Cookpad.com is a community-based, Japanese cooking website featuring tens of thousands of recipes in easy to understand Japanese, with pictures. Rate your favorite recipes or add your own to the mix – its all free. (Note that cooking from recipes is a great way to study Japanese!)
Top Secret Recipes is an interesting, slightly commercial website devoted to divulging recipes for famous or brand name American foods (from restaurants and other establishments) to make at home. [ ... ]
More with Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre A classic Mennonite cookbook originally published in the late 1960s, More with Less features healthy, whole foods recipes that can be easily adapted to Japanese kitchens. The focus is on simple recipes that make excellent use of leftovers and “s [ ... ]
Bob and Angie’s Japanese Recipes in English is a sub-section of the popular Japanese cooking website Bob and Angie. 103 Japanese recipes have been translated into English for easy reading. Photos of each step in the cooking process, and italicized romaji readings for Japanese ingredients make [ ... ]
I’ve been too busy the last year to do much beyond holiday meals and the very basics. But, I’m determine to get back into the good ole daitokoro (kitchen) sometime soon. In the meantime, I’m beefing up on my Japanese cooking basics. Why Japanese cooking? Well, for one very good rea [ ... ]
Food is expensive in Japan. For most people the grocery bill makes up a large portion of their weekly expenditure. One way to reduce this outlay is to buy in bulk when items are on special. With the limited space in many Japanese refrigerators though, buying easily spoiled items in bulk can take a l [ ... ]
Take a look at your fuse box. On the left hand side of the box there is a big black switch. This is your circuit breaker. Your electricity company calculates the base rate (demand charge) based on the ampage of your breaker switch. For example, TEPCO (Tokyo Denryoku) charge 520 yen for a 20 Amp [... [ ... ]
Do you feel hungrier lately? Maybe it’s the changing of the seasons, but the Japanese do call autumn “shokuyoku no aki” (‘the season of good appetites’) for a reason. While my own stomach growls, I thought I’d explore a fall food tradition in Japan that is both frugal and ver [ ... ]
Every once in a while, I like to recharge my “frugal batteries” by reading one of the ubiquitous tip lists or frugal resources in my library. If you’re wondering what these books/websites are, check out the Frugal Japan resources. I recently gained a new addition to my resource col [ ... ]
Please enjoy this Frugal Japan summer vegetable favorite — now is a great time of year to enjoy delicious summer vegetable recipes for half the usual cost. (For those not in the know, gazpacho is a cold tomato base soup originating in Spain. My grandmother made a wonderful version, so I always [ ... ]