http://www.likesushi.com Sushi and Japanese Food Appreciation Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:33:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_220" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tobiko, Flying Fish Roe"][/caption] Alright here is another posting coming up tomorrow. http://www.likesushi.com/2009/11/05/17-tobiko-preview/ Besides sweet, sour, salty and bitterness, there is umami. Such a interesting word is Japanese standing for freshness. According to wikipedia, "Umami is a Japanese word meaning "savory" or "deliciousness" and thus applies to the sensation of savoriness, specifically to the detection of the natural amino acid, glutamic acid, or ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/11/02/japanese-ingredient-5-m-s-g-fifth-sense-of-taste/ There are so many different variation from the original spelling in Japanese, but I believe the best one is "Konbucha", directly translated from the Japanese word 昆布茶. It is not to be confused with Kombucha, which is a fermented tea drink. Definition from Wikipedia: Kombucha is the Western name for sweetened tea ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/11/02/japanese-food-ingredient-4-konbucha-not-kombucha/ Common misconception about wasabi is people think wasabi is Japanese horseradish. It is completely wrong! Wasabi is actually the gratings from the roots of the wasabi plant. Unforunately, in a lot of the places you are being served imitation wasabi. But real wasabi is really expensive. You have to pay probably 3-4 ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/11/02/japanese-ingredient-3-wasabi-%e2%80%93-not-the-ones-that-you-think-it-is/ Pickled ginger should look pink in colour although I have seen other variations of white and light yellow. I like to eat gari and it taste really good with sushi. My habit is to eat 1 piece of it between sushis and it taste pretty good in that way. Actually when ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/11/02/japanese-ingredient-2-gari-picked-ginger/ Rice is the most important ingredient when you create sushi. Do not under estimate the small piece of rice under the fish. There are a lot of work to be done before it is served with the sushi. This is how they do it. How to make sushi rice(shari): And after making the ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/08/25/japanese-ingredient-1-shari-japanese-sushi-rice/ Tamago sushi is one of the few cooked sushi entrees. Simple but nice, it is a pice of rice with a sweet egg omelette on top. Seriously they usually taste more or less the same since it is made from egg and sugar. Nonetheless, this tamago sushi is one of the ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/08/22/16-tamago-sweet-egg/ Sometimes when people translate Uni, they would say sea urchin roe, it is not really correct. It is the organs that produce the roe, the gonad. It sounds kind of gross but I think it is really tasty. (Maybe that is why the restaurant name it sea urchin but ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/08/15/15-uni-sea-urchin/ Tai is a commonname containing a variety of different fishes in the Pagellus catagory. The English commonname is (red), (blackspot) sea bream. I think this is not a very prominent fish in the US since I don't see them being advertised a lot in Japanese restaurants here. Probably one of the ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/08/08/14-tai/ The abalone in the sushi is usually sliced raw in very thin slices (I wonder if it is poached slightly) . The himo (the legs, the overcoat and the ligament) of awabi is usually served as an appetitizer and is also very tasty. Abalone is one of the more expensive shellfish ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/08/01/13-awabi-abalone/ [caption id="attachment_287" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sushi Birthday Cake"][/caption] I have been there for about 30-40 times so far, and, the restaurant have changed hands for at least 2 times over 3 years. The thing that I appreciate is their chirashi. The staffs are ok, not too bad and friendly in general. One recently surprise: the ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/03/06/sushi-birthday-cake-sushi-come-in-ann-arbor-michigan/ I visited this Japanese restaurant with friends during Christmas time and I like it a lot. It is a 3-in-1 restaurant owned by a japanese family and they offer sushi bar, shabu-shabu and teppanyaki together. On that night I tried the shabu shabu and it was very good for the money paid. ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/02/22/jalapeno-poppers-with-white-tuna-filling-los-angeles-united-states/ Yamato Restaurant Ann Arbor, Michigan Phone: 734.998.3484 Address: 403 N. Fifth Ave - 1st Floor Ann Arbor, MI 48104 http://yamatoinc.blogspot.com/ I think this is a relatively old restaurant in Kerrytown Ann Arbor. It has been around for at least 10 years and is operated by a Japanese couple. When you go into the entrance, you will see ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/02/18/duck-udon-yamato-restaurant-in-ann-arbor-michigan/ It's a fairly priced Grilled Eel specialty store where they pride themselves in their own rendition of grilled eel Nagoya style. Price is about 1000-3000 yen per person($12-36USD) It was the first time that I learned that there are simple but savory ways of eating an una don (Grilled Eel ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/02/06/eel-three-ways-at-asakusa/ A very nice parody on how to eat sushi or sashimi. I would say 60% of them are true, yet most of them are highly exagerrated. http://www.likesushi.com/2009/02/05/how-to-eat-sushi-a-parody/ A recollection on one of the iron chef restaurants that I've been to (twice). Seriously I've tried out their whole dinner entree menu and their whole desert menu (except for the very expensive omakase menus which they might give out special treats.)   The restaurant is a fusion restaurant (Sometimes fusion ... http://www.likesushi.com/2009/01/05/241/ One of the good valued (still very good) quality food in there (goes for about $80) [gallery] http://www.likesushi.com/2009/01/05/food-craving-1-all-you-can-eat-sukiyaki-teppanyaki/ A game video from a very ancient game called Parappa the Rapper. Real version! Equally entertaining http://www.likesushi.com/2009/01/05/cooking-rap-cheap-cheap-chicken/ One of my favourite seashell sashimi. The Akagai (or "red Shell fish") is red colour because of its abundance in iron and haemogoblin. It has a chewy texture but it is not at all rubbery. In terms of taste, I think it taste better than oyster (better texture), mussel (fresher), ... http://www.likesushi.com/2008/05/10/12-akagai/ Ikura is the Japanese word for salmon roe. The name comes from "ikra" the Russian word for (caviar). It is a high value seafood and people have treated it as a delicacy in different cuisines. In terms of taste, ikura taste very fishy, and the strong fishy taste would definitely turn off ... http://www.likesushi.com/2008/04/25/11-ikura-salmon-roe/