Springtime Sweets

Springtime Sweets

洋菓子・yōgashiWestern-Style Confectionery Japan’s food culture includes ingredients, techniques and dishes that have been adopted and/or adapted from non-Japanese sources.  One large category is confectionery. Earliest influences were from the Portuguese in the...
Celebrating Sakura

Celebrating Sakura

The Japanese take great pleasure in celebrating the seasons and SAKURA (cherry blossoms) are emblematic of spring. From the time buds (tsubomi 蕾) first appear to the official pronouncement of blooming (kaika 開花) it is often less than a week. And from there to...
Temari Sushi

Temari Sushi

HINA MATSURI is celebrated March 3 and sushi, either a platter of scattered chirashi-zushi and/or temari-zushi (bite-sized spheres of tart rice topped with various ingredients) is often on the menu. This KITCHEN PROJECT  is featuring temari-zushi, bite-sized sushi....
Cooking Cloth

Cooking Cloth

Cloth is the work horse, and often unsung hero, of the kitchen. In the Japanese kitchen, cloth enables the cook to perform a wide range of tasks such as lining steamers, draining and straining, enveloping, and shaping. fukashi nuno 蒸し布 Cloths known as fukashi nuno 蒸し布...
Bean-Throwing for Setsubun

Bean-Throwing for Setsubun

Bean-Throwing for Setsubun Mamé maki (bean-throwing for Setsubun) tosses ogres outside (with dried beans) and brings good fortune inside (with dried beans). Fuku mamé (dry-roasted “good luck” soybeans) can be black or white (beige, really). FUKU wa...