None of the movies interested me. The flight attendants were beautiful, gentle and kind (Indonesian I think). They wore brightly colored skirts and tops made of gorgeous fabric. They were a breath of fresh air after the black/white/navy & beige styles of the Japanese. I used my new t...
For the eggplants, we are using a long eggplant, sometimes called a Chinese or Japanese eggplant, which is going to give us more surface area of the skin of the eggplant, and less seedy flesh. In a pinch, I have used a globe eggplant for this dish, and just cut it into chunks. It...
The Genji Museum proved perfect for this: although my knowledge of this famous piece of Japanese Literature is limited to what I read in a history class some eleven years earlier, the museum presented wonderful exhibits surrounding Genji Monogatari, and I even had a chance to sit down and watc...
Hani also introduced me to his kids – his Nubian goats’ offspring, that is. I visited a few weeks after they were born. The front yard had been transformed into a goats’ playground, as the young kids bounced, leaped, trotted, skipped and climbed on top of anything. They were in con...
Yakiniku is the Japanese style of grilling beef, typically where you grill the meat yourself on a tabletop charcoal grill in the middle of your table.Before we get into the meat, I just want to touch on the fact that even though you’re eating indoors, you’ll likely get real charcoal ...
Street Taiyaki and Croissant Taiyaki A funny thing to note about Japanese people and Japan in general: people don’t eat on the streets. They think it’s rude. You’ll never see someone with a bag of chips walking down the street. Or a hotdog. There are a couple of acceptable things...
the extrovert among Japanese noodles with its steamy pork-bone broth and its garnishes of just-set egg, whiskery scallions, and glossy meats. Soba, best eaten simply to appreciate its subtleties, can by comparison seem dull. There is nothing banal, though, about Sakurai’s taupe strands. The...
Finally, a slice or two of eggplant, which soaks up all the broth, is another essential component of a bowl of southern Vietnamese bun mam. In addition to the glorious fish flavor, the broth of a bowl of bun mam is usually sweetened with tamarind juice and sugar. Although bun mam was...