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eG Foodblog: torakris - a week of fun in Japan

torakris

By torakris
in Food Traditions & Culture

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torakris

torakris

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gosh, you shore are awful sharp there.  didnt think youd actually miss those two little berries (it almost looks like the two dents near the edges are decorations, dontit?) or the tiny crumb that fell off the end!

You see I purposely picked the one that had 3 berries on it! all the other pieces only had 2!!

raspberries are VERY expensive in this country...

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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helenjp

helenjp

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Hide holds his knife just the way my boys do! I can't get them to believe that there are places on this very same planet where people hold their knives and forks quite differently...

Hope you enjoyed Kasai Rinkan park...we have some photos of two very small boys there too!

Good luck with the undokai lunchbox tomorrow!

Helenjp

* Pickles foodblog

* New Year foodblog

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torakris

torakris

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Sunday dinner

After we have a large lunch at Sanno hotel no one has a very big appetite for dinner and I am usually in a lazy mood so it is the perfect night for a simple noodle night, often instant ramen... Tonight we had Nagasaki sara-udon. this is a dish with Chinese origins and is pretty similar to chop suey in the US, though te name is called udon, it does not use udon noodles rather thin deep fried Chinese style ones, sara simply means dish or plate and Nagasaki is a city in Southern Japan.

I like this dish because it can be made with almost anything you have in the house, I use a package that includes the fried noodles and a powder pack that gets mixed with water to make a sauce. I pulled the following from my refrigerator

gallery_6134_184_1097406081.jpg

The final dish

gallery_6134_184_1097406104.jpg

It is often served with karashi (Japanese mustard) and a little rice vinegar, my husband adds okonomiyaki sauce as well.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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kimabima

kimabima

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I hope you don't mind me asking this. I host alot of Japanese students (I've been doing this for about two years). Every time I take a picture or every picture they show me from home they are giving the "peace sign". Every single picture. Why is that? I mention it to them and they just giggle.

Thanks!

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gus_tatory

gus_tatory

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...Every time I take a picture or every picture they show me from home they are giving the "peace sign". Every single picture. Why is that? I mention it to them and they just giggle.

wow--so many questions and comments 'cause it's such a cool food blog~!

--i can't answer for Kristin and/or the Japanese, but the "senbazuru" (see my avatar; it means "a thousand origami paper cranes") are folded every August to remember Hiroshimi and Nagasaki, and a girl named Sadako. so this very much involves the "peace" gesture. just a guess... :smile:

--but also, Kristin, you are raising foodies if one daughter's favourite food is avocadoes and the other's is Caesar salad! :biggrin:

--also, someone mentioned 2 pages ago raw chicken sashimi, with re: to my mention of raw eggs and government-recommended "hygiene". this must have to be *really* fresh, right? i would not eat this in North America, just because of the way things are processed. but i'm sure raw chicken sashimi is delicious, right? :blink:

--oh yeah, and beautiful photos and prose, Kristin!

regards,

gus

Edited by gus_tatory (log)

"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the ocean."

--Isak Dinesen

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torakris

torakris

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raw chicken is fabulous!

Not only did us Tokyo egulleteers partake of regular raw chicken meat we also feasted on raw brains, liver, gizzards, and others. There aer some incredible pictures of this get together over here

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...t=30&p=679462

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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torakris

torakris

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I hope you don't mind me asking this. I host alot of Japanese students (I've been doing this for about two years). Every time I take a picture or every picture they show me from home they are giving the "peace sign". Every single picture. Why is that? I mention it to them and they just giggle.

Thanks!

Honestly I have no idea why they do this. :blink:

I just asked my kids and my husband and they all gave me blank looks....

I will ask around today during the sports day festivities. :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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torakris

torakris

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Sports day (undokai) will actually happen today!

They are pushing it back an hour because it rained again last night and they want to give the grounds a chance to dry off a little, not gonna happen if the sun doesn't come out though....

I have finished making the bento, I beat my record for an undokai bento by getting it done in under an hour! Now I just have to arrange it neatly in the bento box, pictures to come later.

I am drinking an iced coffee and the family and I have been nibbling on bento leftovers for breakfast....

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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TheFoodTutor

TheFoodTutor

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raw chicken is fabulous!

Not only did us Tokyo egulleteers partake of regular raw chicken meat we also feasted on raw brains, liver, gizzards, and others. There aer some incredible pictures of this get together over here

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...t=30&p=679462

Bravo! I had not seen this, and I'm truly amazed.

I'm a very adventurous eater, and I prefer just about any kind of food to be cooked as lightly as possible. I could easily be talked into eating raw chicken, liver and brains, though gizzards sound like they might be a little tougher in texture.

I have taken flak for my willingness to eat less-than-cooked-through chicken, even though I know it's more risky here than it would be in Japan. I am a healthy adult, though, and I haven't experienced stomach upsets related to food that would dissuade me from enjoying new delicacies. Even my one bout of food poisoning from oysters doesn't keep me from partaking of a dozen raw on the half.

Honestly, up until now I thought I was the only person who'd thought it might be nice to try an imaginative version of chicken tartare.

I think I really need to scrape together enough money to take a visit to Japan.

The Food Tutor

My eGullet foodblog.

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melonpan

melonpan

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I hope you don't mind me asking this. I host alot of Japanese students (I've been doing this for about two years). Every time I take a picture or every picture they show me from home they are giving the "peace sign". Every single picture. Why is that? I mention it to them and they just giggle.

Thanks!

to me that is the peace sign too.

in korea, all the kids do this too. you wont find any photos without them doing this!

i asked my husband why he does this and he said that when he grew up in korea, he learned as a kid that doing that with your fingers meant "victory". this was something that athletes do when they win and when kids do it, theyre saying "yah, im the best!" (na chuego yah!)

probably true, but i also think that its true that kids just do it because they see other kids do it all the time. and its just something you do when taking pictures, like how in america you will often just say "cheese" right before the shot is taken.

that will probably account for the blank stares that torakris gets from her husband and kids. they just do it because, well, just because. they dont know.

id be interested in finding out what other reasons torakris discovers...

"Bibimbap shappdy wappdy wap." - Jinmyo
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herbacidal

herbacidal

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to me that is the peace sign too.

in korea, all the kids do this too.  you wont find any photos without them doing this!

probably true, but i also think that its true that kids just do it because they see other kids do it all the time.  and its just something you do when taking pictures, like how in america you will often just say "cheese" right before the shot is taken.

Yea I agree with the comparison to saying "cheese".

Chinese kids in Hong Kong do it too.

Herb aka "herbacidal"

Tom is not my friend.

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torakris

torakris

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Ok, I asked a bunch of people about the finger thing and no one knows....

actually the really funny thing is that in Japan they say cheese too! butthey say it with the Japaneses pronunciation and so it comes out as " chee-zoo", go ahead say it, you end up with your lips making a circle.... :blink:

Back form the undokai, pictures to come soon.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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torakris

torakris

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I picked up some drinks at the convenience store

gallery_6134_184_1097479047.jpg

early grey tea, gatorade, Fanta white strawberry flavor, Calpis (calpico) peach and sour plum flavor

The white strawberry was a first, and really good, but what the heck is a white strawberry??? :blink:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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torakris

torakris

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I didn't take too many pictures with my camera because we used the video camera mostly and they have a professional taking pictures and his always turn out better....

gallery_6134_184_1097479008.jpg

gallery_6134_184_1097479068.jpg

gallery_6134_184_1097479091.jpg

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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melonpan

melonpan

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it looks like a fun riot with all those kids running around!

and your kimbap/futomaki looks sooo appetising

what are those mini muffins? i kept looking back through the blog to see if i missed anything. i guess i dont read as carefully as i should....

(i think white strawberries are the runts who got crowded out and didnt get any sun and didnt get picked at the farms. they were sold for a cheap price to the fanta company and some of the creative marketing folks have tried to make them look like something cool to drink... or maybe fanta ran out of the red dye... or somebody at the soda plant was asleep on the job and forgot to add the dye)

"Bibimbap shappdy wappdy wap." - Jinmyo
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torakris

torakris

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what are those mini muffins? i kept looking back through the blog to see if i missed anything.  i guess i dont read as carefully as i should....

I may have mentioned them in passing...

I made them with dried cranberries, walnuts and orange zest with the basic muffin recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, they were really good!

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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torakris

torakris

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Monday dinner

I needed to use up the rest of the ground beef and pork mix that I used part of for the futomaki and I had some julienned carrots leftover also, soooo....

gallery_6134_184_1097493520.jpg

a baked pasta dish with carrot-garlic-meat sauce and mozarella (leftover from Thursday's mozarella and tomato tart. I wanted something to snack on while glued to the television watching season 1 of 24. sooo....

gallery_6134_184_1097493495.jpg

the dip was an imulse buy :biggrin: it is a cream cheese-garden vegetable spread, my kids love it and I was too busy watching 24 to notice they didn't leave me any....

I don't think I am going to be able to wait a week between episodes.. :sad:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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torakris

torakris

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this has nothing to do with food, but I am so proud of Mia (age 8) she just made her first skirt!

I showed her some basic stitches and guided her along but she hand sewed (I am not ready to let her use a sewing machine yet) the whole thing by herself.

gallery_6134_184_1097493541.jpg

she worked on it yesterday and today, it is the leftover material from some dresses I made for her and Julia about 4 years ago. Besides cooking I also love to sew, sometimes I think I was born in the wrong century! :biggrin:

I wanted to take a picture of her wearing it but she was too embarrassed, but Julia really wanted her picture taken with her new pose she has been practicing... the finger thing again.

gallery_6134_184_1097493479.jpg

artwork on the wall courtesy of Hide..... :angry:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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gus_tatory

gus_tatory

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The white strawberry was a first, and really good, but what the heck is a white strawberry??? :blink:

is it possible that 'white strawberry' is what the Japanese advertising companies decided to call cream soda? does it taste like cream soda?

and when you come to think of it, what the hey is 'cream soda'?! :laugh:

"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the ocean."

--Isak Dinesen

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tejon

tejon

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Way to go, Mia! Thats some impressive sewing for a first try. Love the new pose, too. :smile:

On the wall art - is that crazon or pen? WD-40 (if it's available there) sprayed on will take it right off. I keep a bottle just for "artwork" emergencies. :wink:

Kathy

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. - Harriet Van Horne

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Dejah

Dejah

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Way to go, Mia! Thats some impressive sewing for a first try. Love the new pose, too.  :smile:

On the wall art - is that crazon or pen? WD-40 (if it's available there) sprayed on will take it right off. I keep a bottle just for "artwork" emergencies.  :wink:

Do you have Mr. Cleans Eraser in Japan? It cleans very well without taking the paint off.

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

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in korea, all the kids do this too.   you wont find any photos without them doing this!

The peace sign seems to originate from Jun Inoue, a Japanese singer and actor, who did that sign in a TV commercial for Konika, a camera manufacturer in Japan.

Two sources:

http://www.elrosa.com/dia/2003/20031201.html

http://www.netlaputa.ne.jp/~tokyo3/cheese.html

(Sorry, Japanese only)

But why do Koreans do this too? Is it contagious? :biggrin:

Edit to add

Koreans say kimchi instead of cheese, right? Some Japanese say this too. No doubt that it is imported from Korea.

Edited by Hiroyuki (log)
My blog
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torakris

torakris

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Thanks for the hints about taking off the the stuff on the wall. :biggrin: They problem is the Japanese don't use paint on their walls, nearly every house in the country has almost te same white/cream colored patterned wall paper and it is really hard to clean....

and of course you only can see about 5% of Hide's artwork in that picture..... :angry: I still need to clean the floor from where he painted it with a whole bottle of nail polish. :angry::angry:

Tuesday morning and I am having a glass of juice. :shock:

There is no milk in the house.....

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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