eG Foodblog: torakris - a week of fun in Japan

[kimabima]

I have recently started doing homestay/tutoring for Japanese students here in Victoria BC. The students, ranging in age from 20 to 35 stay in our home for 1-2 week and I tutor them in English for three hours a day. It's alot of fun and as I have never been to Japan I learn as much if not more than they do.

I was interested to read that you teach cooking classes. I was thinking of offering cooking classes for ESL students in my home- cooking and English lessons together!

Are you teaching western cooking? I'd love to hear more about this and also if you have any idea what western food might be popular. It seems anything Italian is popular!

Thnak you for sharing part of your life in such a fascinating country.

[torakris]

Kristen, how do the Costco prices in Japan compare to those in the U. S.?  (Assuming that you made a trip to Costo on your last jaunt to Cleveland.)

Edited to add:  Of that bounty, what was yours?

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I did very good this much and didn't get too much, mostly vegetables like lettuce mix, carrots, celery, onions a big pack or gound beef and pork and sanma (saury pike) I also got some bagels, dinner rolls, paper plates, dish detergent and a pumpkin.

Like everything in Japan it is definitely more expensive than the Costco in Cleveland, and of course I went! i love all the attention I get when all of the workers come running over to see the card from Costco Japan.....

When I was in the states this summer I was commenting to my family that I found only two things (beseides Japanese food/products of course) that are cheaper in Japan than the US and that is cigarettes and chicken breasts. A pack of cigarettes in jaapn is in the 260-280 yen range (about $2.40) and I can buy chicken breasts at Costco for 40 yen per 100g (or about $1.40 a pound).

Some examples of price differences on the same products would be a canister of coffee I paid $6 for in the US costs $10 here and a huge jug of maple sryup that I paid $12 for runs $26 here.

[torakris]

Oh my god, they combined curry bread with the hot dog roll? Here in the states, Curry Bread and Hot Dog Rolls are seperate things, at places like Sunmerry.

Now I must quest to find one here. It sounds like the ultimate in stoner cuisine.

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usually they are separate but you can find them combined as well, at first I was going to go just for the curry pan (deep fried bread filled with curry) but then this one caught my eye...

I don't know why this stuff doesn't catch on more out of Japan, this is some damn good food and it only cost me 83 cents....

[torakris]

I was interested to read that you teach cooking classes. I was thinking of offering cooking classes for ESL students in my home- cooking and English lessons together!

Are you teaching western cooking? I'd love to hear more about this and also if you have any idea what western food might be popular. It seems anything Italian is popular!

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I used to teach the cooking classes as part of my English class, once a month we did cooking instead of conversation. I then had a lot of people that were just interested in the cooking part and not the English, so now my cooking classes are separate and I do them in Japanese. Anything Mediterranean is popular as are desserts. The difficult part is that not all Japanese have ovens and they don't have the same kind of pantry that I stock, so I try to fix meals that don't require a trip to an international supermarket. Things like Indian and South East Asian are more difficult because it can require a lot of speciality shopping so I only do those kinds of classes once in a while.

I pass out a 2 to 3 month schedule to all of those who are interested and they only come to the ones that they are interested in.

[torakris]

Tuesday mornings around 10:30 I get a food delivery, every week I receive a catalog I look through it, fill out the order form, turn it in then one week later the food arrives. I do this as a group with 4 other women in my building, the truck comes to our parking lot, we unload our groceries and then sort them out. It is paid for by automatic bank transfer a couple days after the food has been received. I have been doing this for 9 years, it was very convenient when my children were small and now I keep doing it because the quality is good. The amount I order really depends on the week, I didn't order much this week because I knew I was going to Costco the day before.

today's order

in the front are 3 varieties of sweet potatoes (they came as a set), the package of small yellow things is kuri gohan no moto, this is a seasoning pack for making chestnut rice. You just pop the bag of chestnuts, the liquid seasoning pack and washed rice into your rice cooker and 45 minutes later you have a wonderful dinner. This particular brand is really good and this is the 3rd time I have bought it in 4 weeks! chestnuts are very seasonal here so in another month or two you won't be able to find this anymore. Next to it are three packs of furikake or rice sprinkles、they all contain chirimen (baby sardines) and one is flavored with umeboshi (Japanese sour plum), one with nozawa-na (a type of green) and the other is seasoned with katsuobushi (bonito flakes), these are all a frozen product. The white box is tofu and next to it are pre-seasoned pouches of aburage (tofu pockets) for making inari-zushi.

[torakris]

I just had lunch

a bowl of rice topped with raw tuna (maguro) with a sesame sauce, this was a frozen product I ordered from the delivery service last week. and a glass of water. I had a glass of water with the hot dog and curry bread also.

[tejon]

Are you planning on making the inari-zushi later this week? Do you usually serve them as a snack, or as part of a meal?

Tonight we had pork belly and daikon, the recipe you shared in your last foodblog. It was wonderful with some roasted asparagus and rice.

[torakris]

Are you planning on making the inari-zushi later this week? Do you usually serve them as a snack, or as part of a meal?

Tonight we had pork belly and daikon, the recipe you shared in your last foodblog. It was wonderful with some roasted asparagus and rice. 

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I bought the inari pockets in preparation for this weekends undokai (sports day) bento (boxed lunch).

I make this quite often and usually as part of a bento, though sometimes I do them for lunch when the kids want to help make something, they love stuffing them!

[tejon]

My boys love stuffing the inari as well. They usually end up with a motley assortment of half filled, split, football shapes, and oddly shaped rice balls, all of which are gobbled up quickly. Food and entertainment at the same time.

[torakris]

most days I eat lunch at home alone, my children all receive hot lunches at school. My daughters are in 1st and 3rd grade and go to the same elementary school, my son who is 3 goes to pre-school/kindegarten, this is sort of a combined 2 year or 3 year program. The parent's decide whether to send the kids at age 3 or age 4, this is not mandatory education but I only know of 2 people who did not enroll their kids.

My son is school from about 8:30 or 9:00 (whenever I take him there) until 2:00pm, 4 days a week, Weds he comes home at 11:30. My daughters leave for school at 7:50am and return home around 2:00 or 3:00 depending on the day.

In case you missed it I did a photo essay on the Japanese school lunch system a little while back:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...st=0&p=636583

and there is also a great thread about the kyushoku (school lunch program):

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=15429

[torakris]

as an afternoon snack I had two kurozato caramels and a handful of red grapes from Costco. Kurozato is literally black sugar and it is a type of raw sugar mostly from Okinawa. These caramels are incredible!

I also forgot to mention that during my morning English conversation class I had a glass of cold kuromama-cha (black bean tea).

[Phish]

torakris, Im so excited that you've started another fodblog!! Been waiting AGES for the next one!! I can't wait to see what else you'll whip up with all your brilliant meal ideas!

Love all the photo's by the way! Makes me feel as if i was right there...

Kurozato is literally black sugar and it is a type of raw sugar mostly from Okinawa. These caramels are incredible!

Can you tell me more about this? a photo perhaps? Hope it's not too much trouble!

I had a glass of cold kuromama-cha (black bean tea).

Black bean tea?? wow... this IS rare...

Edited October 5, 2004 by Phish (log)

[helenjp]

Looks like a busy week! I'm looking forward to seeing the inari-zushi - my son2 would never let a Sports Day go by without eating inari-zushi, either!

[torakris]

Kurozato is literally black sugar and it is a type of raw sugar mostly from Okinawa. These caramels are incredible!

Can you tell me more about this? a photo perhaps? Hope it's not too much trouble!

Black bean tea?? wow... this IS rare...

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here is a picture of the box of black bean tea, and the caramels

Black beans are one of the health foods of the moment and you can find various black bean products all over the place. A friend suggested this tea to me last week and I tried it hot 2 days ago and then refrigerated some of it to try it cold. It is a very mild tasting and pretty non-descript tea.

These caramels, on the other hand, are incredible. I bought them over a week ago and have kept them hidden from the kids and only allow myself 2 a day! I love kurozato flavored anything, I plan on starting a thread on it this week so keep your eye on the Japan forum!

[torakris]

Just finished dinner:

a huge salad made with Costco's prepared salad mix, cucumbers, yellow peppers and seared maguro (tuna) all served with a variety (sesame, poppy seed, corn bread) of rolls from Costco.

Tuesdays are my simple dinner nights as I teach a class of children from 4:30 to 6:00, the class actually consists of my older girls and three brothers (7, 9, 11) who have an American father and a Japanese mother. I work with them on reading and writing English, the children all speak and read English but have problems keeping up with spelling.

I have a dessert waiting in the refrigerator you can hear about it tomorrow......

It is 8:00pm and I normally head to bed by 9:00, I am reading a particularly enjoyable book this week and may head off even earlier....

[Phish]

Thanks Kristin!! I'll be looking forward to your kurozato thread!

[alacarte]

Kristin, I loved your blog the first time around (you set high standards for the bloggers who followed!) and I'm looking forward to more.

Plus, I'm headed to Japan next month, so I'll be trying to soak up as much info about Japanese food and culture between now and then. Your blog will be key! See you on the Japan boards...

[eunny jang]

This is so wonderful! I loved last year's New Year's blog and am looking forward immensely to this one.

[Dejah]

He is probably very happy with Chinese food as it is very popluar in Japan, to make him VERY happy mae a pot of curry rice!!

the curry rice thread for ideas:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=15137&st=0

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Kris,

I checked the curry thread. Great! What is Japenese curry roux?

Is it curry paste?

I mentioned the curry to Taka and his face light up, so I guess I'd better follow through now.

[Jake]

Kris, I'm so glad you're blogging again!! I just returned from a conference away and was thrilled to see this as I look forward to all your posts and threads. They are always interesting, enjoyable and informative.

[torakris]

Kris,

I checked the curry thread. Great! What is Japenese curry roux?

Is it curry paste?

I mentioned the curry to Taka and his face light up, so I guess I'd better follow through now.

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Well you have decided it for me, tonight I will make curry rice! complete with step by step pictures so you can see how it is done.

Curry roux are blocks of curry paste that melt when you add to the hot water and vegetables, you can find various types at any Asian market. I will post some pictures of the ingredients as well

[torakris]

It is almost 7:00am and I am drinking my morning iced coffee in front of the computer like I do every single morning. My kids are watching tv and eating breakfast that they have made themselves. Mia has toast with cinnamon-sugar and Hide and Julia are eating peanut butter sandwiches. I am contemplating getting my lazy butt out of this chair and making some toast with jam.....

nah... maybe later...

I am a little thrown off my regular menu planning schedule this week, I normally do a big shopping trip on Sunday and then sit down Sunday afternoon and plan the next week's menus. But because of Monday's Costco trip I didn't go and I never really buy enough different things (just a lot of the same) at Costco to make a bunch of meals. I am going shopping today to buy the ingredients for my cooking class tomorrow so I will pick up stuff for the rest of the week as well and work on my menu today.

I am very happy for a couple of reasons today:

1. the rain has finally stopped!!!! it is going to be a beautiful day, I can finally open my windows and hang out my laundry

2. It is payday!! Japanese get paid only once a month, so things can get tight in the days before payday....

3. My son is in school until 2:00pm today!! Weds are normally half days with them coming home at 11:30, but once a month they stay until 2.

[dougery]

WEB LOG!! I just figured out what a blog was! And I thought it was a Bavarian holiday rolled cheese snack!

[torakris]

last night's dessert:

oranges with a cardamom scented caramel

afterwards I had a handful of pistachios

[torakris]

I make a lunch for my husband to take to work every morning, it goes into a vertical bento container and consists of three parts one for soup, one for rice and one for the main. it looks like this

I also make him an onigiri (rice ball) for his breakfast, he eats this after he gets to work. His recent favorite onigri is a very simple one with just a spoonful of miso (bean paste) inside. He also takes a thermos filled with Nestea iced tea mix.... he loves that stuff.

what he walks out the door with (the bento has a nice carrying case with a strap)

sorry the pictures are bad, I didn't realize the batteries were low on my camera, it has been fixed!