~ JonsBlog ~

Ah yes, the wonderful colors, aromas, textures, and flavors of Japanese food ... truly a delight to all the senses, especially when prepared by an experienced chef using quality ingredients.

Most Americans new to Japanese cuisine quickly learn that the color of that innocent-looking dab of green paste beside the pickled ginger slices is actually akin to the scales of a fire-breathing Japanese dragon.  Infamous for its ability to incinerate the sinuses, this wonderful condiment usually remains the most memorable ingredient of a Japanese newbie's first meal, where the phrase "less is more" definitely applies.

But just for fun ... here's a dinner conversation starter probably new to most who appreciate Japanese cuisine.  Did you know that ...

... the "wasabi" paste served in most Japanese restaurants (even in Japan) is not genuine wasabi at all, but just plain old ordinary horseradish with a little dried Japanese mustard and green food coloring?  The Japanese even export this fake stuff as "seiyo" or "western" wasabi.  Honest.

Because they prefer to keep their feet wet in constantly running water, real wasabi plants grow naturally only near babbling streams in a few small areas of Japan, and they're notoriously difficult to artificially cultivate.  Thus, somewhat like truffles, because genuine fresh wasabi is very expensive, you'll normally find it only in high-end gourmet restaurants.

 
At the time of this writing, the going price for genuine fresh premium sawa wasabi was approximately $121.00 per pound.  Freeze-dried oka wasabi root (described below) goes for about $130.00 per 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces).  Even wasabi seeds cost a fortune ... the Japanese government sells them for $1.00 each.

So what, exactly, is wasabi?   

Well, according to this web site, the real thing - Wasabia japonica (or "sawa-Wasabi") - is a highly prized culinary ingredient used mainly in elite restaurants and sushi bars in Japan.  The rhizome (root-like stem) is finely grated to produce a light green creamy paste that creates a fragrant peppery flavor in the mouth - sort of a warm explosion - which quickly dissipates, leaving a lingering smooth sweet taste with no burning sensation.  It's traditionally served with sushi, sashimi, soba noodles, and other Japanese dishes, often mixed with soy sauce for dipping.  

The plant itself is a perennial native to the wet banks of Japanese streams.  It's a member of the same Cruciferous family as cabbage, cauliflower, and brocoli, and has been used as a traditional natural herbal remedy since the tenth century.  The wasabi plant consists of a root-like stem with clusters of large, long-stemmed heart shaped leaves and delicate white flowers that begin to blossom in early spring.

For culinary purposes, the root is grated into a very fine paste using one of several traditional graters made of ceramic or steel called "oroshigane".  A traditional Japanese grater is made of sharkskin.  This grating process releases volatile compounds called isothiocyanates, which quickly dissipate upon exposure to air.  Thus, to preserve fresh flavor, while grinding the root one holds it at a 90-degree angle to the grater in order to expose as little of the cut edge to air as possible.  One should also grind wasabi in small quantities and serve it within ten to fifteen minutes.  This combination of natural volatiles, consistency, and texture distinguish fresh wasabi from imitation products.

Tender fresh wasabi leaves can also be eaten as salad greens.

Field or "oka" wasabi can be grown in drier fields, but because that method of cultivation usually results in a lower quality product, it's typically used for biomedical purposes - of which there are apparently many.  Various research papers (available here), indicate interesting and potentially important medical uses for wasabi including antibiotics, cancer prevention and treatment, anti-inflamation agents, bone calcification, and anticoagulants.  It seems to show promise in treating stomach ulcers, diarrhea, allergies, arthritis, and diabetes, as well as offering various cardiovascular benefits.  

At considerable expense, wasabi can now be cultivated outside Japan in greenhouse conditions, and that's being successfully done on the Pacific Canadian coast.  But even from those sources, genuine wasabi is still extremely expensive (the prices quoted above were from just such a North American grower).

More about wasabi is available on the web, Click Here for an excellent source.

P.S. ... ever heard of a "Wasabi Martini"?  I've not yet tasted one, but looking forward to it.  Made with a clear distilled Japanese beverage called "shōchū", it looks like a truly wonderful experience.  For more about this interesting cocktail, and a recipe for making it, Click Here.

P.P.S. ... those hot "wasabi peas" snacks you buy in the can at the supermarket?  Yup ... the flavoring is horseradish - not the slightest hint of real wasabi.

For the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau says it will edit forms submitted by legally married same-sex couples. Changing their status to "unmarried partners," the Bureau essentially plans -- in the words of one couple highlighted in the Washington Post's coverage of this policy -- to "Photoshop them out of the picture."

Last week, People For The American Way launched a petition urging the Census Bureau to put its mission of collecting and reporting accurate data above the right-wing, anti-gay politics of the Bush administration. Please don't hesitate to join the 11,000 activists who have already signed the petition by Clicking Here.

A recent e-mail discussion with a distant friend prompts me to re-post this article I wrote several years ago about telephone reliability, the importance of not relying only upon a cell phone during an emergency, and the reason everyone should always keep a simple single-line wired residential phone available - especially in areas prone to fires, floods, earthquakes, and other natural calamity.

During my years of designing and managing communications systems, I've picked up a few facts about telephone services, and I've had this discussion with others several times before.  So at the risk of quoting myself, and if you can resist the urge to "hang up", let me expound just a tad ...

Cell Phones vs. Wired Phones:

All simple single-line "land line" wired residential telephones derive all their power from the phone line itself, which is in turn powered by huge battery banks in the local telephone exchange designed to keep the entire system running for hours or days in the event of a power outage.  While, for security reasons, such power backup systems are highly restricted and you're never likely to see one, they resemble nothing so much as the battery room in a submarine.  And when those batteries begin to discharge, large diesel-powered generators automatically kick in to keep them going.  Thus simple basic phones require no connection to local residential power at all.  This is true of all wired telephone systems everywhere on earth.

Yes, you can buy multi-line and special-feature phones (say, with built-in answering machines), which do require a plug-in "power brick" to operate their features.  But most of them will default to a basic mode (offering ringing, accepting incoming calls, and dialing out) when that power is disconnected.

Early in their development, cell-phone systems did not have such battery backups, and when power failed, the local transmission system also failed.  Nowadays, just like wired exchanges, if you look carefully at any cell phone tower as you drive by, you'll see a small building at its base which contains not only radio gear, but battery banks and a (often easily visible) diesel generator.  This ensures that the transmission system itself can continue to operate for days or weeks during local power outages.

Unfortunately, your own individual cell phone battery will probably not last more than a few hours in continuous use, nor more than a few days in standby.  Also, of course, notorious "dead spots" prevent cell phones from operating in some areas at all, emergency or not.  Keeping a spare cell phone battery always charged is a good idea, but still not as reliable as a phone which requires no batteries at all.

Additionally, while there are exceptions to everything, most residential wired phones are still directly connected to their local exchange through a dedicated copper wire "pair" which is totally unique to that phone - from each individual phone to its exchange.  (This explains those huge black "fire-hose" cables you see strung between poles in surburban communities, each of which usually contains hundreds of such individual copper pairs).

Cell phones, on the other hand, share a limited number of  radio channels common to all phones in each local service area, and because most times only a small percentage of them are in simultaneous use, economics dictate that there will always be fewer available channels than phones.  Thus, during an emergency, only the first limited number of callers at any given moment may "get through", while others may get "no service available".  Wired phones suffer far fewer local limitations.

There are, of course, mitigating circumstances where one might argue that cell phones may be as reliable as wired phones, such as:

1.  Most new installations (especially in recent planned communities, condos, and apartment towers) connect land-line phones to their exchanges through fiber-optic cables in a manner similar to the shared cellular radio channels described above.  In an emergency situation, and for the same economic reasons, that shared optical cable may offer fewer available channels than the number of telephones it supports.

2.  In a high-wind situation, it may well be argued that telephone wires strung on poles are no more reliable than power lines strung the same way.  Likewise, earthquakes and landslides threaten both equally (as they of course also threaten cell-phone towers and buried underground cables).

3.  Regardless of what kind of phone originates a call, national and international interconnecting telephone "trunk" circuits, whether they be copper pairs, microwave, satellite, fiber-optics, or under-sea cables, all have their limits.  Thus, during a major emergency, both land-line and cell phone callers may experience similar "long-distance" connection difficulties. 

4.  There are a few cheap land-line phones available which will not operate at all without local AC power.  While inexpensive, for obvious reasons they should be avoided.

Nevertheless, while in most areas a one-to-one comparison between wired phones and cell phones in an emergency situation will prove wired phones to have the advantage, everyone should always keep both - a cell phone and at least one simple single-line wired residential phone available at all times.  It's excellent low-priced insurance.

P.S. ... where do Internet VOIP telephone services (such as Skype) fit into this reliability picture?  Probably at a level similar to cellular phones.  Because they rely upon your local computer, they are likewise dependent upon the battery which supports it during an AC power outage.  At most, both desktop battery-backup systems and laptops can usually run for only two or three hours without external power.  And while they can theoretically "stand-by" for days, they still don't approach the practical reliability of wired telephone systems.  Also, like cell phone systems, virtual VOIP telephone "circuits" may well become more jammed during an emergency than physical land-line circuits.

With banks failing, foreclosures and bankruptcies skyrocketing, inflation at the highest level in years, and thousands losing their jobs, take it from  Dubya, McSame, and Co. ... it's all in our heads.  We're just suffering from "mental recession" and simply need to feel better about ourselves.  Now, isn't this reassuring news?
 

Today (Wednesday) the Rev. Jesse Jackson issued an apology to Barack Obama for making what he called a "crude and hurtful" remark about the Illinois senator's recent comments directed toward some members of the black community.  Apparently Jackson said something about "... ripping Obama's nuts off".

According to Jackson, a Fox News microphone picked up comments he meant to deliver privately that seemed to disparage the presumptive Democratic nominee for appearing to lecture the black community on morality.

Apparently Jackson conveniently forgets his standing right beside Bill Cosby four years ago, nodding in approval as shown in this photo, as Cosby said essentially the very same things Obama has.

Read Cosby's speech by Clicking Here.

Hear Cosby's speech by Clicking Here.

See the video of Jackson's stupid remarks as well as his apology by Clicking Here.