Due to recent enquiries from chefs and restaurant owners who would like to learn the Japanese cuisine in depth, I've added a new course catered to learning popular Japanese dishes in short period of time. This course is suitable for professionals seeking to add a Japanese menu to their restaurant but do not have the time or budget to take a course in major cooking schools in Tokyo.  

The course will start with a supermarket tour to familiarize you with the Japanese ingredients and then go on to learning about proper table setting, food presentation (which will be touched upon throughout the course. The introductory class includes the basic skill to cook Japanese rice, make dashi (fish stock) and miso soup, and other dishes using the dashi.

The other classes can be catered according to your request, but the basic curriculum will be provided to help you decide what you would like to learn. A shopping tour to the Kappa Bashi cooking utensil street and Tsukiji Fish Market can also be arranged as well.

For more details on this course please visit this page.

The sakura season which came a week early this year was an extremely busy period for me as my home sits in front of one of the most famous sakura gazing spots in Tokyo - the Meguro River. I'm not sure if people who book the class knew about it at the time of booking but I'm sure they enjoyed the special scenery when walking to class.

During this period, I welcomed a lovely couple from Malaysia who took the intensive home cooking course. This course is aimed at familiarizing yourself with the basic Japanese ingredients and learn the popular Japanese homestyle dishes in 5 classes.
The first day started with a tour in a local supermarket then went on to a introctory class to prepare Japanese rice and dashi( soup stock). We also made a couple of dishes using the dashi

After the introductory course, there are 4 other classes, Teriyaki class, Tofu Class, Miso Class and the last class can be chosen from all the courses I provide. Please see this page for more details on the Intensive Home Cooking Course. I have also added a new course, Intensive Japanese Cooking Course B for those chefs and restaurant owners who would like to learn Popular Japanese dishes in a cozy atmosphere and lower course fees compared to washoku schools.

A few weeks ago, I organized a wagashi making birthday party for 10 year olds. The party was a great success and all the girls got to color their own wagashi and shape them into the spring motifs - sakura, butterfly, leaf with ladybug and spring flower. They did a beautiful job and it was great for me to watch them do it. Wagashi is a great activity to do at parties and workshops.

For details on wagashi parties and other cooking parties, please see this page.

Spring break is finally over and the kids have returned to school. The new school year begins in April in Japan and not September. You would see the families attending the entrance ceremonies taking photos under a blooming cherry tree every year, but not this year as the cherry trees bloomed early this year and there are no more flowers left on the tree! But we did enjoy beautiful weather this year and the people who came to my class in the last week of March enjoyed the beautiful sakura in full bloom along the Meguro River which runs in front of our apartment.

The sakura season had been a busy period for me doing 13 classes in 2 weeks. It was great to meet so many people at my home. It's back to normal this week and I am taking it easy.  I will be updating this blog to tell more about the classes we've done.

Time Out Magazine Tokyo Spring Issue is out now and they are doing a Cute Tokyo article. My wagashi class is featured in one of the pages, so if you happen to pick up a copy, please check it out!

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