I’m lucky to have friends that make me tasty breakfasts. A few weekends ago Shodashi made me Eggs Florentine with apple slices. This was served with a flute of fresh squeezed oj & splash of champagne. Thus fortified, we went off to play with our watercolors and mess around in her garden.

What a perfect Sunday.

Went to Costco yesterday afternoon to shop for weekend BBQ makings. Before heading inside, The Husband and I stopped to get hot dogs from the outdoor food kiosk. The sign said: Kosher All Beef: Hot Dog or Polish Sausage The Husband said, “They’ve got Polish-style and Doggy-style. What’ll you have?”

Here are 2 types of rice sprinkles I like to purchase when I’m at Mitsuwa.

The one on the left is called Ochazuke because after you sprinkle it on some leftover rice, you pour a cup of hot tea (ocha) on it and mix it up. If I’m feeling extra lazy, which come to think of it is most of the time, I’ll just pour on a cup of hot water. Together with a slice of ham and maybe a couple pickles this is Japanese junk food at it’s best. The bag contains 4 individually packaged servings.

The purple bag on the right contains dried and crumbled shiso ie. perilla leaves mixed with salt. This herb is similar to basil and in it’s dried form is slightly tart and adds a pretty color and faint fragrance when sprinkled over hot white rice. You may have had it served over basmati rice in Persian restaurants as well.

My grandparents, who had a farm in Toyohashi, used to make their own shiso every year. I remember looking forward to the big care packages they’d send over from Japan every Christmas because it among the multitude of presents, it always included a bag of homemade shiso just for me.

There are lots of little Asian markets throughout the South Bay but today we’ll cover Mitsuwa Marketplace, a Safeway-sized supermarket of yummy, Japanese goodness.

Mitsuwa, formerly known as Yaohan, is located on Saratoga Blvd, just south of the 280 FWY. Parking can get crazy here so I recommend you make every attempt to to avoid the crush of Japanese families during peak hours on the weekend.
Inside, there’s a nice selection of affordable to expensive Japanese glazed, ceramic dishware. From tea pots & cups, ramen- rice- & miso soup bowls, sushi plates, chopsticks, plates and more you’ll easily burn through a quarter of an hour just browsing. If you’re looking looking for a special gift, this is a good place to run through. Several items come with their own gift box and I believe they can do wrapping for you right there after you ring up your purchases.

There’s a small food counter where you can order hot udon noodles, bento boxes and curried rice plates, or pick up some premade sushi to go. If you’re a credit card junkie who never has cash, like me, don’t hesitate to get the to go food and walk over to the cash registers to pay.

There’s lots of exploring to do at Mitsuwa. I always check out the $1 tables (that have morphed into $1.99 tables) where I’ve picked up odds and ends like stationary, microwaveable dish covers, cartoon-y plastic containers, etc.

They’ve got a small produce section with standard Japanese veggies like cabbages, burdock & daikon radish roots, eggplant etc. You’ll find several brands and styles of miso, fresh udon and ramen noodles, fishcakes and tofu in the refrigerated section along with nice individual serving sized pieces of sushi grade salmon, tuna, octopus, shrimp and more.

If you *are* in the market on the weekend, head over to the specialized tsukemono or pickled vegetable section in the far left corner of the store. They often have samples out and this is a great, low investment way to try new things you might not otherwise have a chance to partake. I’m a big fan of the cucumber pickles which you’ll see in odd colors like red, purple and bright green. The colors may be disconcerting until you get used to them, but they’re quite crunchy and fun to eat. As you browse through here, note how expensive some of the tsukemonos can be!

The frozen cases can get you some good instant, microwavable food hits. Pick up some shumai dumplings or gyoza potstickers & edemame soy beans to serve with hot rice for a quick dinner.

Japanese are known for their love of packaging and I am no exception. My addiction to crinkly, cute, wacky, boxed & bagged things is definitely encoded in my dna. Every visit, I always make a point of exploring the cookies, candy and bottled drink sections for new things to try. Over the years my tastes have changed so I’m more picky about the junk food I actually enjoy enough to eat, but I still can’t resist this stuff for the packaging. I recommend you succumb too.

Plus, it’s just fun to try new things. You never know if it could be yummy. At the very least you can purchase something bizzare-looking to give to a friend.

Over the next few days, I’ll post more pictures and descriptions of a few of the items I purchased during my last visit to Mitsuwa. You can find most of them at any well stocked Asian food market so I hope they will encourage you to give something new a try.

If you’ve got favorite purchases you make at Japanese markets, please share!

DETAILS
Mitsuwa Marketplace
675 Saratoga Ave.
San Jose CA 95129
(408)255-6699
9:00AM - 8:00PM

Additional stores throughout CA as well as IL & NJ

Browsing fun: **** stars

Ethnic markets can be treasure troves of enticing new foods, spices and condiments. Unfortunately, they can also be overwhelming and intimidating places when you’re trying to navigate foreign languages, unfamiliar brand names and mystifying ingredients.

In hopes of sharing what little I know with you, let’s make this the start of an ongoing and periodic series where I introduce you to some of my favorite South Bay ethnic markets and what to buy or try at each.

The adventure begins tomorrow when we cover Asian Markets.

As the package says, “Let’s Party!”

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I’m a lucky girl. The Husband took a breather from his mathematical endeavors this morning to make me this yummy breakfast. Isn’t it lovely?

Polish kielbasa & scrambled eggs with fresh chives and nasturtium blossoms from the garden.

Yum!

After breakfast, we had a spirited discussion about snails and I again reiterated my desire to have a chicken or two for the backyard. Imagine this meal made with fresh Arucana eggs! That would be eggs laid by chickens fed on snails fed on fresh petit pois sprouts and morels. Wow.

Plus, how cute would it be to putter about the garden, throwing these dainty but damned escargot morsels to my pet chicken helpers??

Many apologies for the long absence. Work has just been crazy these past couple months.

And I’ve felt so guilty about letting you down. I don’t want to disappoint my devoted audience of one( or maybe two) readers.

But instead of guilt-tripping, I’ve decided I should strive to blog more often even if it’s only a picture or a couple of sentences. Just so you know I’m still thinking about you. Does that work for you, Audience?

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So for today, know that I’ve been enjoying fresh kumquats over the last month.

It’s like eating a confused mini orange. When you pop the thing in your mouth you’ll find the peel sweet and inner pulp sour. Watch out for the seeds though, I can’t believe how many these dinky things can hold!

I love this quote from Mario Batali, made during the Q&A session he did with eGullet last year.

“i am not now, nor have i ever been, nor do i harbour any false expectation of ever being, a great baker…. i can schwing a few loosely conceived fruit tarts into the abyss and am at home with cookies and brownies out of the duncan hines repertoire, but the exzacting consistancy necessary to great baking is not in my genetic puddle and i go forth, unafraid, with gina depalma (babbo pastry chef) at my side into the new world every thing she makes is my favorite thing”

May all of us who are stumped by the exactitude of pastry work schwing tarts into the abyss and go forth unafraid toward our own baking nirvana.