eG Foodblog: torakris/snowangel - When Pocky meets pad thai....

[jackal10]

They are biscuits also with the McVities brand. If McV is selling in Japan these treats maybe on the way...

Hobnobs are coarser textured. Jaffa cakes are a sponge, a dollop of orange jelly and a top layer of chocolate. They are so light they seem to evaporate if the top is left off the box. There was a big court case with the tax authorities a couple of years ago as to whether they were cakes or biscuits, as they attract different rates of sales tax that was settled in favour of the company, I'm glad to say.

[torakris]

They are biscuits also with the McVities brand. If McV is selling in Japan these treats maybe on the way...

Hobnobs are coarser textured. Jaffa cakes are a sponge, a dollop of orange jelly and a top layer of chocolate. They are so light they seem to evaporate if the top is left off the box. There was a big court case with the tax authorities a couple of years ago as to whether they were cakes or biscuits, as they attract different rates of sales tax that was settled in favour of the company, I'm glad to say.

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Here is their current Japan line up.

I have only seen the ones that I purchased today, the rest look really good though!

EDITED to add their line-up consists only of the two top rows...

Edited October 5, 2005 by torakris (log)

[jackal10]

Never seen green tea or apple - must be developed for the Japan market.

[pinkpau]

Hi Kris! What's in those cartons? Milk? And what's the small yellow box at the bottom? Very curious!

Hide's so adorable! Will you be featuring your two lovely daughters too?

[daniellewiley]

Waiting for photos of your dinner on the Dinner! topic in Cooking, Susan.  My kids said, after looking at my dinner picture (believe me, they've seen enough of the food porm photos on the Dinner! topic) "Mom, don't be mad when we say this.  But, your photos suck."  Ah, the confidence of youth!  I reminded them gently that many of the Dinner! posters don't have kids!  And, they are glad this time around that I am serving family style, and once they have served themselves, I plate mine and then photo my plate.  Last blog around, they got pretty tired of sitting quietly and waiting until I photoed everything!

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Make them do it!! Can they food style tonight's dinner for you??

I'm enjoying this blog tremendously - I love the time difference factor. We have nonstop blogging!

And Kris, those tempura zucchini flowers were truly outstanding - I can still taste them. If I didn't have an old, all wood kitchen with no ventilation, I would certainly have recreated them here!

[prasantrin]

Here is their current Japan line up.

I have only seen the ones that I purchased today, the rest look really good though!

EDITED to add their line-up consists only of the two top rows...

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How funny that the regular digestive biscuits are newer in Japan than the baked apple ones! I've seen all of them except maybe the vanilla ones. I'm sad to see that the green tea ones are only available in 54g packages! Why oh why are there no large boxes of them? The cookies, themselves, are pretty small, too. They're about the size, or maybe a bit larger, than those snack-sized cheese-filled ritz crackers.

Also interesting, on the website it says the green tea ones were available from October 4, which was Tuesday. But I bought my first bag on October 1! I feel just like those people who managed to get the latest Harry Potter book earlier than everyone else!

[torakris]

Hi Kris! What's in those cartons? Milk? And what's the small yellow box at the bottom? Very curious! 

Hide's so adorable!  Will you be featuring your two lovely daughters too?

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Sorry about that! I forget not everyone reads Japanese...

The two cartons are low fat milk and the yellow box is butter, I buy milk and butter at my local drug store because it is quite a bit cheaper than at the supermarket.

Pictures of the daughters will be coming!!

[torakris]

Weds dinner:

Dinner on the run

I teach an English class until 6:30 on Weds and my husband comes home about the same time, I like to have dinner on the table by 7:00 so these days are always a rush.

The easiest meals for me to get on the table fast are Japanese. I always have some kind of fish in the freezer, Japanese simmered dish taste wonderful at room temperature and pickles can always be prepared a couple hours in advance.

This week's co-op had some of my favorite pickles so I purchased them instead of making my own.

The fish and pickles for tonight's dinner

Chinese cabbage pickle with yuzu (a Japanese citrus), and gobo (burdock root) pickle, the fish is saba (mackeral) that has been seasoned with mirin and sesame seeds.

[Chufi]

The pepper dish was a new one for me.  I've been cooking out of Barbara Tropp's Modern Art of Chinese Cooking for years, and continue to find recipes I've never tried. 

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thanks for pointing this one out Susan. I have the same book, but for some reason it always seems a bit intimidating to me, and I rarely cook from it (although I read it - makes for great bedtime reading). Now I'm going to try this one I think!

Edited October 5, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[torakris]

The fish is cooked in a fish grill that is built into the stove. Most Japanese homes do not have oven range combos, rather it is just the stove top range and msot often with a slide out fish grill. It looks something like this (sorry blurry picture)

The finished fish

There wereactually 3 fish but I took the picture before I piled the 3rd one on the dish because it just looked neater. The fish is eaten by placing the dish in the middle of the table and everyone just pulls off pieces with their chopsticks.

the pickles, sliced and ready to eat. Actually the kids were picking at them before I could take a picture.

[snowangel]

Susan, I had forgot to ask, did you have any rice with that?

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No, we didn't have any rice. My rice cooker seems to be missing in action! Mine was an old National, which I got almost 25 years ago as a wedding present, and was not functioning occasionally, so my list for the trip to the Asian market tomorrow includes a rice cooker. (I know I could have made rice on the stove, but I was using all four burners)

[torakris]

I took some frozen bamboo shoots and made a simple simmered dish called tosa-ni.

Ni is from the verb niru and means to to simmer, you will often see the word ni in the title of simmered dishes. Tosa is the old name for the modern day Kochi Prefecture in the southern part of Japan. The area is very famous for its katsuo (bonito, a type of fish) and thus many dishes that in include katsuo bushi (bonito flakes) have the name Tosa in the title.

Most Jaapnese buy pre-shaved flakes of bonito is plastic bags, but at one time everyone had to grate them by themselves at home from rock hard blocks of dried bonito.

This is the bonito block and the box used to grate them

the grated bonito

the finished dish

the bamboo roots were simmered with dashi, soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar then the bonito flakes (which had been lightly toasted in a frypan) were added.

The meal was rounded out with bowls of rice, tonight I did a mix of Japanese short grain with Korean black rice, Hide calls this purple rice and it is his favorite.

[torakris]

we eat dessert a couple nights a week, sometimes as simple as fruit or ice cream other times I actually prepare something

tonight we ate the last of the gifts from my FIL's trip to Beijing, I have no idea what this was...

[Chris Amirault]

That bonito shaving was so cool....

[torakris]

9:30pm, it is already past my bedtime and I was up in the middle of the night last night rinsing out clothes after Julia had a bloody nose....

Why do these kind of things happen at 3:00am?

Handing it over to you Susan!!

[Corinna Dunne]

That bonito shaving was so cool....

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Very cool! I've only used bonito flakes for making dashi. Is it commonplace to toast them and add them for crunch?

[Tepee]

tonight we ate the last of the gifts from my FIL's trip to Beijing, I have no idea what this was...

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That looks like mini mooncakes, Kristin. Mooncake Festival fell on Sep 18 this year. What was the filling? Red bean paste or lotus paste? Were there any yolks inside? They're very good eaten with tea.

Enjoying yours and Susan's blog.......

Edited October 5, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[snowangel]

Good morning! It is yet another dreary day here in Minnesota. We had about 7" of rain yesterday and last night, and it is raining again (or still). So, it's coffee in the sun room again today. Hopefully, we will have some sunny days so I can show you where I usually have my coffee.

As soon as the boys have gone to school, I think I'll wash those sad tomatoes I bought yesterday and roast them. High heat or slow heat?

[Chufi]

I love this blog! It's simply 2 great blogs rolled into 1 magnificent one! And with the time difference, there's always 1 one of you partly in my timezone!

I think I'll wash those sad tomatoes I bought yesterday and roast them.  High heat or slow heat?

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Slow heat! at least that's what I always do... I tuck a little sliver of garlic into each tomato half, salt & pepper, drizzle with oil, roast for hours at 120 C / 250 F.

I love those. I eat them as they are, cold in a salad, or I make a whole lot, puree in the blender for instant roast tomato sauce.

[snowangel]

For breakfast, I had two more of those apples and a lot of coffee. I was still hungry, so had a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats. I love shredded wheat type cereals, but this stuff was way, way too sweet and got mushy too fast. Kashi makes a cereal like this that I much prefer; not as sweet and sturdier. Better get a box.

[SobaAddict70]

we eat dessert a couple nights a week, sometimes as simple as fruit or ice cream other times I actually prepare something

tonight we ate the last of the gifts from my FIL's trip to Beijing, I have no idea what this was...

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They look like moon cakes for some reason...

I see that Tepee beat me to it.

[Pam R]

It is yet another dreary day here in Minnesota.  We had about 7" of rain yesterday and last night, and it is raining again (or still). 

Be thankful you're not a little further north... it's been snowing all morning and is supposed to continue until tomorrow!

I'm really enjoying this blog! These tagteam blogs were a great idea - I can't wait to see more.

[Malawry]

I like to slow-roast my tomatoes--especially if they're past their prime or before their prime. I usually do it on the stovetop actually so I can enjoy the aroma and monitor their appearance. I cut them in half, de-seed them, and then roast them in a single layer in a pan with butter. I usually season them with s, p, microplaned garlic, and a fresh herb if I have one sitting around. I think tomatoes and butter are a transcendent combination--I prefer it to olive oil, though I'd never turn away the olive oil sort!

[Susan in FL]

For breakfast, I had two more of those apples and a lot of coffee.  I was still hungry, so had a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats.  I love shredded wheat type cereals, but this stuff was way, way too sweet and got mushy too fast.  Kashi makes a cereal like this that I much prefer; not as sweet and sturdier.  Better get a box.

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Thanks for the recommendation of the Kashi mini wheat type cereal. I'll try it. Our cereal taste buds are also related, Susan.

[handmc]

Upon mentioning honeycrisp apple I had to try them. They are an instant hit in my house.

Snow..alreadly yikes.