Category Archive for Cute Yummy Time
TOKYO COOKING LESSONS: JAPANESE HOME COOKING CLASSES FROM TV SHOW COOK, MIYOKO ISOMURA.
Is La Carmina in Tokyo solely to attend Gackt concerts and Goth parties and make avantgarde bondage videos (you’ll see…)? Nope. Here’s the surprise – I’ve been going to a Japanese cooking school!
About every other day, I’ve been taking cooking lessons in Japanese from Miyoko Isomura, a cookbook author and TV show host. Her classes are geared towards home cooks, but we make all sorts of dishes: traditional Japanese, Chinese, Italian, French, you name it. Miyoko is a kind and encouraging sensei, especially when you’re facing complicated tasks such as peeling a daikon or filleting mackerel!
Each class costs about 5500 yen ($55); you must bring an apron, pen/paper, and a box to carry food home. Miyoko sets out the ingredients for you (left), and you make six to eight dishes per class (such as this yummy range of fish and tofu on the right). There are usually two to four students cooking alongside you. Classes usually begin at 11am or 6:30pm; you cook for about two hours, then sit down and share the meal with Miyoko and the students. You leave with plenty of leftovers, full-color print-outs of the recipes, and a giant smile on your face.
In this “party cooking” class, we made delicious and healthy Chinese food. The fresh mango pudding beat anything I’ve had at a dim sum restaurant. And the egg rolls had a Japanese twist; half of them contained harusame (spring noodles), soy sauce and shiitake mushrooms; the other half had prawn, shiso leaves and cheese.
Two cute guests often popped in their heads: Miyoko’s shy granddaughter and her cat, Tomo-kun. (This outdoor kitty is like a bodybuilder next to my soft teddy bear, Basil Farrow!)
If you are in Tokyo, even for a brief visit, I highly recommend taking cooking classes with Miyoko Isomura. You’ll learn new skills while working with ingredients not found outside Japan – and she’ll make newbies feel right at home!
You should have at least a basic grasp of Japanese, although Miyoko knows some English. Take a look at her website and send her an email (English is ok).
Tokyo home cooking lessons taught by Miyoko Isomura
Joy Cook and Culture Studio
3-25-19 Meguro (Station: Gakugei-Daigaku on the Tokyo Toyoko line. It’s 15 minutes from Shibuya plus short walk.)
Phone: 3712 7750
Email: miyo-cook@nifty.com
URL: http://www.miyo-cook.com
Curious? Got questions? Leave me a comment; I’m happy to tell you more about my experiences!
Song of the Day #155: Neophyte – Skullfuck (DJ Chihiro played this last night at Alamode Night in Shibuya and the floor went gabber-gabber! Video and photos coming…)
SHARE & COMMENT
CUTE YUMMY TIME & LA CARMINA IN THE NEW YORKER: BOOK BENCH DEPARTMENT REVIEW OF JAPANESE KAWAII COOKBOOK.
I have a funny mention in the New Yorker Book Bench Department (published July 13, by Andrea Walker), which you can read above and here. I’m tickled pink that my “earless cat” Basil Farrow is mentioned! He is, after all, a character in my upcoming cookbook Cute Yummy Time, which is out this October and currently available from Amazon (get a copy now!).
Many of you have been asking me about the Gackt concert on my Twitter. It was… a marathon. I think my arms got toned after hours of wild para-para! I’ll have a full report up here soon, including VIDEO footage of the show and snaps of Lolita concert-goers.
Above is a sneak peak of my outfit; I’m wearing two cute new rings (a teddy bear and a doe) from Nile Perch (the fairy kei store in Laforet). The panda one is from Outlet in Ikebukuro.
And yes, I had to include the most ridiculous photo of Gackt and his torso…
Song of the Day #151: Gackt – U+K (Makes me happy… it’s been in my head since the concert! Para para along with me and the kitties!)
LA CARMINA
