Hiroko’s Kitchen | Blog

I know that by now you are tired of konbini blogs, so this is my last one.  During my time in Tokyo I stayed at a temporary apartment which my husband who is renting the place for his business.  This small apartment has a standard Japanese kitchen which is equipped with small freezer-refrigerator, a two gas burner range (more…)

While I was in Japan I have attended a food event as a panelist at the Asian Studies Conference Japan that was heald at Sophia University in Tokyo.  During the conference I attended a lecture given by a University professor whose theme was the food that thrown away after the sell-by-date, shohi kigen, at konbini (more…)

“Konbini” is the abbreviation used in Japan as a corruption of the English “convenient store”.  Konbini stores such as Seven-Eleven, Lawson and Family Mart are extremely popular among consumers of all walks of life in Japan.  Today there are over 48,000 stores scattered across the country.  They are everywhere! 

I bought this bento at a Kiosk at Tokyo Station

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I have a friend whose family business continues to produce the best rice vinegar in Japan for over 100 years.  The company has been assisting rice farmers, all of whom are over 65 years old, to grow rice organically in rice paddies placed at one of the highest elevations in the local in order to secure safe, uncontaminated water for rice production.  Then, the vinegar company uses the rice to produce high quality alcohol, actually (more…)

For bincho-tan cooking there are two ways to build the fire – one in a vertical way, tatezumi, and the other, in a horizontal manner, yokozumi.  The photo (in the previous blog) with the fish is the former structure.  (more…)

I could not access to the page to write a new post for over one month…………now all is solved and I am going to post the accumulated blogs one by one.  Here is the photo from UMass Chef Conference.  With Mark, Akemi, Martin and I.

We are in the middle of barbecue season!  I would like to introduce you to a new type of charcoal, bincho-tan that can dramatically improve the taste and quality of your barbecued food.  Back in June 10th, our team, Chef Iida, the executive chef at Aburiya Kinnosuke in New York City, Chef Sato and Chef Yasuda (both from Aburiya Kinnosuke) and Hiroko Shimbo, offered an exciting and informative Bincho-tan Workshop (more…)