Yesterday was my last class of this year - Mizudaki-Nabe Class (Chicken Hot Pot)  a perfect dish on a cold day. A Tokyo resident student with his visiting mother. She came to my class last year when she was visiting Tokyo which is a great honor for me to receive returning guests.

Mizudaki is a hot pot cooked in water and dipped in sauce when eating as opposed to hot pots such as yose nabe which are cooked in seasoned soup and eaten as it is. The success to the misudaki hot pot is to use chicken bones which make a good soup stock. Eating nabe in winter is an economical way of keeping warm on a cold day, and healthy!

Simply Oishii Japanese Cooking Class will be closed between Dec. 23 and Jan. 12th. I will be checking e-mails to accept bookings for dates after that. 

​Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Recently I've been getting inquiries about where to buy knives in Tokyo. Japanese Knives make a great souvenir to bring back home. With a long history of sword manufacturing, the Japan has a worldwide reputation for high quality knives.

My husband's home town is close to Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture, one of the 7 cities that are designated for Traditional Craft Products for smithery  by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.  So my in-laws send me knives which is the reason I never shopped for knives myself.

But here are some of the major brands and shops in Tokyo that you may want to visit.  (Please click on the brand to go to their website)

KAI - They are a kitchenware brand but specializes in knives, Japanese and western style. Website in Japanese Only)
Kyocera  - Specializes in ceramic knives (English website for USA)
Global by Yoshikin- Specializes in western style stainless steel knives. (Website in English)
Nihonbashi Kiya （日本橋木屋）Famous for traditional Japanese Knives and traditional wooden kitchenware. (Website in English)

You can find them in major department stores and Tokyu Hands or online. KAI has a showroom (you can also purchase them) in Akihabara. Nihonbashi Kiya has a main shop in Nihonbashi. Global has a shop in Roppongi.

If you have time, you can go to Kappabashi to get knives as well. Two main shops are Kamata and Tsubaya

If you would like to know more about traditional knives, please visit the website by Kiya which explains in detail.

I've been asked by some of my clients about gift vouchers for Christmas. So I've created a voucher to give to your friends and family. You don't actually need the copy of this voucher, but I guess it's nice to send it as a gift. (The voucher will be sent in PDF format)

If you would like to give my cooking class as a gift, just let me know the full name of the person and I will issue a voucher once the payment (bank transfer of paypal) is made. There will be a small gift for the person using this voucher. Once the person receives the voucher she may e-mail me to book a class. It will be a home cooking class, but may be used for other courses of the equivalent value (6700 yen). Other courses with a greater value can be chosen with additional charge to be paid on the day.

So if you haven't decided on what to give your friend for Christmas, how about a lesson on Japanese Home Cooking?

*Please note that my cooking class is for ladies, couples and families only.

We went to my husband's annual college reunion last weekend. This reunion has been going on since they graduated from college up to now. Although most of the children have grown up and no longer attend these family gatherings, our children along with a few more came to the gathering held on the university campus.

I brought along a couple of jars, whipped cream, sponge cake, biscuits, gummy, chocolate chips, strawberries and some other sweets so that the kids can make their own trifles. This was a big hit and after decorating the jar with ribbons and stickers, they all took their piece of work back home.

Mason Jar Trifles along with gyoza dumplings and temaki-sushi are great hands-on activities for children at birthday parties and play dates. For details of children's cooking party, please contact me for details >>>
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