To this day, I do not like the smell of daikon radish in my fridge, or my home, but regardless of this tiny “problem”, I still enjoy eating it. Perhaps its because it happens to be one of the traditional Japanese vegetables that regularly appeared in my mom’s dinner repertoire, including oden, a favorite winter stew where the daikon is simmered over a long period of time. Or more commonly, daikon appeared in sunomono style...
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One of the great things about Japanese cuisine is that many of the standard ingredients used in Japanese cooking have been around for ages. Shio koji is one such ingredient. My new freelance writing gig over at About.com has certainly motivated me to get back on the (food) ball. Everyone has been talking, posting, pinning, sharing, and tweeting about shio koji the last few years and I guess you could say I’m (unfashionably) late to the...
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Happy Japanese Children’s Day! May 5th is Kodomo No Hi, also known as Boys’ Day. It’s a day for celebrating the well-being, happiness and health of all children in our family. To celebrate Children’s Day, Bebe and I kept things simple. Since our favorite Japanese restaurant is closed on Mondays, instead we went to our local Japanese supermarket to grab a bite to eat in their amazing food court. Bebe feasted on her...
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Today’s blog post was meant strictly as an ingredient spotlight about Japanese rice vinegar, short, sweet and professional, yet I’m compelled to admit that I almost burned down our kitchen yesterday. It was that kind of Monday for me. Please feel free to skip down to the vinegar article, if you like. From the moment I woke-up, I was feeling off, not fully rested, and still feeling like I hadn’t shaken off the weekend nor our...
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Soy sauce, in many ways, is the backbone of Japanese seasoning and cooking. Before we delve into this subject, I realize that learning and reading about Japanese ingredients, such as soy sauce (shoyu) might not be of interest to some folks, but I’d like to share with you that writing about Japanese ingredients, foods and recipes has suddenly taken on a new meaning for me. I have a new job. That’s right, I am no longer Judy,...
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