Matt Cooking, Cooking Stuff, Food, Japanese

JAPANESE CREPE CAKE

You know those food videos that people share on Facebook or Instragram? The ones from Tasty or Buzzfeed. The ones that have the simple relaxing music that take you step-by-step of a very involved recipe in 30 seconds and make it look super easy. So easy that you share it on social media and think, “this looks super simple, I’m going to post this and make it later!” Only you never make it later. It ends up in the food video graveyard on your Facebook wall. So yes, “those” food videos. Well, I actually made one of those!

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Matt Cooking, Cooking Stuff, Food, Japanese, Recipes

MABO CHILI (マーボーチリ) mabo dofu + chili

When Aya and I first got married, one dish she made frequently was mapo tofu, or mabo dofu. From what I understand, it’s originally a Chinese dish, but is a very common dinner meal in Japan. It’s a really simple tasty dish. Even my dad likes it and he doesn’t like tofu! But recently I was on a quest to find a perfect fusion chili recipe. Our school district has a chili cook-off every year and I was curious what would be a good chili that represented our Japanese immersion school. That captured both American and Japanese tastes. My first try was Japanese curry chili (which was fantastic), and now I decided to combine mapo tofu and chili. All the main ingredients of a typical chili recipe, but with all the spices of mapo tofu. The results were pretty good!

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Matt Cooking Stuff, Fall, Food, Recipes

JAPANESE CURRY CHILI

Every year our school district has a chili cook-off contest. While some parents were talking about who would enter it got me thinking. Since our school is a Japanese immersion school, what would a fusion chili be? If I were to make a Japanese chili, what would that be? After some deep thinking, I settled on a fusion of classic American chili with Japanese curry. It would have all the main ingredients of chili, but all the spices of Japanese curry.

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Matt Fall, Japanese, Making Stuff

AKI MATSURI and MAKING YUKATAS

The kids go to a Japanese immersion school as their primary school. In addition to learning the Japanese language, they also get to participate in cultural events. One of those events is called, “aki matsuri,”or Fall Festival. For half the day, we convert the school into different games popular in Japan during these festivals. At the end of the games, the kids parade around the school with decorative floats, chanting, and dancing. One thing that is very common for people to wear at the fall festival is a yukata. I’ve been told it’s like a casual kimono. The girls really wanted to wear one, but even after all of our trips to Japan, we had never bought them one. The basic garment is constructed similarly to a bathrobe. It looked simple enough, so I decided to make them one. I mean, I made an Elsa dress for Halloween before, I could handle this​, right? In the end, I was right. But getting there, that was the tricky part.

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Matt Adventures, Fall, Family, Friends, Travel

MY KUKI FRIENDS: PART THREE

The much awaited part three of a story that started eight years ago…

Eight years ago I met some people in a random bar in Kuki, Japan while I was out on an adventure-seeking-night by myself. I got the adventure I was seeking both while I was out, and when I got home. (You can read about that here).

I had exchanged e-mails with my new friends and a few years after later I met them again at the same bar and almost got lost and in big trouble… again. (You can read about that story here).

And now, after originally meeting them eight years ago in Japan, I welcomed them to Detroit with my family, and into my home!

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