Chihiro

Takadi, I think it's a personal change (regardless of country) more than a generational one. I'm Japanese but living in the US and it took a while to like black coffee. Just a year ago, the UCC canned coffee (which, looking back, doesn't taste like coffee ) was the only think I could drink too! The great thing about living in a country like the US is that you can always find food that isn't "milder, sweeter, saltier, fattier" without much trouble. I'm sure your tastebuds aren't stunted if you try to taste other foods Out of curiosity, grass jelly, durian, bitter melon... , what do all of these taste like?

Raj, I haven't read Kurihara's book, but I have tried a lot of her recipes. I think the greatest appeal of her cooking to non-Japanese is that it shows how (most) everyday Japanese people eat today. I live in America, so I always associate her with Martha Stewart but from what I've seen of her TV shows, she's a lot more natural.

I'm not Jewish, but my friend invited me to two of her family's seders. They were so enlightening + interesting. She didn't believe me, but I meant it Anyway, after that experience, I started looking out for recipes without flour. There's a really chocolate almond cake recipe in Paris Sweets. It even uses potato starch from the Kosher aisle!

Has anyone tried Harumi Kurihara's books? I've tried her recipes in magazines and saw segments of her TV shows, but I haven't seen the English book yet.

Sounds like so much fun, Bryan! I love your pictures. My spring break's not until the end of April Do you have a favorite city? I've never been to Barcelona, is it anything like Paris?

I never grew out of Milky. I could eat it all day

Torakris, those 7-11 onigiri look so good. I haven't been to Japan since last winter And I didn't buy any food from 7-11! But I'll have to next time I return, maybe this summer? My mom's onigiri always had ajitsuke nori... and sometimes it was just that. And made out of leftover haigamai rice too Not all onigiri are equal

The richest, most delicious brownies I've ever had were raspberry brownies that, believe it or not, I used to buy in a now long-defunct convenience store just east of the corner of 42nd St. and 6th Av. in Manhattan. I don't know where they got them from, but they were made with very fudgy, very dark chocolate and delicious raspberry jam. I gained a lot of weight (14 lbs., I think?) the year that I ate those regularly after classes at CUNY Graduate Center, which was in a building about halfway between 5th and 6th on 42nd St. in those days (1987-88). ← Brownie and raspberry jam sounds amazing! I'd love to try that. Was the raspberry swirled into the batter? There're so many brownie recipes I'd love to try this week. I always eat too many brownies I'll try to actually get them to school before I eat them all

Everything looks so professional! Such pretty desserts I had a cookie assortment from Japanese patisserie Petit a Petit. Question! There're white and dark chocolate cookies that taste more like chocolate than cookie. The first ingredient listed for them is, "chocolat powder" What's that? I'd really like to try it: