Cooking Club!

After hearing rave reviews, Jennifer recently began participating in the AOSA cooking club. The group meets monthly (as it has been since about 1986) with a group of Japanese women to prepare and share a meal while exchanging cross-cultural recipes and cooking techniques. Each group spearheads every other month to introduce foods from its home country. The first meeting that Jennifer attended was hosted by the Americans, but it was a southern Mardi Gras theme so most of the food was new to her anyway :-). On that note, if any of you haven't tried fried okra yet, you are missing out! This month was hosted by the Japanese and we learned how to make several dishes including rape blossoms (the broccoli-like plant from which we get canola oil), deep-fried tofu, teriyaki chicken and our very own sushi rolls! Cooking Club definitely lived up to its reputation and Jennifer looks forward to attending regularly :-)!

Blanching the rape blossoms!

Strawberries covered in bean paste and mochi, anyone?

A sushi rolling lesson from the master :-).

We each got to take a sushi roll home. That's definitely the weirdest thing Jennifer has ever had in her purse :-)!

Our meeting room at the Zama Community Center.

Lunch is served (as is typical in Japan - on countless small dishes)!

Say "tofu"!

March's Cooking Club group!