Tidbits– archive –

Participants who joined my cooking class, they’re always surprise to see using long chopstick when I cook. Japanese use chopsticks not only during a meal but also cooking. Cooking chopsticks are referred to as Saibashi (菜箸), it’s about...

When children join our class, I give these toothpicks holders away to them for small souvenirs. They are exciting to choose their favorite one in many colors and pattern of origami holders. Origami is the art of paper folding and good to...

When eating traditional Japanese sweets, have you ever seen it served on a piece of paper? This paper like a doily is called Kaishi (懐紙). Hundreds of years ago, people carry folded Kaishi and tucked inside the front of kimono using as ...

There are many kinds of bento box in Japan, some of them are traditional crafts such as a kago box. Kago means basket in Japanese. Intricate bamboo knitting makes for beautiful pattern that goes through the entire box, inside the lid. Ba...

Japanese Ko-incense has been used to purify, cleanse, and unwind for a thousand years. Ko（香） means fragrance, ro（炉）means burner in Japanese. I always burn Ko-incense with this burner before cooking class. Burning Ko-incense means w...

A couple of birds featuring kingfishers are not decorative figure, these are condiment dispensers. My mum and brother have same one because we bought them when we visited Arita, that is famous throughout the world for its pottery. Our fa...

Hashi is chopsticks, yasume is rest, so the word literally means ‘rest your chopsticks’, meaning palate cleanser in English. Pickled dishes are good for Hashi-yasume. Many families in Japan usually have some kinds of pickles in the fridg...

Nothing beats a cold beer after work in summer, but if you have Japanese dinner, I highly recommend pairing chilled sake! Especially it goes well with sushi because sake is made from rice. Premium sake such as Ginjosyu, Daiginjo, Junmai ...

Grating is an essential method in Japanese cuisine. For example, grating daikon radish, grating ginger and mixed in dipping sauce when eating tempura or udon noodles, even real wasabi paste is made by grating the wasabi rhizome. Therefor...

I found this cute Tenugui cloth at shop and bought right away.Tenugui is traditional Japanese thin cotton cloth. It is life tool for ancient people, wiping their hands after washing or using when they take a bath. Generally they are abou...