Do re: Miso

Recently, I'm back to using a lot of miso and I'm glad to say that I've re-located the source for the best stuff:

http://naturalimport.com/shop_for_miso

I've been using Mitoku company's all-natural, traditionally produced misos, shoyus and mirins for some time now and although the importer/distributors keep changing the products stay just the same.

I've just placed an order for each and every miso they carry, so stay tuned for the great Miso Taste Test.

The "Best" Nori

"Which one is the best?" Is a question that comes up more and more these days. With great selection comes great indecision. These thoughts occurred to me while looking at the nori shelf of N.Y. Chonghap Market, a Korean supermarket in Jackson Heights. Apparently, Koreans consume a great deal of nori and they like to have lots of different kinds. Unfortunately, to an outsider (ABC-American Born Chinese) such as myself, they all look just the same.

My solution to this particular polylemma was to buttonhole a nice young Korean lady who was trying to go about her business and ask her The Question. A look of some perplexity crossed her face. This was a matter requiring serious thought. After about 45 seconds of carefully looking over all the packages of nori spread out before us, she tentatively picked up one particular three-pack and said softly, "I think, this the best."

Is it the best? I dunno. But it IS pretty tasty indeed. Salty with a pleasant olive (!) oiliness, excellent with a bit of rice as illustrated on the package. If you are working on developing a ground-breaking Asian/Mediterranean diet plan, this would be an obvious candidate for inclusion. Here are the ingredients: Seaweed, olive oil, salt, sesame oil. The little penguin illustrates an "Antarctic sea salt" claim.