eG Foodblog: torakris - Pocky and the geisha

[Dejah]

the banana was fresh.

Have you ever tried to freeze bananas? I do that whenever they are on for half price. Just peel, stick in a popsicle stick and lay them out in a Ziplock. Freeze then you can dip them into chocolate sauce and crushed nuts for a frozen treat. It's like eating a banana fudgsicle.

A question about the cherry trees that are in bloom: These are all ornamental cherry trees? Or are some of them of the eating variety?

Edited April 11, 2005 by Dejah (log)

[mizducky]

For anyone interested in Japanese rock n roll pick up any CD by Eikichi Yazawa, the king of Japanese rock. He has a bunch of English cd's as well nad I found them easily in big record shops in the US. My mother even has a  couple, she wa a big (early) Elvis fan.

My husband doesn't like Yazawa....   so I don't listen him much any more

This guy has a really incredible voice....

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I just checked amazon.com -- they have a bunch of Yazawa's CD's listed, but as they're necessarily all imports, the prices of many of them are a bit steep. Plus--no clickable music clips. I'll have to come up with another way to get a sample of this artist's music, as the credit card has been taking a little too much abuse recently.

I know only a very little bit about the Japanese pop/rock music scene--I've been to a couple of shows by Shonen Knife, who have a definite cult following here in the US. What has their popularity been like in their homeland? To try and drag this query vaguely on-topic: I can't help noticing that Shonen Knife, as well as the US-based Japanese alt-pop band Cibo Matto, have a number of songs about food items. Is this in any way a running theme of other Japanese pop groups, or just a coincidence with these two groups?

[Pam R]

Have you ever tried to freeze bananas? I do that whenever they are on for half price. Just peel, stick in a popsicle stick  and lay them out in a Ziplock. Freeze then you can dip them into chocolate sauce and crushed nuts for a frozen treat. It's like eating a banana fudgsicle.

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When I was growing up there was an icecream store that sold the frozen ones - called them Monkey Tails.

Kris, another fantastic blog - thanks!

[torakris]

Your kids are adorable! Do they speak mainly Japanese or English? I'm trying to learn more Japanese cooking. The Chinese here use burdock too but mainly as a herb in soups. We use a lot of arrowroot as well, do the Japanese too?

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My kids speak mostly Japanese, though they switch to English when it is necessary. Like when we are in the US or they are with people who don't speak Japanese. I have recently caught my girls speaking English together when they are in a group and they don't want the others to know what they are talking about....

To learn more about Japanese food we have a wonderful Japan forum with very knowledable people!

[torakris]

Kris, was just wondering....you ever thought of doing a proper food blog? I think the readers would love it! 

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my family would never let me!!

[torakris]

the banana was fresh.

Have you ever tried to freeze bananas?

A question about the cherry trees that are in bloom: These are all ornamental cherry trees? Or are some of them of the eating variety?

←

I don't like bananas, I freeze them sometimes when the kids don't eat them all and then make banana bread.

All of the ones in my area are ornamental, I am not sure about other parts of the country.

[torakris]

For anyone interested in Japanese rock n roll pick up any CD by Eikichi Yazawa, the king of Japanese rock. He has a bunch of English cd's as well nad I found them easily in big record shops in the US. My mother even has a  couple, she wa a big (early) Elvis fan.

My husband doesn't like Yazawa....   so I don't listen him much any more

This guy has a really incredible voice....

←

I just checked amazon.com -- they have a bunch of Yazawa's CD's listed, but as they're necessarily all imports, the prices of many of them are a bit steep. Plus--no clickable music clips. I'll have to come up with another way to get a sample of this artist's music, as the credit card has been taking a little too much abuse recently.

I know only a very little bit about the Japanese pop/rock music scene--I've been to a couple of shows by Shonen Knife, who have a definite cult following here in the US. What has their popularity been like in their homeland? To try and drag this query vaguely on-topic: I can't help noticing that Shonen Knife, as well as the US-based Japanese alt-pop band Cibo Matto, have a number of songs about food items. Is this in any way a running theme of other Japanese pop groups, or just a coincidence with these two groups?

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try this link, you can only listen to part of the song but it will give you an idea. Just click on the headphones. This song is called Pure Gold and is one of my favorites.

Shonen knife doesn't seem to be as popular in Japan as in the US, most people I have asked have never heard of them......

songs about food, hhmmm... never paid that much attention

A lot of Japanese enka songs seem to have the word sake in the title...

[handmc]

I am glad to hear you and your family are safe after the earthquake. I was showing my daughter, the taller one in the picture, your blog and all its pictures. She loves Pocky and any movie by Hayao Miyasaki. She kept coming back asking to see them again and again. Then she asked when we were going to Japan...

Thank you for yet another interesting week.

[SobaAddict70]

It's not over yet, lol.

Soba

[torakris]

I had a couple stores to go to this morning. One called Yamaya is a liquor/import shop, I go here once ever 2 or 3 months and stock up on things that they have much cheaper than other stores. Today's purchase

many of their foods are only 105 yen ($1) like their pastas, coconut milk (I bought 6 cans), kidney beans (also 6 cans), etc

I love green olives and keep the jar on the counter when I am cooking to snack on....

the cadbury fruit and nut bar was just finished off minutes agao....

the two Indian style curries were new products I had never seen before and wanted to try.

At the second store I got

some furikake (rice sprinkles) only 88 yen each ($.80) and some instant miso soup for my husband's bento, the box with the ranger characters on it was for Hide's lunch, it is an instant curry rice....

In the back is shampoo and sink nets, houses here don't have garbage disposals, instead there is a little basket in the drain part and lining it with these nets makes cleaning it easier.

I forgot to buy coffee at both stores so had to stop into one last one.

This was good though because it is the only around me that sells my second favorite type of pocky.

coffee! katsuo bushi (dried fish flakes, cherry tomatoes and shungiku (chrysanthemum leaves)

[torakris]

I forgot to mention that before the first store I stopped at Freshness burger (a Japanese style burger shop) to try their yucha soda that tokyogurumegal recommended on another thread. The yucha soda is a drink made with yuzu-cha (a sort of marmalade made from the citrus yuzu) and what I think is soda water. It was quite good though I would have preferred it a little sweeter.

For lunch Hide had the curry I purchased above and I had leftovers from Saturday, leftovers are typical lunches for me...

Hide's preschool in half days until Friday so he will be eating lunch with me all this week.

[Hiroyuki]

Kris, was just wondering....you ever thought of doing a proper food blog? I think the readers would love it! 

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my family would never let me!!

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You have a point, pinkpau. I'd like to see your oven in action, torakris...

[spaghetttti]

Kris, in your honor and especially for this amazing blog, I went and bought these delightful little Almond Crush Pocky, which "has been loved throughout the world for many years" -- well, that's what it says on the front of the box! Isn't that cute?

And for lunch today, I'll be thinking of you and your gorgeous family as I sprinkle some bonito furikake confetti over my rice.

Thank you so much for blogging again, absolutely fascinating! L ove the photos of Mia, Julia and Hide, oh man that Hide, makes me want to plant kisses on his juicy cheeks!

Edited April 11, 2005 by spaghetttti (log)

[mona]

I hope this is not too off topic Torakris, but my friend just called to tell me to start saving up since we'll be going to Japan in April next year. I've heard that April-May is peak tourist time and the flights will be up to three times higher than normal. Could you suggest the best time to visit from April to June? Thanks!

I thought Yoshiki was the king of J-Rock?

[torakris]

I hope this is not too off topic Torakris, but my friend just called to tell me to start saving up since we'll be going to Japan in April next year. I've heard that April-May is peak tourist time and the flights will be up to three times higher than normal. Could you suggest the best time to visit from April to June? Thanks!

I thought Yoshiki was the king of J-Rock?

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Yoshiki from X Japan?

Depends on who you ask I guess.

I am also a fan of X Japan, their ballads cd is one of my all time favorites. They moved around a lot from rock to punk to pop while Yazawa was true to his rock roots.

If you are coming to Japan in the spring avoid the week called Golden Week, this runs from April 29 to May 5 and pretty much everyone in Japan is off during this time and they are all traveling. Everywhere is crowded and prices quadruple.

Early to mid April is nice because it is cherry blossom season and very beautiful, but a lot of places will be crowded because of cherry blossom viewers and the kids home on spring break.

For the best weather and least crowded time I would suggest mid May, after Golden Week is over. June is when the rainy season starts and that won't be much fun....

[torakris]

There was another quake around 3:30 this afternoon, I was at the elementary school so I have no idea where it was centered of how strong it was, but it was similar in intensity to the one this morning.

Today was the first kondankai of the year, today was for Mia class. A kondankai is meeting between all of the mothers in the class and the teacher, there are about 3 a year. The class stopped still when the earthquake hit.

[torakris]

Kris, in your honor and especially for this amazing blog,  I went and bought these delightful little Almond Crush Pocky, which "has been loved throughout the world for many years" -- well, that's what it says on the front of the box!  Isn't that cute?   

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I almost bought those exact same ones today!

[TofuSal]

What a fun day out you had in Odaiba! And the coincidence is, the company I work for built & manages Aqua City!!

Really enjoying this blog Kristin, it encouraged me to join up. I've really been interested to see the variety of family meals you devise (I'm a stickler for using up everything) and the bentos you make for your husband everyday.

Actually, I have an embarrassing bento story to share - many years ago living in a small town in Saga Prefecture, when my (now ex) husband first left the Self Defense Force & began working at a motor repair workshop I was more enthusiastic than skilled in my bento preparation. I knew how much he loved to eat tako-yaki (octopus snack balls) when we went to festivals so one day, as a surprise I filled the top layer of his box with tako-yaki (I got about 12 in, it was a huge man-size bento box!) and I thought he'd be really happy about it. However, he was the laughing stock of the garage that day and it took a couple of months to live down!!

My bentos became a little more traditional after that....

Edited April 11, 2005 by TofuSal (log)

[helenjp]

Tofusal, at least your intentions were good! My worst to date was the special "carrot bento" I made the day after a really big row - my husband really HATES carrots. I did repent me enough to swap the carrot rice for plain rice before he went to work, but there wasn't time to redo all my evil works before he left, so that day he had to eat carrot tempura, carrots simmered, carrot salad, carrot and pork roll...

[SobaAddict70]

Thanks once again for a wonderful look at your life in Japan.

I'm sure many of us can't wait for your fourth Foodblog installment. I know I can't.

We're going to close Kristin's installment now. Tune in tomorrow, when the eGullet Foodblog makes the leap from Yokohama, Japan to the suburban wilderness of Chicago, Illinois.

Soba

[jm chen]

Thanks so much for blogging, torakris! It's been wonderful to see everything and learn so much. Oddly, I'd never seen pocky before, and when traveling for a wedding this weekend, I saw chocolate-covered pocky in a bookstore in Kerrville, Texas! I guess they're everywhere!

[Blondie]

Earthquakes I'm glad to hear everyone is ok.

I love my Toddy!

I sort of balked at buying it when I saw the size, but I only pull it out every 2 to 3 weeks, so I keep it a closet most of the time... the carafe stays in the refrigerator.

I have already convinced half my family to try it and they all love it as well.

It is so wonderful to have great tasting cold coffee anytime I want it,

Ok, I'm sold. There's a place nearby that has one in stock, so by this time tomorrow I should be enjoying my first Toddy iced coffee.

Thanks for the pointer to the agar agar thread. I'll be sure to report my results.

And thank you again for blogging. It's obvious that you put a tremendous amount of time and effort into it, so thanks to your husband and adorable kids too for being such good sports

[mona]

I hope this is not too off topic Torakris, but my friend just called to tell me to start saving up since we'll be going to Japan in April next year. I've heard that April-May is peak tourist time and the flights will be up to three times higher than normal. Could you suggest the best time to visit from April to June? Thanks!

I thought Yoshiki was the king of J-Rock?

←

Yoshiki from X Japan?

Depends on who you ask I guess.

I am also a fan of X Japan, their ballads cd is one of my all time favorites. They moved around a lot from rock to punk to pop while Yazawa was true to his rock roots.

If you are coming to Japan in the spring avoid the week called Golden Week, this runs from April 29 to May 5 and pretty much everyone in Japan is off during this time and they are all traveling. Everywhere is crowded and prices quadruple.

Early to mid April is nice because it is cherry blossom season and very beautiful, but a lot of places will be crowded because of cherry blossom viewers and the kids home on spring break.

For the best weather and least crowded time I would suggest mid May, after Golden Week is over. June is when the rainy season starts and that won't be much fun....

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I was thinking of going during Golden Week actually, to pay tribute and commemorate hide's passing. But I suppose it'll have to be the week after since I don't think I can afford to go otherwise. I should've started saving since before I was born. Thank you so much for all your help!

[torakris]

I have the special powers needed to open up a closed topic!

I just wanted to post my last meal on Monday night. Sorry I didn't do it earlier but Monday is All McBeal and ER night.....

the food prep

the seasonings prep

the dishes

ninjin (carrot) kinpira, a dish of pretty much anything sauted in sesame oil and then seasoned with soy and mirin and a hit of heat from red pepper in some form. I used seame seeds that were sprinkled on after the picture was taken as that is what the kids prefer

kiriboshi daikon, this is thin threads of dried daikon radish

I rehydrated it and dressed it with kochujang (Korean chile paste), mirin, sugar and a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil

this was a semi-dried squid that I grilled then sliced and served with a mayo and chile paste mixture

a salad of tomato, cucumber and nagaimo (mountain yam) dressed with a simple wafu (Japanese style) dressing made with equal parts of a flavorless oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar with a bit of salt. I then sprinkled it with katsuo bushi (dried bonito flakes)

It was fun!

Feel free to ask any questions you might have over in the Japan forum!!