eG Foodblog: Hiroyuki - Home-style Japanese cooking

[Hiroyuki]

My son gathered two other shiitake mushrooms this morning.

My son takes a swimming lesson every Saturday, and I have to take him by car.

You can't live here without a car. I sometimes miss Tokyo, where you can go anywhere by train or bus.

The lession starts at 11:00 and ends at 11:50, so my daughter and I killed time at RARA

in front of Muikamachi Station:

Local FM radio station, FM Yukiguni:

The street between Route 17 and Muikamachi Station was once dubbed Shutter Doori (Shutter Street)

because many of the stores closed down immediately after JUSCO (shown upthread) opened about 10 years ago.

Tenants are coming back:

Yakiniku-ya Sakai

My daughter had "mixed soft ice cream" (210 yen), and I had coffee (200 yen). You can have as much coffee (three types, cold, charcoal-roasted, and regular) as you want.

When we came home, it was almost half past twelve.

"Okusama wa Gaikokujin" (The Wife is a Foreigner) was on.

Kristin appeared on the show once, but I missed it!

I reheated the leftover curry, adding two additional cubes:

Tasted much better.

Plate that I used:

My wife bought two of them while taking a trip to Ebisu Garden Place in Tokyo years ago.

I can't say I like the design, but she likes it.

Thus, today's lunch:

We are running out of milk and natto. I must go shopping today. But, don't expect to post obligatory photos of Pocky... (helenjp aka Helen can clarify why I say so.)

[Cadbury]

Fuku-sai (sub-dish?  I can't think of the right word):  Boiled touna (a type of green), boiled broccoli, and leftover kiriboshi daikon (dry strings of daikon, simmered with other ingredients).

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I'm wondering whether fuku-sai could be better termed a "side dish"?

[dockhl]

SB (or else .... their feet )

Ummmmmmmmmmmm...............???????

K

[Hiroyuki]

Fuku-sai (sub-dish?  I can't think of the right word):  Boiled touna (a type of green), boiled broccoli, and leftover kiriboshi daikon (dry strings of daikon, simmered with other ingredients).

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I'm wondering whether fuku-sai could be better termed a "side dish"?

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Thanks!! So,

Shusai: Main dish

Fukusai: Side dish

I'll stick with these terms from now on.

Just one clarification:

In Japanese cuisine,

shusai is a proten-rich dish the main ingredient of which is usually meat or fish.

fukusai is a vitamin-rich dish the main ingredient of which is usually vegetables.

Shushoku (roughly, staple in English) is a carbohydrate-rich food, and is actually one of rice, bread, and noodles. Of the three, rice is the most "revered". Rice is the king of foods in Japan.

Gohan (cooked rice) is synonymous with shokuji (meal).

Thus, this joke:

A: Did you have gohan (= meal)?

B: No, I had bread!

[insomniac]

SB (or else .... their feet )

Ummmmmmmmmmmm...............???????

K

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hehehe I thought of foot fetish for a nanosecond then the penny dropped.....take the car or walk, altho I guess it would be rare for folk in the States to walk rather than drive?? (long ago in LA I was stopped by the police 3 times in one day cos I was walking...they thought it was strange )

edited to ask; Hiroyuki, is it common to take walks in your area?

Edited April 28, 2007 by insomniac (log)

[dockhl]

long ago in LA I was stopped by the police 3 times in one day cos I was walking...they thought it was strange )

You don't remember "Nobody Walks in LA" by the Missing Persons, circa ??

No wonder they thought you were suspect

K

[Blether]

We are running out of milk and natto.  I must go shopping today.  But, don't expect to post obligatory photos of Pocky...  (helenjp aka Helen can clarify why I say so.)

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That's an impressive sky in today's pictures. Thunder and lightning have just begun here, preceded by a microburst wind. The Shinjuku Gyoen announcement has begun: "it's dangerous... "

Regarding your area, off-topic do you have time to tell us about 'summer bobsleigh' and hana-batake ?

(Your curry looks great - lots of 'guu' (I can never think how to translate this expression). It's nice to find someone else who appreciates "oyaji gag" (old guys' jokes).

[shinju]

Just started reading your blog tonight. It's a wonderful blog Hiroyuki. Thank you so much for taking time off from your busy, busy schedule to show us a bit of your family life and food you and your family eat every day. Also, here's hoping for your wife's good health and recovery!

You are a handsome man! You look very much like my father when he was your age.

Being a umeboshi nut, I also like the traditional salty and drier type too. BTW, I copied your ume joyu from your notebook! I do something similar with shiso too. Since you first mentioned the ume katsuo a while back, I've been making it and really enjoy it.

Beautiful pictures and beautiful area you live in.

[helenjp]

?? Why you don't buy Pocky? Wasn't it because your family preferred Pretz? Please enlighten us! In my case, not only do my boys prefer Pretz, they can eat a pack so fast that I feel I should just open my purse and invite them to crunch their way through my money directly, why bother turning it into food first?

I was thinking about that green plate that your wife likes. I bet she likes it because the color looks good with almost any food. Doesn't the color remind you a little bit of Oribe-yaki?

I believe that various mushroom logs are quite popular, because you don't even need light to grow them. We've never had one, because we live so close to a shiitake grower that we can't justify passing up cheap bags of too-small shiitake for expensive grow-your-own logs.

[Hiroyuki]

Regarding your area, off-topic do you have time to tell us about 'summer bobsleigh' and hana-batake ?

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Summber bobsleigh in Yuzawa Kogen?? Sorry, I've never been to Yuzawa Kogen in summer.

Hana-batake? Sun flower field in Kiyotsu?? I've never been there.

[Hiroyuki]

??  Why you don't buy Pocky? Wasn't it because your family preferred Pretz? Please enlighten us! In my case, not only do my boys prefer Pretz, they can eat a pack so fast that I feel I should just open my purse and invite them to crunch their way through my money directly, why bother turning it into food first?

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I did it. I did buy one Pocky. Photo to come later. I don't prefer Pretz. I simply don't care for either (Pretz or Pocky). For me, both are children's and young women's sweets. Don't you agree? They are both skimpy and expensive. Stingy men like me would never buy them.

[Hiroyuki]

BTW, I copied your ume joyu from your notebook! I do something similar with shiso too.  Since you first mentioned the ume katsuo a while back, I've been making it and really enjoy it. 

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So, you can read Japanese!

[Hiroyuki]

This afternoon, we went to see my wife. On our way back home, we dropped by the local supermarket.

I bought one Pocky:

Tiramisu Mousse Pocky. It has three individual packs, each containing four Pocky, 12 in total, and it is 138 yen.

I liked Pretz and Pocky when I was small, but as an adult, I never buy it. It's entirely for this blog that I bought it.

The two sticks on the left are ume-flavored Pretz. I don' know how it's called. My wife gave two types of Pretz to us when we visited her. One is pepper-flavored and the other is the ume-flavored one. She said that another patient gave them to her, but she didn't like them.

We bought one pack of sushi for three:

Notice the Wasabi-free sticker at the upper left corner.

1980 yen.

I also bought two cans of beer (real beer).

288 and 298 yen. They are also entirely for this foodblog. I usually buy cheaper happou shu and third-category beer, which are about 168 yen for the same size.

Drinking straight from the bottle or can is called "rappa nomi" (lit. trumpet drinking) in Japanese. We usually don't do this.

Anago's nitsume (sauce), which comes with the sushi:

So, tonight, I'm your average Japanese guy, right?

My son said, "Everything is cold today, sushi, milk, and (leftover) hijiki. Don't you have anything hot?"

So, I served this to him:

Instant matsutake clear soup.

Tomorrow, we are going to Flower Festival in Yuzawa!

[Blether]

Summber bobsleigh in Yuzawa Kogen??

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Oh. In the meantime, I remembered the name, 'Alps no sato', I think. Did I get it completely wrong ?

Wasabi nuki... whose choice is that ?

[Chufi]

I simply don't care for either (Pretz or Pocky).  For me, both are children's and young women's sweets.  Don't you agree?  They are both skimpy and expensive.  Stingy men like me would never buy them.

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I agree! I was always reading about Pocky on eGullet. When we were in Seattle last year I HAD to buy some. Tasty, I admit, but it did not live up to my expectations. A small sweet for a big price, that's what I thought! (I'm stingy too )

Drinking straight from the bottle or can is called "rappa nomi" (lit. trumpet drinking) in Japanese.  We usually don't do this.

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I hate drinking straight from the can. From now on I'll know what to say when someone serves me a drink like that! No rappa nomi for me!

The glass looks almost frosted, do you keep them in the freezer?

[Hiroyuki]

Summber bobsleigh in Yuzawa Kogen??

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Oh. In the meantime, I remembered the name, 'Alps no sato', I think. Did I get it completely wrong ?

Wasabi nuki... whose choice is that ?

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Your are right. Alps no sato (アルプスの里) is in Yuzawa Kogen (湯沢高原).

My children cannot eat spicy and hot foods yet.

[Hiroyuki]

The glass looks almost frosted, do you keep them in the freezer?

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Beer purists would kill me for doing this, but I really like to put cans of beer in the freezer for about 20 minutes before drinking to make them super cool. I also put the glass in the freezer.

[Hiroyuki]

Hiroyuki:  Good morning!  I hope you are well rested after last night's exhaustion.  Please accept my best wishes for your wife and for you and your children. 

I am not sure I've read more than four works of Japanese literature, but Snow Country is one of them.  I took a copy from my shelves last night after catching up with your blog and  found it almost unbearably heart-wrenching and beautiful.  That final image....! 

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>I am not sure I've read more than four works of Japanese literature, but Snow Country is one of them. I took a copy from my shelves last night after catching up with your blog and found it almost unbearably heart-wrenching and beautiful. That final image....!

Another reader of Snow Country!

>The region seems transformed when compared to the remote world of inn, spa and village that Kawabata described more than sixty years ago. This photograph reminds me a bit of what it was like to live in Colorado. Running errands on the weekend, going to a chain supermarket after a trip to the hardware store, you walk across asphalt down aisles of parked cars, then look up and see that you are surrounded by mountains. I never got used to them--nor how out-of-place the large, boxy commercial buildings seemed in their presence.

The economic bubble in late 1990s changed Yuzawa considerably. A local newspaper company, Niigata Nippou, dubbed Yuzawa "Tokyo-to Yuzawa" (Yuzawa, Tokyo) because of the vast influence of Tokyo-base corporations like Seibu there. There are now resort condos with about 15,000 units in total in a town with a population of less than 9,000, most of which were built in the bubble period.

Those resort condos are now called ghost towns, symbols of the bubble, and negative legacies of the bubble.

The JUSCO store, located in the former Muikamachi town, is totally a different story. It was compared to the "Black Ships" (of Commodore Perry) for the region. Despite considerable opposition from local stores, it opened about ten years ago, successfully attracting local people.

>I have no idea how prevalent yokogaki is.

We can use both yokogaki (horizontal) and tategaki (vertical). Yokogai is more popular these days, probably because of the wide spread of PCs and printers. Nevertheless, tategaki is still used in newspapers, textbooks on Japanese for school children, and some books and magazines, and when we write formal letters.

>Finally, your meals interest me a great deal because you purchase so many items that come in small sealed packages that contain mixtures and at least partially prepared ingredients.

Oh, do I? I think that almost all items that I have shown here are either dried or fresh ones.

Excess packaging is a problem in Japan; many food items are sold prepackaged, and solutions are very slow.

>Here, the emphasis is on convenience. We may take cans of fried oniony bits and condensed mushroom soup and bake a casserole after combining these with frozen green beans, but many Americans like to avoid the hassle of cooking altogether and just pop a fully prepared packaged dish into the microwave for a quick meal.

Good point! I wish I could do the same, but then again, the very Japanese in me wouldn't let me do this. Corn flakes for breakfast, TV dinners for supper, they would look very dreary in a Japanese home.

[prasantrin]

More of a personal question, but I really want to know...

Since you are clearly bilingual with native-like proficiency in your second language, are your children also bilingual? How about your wife? Do you ever use English as the means of communication in your family? How did you come to learn English and specialize in translation (do you do interpretation, as well, or solely translation?).

Just wondering...but feel free not to answer if it's too personal!

[Blether]

Alps no sato (アルプスの里) is in Yuzawa Kogen (湯沢高原).

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It makes a great escape from the summer heat in the valley (edit to add: please choose the link for June (6月) on the left) - and the 'bobsleigh' is, what ? More than 1km long ? Or 600 metres or something ? (Please consider these questions rhetorical. I can't remember. It was almost two years ago).

(I know it's nothing new to you, but) further down in that series of pictures is a typical meal at an onsen yado　(温泉宿) / onsen inn, with salt-grilled fish (trout, I think) and tempura of (mumble) greens. (Someone please help me identify it !)

Sorry to interrupt !

Edited April 28, 2007 by Blether (log)

[Hiroyuki]

More of a personal question, but I really want to know...

Since you are clearly bilingual with native-like proficiency in your second language, are your children also bilingual?  How about your wife?  Do you ever use English as the means of communication in your family?  How did you come to learn English and specialize in translation (do you do interpretation, as well, or solely translation?).

Just wondering...but feel free not to answer if it's too personal!

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My family is monlingual. I started to study English in my teens because I wanted to understand the lyrics of the songs of the Beatles. The first Beatles' song that I happened to listen to while watching TV was Let It Be. John Lennon singing, "Let it be, let it be...", looked something like a god to me. (Sorry, I was twelve or so then. )

How did I come to specialize in translation... Really no particular reasons. I started to work part-time (arubaito) in a very small translation house when I was in university. Interpreter? No, that's not the right job for me because I am shy by nature.

Did I satisfy your curiosity?

[Hiroyuki]

Alps no sato (アルプスの里) is in Yuzawa Kogen (湯沢高原).

←

It makes a great escape from the summer heat in the valley (edit to add: please choose the link for June (6月) on the left) - and the 'bobsleigh' is, what ? More than 1km long ? Or 600 metres or something ? (Please consider these questions rhetorical. I can't remember. It was almost two years ago).

(I know it's nothing new to you, but) further down in that series of pictures is a typical meal at an onsen yado　(温泉宿) / onsen inn, with salt-grilled fish (trout, I think) and tempura of (mumble) greens. (Someone please help me identify it !)

Sorry to interrupt !

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You mean you are the one in those photos??

I'm not sure but I think that tempura is akebi no kinome, like this. (Shown in the photo is ohitashi (boiled), though. I can't find any picture of its tempura.

[shinju]

BTW, I copied your ume joyu from your notebook! I do something similar with shiso too.  Since you first mentioned the ume katsuo a while back, I've been making it and really enjoy it. 

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So, you can read Japanese!

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Yes, my first language. BTW, how is hospital food for your wife? Are you able to bring her any food from home?

[Hiroyuki]

BTW, I copied your ume joyu from your notebook! I do something similar with shiso too.  Since you first mentioned the ume katsuo a while back, I've been making it and really enjoy it. 

←

So, you can read Japanese!

←

Yes, my first language. BTW, how is hospital food for your wife? Are you able to bring her any food from home?

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I haven't seen it yet. She says it's less salty (than regular Japanese dishes). I can bring anything, and she can buy anything she wants at the store inside the hospital. Yesterday, she said she had purin.

[Hiroyuki]

I got up at six, but my children didn't wake up until nearly eight o'clock.

I had two packs of natto with negi, the simmered fish that my daughter had left, leftover miso soup (tofu and enoki mushroom), and some "nori no tsukudani" (simmered and seasoned laver).

My children had tarako (cod roe), which we bought yesterday. Photo to come later.

Today, it's sunny! We are going to Flower Festival in Yuzawa. My next post here may be later than usual. Till then, bye-bye!

Edited to add a tarako photo:

498 yen. Pricey. My children like it, like many other Japanese children. Today, tarako is very often eaten raw. When I was small, I never had it raw. My mother always grilled it. I think it's just due to advances in refrigeration/freezing technology or something.

Some other photos that my interest you while I am away.

Sugar sticks, fresh cream, and gum syrup:

which I got from the food court in RARA yesterday (see upthread).

If you order coffee, you can get them for free. (Actually, you can get as many of them as you want.)

Left to right: Niboshi (boiled and dried sardines, used to make dashi), kuruma fu (wheel-shaped wheat glutin), and katsuobushi in block form:

The kuruma fu in the photo is a cheaper, pre-cut version.

Tampopo DVD:

which I bought quite recently. I have watched it many times since them. My children like it, too.

Edited April 29, 2007 by Hiroyuki (log)