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.

Before the start of the new school year, I will be holding a special class for moms whose children are starting youchien this April. If you are new to making obento boxes and have no clue where to start, please join in.  This session is not only about cooking, but also the important factors that you need to keep in mind when making obento for small children (from my personal experience) 

Date & Time : March 23rd. (Fri.) : 10:30 - 12:30
Class fee : 2500 yen 
Min class size 2, Max class size 6.

Topics:

• Basic Rules for making an obento box (nutrition, presentation, taste etc)
• Food Hygiene and preventing food poisoning
• Selecting an obento box (size & material)
• Tips and useful tools for making obento for young children
• Guide to choosing safe food for children (additive free, chemical free food)
• Cooking demonstration on popular obento fillers  (Tamagoyaki, Karaage Chicken, etc. )
• Tasting session 

In addition to the one day wagashi course, I'm pleased to announced that I will be starting the wagashi diploma course in April, There will be two courses that you can choose from:

Nerikiri Art ® Certified Instructor Course
This course created by the Japan Saloneze Association (JSA) to promote the art of nerikiri  wagashi in Japan and overseas. It focuses on teaching you the various designs of the nerikiri art. Once you are certified, you are allowed to use the same textbook to hold a course yourself.  Every time you conduct this course, you will be paying a certain amount of commission to JSA. You will also need to purchase textbooks and materials (including nerikiri dough) from JSA which may be difficult in some countries due to custom regulations. Please check before you take the class. 
Details of  this course can be found here.

Nerikiri  Basic Course
This course is held by myself, and is mainly held for people who would like to learn the nerikiri art from the basics. This 3 day course will teach you how to make your own bean paste, make your own nerikiri dough and learn the  popular seasonal motifs (3 for each season). A certificate of completion will be issued at the end of the course. 
Details of this course including the curriculum can be found here 

Both courses will start from April 11th after my children go back to school. Please book at least 2 weeks in advance. 

For further details on the Nerikiri Wagashi Diploma courses, please contact me.  

In addition to the Nerikiri Art Instructor Course (NACIC), I'm going to start another course called the Nerikiri Master Course (NMC). 

The NACIC is a  12 hour course created by the Japan Saloneze Association (JSA) to promote the art of nerikiri  wagashi in Japan and overseas. It focuses on teaching you the various designs of the nerikiri art. Once you are certified by the JSA, you are allowed to use the same textbook to hold a course yourself.  In doing so, you will be paying a certain amount of commission to JSA every time you hold a class. You will also need to purchase textbooks and materials (including nerikiri dough) from JSA which may be difficult in some countries due to custom regulations. Please check before you take the class. Details of  this course can be found in the Saloneze Association Website. (Please choose language to translate) 

The NMC  is an original course designed by me for people who would like to learn the wagashi in more depth. This course will teach you how to make your own bean paste and nerikiri dough, learn the basic skills, tools, ingredients and acquire the techniques to make popular seasonal motifs. You will receive a certificate of completion upon finishing the class. This course is also made up of 6 classes which are  2.5 hours long (15 hours in total).

Details of each class will be published on my website very shortly.

Also, I've included a short version of the one-day wagashi course for those who don't have time to do the full course. Please see my new wagashi school page for this.

And in case you haven't noticed, I've made minor changes to my homepage and added the wagashi school in it.  Please let me know if you are interested in any of the courses.

Last week I was busy decluttering my boys' bedroom as I got rid of their bunkbeds and put in 2 loft beds so they can have a space of their own. The amount of toys and books and clothes that have accumulated since we moved here 9 years ago is overwhelming and I've been giving things away online. (We have a great website where you can sell or giveaway unused items). 
But there is just too many! So, I've put out a Mottainai Box on my front porch. Mottainai is a Japanese term which expresses regret in wasting things. Those of you attending my class are very welcome to rummage through the box and take home whatever you can reuse. It will release me from the guiltiness of throwing away things that can still be used.

I've been on my sewing machine last weekend to make Coasters made with Kimono fabric. This is meant to be a small Christmas present to my students who come to class in December. (While stocks last) I'm not so good at sewing, but you know what they say, it's the thought that counts. See you in class!

One of the most common wagashi tools the triangle stick and sarashi cloth (bleached cloth) are not easy to come by. Wooden triangle sticks usually costs around 3000 to 4000 yen, but I am a fan of the plastic sticks as they are cheaper and easier to clean.
The only problems is that there is only one online store that sells it and they are always out of stock.

But the other day, I found they had stock, so I grabbed a few in case anyone wants to buy them. So if anyone is interested in buying the triangle stick, let me know in class. 
This triangle stick has a chrysanthemum center which comes in handy. 

Triangle stick only : 1700 yen
Triangle stick + 2 sarashi cloth : 2000 yen
One sarashi Cloth :200 yen per sheet (35cm X35 cm)

Sarashi usually is sold by the roll and I had to cut and sew the ends myself.  I am not a good seamstress but I don't gain any profit from these sales so appreciate your understanding!

Almost 2 years ago, I tried to get listed on TripAdvisor, but they told me that I needed to display the full address to get listed. I wasn't too comfortable on disclosing my home address at the time, so I just left it there.

Yesterday, I happen to stumble across my Cooking Class listed on TripAdvisor which they automatically collected from the internet. I don't know how long it has been there, but I immediately claimed the business. Since the information was not sufficient with only one photo that TripAdvisor chose (for some reason), the listing was buried deep in the neighboring attractions with no customer reviews.

So, I would like to ask those who have been to my cooking class and liked it to write a review so that at least my ranking will be better than the current one way at  the bottom.
Thanks in advance for your support, and a big thank you for those of you who have already wrote a review.
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Trip Advisor Website

Following up on my previous post regarding my health condition, test results are out and seem like I have to go through surgery. Hopefully they won't keep me in the hospital for so long, but I will have to close my cooking class in June (Last class will be my wagashi class on June 2nd.)

I will resume taking bookings around end June depending on how I'm recovering. I apologize for the inconvenience and hope to see you all soon!

As I've been not well lately, and due to my health condition, I will not be able to take new bookings for the time being. I will update my status in Mid-May when I get the full diagnosis and know if I need to go thru surgery. Please check my website again. 
For those of you who have already booked class in May/June, I will contact you individually if I need to cancel the class.
I apologize for your inconveniences and hope to do more class when I have recovered.