What is your go to comfort food and

[gonbechan]

So of course Japanese food is amazing, and there is so much variety.

But what do you crave when you're blue? What do you miss most and can't often get.
And what is your go to comfort food?

Just blather away.

It used to be a nice roast chicken, but since we found the Brasilian import sites, we often have roast chicken and roast potatoes.
Same with steak and pork roasts etc.
Even now cheese of all kinds is readily available in many stores.

However, I miss whipping up some instant custard (I can make the real deal.. but hey, miss me some Bird's)
I miss stronger flavoured crisps especially salt and vinegar, cheese and onion etc.
I really miss fish fingers. Even though I never ate them much, but I often think about a fish finger sarnie or two.

[Zasso Nouka]

I really miss fish fingers. Even though I never ate them much, but I often think about a fish finger sarnie or two.

I recently found salmon fish fingers somewhere, not the same as good old Cap'n Birdseye's finest cod fish fingers but strangely interesting in their own way.

I've asked Mrs Nouka if she can bring me back a cod and chips with a wally and pickled onion from the UK when she comes home but she reckoned it might be a bit iffy trying to get it through customs at Narita

Branston and proper Farmhouse Cheddar are probably two of the things I miss most and now with Brexit they probably aren't going to be easily imported with the free trade deal Japan signed with the EU. Still hopefully we can console ourselves with fancy French, German and Italian cheeses and maybe proper bacon as well.

[LeeB]

"What do you miss most and can't often get."

Can't get:

Here in Oz: decent, high quality food food at reasonable prices from either grocery stores or restaurants!!

Well from the USA, I do miss a few things:

1. Prime Rib - yep. The USA has the best Prime Rib in the world. Nothing in Australia (or Japan) or NZ comes even close to it. Went to some restaurant here chain that had advertised "American Prime Rib" on the menu. Ordered it and it turned out to be some kind of 'mystery meat' that tasted terrible and cost a fortune. Never will go back. The steak here just isn't that good. Maybe the super high class, superb quality stuff at super high prices is..............

A new steak place opened up down the road and had 'reasonable' prices for the lunch specials. We went there numerous times, but the quality of the food varied so much that we won't go back. One or two times the steak was superb and others it was lacking any quality at all. With the specials now gone, I'm not paying $50 for steak lunch that isn't up to par.

2. Walleye. A kind of fish found in the northern part of the USA. Best fresh water fish around. Even better when you catch it yourself!!

From Japan:

Well, just about everything!!

Fresh donuts from Mister Donuts!!

Also miss the variety and convenience, quality and price of restaurants in Japan.

Now that there are more food stores selling foodstuffs here and some of the wholesalers also willing to sell to individuals, we can get a lot of the ingredients at reasonable prices and much greater availability now. With the Internet and businesses in Japan willing to ship overseas over the past ten years, that has also increased selection and we can get things such as tea, kombu, and nori direct from the producer which means they are fresh and haven't been sitting on a ship or shelves for who knows how long. And shipping from Japan to Australia is cheap as well. With many items the price including shipping is cheaper than here in Oz. So that is not as bad as it used to be.

Saves times and gasoline not having to drive all the way to the stores to buy it too!!


Good things in Oz:

One of the really good things here is the salmon - both fresh and salmon for sashimi. It is very good. Too bad the price has more than doubled since we moved here.

The rainbow trout is also really good and you can get fresh trout once in a while at the local supermarket. Even better when you can get it at half price. There are a few trout and salmon farms around from which you can buy smoked and fresh trout direct, but again you have to drive there. Also the price of the trout and salmon has more than doubled since we moved here.

Lamb is generally pretty good. It used to be really, really, really, I mean really cheap to buy. Not any more. Lamb racks at the supermarket will set you back around $A40 a kilogram. The butcher, which is supposed to be 'cheaper' than the supermarket will set you back $A50 a kilogram.

[dayunbao]

Huh, my post disappeared. Anyway, when I lived in China, it was really hard to find good bread, cheese, and coffee. Eventually, I moved to a larger city that had a Carrefour. It was like a dream come true.

[Zasso Nouka]

Eventually, I moved to a larger city that had a Carrefour. It was like a dream come true.

When I lived in the UK we would do shopping runs over the channel tunnel to Carrefour and stock up on all the good food and cheeses they stock. It's a real shame that Carrefour in Japan closed down

[gonbechan]

I recently found salmon fish fingers somewhere, not the same as good old Cap'n Birdseye's finest cod fish fingers but strangely interesting in their own way.

That's too fancy for me. I miss the really cheap crappy fish fingers. 4 of them fit so well in a sarnie.
Branston you can get from https://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/ (as well as marmite and etc AND Bird's custard powder but we always run out no matter how much we buy)

[Zasso Nouka]

Luckily Mrs Nouka will be bringing a packed suitcase back soon filled to the brim with Branston, Bisto and Farmhouse Cheddar along with a selection of Lion Bars, Picnics, Double Deckers and Curly Wurly's

[Ibaraki llama]

From the UK I miss Aldi and Lidl, could always get a good cheese from the continent pretty cheaply there. I go to Costco here but it's comparatively expensive.

My go to comfort food is pizza. When we move to the new place I'm thinking of getting one of these: https://uk.ooni.com/

[gonbechan]

oh jeez another thing for me to pine for hahaha.

Still on my have to get list of kitchen gadgets
Compressor powered Ice Cream Machine
dishwasher safe milk frother that does hot and cold and holds enough to do a frothy hot chocolate for 2
all the accessories for the Instant Pot
A dehydrator
a vacuum sealer thingie

[Ibaraki llama]

My list of gadgets and things to get is huge. Realistically, I think the pizza oven will have to slot in lower down the list.

By the way, do you have a food processor you can recommend?