Picnic Food Cooking Class

July 24th was my last Beginner English class for about a month. This is the group I always cook with. In light of the summer weather, I planned a cooking class with American picnic food. We made deviled eggs, carrot-raisin salad, coleslaw, and chicken salad sandwiches. Aaron joined us, which was a nice treat! I can’t help but wonder what the ladies thought about him being there to help cook.

I mistakenly thought this class would be easier, but I was proven very wrong. In my house, these things can be made lickety-split. However, I hadn’t counted on the Japanese obsession with cutting food perfectly. Perhaps you can see from some of the pictures, but the ladies insisted on cutting all the carrots and cabbage so that it looked lovely. Granted, I saw some truly beautiful carrot-raisin salad, but is it really worth the extra twenty minutes of prep time?? Still, everyone seemed to like the food and I enjoyed being able to show them how to use easily gotten ingredients to make American food. Usually I cook something that requires an exotic ingredient (pecans, for example). In this class, I wanted to use things that are every day items easily found in a Japanese grocery store.

The middle school principal's wife
Yuoko and Kaori cutting carrots

Tizuko and Chihro, my pals, took the opportunity to show me how to make a couple of easy dishes, as well. So, our menu also included some Teriyaki chicken and Kimpira (a dish made with carrots, burdock root, sake, soy sauce, and sesame seeds). I thought the spread on the table was really quite impressive. It certainly tasted good!