately before the heat was turned off and the miso added. It was great!

I've made coffee jelly often, but never thought of using a recipe. I dug through my files and found coffee mousse jellies and coffee tapioca jellies and crushed coffee ice with cream poured over it, but no coffee jelly. Then I ripped open a pack of Ina-aga-A (a new kind of vegetable jelly powder which sets rather like gelatin but is stable at room temperature - it includes both agar and konnyaku powder as well as other starch thickeners). They recommend: 10g Ina-aga-A powder (1 sachet) 12g instant coffee powder (4 15ml tablespoons) 550ml boiling water 70g sugar (8 15ml tablespoons) That's quite a bit more concentrated than Hiroyuki's coffee. When I make it, I use a nearly double strength brew of iced coffee, filtered carefully so that it's clear, sweetened to taste, and with a little vanilla extract added. I think it's better a little intense and bitter, with a bit of syrup over it, rather than being very sweet in itself.

Yeah, good idea, and I forgot to mention that softer, smaller varieties seem to spit more than the thicker-fleshed bigger squid varieities.

I think the reason Dave's method works is because he puts the floured squid immediately into the fryer, so there's no chance for the flour to absorb too much liquid. I do dry squid, because I've had a couple of close encounters with hot oil splatters from over-wet squid tempura... .

My gut-guess is to read it "koi" as there is a type of green tea meant to be drunk extra strong, known as "koi-cha" (just so that there is absolutely NO confusion about what type of tea you are getting, unlike many of the more fanciful tea names!). I tried the murasaki-imo one too (it's really a pity that I *have* to go to the convenience store to buy bread and milk while picking my son up from cram school, and I just *know* he'll be wanting a snack afterward...). It was OK, but I didn't actually like the spongy texture combined with the slight grittiness of the sweet-potato powder. Picky, picky... Meanwhile, we had some of those "sakura saku" cherry-blossom flavored Kit-Kats just to get son2 in the mood for his exams, and although the flavor was a surprise, it grew on me. It's definitely artificial, more like the aroma of pickled cherry leaves on supermarket sakura-mochi than any kind of cherry fruit. And I think it was faintly salty too...not bad, and not incredibly sweet! (But why did they have them lined up on the counter beside big bags of "failed student" peanuts - rakkasei ). Chocomoo, I'm surprised at you! I rather like those "5-grains" pocky!

I've just gotta ask what is that tea-making thingie with the cup on the end of its chain, back in your husband-and-wife teatime photo upthread? We have moments of beverage confusion in our house, but I'm reluctant to get out the tea-ball, because I always break my nails opening the darn thing. I'd love to see your alternative! Looking forward to seeing your baking extravaganza, and meanwhile writing "cottage cheese" on my shopping list so I can make Mama Zuke's recipe.

Nuka-zuke in plastic - yes, you can even use a heavy plastic bag for a small amount of bran. I am sure that things like miso or nuka-zuke *do* leach unwanted substances out of the plastic container...I just don't know how much, but nuka is probably less of a problem than some other pickles. I did use to use a heavy stoneware container, and I would prefer to do so - you can easily rinse them out with boiling water, dry them in the sun, wipe them with alcohol, salt etc. Also, they keep the temperature more stable. However, one day a couple of years back I left my husband and one son alone in the house, and in the process of making themselves some grilled cheese on toast, they somehow managed to drop something heavy into the empty stoneware jar and crack it...it's now an umbrella stand.

Konbu---yes it's for flavor, especially to help a "young" nuka-miso that hasn't developed much flavor itself. However, konbu itself gets moldy easily, so if you do put it in, it might be an idea to take it out in about 10 days (in this weather, it should be OK for that long). The nuka-miso will gradually get sloppier and sloppier (and less salty) as it takes in water from the pickles and gives out salt to them, so every now and then, add a bit more nuka and salt...much the same proportions of salt to nuka as in your original pickle. Additives...by far the most flavor will come from the lactic acid which develops as the vegetables pickle, so I wouldn't worry too much about flavor additives. Calcium...will keep vegetables like cucumber a bit crisper, IF you pickle lots of cucumbers AND use a heap of eggshells. But then you've got to remove the inner membrane from the eggshell so it won't go off... I would treat them as strictly optional! On the other hand, things like 2-3 dried chili pods and a tablespoonful of dried mustard powder will certainly help prevent unwanted molds or bacteria from developing. It's easy to overdo the mustard, and if you do, the pickles will be surprisingly bitter, so take it easy - if it's a small nuka bed, try 1 tsp of mustard and gradually add more. Japanese mustard for nuka pickles is already mixed with bran usually and is much milder - a handful of that can be tossed in boldly, but I expect you'll be using western mustard powder. Beer...I think personally that's daydreaming, because most beer is not live culture...but many people swear by it. Nuka - I've known people in New Zealand make nuka-zuke from breadcrusts - they hoard them in the freezer and then just damp and salt them. As one Japanese friend says, it tastes a bit different, but after you've eaten breadcrust nuka-zuke for 20 years, it starts to taste perfectly normal! P.S. Your packages of "plain nuka"...how "plain" are they? Do they contain any salt? And is it raw - does it smell a bit like raw wheatgerm? If it is raw, many Japanese people stirfry it on low heat and then cool till barely warm before making their nuka bed. You could pop it in a low oven and stir it round a bit if you wanted.

I used to make a fresh orange juice and cream cheese jelly...you have to warm and mix/blend/sieve it to get rid of lumps, and cheap brands of cream cheese sometimes have a grainy texture (rather like milk powder...surely not?!)

This is definitely a parting-of-the-ways issue! My mother's passion for meat was much like Torakris', but I never got it. She could window-shop the display in a butchery for hours, probably . I like the taste and texture of raw and seared meat, but visually, a butchery is BORING!

osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus The straight osmanthus fragrans is a less-fragrant WHITE flowered variety. Apparently they don't set seed and must be cultivated from cuttings...at least, I saw that glancing through a book in a shop, didn't read the whole chapter to find out exactly what the situation was.

Shiso will be happy in the sunshine, but make sure the soil is not so light that it dries out instantly...in my experience, shiso that suffers drought-stress seems to be much more susceptible to bugs! I've had great success with eggplant in containers - being smaller than western varieties, it matures before diseases and bugs get a hold, very rewarding! The takana and daikon I would be inclined to leave till a fall sowing, as they will be just dying to flower and set seed if you sow them in spring...but if you sow the takana fairly early, you could probably get a crop before summer. Check GardenWeb (Asian vegetables) too, for more specific advice for gardening in your particular area.

Oh good, there was a thread already about this! My Japanese friend and I were talking quiche yesterday, and she said she wasn't happy with the texture of the filling. Her quiche looked overbrowned on top, she said she cooked it at 220, but that's in a SMALL countertop oven, so I'm sure the temperature would have taken a while to recover after the raw quiche went in. I suggested she try baking it 10minutes at 220, then lowering the temperature to 180 or so for a while....(I only said 10 mins because it's a really, really small quiche she's making!). Curious to know...what do you think is the best oven temperature for quiche...and do you think the hot oven-sheet trick under the quiche pan helps, or would it overheat the egg? It's been a while since I made quiche, so I'm feeling in an experimental mood...

Ah ha! The belly! I have hazy memories of my mother using a little flour along with the salt on the scored skin to "crackle" it. I have much clearer memories of the resulting product! It looks good...I was surprised to find it skin-on though, can you buy it that way in supermarkets, or is the skin just another reason to shop at Iowa Meats?

I never knew about this thread! I really appreciate all those photos, thank you...growing up in New Zealand, and now living in Japan, I know a lot of European fish only by name or line drawing/illustration - seeing the fish in close-up makes it much easier for me to understand what kind of fish it really is. You said you felt guilty about eating a really large fish - I think I know what you mean, but I'd be interested to hear more about your ideas.

Chufi that's a wonderful tradition! My husband just gets worried by expensive gifts, but really appreciates a nice birthday dinner. It's a lovely thing to do, isn't it! I usually make the same cake every year - one that I worked out just for his birthday, and never make at other times. Are you in Europe troubled by the same expensive vegetable prices that we're experiencing this year? If so, I'm finding hothouse vegetable prices are more stable - things that are normally extravagant are comparatively good buys! I second the baked fish suggestions - so spectacular to serve! Crust the fins and tail with coarse salt and protect with foil, so that they stand out when served, but are not burned.

If you don't care for hazelnuts, just send them ALL to me...right now...without questioning! Hazelnuts are a good sub for almonds, although they have a much more pronounced flavor, they must be more similar in oil content etc., especially in comparison with walnuts.

Fucha ryouri - I have a book on it, and visited an Obaku-sect Zen temple in Wakayama that still serves it. I was actually thinking of making some of the dishes again and putting up a thread on it...after university exams finish, though, because they are quite time-consuming. Fucha-ryouri is noticeably Chinese-influenced, so not that strongly related to mainstream historical Japanese cooking. I have a reprint of an Edo period cookbook, and material on this period is not so hard to come by. My graduate studies were on Muromachi period (pre Edo) Japan, and I came to realize then how much documentation was lost in the wars and fires of the period. Sure enough, reprint cookbooks etc for this and preceding periods are much harder to come by. There is a certain interest in reproducing the pre-historical period foods, and in fact the local museum has pit-dwellings where they prepare and serve acorn cakes from time to time, but that's all. I'm quite interested in Japanese historical cooking, partly because it's very obvious that soy sauce as it is now is not the same as it was originally, and partly because the ama-kara (sweet and salty) flavor that is the backbone of Japanese cooking now is obviously an Edo period development relying on sugar. I've often thought that what preceded it may have been much closer to the SE Asian "sour and salty" tastes.

Pork belly...I like to pretend that it's really yakitori, and cut it into small pieces and grill it on skewers. I would like to tell you about some great exotic Japanese spice, but apart from using yuzu-kosho (chilis ground up with salt and green yuzu peel), I much prefer to rub the meat thoroughly with salt and dried sage before making the skewers. You could just grill the meat and eat it with a miso dip (3 tab ground sesame seeds (use black if you want it to look really evil), 2 tab miso (hatcho or dark red if you use black sesames, any type at all otherwise), 2 tab sake, 1 tab sugar, 1 tab mirin, 1 tsp - 1tab soy sauce depending on how salty the miso was). You can either just paint this stuff on the meat and grill it (burns easily...), or give it a little bubble on the gas and have it as a dip. I'm so glad other people work in their PJs too!

I am definitely having fun here, thank you Mizducky. Of course, I'm totally distracted by the non-food alien culture things such as PARKING IN FRONT OF A RESTAURANT. When I'm in Japan, I forget about the whole concept of strip mall parking, roadside parking, etc. (Japan is more of a park-across-the-tiny-intersection-and-block-four-roads-at-once kind of place). I do like that stand (lacquered, no less!) you showed us for temaki sushi - rather like an icecream cone stand. Enjoying your comments on the influence (impact? ) of shared kitchens/cooking. Maybe because it's not dinner-party cooking, it's all the more interesting for housemates/dorm mates. If I ever wrote a book, I think I'd want to dedicate it to One-Pot Dinners Observed. As one freelancer to another, do you take extra pleasure in eating out or shopping in markets rather than ordering in or dashing through supermarkets just for the delight of crawling out of your cave and looking at other live human beings, or is that not an issue?

Toliver: I like bananas with fish too, though usually stuffed with a kind of quick hash of onion, red peppers and chilis, and banana, and then baked. A flatmate used to sautee onions, then add spinach and banana. That was surprisingly good.

Lamb noodles! Great start to a blog! I think those handmade noodles are made the same way as Mongolian soup noodles, though cooked differently. Green onion breads - yum! (I've only ever made them at home, always curious about what they're actually served with in restaurants?) I think the blog jinx got to you - my digicam also sputtered and died as I tried to take my first blog photo, and thanks to that, we how have a Panasonic Lumix LZ2!

Hmmm...I bake rice in milk, around 180degC, for at least 1 1/2 hours. I'd start with 1/2 cup of rice (raw, washed) to about 1 1/2 pints of milk. Sugar to taste, but less than you think, as the milk will evaporate during cooking, concentrating sugar. I sprinkle a few tablespoons over the surface. Definitely add butter -probably about 2 ounces. Spices? I prefer nutmeg and a twist or two of lemon peel, but cinnamon is good too. My favorite rice pudding is to coat 1-2 chopped, peeled apples in melted butter, add the raw rinsed rice and milk, and bake for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

I think there are two things that will change when you heat soy sauce. 1) Good soy sauce is a live, fermented food. Heating will inevitably destroy some of the aromatic products of fermentation. This may be why some people use a little soy sauce in cooking, and add a little more at the end to finish the dish. 2) Sugars may be caramelized...or burnt!

Maid kissa and geeks....I was listening to two boys talking about a tech high school, discussing whether it was really geeky or not, since it is also fairly academic. But this comment settled it: "It's still the only school I know that has a maid kissa stall at the school bazaar."