Thursday, January 24, 2008

odds & ends

Just cleaning out my photos....

A.C. Perch tea. I saw this on QVC Japan and found it at Dean & Deluca Japan. This one is called Copacabana. It is very fruity and has a nice aroma.

A new product from Meiji, Hokkaido choco-potato. Potato sticks covered with milk chocolate. I was hoping the sticks would be bigger and the chocolate darker...I'm going to try making this on my own (later though).

When you go to bars or some restaurants in Japan, you may see bottles with tags on them, like this. They call this "bottle keep"--you pay the bar to hold your bottle of booze. In some restaurants recently, they have "mayonnaise keep"--where they keep your bottle of mayo and "chopstick keep"--where they keep your pair of chopsticks. I'm not sure if this is a Japanese thing or if other cultures do this too.

Bamboo curry spoons from my friend, Kazumi. She got them from a bamboo craft center in Kobe. (Thank you!)

Mentaiko (salted pollack eggs with chili). Satoshi loves this, but I can't bring myself to eating this, it reminds me of tongues. Though I will eat beef tongue...weird? maybe.

Natto (fermented soy beans) I don't eat this either, mainly because it smells. Another of Satoshi's favorites.

Some of our cherry tomatoes. We were lucky to get some even with the cold. I brought the plant into the house and it gave us some tart but delicious tomatoes.

The tuna cans don't have the normal pull tops here. They have been replaced by this thin, but sturdy foil-like top. I'd still be careful though, you probably could still cut yourself on the edges of the foil.

Anyway, I'm off to somewhere warm in a couple of days....tell you about it soon.

15 comments:

Pandabonium said...

off to someplace warm? hmmm I'll be interested to see where you went.

K likes mentaiko too - not for me. I started eating natto last year. Didn't like it at first, but after a few times adjusted to the flavor and now we eat it almost every day. Very healthful stuff.

I grow tomatoes too, but don't have a place for them in winter. I'd like to build a plastic covered hot house one of these days. (not that we have much space for such a thing).

Anonymous said...

Hi there from Ishigski:) Have agood trip.

K and S said...

I sort of built a hot house, out of plastic sheet, Pandb and I've posted about it here, it does a pretty good job. And then when I read that tomatoes do not turn red when the temp drops lower than a certain amount, I brought the whole pot into the house.

K and S said...

oops, forgot to add...

take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

...warm. Lucky.you.

I like the idea of those tags to "keep" your stuff. But the mayo and chopstick keep? That's a curiosity!

K and S said...

Thanks Tamakikat, hope you are enjoying yourself in Okinawa!

I haven't seen the mayo and chopstick keep myself, Rowena, but it would be neat to check out.

Take care you two.
Kat

Chibog in Chief said...

in france they do that too, i mean keeping your unfinished bottle of wines...but the chopstick thing..i never heard of that even when i was there..was it a new thing there??

natto i only tried one time...wont try it again..hehehe :-)

ps, im glad to be back

K and S said...

Yes it is quite new, Dhanggit. When the price of wooden chopsticks was going to be raised, a lot of people started to bring their own pair of chopsticks to eat out.

I hope your father is doing better.
Take care.
Kat

Kathy YL Chan said...

bottle keep is common here...but chopsticks and mayo?! hehe, i want to start promoting mayo keep here in the city! :)

SteamyKitchen said...

Satoshi and I would be great eating buddies! I love mentaiko and natto!

Anonymous said...

J'adore la nourriture du Japon..surtout le poisson cru...Bonjour de France...Strasbourg

2kamuela47 said...

Hey Kat!
Have a great time! Take care!
Laura

K and S said...

Maybe you could start it up in NYC, Kathy??

I'll remember to invite you when I serve mentaiko and natto, Jaden!

Sorry, I don't understand French, Eleonora, but I have a feeling you are saying something nice, so Thanks!

Thanks Laura!

Take care everyone.
Kat

Anonymous said...

Great stuff...........

K and S said...

Glad you like them, Alan!

Take care.
Kat