prasantrin

That's a great site! It makes me thankful for Kua'Aina, though. Some of those burgers looked pretty...sad. That Freshness Cafe burger--now I'm really glad I never ate there (have one or two in Kobe, and I've been tempted to try it).

Is it just me or does that link not work? With the power of google, I found another copy of the recipe and it looks great. I'm going to try it out for a surprise party--maybe not the best place for a new recipe, but it'll be fun nonetheless!

Here are a couple of pictures so you can see what the KitKat looks like--I do still have that one pack left if you're interested! I don't think I'm going to be eating it unless I get a serious craving for chocolate (rarely happens...). Front of the Box Back of the Box

The latest flavour that I found was Passion Fruit. It was a special KitKat which, I think, was designed (?? don't know what word to use) by a famous chocolatier in Japan. I didn't much care for it. I think I may still have one of the little packs--and I think I bought it in December...

I'm not 100% sure, but from what I can read (limited) the sample classes are usually Y800/person. If you attend a sample class with a current student, it's free. That being said, my mother and I did not pay for our first sample class (the second one is always free) so I don't know if they enforce the charge. If your sister is interested in taking a cooking class, she should be aware that the Namba school does not offer cooking classes--just breads and cakes. However, the Shinsaibashi school (one stop from Namba on the subway, or a short walk) does. If you and are sister are interested in doing a sample class, I'd be happy to arrange a sample class for you (and even attend with you if you don't want to pay the fee). The teacher who does those classes is incredibly friendly. She does the class in Japanese, but she speaks relatively fluent English so you can can still ask her questions in English. If your sister doesn't really cook at all, it might be best to take their basic sample class (very easy sponge cake), but if she's a little more experienced, I have some sample class coupons to which I can invite people to attend with me. There are a couple of bread classes and a couple of cake classes to choose from. Feel free to pm me if you're interested!

Haven't quite figured out how to reply between quoted material, so I'll just tack my answers onto the end... The entrance fee is Y12600 (I have the pamphlet in front of me, which is why I can be so precise ). From what I understand, you have to stick to one branch, though it doesn't have to be the branch you signed up at. For example, I signed up at the Namba branch (Osaka), but I could have chosen to go to the Umeda branch (also Osaka, but closer to where I live). For breads and cakes, you bring your stuff home with you. They even give you cake boxes or those little bags for individual cookies. They also provide you with plastic bags to take your breads home. As for the cooking courses, you have to eat what you make at the school. Also, I got some of the information wrong. The number of classes/course, the prices, and the time limits are as follows: Bread A 7 classes Y28 350 (6 month max) B 7 classes Y31 500 ( " ) C 12 Classes Y57 750 (12 month max) Masters Y87 150 (I'm not sure if it's 6 or 12 classes) (18 month max) Cakes A 6 classes Y39 900 ( 8 month max) B 6 classes Y45 150 ( " ) C 6 classes Y54 600 ( " ) Masters 12 classes Y130 200 (18 month max) Cooking--I forgot to mention that there is also an ingredients charge of Y800/class for cooking 3 times in one month Y9 975 12 times Y41 580 (1 year max) 24 times Y79 380 (2 year max) 48 times Y151 200 (4 year max) I think these are the prices for all the centers, but I know in Japan for some chains (especially eikaiwa places), they'll have different prices depending on the location. They offer discounts if you sign up for A B and C classes for breads or cakes, I think. You can also pay by installments. I also forgot to mention that you have to bring your own slippers, apron, and hand towel (and a kitchen towel for bread classes) to each class. It's a big pain in the butt. But you also get free samples sometimes. A couple of weeks ago I got two containers of fiber supplement (one per class) and today I got two cans of beer (one per class) . Free stuff is always fun! I strongly recommend taking the sample class! Even if you don't join, it's a lot of fun. You actually get two--the first one is usually sponge cake, then you can choose for your second (either pear tarts, cafe au lait bread, or hamburger steak). You only get the second one if you're seriously interested in taking a course, though. But if you join, maybe you can help me translate some of the notes .

Hi there, Nona! I'm taking the breads and cakes courses. I love them both. Generally, I would say that Tsuji is probably geared towards more serious cooks, whereas abc is geared towards housewives. Many if not most of the people at the school are housewives, or housewives-to-be. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I've learned quite a lot about baking since I started (just two bread classes and two cake classes, to date, plus three demonstration classes), and I was already a not-so-bad baker to begin with. But they certainly aren't hard-core. They don't expect your baking to be perfect or for you to learn all the stages of caramelization by sight. They just want you to enjoy yourself. One thing I like about abc is that they do most things by hand. We use hand mixers for beating egg whites and such, but for breads we knead entirely by hand. I've finally learned how to knead sticky, wet doughs, and how to shape those little balls of dough. The teachers also have various teaching points--for example why you have to add egg to butter very slowly, and why you shouldn't let the beaters touch the bottom of the bowl when whipping egg whites. Things I never realized were important or understood all make sense now. One thing I don't like about abc is that you have to follow a prescribed order of classes. For both bread and cake courses, there are three levels before you can take the masters course. In cakes, for example, one must take A course (pate brisee, pate sucre, pound cake, genoise, some kind of mousse cake, and financier). Then you can move onto B course (which includes chiffon cake). When you finish that, you can take C course, and then finally the Masters course. I would much prefer to take whatever cakes I want to learn to make. However, I understand why they do it that way--they want to make sure you have the proper techniques down before moving on (plus they want to make more money). The Masters course, however, is where all the really interesting cakes are. I also don't like that, for the bread classes, they rely on fast rises. They use proofing boxes set at 40C, and I think they use quite a lot of yeast in each recipe. I find my breads taste very yeasty. But they do this because of the 2-hour limit for each class. You could easily adapt the recipes for longer rises and less yeast once you start making them at home. As for the teachers, they are all very helpful and more importantly (for me) very patient. I can't understand a lot of what goes on, but they take extra time to repeat things to me or to show me first-hand. Your Japanese is quite fluent, though, so you won't have that problem . Most (or maybe all) of the teachers have also gone through the courses themselves, so they probably have an idea of how students want to be taught, and they teach accordingly. Most of the teachers are not expert chefs/bakers, but there are two or three higher level teachers around to help out when needed. There are also a maximum of 5 students per teacher, so you get a lot of attention (I get more than others, generally, since I don't understand a lot). Another good thing about the courses is that you can take them at your own pace. The cakes course consists of 6 cakes, and the course must be finished within 8 months. They offer two different cakes/month so the earliest you can finish the course is within 3 months. When you take a cake class, you have one teacher with all the students (maximum 5) making the same cake. So we all follow the teachers instructions, but we can also get help from each other if needed. With the bread course, there are 7 breads and you have I think 9 months to finish. With the breads you can finish whenever you want. Each of the 5 students assigned to one teacher may be making a different bread, so you have a little less quality time with her, but you have more flexibility as to when you take a class. With the classes, you can take as many as you want in one day (within certain limits), one week, or one month. Or you can skip a month, if you want. You just have to make sure you finish all the classes within your time period. When I went to my cake class a couple of weeks ago, the other classmate with my teacher took the next cake class in the timeslot after our class. So she took one class at 6, and another at 8. This weekend I'll be doing the same with breads--one class at 6 and another at 8. I'll probably be finished the A bread course by the end of March, and I just started at the end of January. You can even take a bread class and a cake class back-to-back if you want. So far, since I started at the end of January, I've gone to an average of two classes/week, but next week I probably won't take any. The only problem with classes is that some teachers' slots fill up very quickly. With only 5 students/teacher, premium time-slots are difficult to get. It's very easy to register for slots, though. They have computers at the reception desk, or you can register for them on-line (that's what I usually do). I haven't taken any of the cooking courses, but I'm tempted. The cooking courses are more expensive, but I like the options. They offer three menus/month and you can take all three, or none at all. Often one will be a quick menu, one will be Japanese or other Asian, and one will be more Western. The quick menus are designed by the instructors, themselves, and I think that's a great idea. But if you register for just 12 classes, they cost about Y4800/class plus the entrance fee (for evening/weekend classes, the day classes have different prices). I thought that was a bit too much for me, especially if I continue with the cakes and breads. Oh...cost. I find it to be a little expensive, but not horribly so. For the A cake and bread courses, plus entrance fee, I paid Y86, 400. If I had registered for A and B courses, or A, B, and C courses at the same time, I would have gotten a discount. They provide all the ingredients and they use real butter. They also pre-measure almost everything (the exception is for the bread classes--you do all your own weighing, scooping) so it's a big time-saver. You only have two hours/class, so you need to save time wherever you can. If you are interested in the classes, when you're in Japan, and if you have time, you can drop into any of the abc schools (there are plenty) and sign up for a sample class. That's how I ended up at the school (my mother and I were shopping, she saw the school, walked in, and started asking questions--in English!--and she signed us up for a demonstration class). And I just signed on for another year beyond my two-year contract, so if you take the course before 2007, you're welcome to stay at my place! It's definitely big enough for two! If you'd like to see what I've done so far, I have pictures up on webshots. I don't have the latest ones up, but I'll get them up by the end of the week, probably. I'm not sure if I answered all your questions, but feel free to ask again, or for clarification. I am very much enjoying myself--I think I've become addicted to these cooking classes--I just want to take more and more!

This may have been metioned elsewhere, but this course (I'm pretty sure it's this course) is now being offered in English. I saw ads for it last November, though I don't know how long it has been out. You can find it at Essential Japanese Cooking. It's not a correspondence course, though. You get videos and a text but you don't send them in anywhere. It's not cheap--$600, but might be good for visual learners who don't speak Japanese and/or cannot afford to attend the institute in Japan. FWIW, I attend the abc Cooking School. Everything is in Japanese, but the branch I go to has some English speaking teachers who help me out when I'm lost.

I have this one by Zojirushi. I love it, but it's far, far too big for a single person (or even a small family). I wanted this one because it had both a nabe pot and a flat-plate. I wanted one with a ridged-plate, too, but could not find one with all three (the only three-plate combos I found included takoyaki-plates). I didn't realize just how much the nabe pot would hold, though, and it holds quite a lot. Even for three people, it left too much floating room. So I don't think I'll be using the nabe pot much for now, but I use the flat plate a lot--for yakiniku, gyoza, okonomiyaki, stir fries, etc. It's larger than my largest skillet (which is pretty small) and I can sit down while using it (I'm a lazy cook ). I'll also be inheriting a fish grill in another month or so. I don't think I really need it, since I have the one attached to my stove, but I'm sure I'll be able to use it for something. I'm getting a crock-pot, too!

11 seems about right. There's another Osaka one at USJ (Universal Studios Japan), I think. The Namba Parks one is the one I usually go to. The first time I went there, I was very disappointed--my burger was dry and barely warm. It seemed as though it was a left-over burger from the previous night (though I think they make them as ordered). The half-a-dozen or so times I've eaten there since, however, the burger has been great. Juicy, messy, and fabulous. Until yesterday, that is. Once again, my burger was dry and barely warm, and the bread was stale. Oh well, I guess it can't be perfect every time! Don't know if your sister has been there, but if you need directions, let me know. It's not hard to find but that area can be confusing.

I say Gyoza no Osho. Sure it's a cheap dive, and is sometimes not very clean, but they have good gyoza

I think it probably has the same menu--an assortment of sandwiches (pastrami, mahi mahi, BLT, etc.), an assortment of burgers (including the pineapple one and the ever-popular avocado), popcorn shrimp, fries, onion rings...clam chowder...The drinks might be different--the ones here have oolong tea, (very strong) iced tea, and iced coffee. Do the ones in Hawaii have those? And they don't even have sprite/7-Up or root beer at these ones! The first one in Japan (which I believe is the one in your picture) opened in, I think, 1997 or 1998. I used to make a 2-3-hour one-way trip to Tokyo every month just to eat there (and buy root beer at National Azabu). It was relatively expensive at the time, but it did amazingly well and I think they now have more shops in Japan than in Hawaii. In fact, I think the Tokyo one (and several of the other Japanese ones) opened before the one in LA. Now that I'm in Osaka, I enjoy having one nearby (which just opened last spring). It's in the same building as my baking class, so I get there fairly often. And, it's especially nice that the prices don't seem to have changed much in the past 8 or so years!

He's usually there from the afternoon. Sometimes he's there around noon, but I would usually see him there from 3 or 4-ish. You could actually by-pass most of the sexy video stuff since the soi is just off one of the entrances to the Skytrain. My in-laws? I don't have any in-laws, except my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, both of whom are farang. But maybe I can ask my cousins. They all love food (it's a Yuthasatrkosol tradition). BTW, Yaowarat at night has fabulous food stalls set up. I didn't get the chance to go, but my cousin highly recommended it--even if just to take pictures. I also picked up a lovely salted threadfin (whole) for just 160 baht, plus other assorted goodies. If you care to see some of my haul, take a look at my album . It's not even near completion, but I have pictures of some of the stuff I bought at Yaowarat.

There's a guy on Sukhumwit Soi 11 (I think Soi 11--the same Soi as the Joke Club and Ambassador Hotel). Standard is with egg (regardless of plain or banana) so make sure to ask for it without, if you don't want it. His roti are not as good as the ones I've had in Chiang Mai, but they're still good.

No question, Mariage Freres (the French and Japanese sites work, but the English, afaik, still doesn't). I've only been to the ones in the Kansai-area of Japan, but I love the one in Kobe best. I love the look of the place, the atmosphere, and how I can sit for hours with no one giving me dirty looks to get out. And, of course, I love the tea. My long-time favourite flavoured tea is Bolero, though Appolon and Canelle-Orange are right up there.

Once you have decided on which brands you want to buy, would you consider doing mail-order rather than ordering by the case from your local store? While it is preferable to buy local, I'm sure stores in Toronto or Markham would have a much better selection and many would probably do mail order. Even with the price of shipping, it would still be cheaper (and more practical) than buying a case. Here's another thread on Asian food stores in Toronto.

Personally, I would go along with Kasma Loha-Unchit's suggestions, rather than Victor Sodsook. Sodsook's cookbook is a little too Westernized compared with Loha-Unchit's book.

Did you buy the skillet? And if you did, how is it? I'm wondering about the thickness of the copper on these--if it's only 1mm, will they still be effective heat conductors or will the copper be mostly just for looks? They are quite pretty, btw (what can I say, I'm a slave to the kitchen fashion fairy ). I read that ideally, the copper should be about 2.5mm thick. What to do, what to do...

The Le Creuset stuff is on sale at Carrefour right now, too . The set at Costco is still a better deal, though. Interestingly, though, at Costco they only have one set on display (in the housewares section) and you have to talk to an associate if you want one. There are no boxes of the product underneath for people to just help themselves. They also only had red, as far as I could tell, but my other Le Crueset is all red so at least everything would match . The copper pots at Carrefour weren't on sale (i.e. they didn't have a sale tag like sale items at Carrefour usually do), and I had noticed they weren't in the Kansai flyer, either. I suspect they are a limited time offer--get them now or tfb kind of thing. They weren't prominently displayed (weren't in one of the well-lit areas or in the middle of an aisle), they were just stacked near the end of an aisle (though not on the end). Most were wrapped in clear plastic bags. It was very low-key and one would not have seen them were one not wandering aimlessly around all the aisles (I had time to kill before the shuttle bus left). I'm thinking of going back tomorrow...

I went to Costco today and dropped by Carrefour to browse. I found some heavy copper cookware on sale. They had various pots and pans--ranging from about Y2000 (for a small--maybe 4" in diameter--pot) up. They were all stamped "Made in France" but I could not find any other information about a maker. From what I could read, the copper is about 1mm thick but that's all I could understand from the information sheet included with each pot. I think they had stainless steel interiors, as they were quite heavy. My questions--has anyone else seen these pans? Or even better, has anyone bought them? The price is so good that I'm tempted to buy some. They're pretty heavy pans and I think they would be a good buy with or without the copper part. I want the little pots to make hot chocolate or melt butter BTW, Costco also has a Le Crueset set for about Y28000. Comes with a 4.3L round cocotte (which alone runs about $170 US), frying pan (looked small--probably the 9" at $40), trivet (about $35), and tatin pan ($85). (See here if you want to see a picture of the set--it's the second or third down the page. I'm seriously considering it. It would be nice to be able to put a big pot of stew in the oven to simmer (since my stove doesn't seem to do a simmer very well).

I haven't noticed a problem with deflating. But I just loosely cover it with parchment so the opening/closing thing happens very quickly (and lightly). The internet oven was a very nice oven--I'd love one, as an oven, anyway. According to my teacher, no one has ever used the internet part of the oven at that school . It's pretty neat, though. You insert a memory card into a slot and you can call-up recipes onto the display screen. You can see the oven here.

Ovens often vary in temperatures and need to be calibrated. My grandparents' oven back in Canada was, for a time, as much as 50C too hot. It was a pain in the a** to use until they calibrated it. Also, recipes require different temperatures depending on the type of oven used. For example, I recently began taking a baking class and the recipe I was given said 180C for 30 minutes for a regular oven, 170C for 25 minutes in a gas oven, and 180C for 30 minutes for an internet oven (which is what they have at the school). This is a Japanese recipe made for Japanese ovens, so I would guess that a Canadian (or American) non-convection electric oven would also require a different temperature. I still think covering the cake for at leat part of the time would help. I would cover it fairly early, since I know my cake splits pretty early in the baking process.

That is a beautiful cake! Did you take a look at the recipe she used? It's more like mine, though mine calls for whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks and hers calls for soft peaks (as you did for your second try). One thing to consider, as well, is the temperature of your oven. Too hot an oven will cause cracks. My ovens in Japan have always run hot and, since I now have a gas convection oven, I have to really watch the temperature (here's a picture of what happened to my first cheesecake in my new oven, using the original temperature and time). I just picked up an oven thermometer in Singapore, so I'm going to be testing temperatures more carefully. Maybe you could try covering the cake fairly early in the baking process?

The recipe I've been using for 6+ years (which uses all-purpose flour) always shrinks/falls and almost always cracks. That's the nature of this type of recipe, I think. The only time my cheesecakes haven't cracked has been when I've used lower heat than the recipe called for, and baked it for a longer period of time. I think I covered it during the latter part of the baking time. It still shrinks and falls, though. My recipe is called "Lemon Souffle Cheesecake" and with "souffle" in the title, I think the falling/shrinking part is pretty much a given. If you wanted the height for looks, you would have to serve it still warm from the oven, and having done that, I found that it destroyed the texture and flavour. It is very eggy--both in texture and flavour--when served warm. It's also easier to cut when warm. Here's the non-cracked cheesecake This cheesecake has become my signature dessert and even people who don't like cheesecake love it.

My parents fake Peking Duck was done as so... 1. Go to Chinatown and buy roast duck from the deli 2. Go home, and make paoping dough. 3. Put the duck in a hot oven to crisp up the skin 4. While the duck is in the oven, make the paoping. 5. Carve skin, and eat with paoping. That being said, I had the most amazing Peking Duck in Bangkok a couple of weeks ago. The skin was crisp, crisp, crisp and the paoping was piping hot. How come Peking Duck in Hong Kong is never as good? Or did I just go to the wrong place?