Throwing Beans At The Devil Day...

Ebi-kun had been telling me all week that Wednesday was bean throwing day and that we had to make norimaki (rolled sushi). Since the yochien sent him home with the nori and rolling mat I figured it wouldn't be that hard to do. Wednesday is a half day so he was home for lunch so I happily told him that I had got everything to make the norimaki and he announced that he had got it wrong, bean throwing day is in fact the 3rd not the 2nd.

Since I didn't have anything else in and he would be at yochien today we decided to make the norimaki anyway. I should point out that this is only the 2nd time I have made these so if you are a norimaki expert and see that we are doing it wrong, please leave me a comment!

Ebi-kun did the making, first the nori then a layer of rice some tuna and mayo and finally avocado

 roll it all up

 give it a good squeeze (we discovered loads falls out of the ends) and eat.

sorry, I forgot to take an eating shot but it was good.
After lunch we went outside so he could throw beans at me - I had to wear the oni mask this year.

Roll A Snack

I made this last time we flew to the UK and decided to take it again this time because it was a big hit.

I used one of those weekly pill containers, some stickers and a little cube. Stick a different sticker on each section, the spare section is used for the dice storage. Then stick a matching sticker on each side of the cube to make the dice.

 To play, put one snack item in each section, it would be fun to play this with some of those revolting jelly bean flavours! We used almonds, dried fruit, chocolate covered raisins etc. Roll the dice then eat what is inside the matching section, you can't refill the sections until all the snacks have been eaten (this drags the time out because it can take quite a while to get the last one!)

On the plane this is great because it stretches out the snacks, of course you could change the rules or add forfeits to the mix.

English Flapjacks... free download

I am always amazed at the little differences in the English language and have got used to switching in American English terms such as movie or garbage when I am talking to either North Americans or Japanese that have studied American English. It is just easier for the flow of the conversation rather than stopping to translate every 'English' expression. At home we use British English and I will never use the term fanny pack *blushing at the mere mention*. It is funny how some words I never had any idea about them having a different meaning, which brings me round to flapjacks. I was chatting to a Canadian friend the other day and apparently Canadian flapjacks are more like pancakes and the expression 'Ole Canadian Flapjack' has a whole different meaning which has little to do with cooking (at least I can say I have never tried that).

So, after talking about them I started to crave one, I haven't had a flapjack for years but used to make them often as a kid, yummmm

It is an easy recipe for the kids to join in with too, just take car with the hot ingredients in the pan.
Lots of measuring, stirring, mixing and spooning practice.
So, if you want to make some, I have made up a printable recipe card like The 5 Cup Cake card. You can download the flapjacks here and the 5 cup cake here. A quick tip, if you use a silicon pan you don't need to grease it but a regular tin you will and pop it in the fridge once it has cooled a little, once it is properly cold it is easier to cut.

I don't eat fish...

Most people think this is really odd since I live in Japan but I just don't like it, the smell, the taste, urgh! I do, however like taiyaki, probably because there is no actual fish in it :o)

The outer shell is made with a thick batter, something like a waffle, it is poured into a hot mold and a filling added - hmm delicious.

We went for chocolate in one

and sweet bean paste in the other, it took me a while to get my head round eating sweet beans but now I really like it, I even craved when I was pregnant with Ebi-kun.

Eton Mess

Now, I haven't made this up, this is a real dish! It is traditionally eaten at Eton college's annual cricket game against the students of Winchester college. It is super easy and perfect for your budding chef.

What you need:

• strawberries (or you can use bananas)
• whipping cream (or a cream substitute)
• meringue

First, wash and chop your strawberries, they don't have to be cut perfectly, in facts toddler hacking of strawberries are perfect! Put a few pieces to one side.

Then whip your cream until it thickens up a bit, makes soft peaks. Add your cream to your strawberries.

Then break up pieces of meringue and add them to the strawberry cream mix, so if you have had a meringue disaster, this is the perfect recipe for recovery!
Mix it all together and spoon into serving bowls, add a strawberry or two for decoration. Eat.

You could use broken meringue nests for this or the easy meringue recipe I used here (bottom of the post). If you want to make it a bit more flash add some strawberry syrup to the mix.

yum, yum, yum

You know how I have a rather knight obsessed little Sir in the house, well, when I saw these biscuits just before Christmas, how could I resist, a perfect stocking stuffer!
I must admit, I was totally sucked in by the packaging and didn't really pay attention to the contents. We only got round to opening them yesterday and the biscuits are SO cute, just look at them....

Not only that, they are delicious too, as we had our snack I picked up the box and inspected it closer, only to discover that they were made in Ashbourne, which is just down the road from where I went to college and not far from my moms house! Plus, they have the story of George and the Dragon printed on the side of the box, I am thinking the little story would make a good bookmark and we will cut out the pictures on the front to make something with them too. If you would like to track some down for yourself, they are made by Artisan Biscuits and their website is here (looks like there are more biscuits like this in the range) and for those in Japan, I picked mine up from Sony Plaza. There are only two left... yum, yum, yum.......

mini pancakes

nf1andprek-whisper asked for the recipe for veggie pancakes in this MTD, so here it is.

First off, when I say pancake I am talking about English pancakes which are a close cousin to a French crepe and nothing like the American style pancake! I use the same recipe for English pancakes and mini pancakes, I just add extra flour to the mini ones.

English pancake

French Crepe

American pancake/Japanese hotcake

Using a 180ml cup (since I know cups vary around the world too!)

1 cup plain flour

1 cup milk

1 egg

whisk together until smooth, then for the mini pancakes add more flour until the batter is fairly thick, I have no idea how much exactly , I just do it. For regular pancakes the mix needs to be quite thin.

I have two different methods, first is the easy one. Just add any of the following to the batter

• chopped veggies, raw or cooked
• dried fruit (cinnamon and raisin are big in this house)
• chopped fresh fruit, nothing too juicy, bananas, apple, kaki work well
• cooked chopped meat or ham
• cheese
• anything else you might having lying round in the fridge!

Alternatively make a puree first, this is great for fussy eater kids. Cook you desired veg, I like using spinach or pumpkin and to steam it but you could just boil it. Then whizz in the blender until smooth, mix it into the batter, I can't really say how much I use, once you have done it a couple of times you get the hang of it.

Heat up a skillet/frying pan to medium heat, add a little oil then drip dessert spoonfuls of batter onto the pan, spaced well apart, once they are brown flip them over.

I often double the mix and make a massive pile then once they are completely cool pop them in a zip lock back and stick them in the freezer then you always have a healthy snack on hand, pop in the microwave to defrost/warm up and eat! Easy to pop in a snack bag for on the go or great with topping too, mascapone, maple syrup, ketchup...

We have a little friend who doesn't 'do' veggies, I had made a pile of green (spinach) and orange(pumpkin) pancakes for a playdate and he kept sneaking in and pinching more :o)

Eyeball anyone?

How to make yourself a load of eyeballs...

you will need:

• eggs, hard boiled, cooled and peeled
• paper cases
• food colour, blue, black and red
• mayo
• clean fine tipped paintbrush

Cut you eggs in half and place into the paper cases.

Squirt a ring of mayo around the base of the egg. Then using the paint brush, paint circles onto the top of the egg. Make sure the egg is dry - dab it with a kitchen towel if you are not sure, if it is not dry the dye will run.

Next, use the red to paint of the veins, I found that starting at the bottom worked best. Also dab a bit of red colour along the mayo.

Final touches, use the black to paint in the pupil and a thin black line around the iris, you can add flecks or blue to the iris too if you like.

YUM

Other Halloween posts you will love:
Halloween Bento Boxes
Severed finger food
Tasty Muffin Tin Dinner
Ghoulish dinner
Candy Eating Monster Treat Bag Tutorial
Make bat wings
Trick and Treat Scratch Cards
Top 10 Halloween Books for kids

I have put together my favourite Fun & Fast Ghoulish Halloween Treats into an ebook so you can whip them up at anytime (why just serve ghoulish food at Halloween?)

17 absolutely disgustingly delicious treat ideas... 

All fast and fun to make

All pretty healthy, made from kitchen basics

Most of them suitable to make with the kids too

PLUS a bonus labels pack too!

Homemade peanut butter #5

We picked up a bag of cheap peanuts the other day and decided to try our hand at making peanut butter.

Homemade peanut butter:

you will need

1 cup of shelled peanuts

1 tsp of peanut oil (or olive oil)

1/2 tsp salt

First, shell the peanuts, Ebi-kun couldn't break the shell himself so I broke, he picked out the peanuts.

Put the peanuts on a baking tray and bake at 180 deg C for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Remove the red skin from the peanuts, it comes off easily once the have been baked.

Put everything in a blender and whizz until it becomes creamy, it took quite a while for us.

spread on freshly baked bread and enjoy.
Testers comments: it was fun but took a long time, it doesn't taste like out usual (store bought) peanut butter.

Assistants Comments: It was easier than I thought it was going to be, luckily we had the distraction of dinner in the middle so the peanuts could cool down, we actually ate the peanut butter the next day. It may separate as it stands, just give it a stir before using.

Apple Cupcakes #4

I saw this idea ages ago on Melissa's blog, she did it as her postcard snack recipe. At the time the only apples we could buy were your standard massive Japanese sized one but when we went camping I spotted a bag of 'English' sized apples (by that I mean apples that are the right size for one person to eat, not a massive one that has to be shared between the family!).

Apple Cup Cakes

you will need:

an apple

peanut butter

something to decorate - sprinkles, raisins etc.

I cut the apple in half and removed the pips.

Ebi-kun spread peanut butter on the top of one of the apple halves

Then added some sprinkles
here is the compulsory cup cake close up (come on, you know what I mean!)
then eat!
Testers comments: spreading the peanut butter is difficult, it keeps sliding. tastes good, can we make it again tomorrow?

Assistants comments: Ebi-kun wasn't happy about eating the skin, usually people peel apples in Japan. Personally, I wasn't fussed on the apple/peanut butter combo but I would like to try cream cheese and pineapple next time.

I have been slacking off with the snack time posts, since getting back from the UK, yes, that was the end of June, I have found it hard to get back into the swing of things, I am going to try harder, promise! We haven't even tried out all the recipes yet, tut tut tut.

Healthy Sorbet - recipe #2

This postcard snack recipe came from the Great Smoky Mountains in the USA, sent by the clan from The Forest Room, thank you!

Healthy Sorbet

You will need:

1 cup of fresh fruit (we used kiwi and banana)

1/4 cup juice (we used cashew juice - goes with the Brazil theme)

1 tsp honey

1. Chop up and measure the fruit. Ebi-kun scooped the kiwi out with a spoon then chopped it.
2. One kiwi wasn't enough fruit so we added a small banana too. Tip the fruit into a jug (or blender)
3. Measure the juice and add to the jug/blender and then add the honey.
4. Use a blender to mix it all together.
5. The recipe says to pour into 3 small bowls but my freezer space is very limited so we poured into a tupperwear box instead. Pop into the freezer for 30 minutes - if you are using the 3 small bowls, if you put it into a larger container then it needs longer. 
6. While it is freezing, clean up. When it is ready, remove from the freezer and give it a good stir.
7. Eat!

Testers comments: hmmmm yummy but brrrrrr cold. I want to try with melon and strawberries next time.

Assistants notes : we both loves this, I recommend having an activity lined up ready to distract the little chef, Ebi-kun was getting impatient waiting for it to freeze. I only helped with the honey, he did everything else.

Sarah is also sharing her recipe ideas, this is her version of the sorbet, here.

Moroccan Cinnamon Oranges - recipe # 1

To start the Postcard Snacks we will share one of the recipes we sent.

Moroccan Cinnamon Oranges

You will need

2 oranges

2 tbsps honey

2 tsp cinnamon

fresh mint leaves -torn

1. Peel the oranges and remove the pith. Pull apart, into segments.

2. Chop into bite sized pieces and place in a bowl.

3. Measure out the honey and cinnamon into a bowl and mix together.

4. Spoon over the oranges.

5. Decorate with the fresh mint leaves (we didn't have any so use your imagination) and enjoy.

Testers comments : hmm sweet and cinnamonny

Assistants notes : 2 oranges makes enough for 4-6 people. We halved the recipe and had 3 small servings, it is really nice but I wouldn't be able to eat a big bowl of it. Good child sized snack or to end a meal with a bit of something sweet.

The only help I gave was measuring the honey.

Sh vs Ch and a bit of excitement

I am a bit behind on my posts, sorry! Friday R-kun came for his lesson, maybe his last, we have our fingers crossed that he can make it on Wednesday. We started with warm up questions and a review of the emotions we studied last time. I took it one step further and asked the boys to make a sentence using the cards, R-kun's best one was "I am excited because I am going to Malaysia".

Then I gave them this group of objects, we went through to check that they knew all the vocab and then I asked them to put them into 2 groups. Which they did but they couldn't explain why they had chosen those groups (which I expected, older kids will be able to justify their choice). So, after a couple of attempts I arranged them into two groups and then asked them why I had put them in each group. Blank looks all round. I then named the objects again emphasising the sh and ch parts of the word, and the penny dropped! I mixed up the objects and had them sort them again by themselves.

They picked one object from each group to spell, write and draw.

Then we brainstormed other sh and ch words, I told them they were going to have a sh and ch snack, could they guess? They came up with sushi and chocolate, urgh what a combo! They actually got....

fish and cheese :o)

Ebi-kun had been pestering to play with R-kun and the playdoh, so I gave in, ebi-kun has a tub of letter stamps so they spent some time spelling things out. I have never taught Ebi-kun the capital letters, I totally focused on the little letters, this is my own belief that it is more fulfilling for the child to learn little letters first, with the knowledge of little letters he can pick up a book and start to read, he can't do this is he only knows the big letters. When I was teaching ESL I would do the same, my manager at the time would bollock me for it but then my students were all reading and writing far quicker than if I had followed his schedule.

Anyway, back on track, I also introduced comparatives and superlatives using the playdoh as a models, this worm is long, this one longer, this is the longest. It was done in a fun and relaxing way and the boys really enjoyed it.
Saturday we had a playdate at kodomo no shiro which was fun, we had a good turn out and it was a sunny day so a lot of time was spent outside. On the way home we saw a helicopter hovering over our town, not that unusual but then we saw another and another, 4 in all. Big news! We tried to drive to where the action seemed to be taking place, we live out in the sticks so it must have been something unusual. When we drove past the shinkansen tracks I spotted that the shinkansen (bullet train) had actually stopped. We had to wait until we got home to find out what had happened. Apparently a bloke had opened the emergency door whilst the train was going at 200kph and jumped! His body was found 2.7km down the track and all the trains were stopped for 2.5 hours. Jumping in front of a train to commit suicide in Japan is quite common but not with the shinkansen. The train companies actually charge the 'jumpers' family for clean up costs and loss of earnings and different lines cost different amounts. I was on the train one time with a Japanese friend and the train stopped, the first announcement said their had been an accident (read into the word accident) a short while later there was an apology for the delay, they were trying to locate a missing limb. There was a united gasp in the carriage, I didn't catch what was said so my friend translated, sometime I am glad my Japanese is rubbish!

A last note on suicide, in Japan people usually remove their shoes before doing the deed!

Did you guess Ebi-kuns word yet?

Snacks

My mother in law is a lovely woman  and often sends us food parcels from the wilds of Wakayama just in case we can't buy tea or honey on the out skirts of Tokyo! The problem is that, the last few parcels she has sent contain boxes of snacks for Ebi-kun, chocolate and biscuit type snacks. I made the mistake of letting him have them at snack time and so now that is all he wants. Most of the time Ebi-kun is a good eater, he will try ANYTHING and enjoys his food - he is painfully slow at eating though, a 3 hour lunch would suit him just fine! I have noticed though, since he has been on his 'bad' snack kick that he isn't eating well at meal times, so yesterday I decided it was time we had a talk. I explained about healthy and unhealthy foods and why they are that way. Then I made two labels and put them on the table and asked him to get some things out of the draw/fridge and sort them as he did it.

He did quite well with it all, he was confused with the jam because it has fruit in it but then we talked about the sugar content. I am not anti chocolate (in fact the opposite is more the truth) so we talked about eating these things in moderation and that it is OK to have them once in a while and we also touched on the subject of marketing, goods having popular kids characters on them and how these goods are often the unhealthy ones. He concluded that the milk should have Doremon on it because he is a cat and cats drink milk and milk is healthy!

Then I asked him to prepare his snack by himself

He picked dried soy beans, raisins and strawberries, three things because he is 3, in the 3 dish, with 3 strawberries. (Do your kids do this?)
We also did some work, language work is the favourite still, he got out the sound pouches and then started to spell out the words - that was before the zebra and grasshopper had a fight and then the praying mantis had to ride the skateboard to the police station!
Ebi-kun was super excited this morning because we woke up to snow, sadly it has turned to rain and has almost all gone already, he wants to make a snowman so much, perhaps those of you will loads of the white stuff could send us a box full each and then we can make one :o)