That looks delicious already! I think I tried that dish once as an amuse bouche at a sushi place many years ago.

I've been catching a lot of small bluefish up here and grilling them whole to serve over sushi rice with pickled vegetables. It's a perfect early autumn dish to eat outside on the deck.

Autumn, outside... seems to rain constantly in London now that summer has ended. At least I don’t have to keep watering the plants.

Turns out my eyesight is deteriorating. On closer inspection I discovered today that the shiso plants are sparkling with little flower/seed shoots, they’re popping out of all the leaf joints (am clearly NOT a botanist!)
Had never managed to cultivate shiso to this point before and didn’t recognise them at all. Shiso seed pickles are perhaps my favourite kind of tsukemono, am really looking forward to trying my hand at making them.

Have plans for tomorrow’s miso shiso rolling and frying, will reserve some of the leaves and miso paste to combine with chilli pepper slices and make a few spicy versions.

This past weekend my friend suggested making Hawaiian poke for a weekend dinner. Our initial plan was to drive an hour away to the Japanese grocery for the fish but I remembered a highly recommended local fish monger. I should have visited shop earlier since the quality of the fish was very good. The owner is a marine biologist and has previously consulted in aquaculture projects. Anyway we were able to get the last bluefin tuna block and got some yellowtail tuna as well. On a lark, I asked if they had any fish collars. The person doing checkout replied they had salmon and possibly tuna heads. At the same time, one of the managers overheard our conversation and asked if I was interested in hamachi collars. They had just received a couple of packages the day before. I immediately said yes and ended up with 2.5 lbs. To be honest, I was surprised that a regular fish monger in Ohio had these. Usually I've seen these only in Asian groceries.


Four collars in total



Ended up broiling three

The collars ended up being a hit for dinner. For those that are wondering, the little blocks beside the collars are yellowfin tuna. According to my friend preparing the poke, meat with any sinew/silver skin shouldn't be used for poke. Didn't want to throw these pieces away so I roasted them instead.

How much did they charge for the collars if you don't mind me asking? I've been asking my local fisherman for tuna heads and collars for the last few weeks because the season has been very successful here. Sadly, no one has been able to get me one yet.

I'm shocked that they had heads. Even my shops here almost never have them.

The price was about $13/lb. I think they had a better selection due to their wholesale operation. The shop supplies some of the local restaurants and gourmet grocery stores. Are you still located in NYC? I'm surprised you couldn't find a shop there carrying fish heads.

Making me hungry...

Only contribution I can make at this moment is...



Yakisoba Pan! My favorite Japanese diet. I just cannot have enough. Sure not home made, store bought, this is best I can do at this moment.

No, we moved to Cape Cod a few months ago. $13 seems like a terrific price. Glad you found them!

Welcome to Massachusetts!

The legality of certain things along with a beautiful coastline outweigh the Patriots and the Red Sox. For now

You will learn to love Red Sox, as for Patriots...

As always with the Patriots. 18-1. They couldn't beat a simple boy from Louisiana.

Back to the topic, we finally got a new stove so I've been back to roasting and braising things. I did some meal prep last night that included: Braised country style pork ribs (Only salt and pepper with some chicken stock to leave a nice base for other dishes), roasted chicken bones and pork bones to start the process of making a nice tonkotsu broth, and grilled some jerk chicken breasts with fresh scotch bonnets to make salads throughout the week. I'm picking up another batch of scallops on Wednesday to try out two new recipes. I'm going to dehydrate some to make XO sauce and miso-cure a few to see what happens.

Came across this photo a little while ago and I have remained intrigued with the branch festooned with hanging charms.

A couple I recognise - the red chilli, Dharma San, rice straw bale, a die. Enough to see that these must be luck associated symbols.

All the other elements of the photo are familiar to me, it�s just this branch. And it does seem rather easier a project than a Shimekazari or a Kadomatsu. Our Kagamimochi tends to look a little sad, it could do with some company.

Does anybody know what this kind of branch is called? Is it a regional thing? And if it�s not �a thing� in any traditional sense, any clues on what the other lucky symbols are?

Those look delicious! And reminds me to hit up my fishmonger for salmon for sake kama. My wife just got a vacuum sealer and I need to make shiozake/shiojake as well, seal into smaller packages, and freeze for later use.

Is this from Japonaise Bakery in Brookline?
They are pretty good and made living in Boston tolerable, esp their flan (purin).
If there're still places in Boston that still sell baked goods shipped up from Parisienne in Fort Lee, NJ, you should try their curry pan. It's as good as a really good curry pan you get in Jpn, if you heat it up in the oven.

Japonaise Bakery is still there. But compare with when I lived at Boston area my pre-Los Angeles days selections today are more like mix of Japanese bakery items and typical American bakery. I do remember Japonaise Bakery used to have Curry-pan and Yakisoba-pan, but today none.

Both Ebisuya (Medford) and Maruichi (Brookline) have Parisienne baked goods, but Maruichi has more selections and more stocks. Maruichi has far more selection of take out bento, add to far better selections of Parisienne items and meat and sea food selections are better, too. Ebisuya has been around Boston for long time but I think Ebisuya has to keep up with Maruichi. Hope this will be healthy competition which will keep both competitive.

Yes, I have shoku-pan (食パン) from Parisienne, my breakfast.