helenjp

Anybody seen the Halloween Pocky products? The strawberry with a Halloween face on it looks pretty scary...there's a pumpkin pocky in there too.

I have the same brand of Chinese cooking wine ! I'm also glad to see that I'm not the only one who finds cleaning lots of those small young squid a bore and a chore. It seems to go best if I can use an old clean cloth to rub/pull the skin off.

This is invaluable, thank you! I can think of dozens of uses for this pastry here in Japan!

Talking of tosa-ni, something that goes incredibly well with katsuo-bushi is green chile pepper. It's OK with shishitou or green bell pepper too, but the long green mild peppers (ama-naga, bannou and all the varieties with local names, especially common in Kansai) are the best . You can add them to all kinds of simmered dishes before loading up on the katsuo-bushi, but the simplest way is to fry them quickly in very little oil, till the skins are blistered or charred just here and there, then quickly pour over a dash of soy sauce and ditto of vinegar, serve, top with katsuo and more soy sauce and eat while hot! (It's OK cold with a bento too, but doesn't compare to hot from the pan).

Interesting reading...my husband is 5'7", and has trouble keeping his weight from slipping too far below 120lbs. Even that level is practically middle-aged spread for him. For him it's a battle to eat earlier in the day when he still has enough energy to digest what he eats - so it's yogurt for breakfast and a packed lunch. More exercise - that sounds like a good direction to take! Looking forward to reading about your non-whey eating too.

That was fascinating reading, thanks!

Cream or mousse, OK...and I do like the idea of adding in a dollop of whipped cream!

I foolishly asked my sons what pumpkin desserts they wanted. Son1 told me to wait till he'd finished his math, and son2 piped up "choux with a pumpkin cream filling" ...a WHAT filling? I've made vermicelles with pumpkin or sweet potato, but kind of balk at getting pumpkin into a cream or custard filling without ending up like something like unset concrete. Advice? Tales from the experienced?

Passionfruit shells work well, and passionfruit make a tasty sorbet too. Pity that my freezer wouldn't hold much more than individual grape sorbets on the half-shell

I made some umeboshi paste and kurozato preserves described upthread, and it DID take a lot of kurozato to make an impact on the flavor. They taste quite nice, but of course being sweet, they go better with tea than with rice.

I think one reason why it's such a big issue here in Japan is that lots of people have table-top ovens. Of course, that means you are getting the heat right in the chest body and face! If I turn the oven on, I can see the temperature rise on the thermometer at the other end of the room.

Prasantrin, sounds like "nerikiri". I was surprised to find that nerikiri are much less popular here in eastern Japan than in Osaka/Kyoto. It's not hard (just somewhat time-consuming) to make the white-bean an that is used as the basis for many nerikiri. My DH thinks it is a scandalous extravagance, but I sometimes take my boys to the local wagashi shop to choose one each, and to explain the different types - they don't taste anything like the supermarket versions, and I think they're an all too precarious part of Japanese food culture!

That point about avoiding heating up the kitchen in hot weather -- that's also one of the main advantages of these thermal pots in my home. I like it for cooking delicate things like fish, and to some extent, chicken. It can't be beat for bean cookery - if you want that cooked-down, crusty-topped finish, you can always transfer it to an oven at the end. Stewed apples - yes. I have a recipe for buttered stewed apples with a very light, eggy sponge dumping on top which is perfect for the thermal pot.

Ohio State University Extension recipe - this is the one I base my sauerkraut on. I don't make it until November in Japan, as the weather can become unpredictably warm before then. I agree with the "chop it finer" thing - it makes all the difference to the finished product. I wish I had one of those special sauerkraut slicers, though - it's very hard work and if you can get a friend of 10 to help you, don't turn them down!

Prasantrin, that sounds good - maybe the caramel seals the nashi better! Please post results of any experimenting you feel driven to do...

Last time I made pasta at home I hung it over the back of a chair...and turned round to find that the cat had batted it off onto the floor where he was "hunting" it. . The finished dish looks good! I can practically smell all those mushrooms.

That is a distinct possibility, but the other problem in NZ is that broadband is still expensive, and providers charge you by how many bytes make their way in and out of your home ... so an image-heavy site like eGullet is a luxury taste! I admit I'd like to see more people from Oz and Enz too, so that I could ask them recherche little questions of the kind that only occur to Kiwis and Aussies cooking "exotic" US recipes! As for cooking on a spade, Japanese sukiyaki is derived from the word "suki", a kind of hoe.

Hard cake...are you sure this isn't the Japanese version of "rusks" - a cake which is then sliced or split open and then baked again at a low temperature. There was a bit of a rusk boom years back, and probably some people still make them.

If it is fresh turmeric, it is wonderful with fish or chicken. It has a flowery fragrance that completely disappears from dried powdered turmeric.

Ladies drinking followed by coffee and desserts...this must be an "only in Japan" pattern - the women at my J university used to do the same thing. Looks like a lovely relaxed way to spend a dismal day - I agree, it's time to stamp this weather "return to sender" and boot it out!

Matsudo Keirinjo (velodrome) is a couple of stations away from us on the JR east Joban line. It's at Kita-Matsudo, one station from the Matsudo station, which is 20 minutes by express train from Ueno on the main central Tokyo loop line, the Yamate Line. We used to live near there, and picking our way through the drunk patrons and their leavings to get to and from the station didn't encourage us to go to the cycle races, but we've been to the kids' festival held there! The time table has races pretty much every day from the 4th through the 15th, but particularly over the weekends. I'm not sure what November is going to be like for us, but PM me if you think you'd like to visit.

Actually there is a hidden benefit to the fact that younashi are so expensive here - every now and then, fruiterers sell off the sad-looking ones ultra cheap, a bonus for patient people who like to bake .

SO...what are people's favorite veggies/combinations? I guess the usual suspects are....spinach, carrot, bean sprouts...and heading on out into eggplant, black mushrooms, fern fronds/stalks. and chinese chives territory. Any favorites I've missed out? Thanks for the dressing recipe Torakris, that looks like a good'un for lunch boxes because it doesn't have any garlic in it!

I have used nashi in baking. Nope. Bad mistake. Texture turned horrible (from crisp and juicy to floppy and rubbery) and the flavor disappeared completely.. Either grit your teeth and pay out for younashi or use apples or kiwifruit or even persimmons!

Young ginger - stand it in the fridge in a glass of sweetened seasoned vinegar (sugar, salt) - it will keep well and turn an intense pink. Torakris, do you use those cream roux much? Ever used them for soups? They seem to be about a once-yearly event in my family!