eG Foodblog: torakris - Pocky and the geisha

[torakris]

Did your kids eat the flounder eggs? Mine won't, and neither will my husband.

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I've been kind of wondering if your children eat everything you've shown or if they're like children in my country that pick thru their food?

The food you've shown you feed your family amazes me. Do Japanesse children go thru these difficult eating stages..........or is your relationship to food and it's costs prevent children from being so picky?

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children and food.....

In general I think that the Japanese children are better eaters than those in the US, I think they are exposed to more foods and they is less pressure on them to eat. I often get into fights with my oldest because she turns up her nose at things before she even tries it and then refuses to take even one bite. My husband doesn't understand why I get so mad and thinks I should just let her eat what she wants that she will come around in time. I have never been at a table in a Japanese house where the kids have been told what. to eat.

I really love the school lunch system and think this helps those picky eaters, at my school sconds of your favorites are allowed but only after you have eaten everything else. My oldest has come home from school a number of times saying that she tried something new and liked it! She was a fairly picky kid until about 2 years and she definitely eats better than her cousins in the US. My middle child Julia is a wondeful eater, she eats everything and always has. She isn't a huge meat eater and prefers fish and tofu, she also can eat foods at the same heat level as my husabdn and I , she puts sriracha on her fried rice and eats kimchi straight from the jar...

Then there is Hide this boy is going through a major picky stage and lives on one meal of a peanut butter sandwich a day, snacking on yogurt and cheese and drinking a liter of milk a day. He has no interest in food and recently he won't even touch rice. The ONLY and I mean ONLY vegetable he eats is kabocha, so you will see this appearing on our table frequently.

Like Rona said the Japanese are changing, fast food is everywhere here at eaten at alarming rates. The kids are getting bigger but still nothing compared to what I see when I go back to the US. The couple of quite overweight children that I do know here have some sort of medical problem. Julia's best friend (who is probably twice the size of Julia) has some sort of gland problem.

At the food court yesterday there were 4 restaurants, the line at McDonalds was so long they had to set up ropes to form lines nad we waited 20 minutes to place our order. The other 3 places had 1 to 2 people in line.

I have to admit I was a super picky eater as a child, I don't really know when it changed but it was probably near the end of high school.... Out of the 8 kids in my family, there are only 3 of us who really love to eat and will eat almost anything, but the three of us are also the only one who travel abroad and have interests in other parts of the world. My sister met her French (from Strasburg) husband in Peru...

I have two sisters who eat only because they would die if they didn't, they really find no pleasure in food. The other 3 are just average they like food but prefer to stick to foods they know they enjoy, though they will try new things if offered they won't go out of their way to make them.

We all grew up in the same house eating the same food witht he same rules....

I have no problems with fast food, I believe in moderation though in everything I eat.

[torakris]

Any other ideas on what he might like with what little info you have? This is a big favor, instead you could at some point this week just let us know some of your children's favorite foods. Thanks much!

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try kabocha

I don't know any kid who doesn't like it...

Here is my recipe for simmered kabocha, this dish is quite sweet and is my son's favorite.

[torakris]

Ah, I checked the link, it's a reformed food, like vegetable surimi, huh? I found another link that is interesting,

I assume you buy it pre-flavored, what other flavors does it come in?

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Yes konnyaku is a formed food and is pretty flavorless. It is mostly sold in non-flavored versions so I snap up any flavored version when I can find it. I had a really nice yuzu flavored one (yuzu is a citrus) a while back.

[torakris]

Thanks for blogging again Torakris, and providing all the pics.

To keep on the theme of food and kids, I noticed that all the children, in the park, ballet class, or at McD's, are all relatively slim. Childhood obesity is a big concern in North America, due to factors like quick access to fast-food, and lack of physical activity.

Is fast food just seen as an occasional treat? Are there less fast food options? Or is it just everything in moderation, with emphasis on healthier options, is the norm for the Japanese lifestyle? Are there more opportunities for physical activity? Is there less exposure to commercials promoting high fat foods?

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I think for the elementary aged school kids physical exercise it what keeps them slim, after school the parks are filled with kids, you see them riding bicycles all over the city and swimming and soccer are very popular after school activities.

Though fast food is quite popular it is eaten in moderation (for most people ) and the Japanese also eat a more fresh produce than other countries and with more variety.

this is what I posted in the kyushoku thread I linked to a page back, this is the Japanese version of the food pyramid:

In Japan the food pryamid is actually a circle blink.gif , just like in the picture shown above.

There are 6 food groups and the following information I am taking from my boshi techo , this is the "mother's handbook" that all pregnant women receive that records information form doctors visits, weight, blood pressure, urine test result, etc as well as information from the hospital after the birth about both the mother and baby. It also has a section in which the doctor notes all vaccines given and records everything from the health check the child has from birth until age 5. It is also sort of an all purpose pregnancy child book giving information on health and general wellness for both mother and child. my last child was born in 2000, so the information is from that edition, I doubt it has changed.

Anyway the 6 groups (in parantheses are the examples given in the book):

1. protein (fish, meat, eggs, soy products)

2. foods high in calcium (milk, milk products, fish bones, seaweeds)

3. foods high in vitamin A (carotene) (green and yellow vegetables)

4. foods high in vitamin C and minerals (other vegetables and fruits)

5. grains, foods good for energy in sugar form (rice, bread, noodles, potatoes)

6. fats, foods good for energy in fats form (oils, butter, mayo)

The Japanese circle focuses on balance and rather than saying how many servings of each group the recommendation is to eat 30 different kinds of foods everyday some from each group

[torakris]

Why not lower the price of rice in Japan?

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the "why is rice so expensive in Japan" thread

[tejon]

Then there is Hide wacko.gif this boy is going through a major picky stage and lives on one meal of a peanut butter sandwich a day, snacking on yogurt and cheese and drinking a liter of milk a day. He has no interest in food and recently he won't even touch rice.

That sounds just like Arden. Same age as Hide, if I remember correctly. He subsists on cheese, soy milk, almond butter on toast, and pretzels. It's really strange - he used to eat just about anything, but suddenly became very picky. Not sure why, but we keep offering all the things we eat and hope he'll branch out again soon. I'll definately give kabocha a try - whatever works!

[torakris]

I understand from your previous posts that you are an avid coffee drinker and that you also like drinking water.  My questions are:

Do you discern any difference between the coffee made with the soft water in Japan and that made with the hard water in the United States?

When you drink water, is it tap water, purified water, or bottled mineral water?

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I can taste diiferences in water drunk straight but when it is used to make something like coffee I don't notice any difference.

I refuse to spend money on water and drink tap water, as do all of my kids. The Japanese do not drink much water and I have some friends that almost never drink it. My kids are asked at a friends house what they want to drink they always ask for water and most people can't understand why they would pick that over juice or tea...

[SuzySushi]

And the price of rice in Japan astounds me. I buy 20 or 25-pound sacks of California-grown Kokohu Rose rice for about $10 to $12 (depending on the store and whether they're on sale).  A few weeks ago, the local Wal-Mart ran a promotionl on a cheap brand of California rice for... if memory serves... $3.50 for a 25-pound sack!

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Checking my weekly Han Ah Reum circular, the price of Kokuho Rose New Variety Rice is US$9.99/20 lbs. I don't know if that is long grain or short/sushi rice, can't tell from the image. Click here for NY area circular.

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That's a good price for Kokuho Rose New Variety Rice - that's the short/sushi rice. Kokuho also has a lower grade of rice in a yellow package.

[torakris]

Then there is Hide wacko.gif this boy is going through a major picky stage and lives on one meal of a peanut butter sandwich a day, snacking on yogurt and cheese and drinking a liter of milk a day. He has no interest in food and recently he won't even touch rice.

That sounds just like Arden. Same age as Hide, if I remember correctly. He subsists on cheese, soy milk, almond butter on toast, and pretzels. It's really strange - he used to eat just about anything, but suddenly became very picky. Not sure why, but we keep offering all the things we eat and hope he'll branch out again soon. I'll definately give kabocha a try - whatever works!

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This too came on quite suddenly for Hide, he was never a great eater but now he just refuses almost everything.... They will grow out of it eventually I am sure. I just try to keep some of his favorite foods around, like yogurt and almost any fruit.

[torakris]

I forgot to add it is 8:00am and I am still drinking iced coffee and have nothing to eat yet...

[halloweencat]

torakris, hello :)

i'm enjoying your blog so very much. it's a treat to be able to see what living in another country might be like, doing quotidian things, rather than the sixteen historical monuments in nine historial towns in three days-kind of thing. when i lived (for a month) with my german relatives in a small town, it was a much better way to get a sense of how folks lived.

when i worked at rockefeller center in nyc, i used to go to this japanese....i'm not sure it would be called a "bakery," but it was a sweets/desserts-type of shop (on 49th). i loved seeing the desserts change seasonally, as well as always seeing my favorites. red bean paste wrapped in cake, lychee (sp?) suspended in some sort of gelatin (i think i'm remembering that one correctly). some of them had little intaglio symbols baked into them.

is this type of thing popular in japan, or is this something extracted and amplified for a big, trendy american city?

thank you for sharing, and thank you for all of your hard work. :)

cheers :)

hc

[butter]

my washing machine just started singing, time to hang out the laundry.....

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I also lived in Japan for 6 years so this made me laugh. You are not kidding when you say the washing machine has started singing. In Japan there truly are singing machines. I'm excited to read the rest of this blog.

[daniellewiley]

This too came on quite suddenly for Hide, he was never a great eater but now he just refuses almost everything.... They will grow out of it eventually I am sure. I just try to keep some of his favorite foods around, like yogurt and almost any fruit.

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Dylie also has become more picky lately. She used to love oatmeal. Now, "I hate it."

Same goes for milk (except chocolate). "This is disGUSTing."

Even when we make dinners she likes, it's a struggle to get her to eat much. She'll put stuff in her mouth and then spit it out.

I'm also sure she'll outgrow it, but boy is it frustrating! Good to hear this is a global issue.

[M. Lucia]

I am learning so much from your blog, and I really want one of those matcha KitKats.

I love those pictures of the ballet class. I'm a dancer, and those pictures just have to make you smile- it's great to be reminded of the pure joy of dancing.

I was wondering if iced coffee is common there? Or the matcha latte?

I don't know, iced coffee just seems so New York to me. But then again I think of those iced bubble teas and such...

[Makan King]

torakris, hello :)

i'm enjoying your blog so very much.  it's a treat to be able to see what living in another country might be like, doing quotidian things, rather than the sixteen historical monuments in nine historial towns in three days-kind of thing.  when i lived (for a month) with my german relatives in a small town, it was a much better way to get a sense of how folks lived.

when i worked at rockefeller center in nyc, i used to go to this japanese....i'm not sure it would be called a "bakery," but it was a sweets/desserts-type of shop (on 49th).  i loved seeing the desserts change seasonally, as well as always seeing my favorites.  red bean paste wrapped in cake, lychee (sp?) suspended in some sort of gelatin (i think i'm remembering that one correctly).  some of them had little intaglio symbols baked into them.

is this type of thing popular in japan, or is this something extracted and amplified for a big, trendy american city?

thank you for sharing, and thank you for all of your hard work. :)

cheers :)

hc

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The Japanese confectionery is called Minamoto. I loved that place when I used to work in New York (it was close to my office too). The shop itself was a reflection of the Japanese aesthetic sense - perfectly displayed sweets and snacks, each one also perfectly packaged in beautiful wrapping, and a sense of calm and deliberative contemplation all round. It was very nice to step in as a respite from the crowds surrounding Rockefeller! My favorites used to be the bean paste filled pancakes and the jellies with fruit. I wasn't too crazy about the cakes, though. And I agree about the revolving selection of offerings in harmony with the changing seasons - cherries, peaches, chestnuts etc. Lovely! I am now in Beijing and I wish there was something like Minamoto to soothe the senses.

Now back on topic! This is a terrific blog! I have been influenced into buying pocky from the tiny supermarket in my office building on an almost daily basis. They are addictive. The offerings are very limited though, and my current favorite is the coffee pocky. I also like the classic simple salty pretz; I am not fond of the new flavored pretz (I tried a spicy prawn pretz that was downright awful).

By the way, about kids making the peace sign for photos - this extends to the kids and teenagers in Taiwan as well. It's like an automatic reflex!

Thank you, Kristin, for this blog. You have a lovely lovely family and we are privileged to share them with you this week!

[Abra]

So interesting! Kris, how did you learn Japanese food? I mean, not just the individual dishes, but the system pf putting together Japanese meals? unless you've already covered that elsewhere...

[torakris]

when i worked at rockefeller center in nyc, i used to go to this japanese....i'm not sure it would be called a "bakery," but it was a sweets/desserts-type of shop (on 49th).  i loved seeing the desserts change seasonally, as well as always seeing my favorites.  red bean paste wrapped in cake, lychee (sp?) suspended in some sort of gelatin (i think i'm remembering that one correctly).  some of them had little intaglio symbols baked into them.

is this type of thing popular in japan, or is this something extracted and amplified for a big, trendy american city?

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Those sound very much like something you would find in Japan. The jellied stuff is called zeri here, and the kinds with some kind of fruit suspended in them are very popular.

[torakris]

I was wondering if iced coffee is common there? Or the matcha latte?

I don't know, iced coffee just seems so New York to me. But then again I think of those iced bubble teas and such...

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I always thought of iced coffees as a very Japanese thing... 10 to 15 years ago everyone in Japan was drinking iced coffee and when I would ask for it in the US people would just stare at me and have no idea what I was talking about.

Matcha lattes are quite common and they even show up at Starbucks and other similar coffee shops.

[torakris]

So interesting!  Kris, how did you learn Japanese food?  I mean, not just the individual dishes, but the system pf putting together Japanese meals?  unless you've already covered that elsewhere...

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good question....

and one I really don't know the answer to...

I probably learned it initially from the same cookbooks that I learned Japanese food from. My ex-boyfriend was also Japanese and we lived together for almost 4 years in the US, he did not like American food or basically anything non-Japanese for that matter so I had to cook Japanese. I also traveled to Japan with him 3 times for about 2 months at a time andI probably learned more from his mother. By the time I started dating my husband I probably cooked better than most Japanese women....

[torakris]

Today Hide and I went to the Grandberry Mall with some friends of ours. this is an outlet mall near our house and I quite nice to stroll through though I rarely buy anything.... There is also a Carrefour, a French supermarket, that I really like.

Some pictures from the mall

the crepe buggy

and the more savory ones

[torakris]

I forgot to mention that although it looks like roads running through the middle, the whole area is actually closed to all traffic.　Ｔｈｉｓ　ａｌｓｏ　ａ　ｐｏｐｕｌａｒ　ｐｌａｃｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｐｅｏｐｌｅ　ｔｏ　ｂｒｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅｉｒ　ｄｏｇｓ　as well and if you don't own a dog the pet shop there will rent you a dog for only $15 and hour!!

We had lunch at Vietnam Alice a Vietnamese style restaurant produced by former Iron chef Yuataka Ishinabe, mostly it is over priced but the lunch is reasonable. We had the lunch special that consisted of a variety of appetizers and a choice of pho or Vietnamese curry. We bot had the pho the last time and I wasn't really impressed so we went the curry route. It was good but a little heavy for a lunch and we both felt overly full after the meal. The dessert was some kind of jellied tea, it had a really smokey flavor that neither of us cared for. The dessert we had last time, a mango jelly, was much better.

the appetizer plate (one person)

three dipping sauces

the curry and dessert

I like this restaurant because it has terrace seating and it was a beautiful day to sit outside, I just wish the 3 dogs at the next table would have stopped barking.....

[torakris]

I again forgot to mention that lunch cost 1500 yen about $14 and the water (which was free) was bottled water, I don't know too many restaurants here that do that...

Some pictures of the cherry blossoms on the way home

[torakris]

Here is what I purchased, today was payday!

I was really dissapointed at Carrefour's selection today the prices were high and nothing looked good....

the couscous was a steal at 1 kg for 248 yen ($2.40) and I can't go there without getting some kind of bread, today it was an olive bread.

I also picked up some instant ramen and dijon mustard at Kaldi (a worldwide import store)

my non-food items

the shirts were $6 (600 yen) each and I love the Wizard of Oz......

[torakris]

right now I am drinking

[mizducky]

I was wondering if iced coffee is common there? Or the matcha latte?

I don't know, iced coffee just seems so New York to me. But then again I think of those iced bubble teas and such...

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I always thought of iced coffees as a very Japanese thing... 10 to 15 years ago everyone in Japan was drinking iced coffee and when I would ask for it in the US people would just stare at me and have no idea what I was talking about.

Matcha lattes are quite common and they even show up at Starbucks and other similar coffee shops.

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I grew up in the suburbs of New York City, where iced coffee had long been a well-known thing ... but up until relatively recently, if I asked for an iced coffee anywhere in the U.S. outside of the New York metro area, I'd get nothing but blank looks too--or at best a glass of coffee that was tepid because they simply dumped some ice in the glass and poured hot coffee in direct from the coffeemaker.

Since Starbucks has taken over the planet, now at least seemingly everyone's familiar with iced and/or frozen latte drinks. But I still can get some puzzled looks in some places in the States when I ask for straight iced coffee.