Yesterday,
I finally visited the out-of-the-way Japanese grocery/sushi bar I had
noticed at least 6 months ago. This was tucked into the corner near
Landmark and Park Square's parking area/jeep terminal lot.
Alas
and alack, I found out that they were doing the "all-items at 50%"
since Park Square is going to be torn down and replaced by a hotel.
October 31 was their last day! What a waste that I didn't know about it
earlier or else I could have found a way to cart home the Japanese
rice, sake, and other ingredients.
As it was, I was partially
satisfied to finally find the pink thingie (I call it that in my mind,
but which is I think what is known as a"Sakura denpo"), used in the
kani salad during that Jap food fest, as well as a couple of Japanese
snacks e.g. Green tea pretzels, spicy seaweed strips, and Japanese
pancake to name a few.
Anyway, it has now inspired me to share a
series on Japanese food - whether I am the cook, the eater, the
researcher; whether its about preparation, etiquette, eating etc.;
whether I am expounding, cutting and pasting from articles, quoting
verbatim or rattling my head off foolishly - it will be anything goes
my way style.
Today, there will be two simple topics for me to write about.
I. Japanese cooking flavors
Saltiness, sweetness and sourness. Obvious,
ne? ("ne" is like an expression in Nihonggo..like "di ba"?)
The listed flavours above can be produced by using in tandem or individually the following basic ingredients:
- soy sauce (I hear the japs may be pronouncing this as soy-sosu hehehe)
- Japanese rice wine or "sake"
- miso (soya bean paste which has been fermented)
- mirin (variant of sake with sugar)
- sea salt
- caster sugar
- last but not least, dashi (Japanese stock produced from dried bonito...or dried kelp)
II. Eating Etiquette
Chopsticks
or "o-hashi" is a Chinese invention that has been assimilated into the
Jap culture. While I will not attempt anymore to describe here the
correct way to hold them, let me share with you some of the basic
principles of etiquette in eating Japanese food with or
without chopsticks.
1. Do not spear your food with chopsticks (
sashi-bashi).
2. Do not use your chopsticks to pull a dish toward you or push it away from you (
yose-bashi).
3. Do not hold your chopsticks over a dish while deciding what to eat (
mayoi-bashi).
4. Never pass food between chopsticks. This mimics the Buddhist practice of handling the bones of the dead (
hashi-watashi). Urgh.
5.
Unless you are a lefty, use your left hand to hold the rice bowl and
your right hand to use your chopsticks to scoop up the rice.
6.
Japanese noodles can be slurped with much enthusiasm while holding the
noodles between your chopsticks. But Japanese soups should be sipped
with uhm...a little less enthusiam :-)
7. If you are in a formal
situation, do not eat food directly from a large, communal dish. First
place food from the large dish into the small dish provided for your
portion and then take food from that.
And so I bid you a fond
itadakimasu! (いただきます)!
(This
is uttered before eating as it is like thanking God for the food that
you have received or at least thanking the person who prepared the food
you are now about to eat.)
The traditional Japanese liquor is sake. 
Though nowadays, its a a less frequent accompaniment to dinner. Many Japanese now choose beers (the lager-type) to drink at the dinner table.
The non-alcoholic alternative is the usual Japanese green tea or o-cha. 
