Yesterday, I finally had some time to go down to Asakusa to buy a new wallet that I have been wanting to for several months. The shop is off of Nakamise Shopping street that stretches from the Sensoji  Shrine.

This is a traditional handcrafted and handpainted white leather that dates back to the 1800's originating in Himeji city, Hyogo Pref, which is actually my husband's home town. I just love all the patterns from traditional to modern that are all beautifully painted by the artisans. I really had a hard time deciding which one to pick!

Bukoya Oozeki Website (In English)

Simply Oishii Japanese Cooking Class is now featured in ImChef, an information website for cooking classes across Japan. This new service, developed by a group of young entrepreneurs is aimed at giving overall information about cooking classes held in English for foreigners across Japan. I think this is the first ever of that kind which  I find quite helpful for not only foreigners looking for cooking classes but also for cooking instructors like me who would like to increase exposure apart from our own website.

They have created a page to introduce my cooking class and also a nice short video showing the experience. I hope this gives more insight on my classes. 

Today was a Chirashizushi class. Chirashizushi is a type of sushi that is served on a plate with toppings scattered on the sushi rice. Chirashi or Chirasu in Japanese means to "scatter". This is a typical Girls day dish, which falls on the 3rd of March every year to celebrate the well being of the girl(s) in the family.  

Although the Chirashizushi is eaten all year round, the girls day Chirashizushi  is topped with ingredients that symbolizes good fortune. For instance, the shrimp symbolizes, longevity as the bent shape resembles an elderly person. The lotus root symbolizes good future as you can look through the holes, the kinshitamago (shredded eggs) symbolizes gold, the beans (in most cases it will be snow peas) symbolizes hard work. And especially for girls day we decorate the sushi with sakura dembu, a pink colored dried and shredded fish which symbolizes a cherry blossom.
 
We also made clam soup which symbolizes happy marriage as there is only one match for a set of clam shells. The class finished off with a sakura mochi, which is also a girls day dish.