Japan: cooking

Behold our very American Japanese feast.

I didn't even bother trying with the chopsticks. I have tried and failed before and I was hungry. But the rest of the family had a good time with them. The two year old had the most success because he went straight to the stabbing method.

The food did not turn out very well, which surprised me because I have done so much Asian cooking. However, I think I needed to start with better recipes. Or maybe Japanese food doesn't have as much flavor as Chinese and Thai. Or maybe I'm just more incompetent than I thought. Regardless, the cucumber and crab salad was bland, the soup was a disaster (I tried a new item--mochi. It is some sort of rice pastry and I cooked it entirely too much and it turned to mush and it was awful), and I didn't take the time to make ham fried rice so the rice was boring (I'm too used to brown rice--white rice doesn't cut it for me anymore). Everyone liked the teriyaki chicken.

I'm not complaining--the kids were able to help and they had a good time and we all felt very festive. I'm just annoyed that the food wasn't tasty. I'm a good cook. I'm experiencing bruised pride. :)

Cooking the Japanese Way by Reiko Weston. I think this book was great for talking about Japanese customs and what a typical Japanese meal is like, but the recipes were too simplified (unless that is really how Japanese cooking is--I just have a hard time believing it).