"Kamado-san" on Los Angeles Times!

As a Japanese living in the United States, my personal mission has been working as a bridge between Japanese and American cultures through cooking. This year, I finally managed to start my online shop, toiro (http://www.toirokitchen.com/ ), to introduce this amazing donabe (clay pot) rice cooker, Kamado-san. This month, my shop was mentioned in Los Angeles Times (3/18 issue)! Here is the web link.
http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/food/la-fo-onepotbox18-2009mar18,0,7236769.story

This was part of the article about "cooking rice with donabe" by Ms. Sonoko Sakai. She wrote a beautiful story about cooking with donabe.
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-onepot18-2009mar18,0,6167325.story

Since the article came out, I have been receiving so many orders and inquiries. The first shipment of donabe which I imported from Japan is now almost sold out! As you can see from toiro's website, this double-lid donabe, Kamado-san, is very special. These donabe rice cookers are hand-crafted by Nagatani-en, which is a premium pottery producer from Iga, Japan. To make each donabe, it takes about 2 weeks. Once you experience the rice cooked with Kamado-san, you can never go back to the electric rice cooker, because it tastes that great.

I would like to THANK YOU to all the people who have purchased or have interest in our donabe pot. This is my utmost pleasure to know peole in this country cooking the rice with the Japanese donabe and enjoying the real quality rice like us!!!

In order to make the donabe rice cooking more accessible to the people in the United States, I tried to price Kamado-san as affordable as possible, and also I will continue to post more easy donabe rice recipes on toiro's website.


Once I got so many orders, I went to pick up more "rice measuring cups" (Japanese 1 rice cup measurement is 180 ml) from its importer, so that I can add it to each order as a "free gift". (This is a photo of 240 rice measuring cups in my car's trunk!) It's very important for me to do this, because I want to make sure that those who purchased Kamado-san can cook the rice with ease.

Besides Kamado-san, on toiro's website, I would like to continue to introduce more artisanal Japanese cooking tools, so please stay tuned. My goal is to introduce our wonderful food/ cooking culture to people in the United States through the wonderful Japanese cookware. In May, more donabe products from Iga, such as donabe steamer, donabe miso soup/ stew pot, multi-purpose donabe, etc. are scheduled to be on sale!

toiro's website: http://www.toirokitchen.com/

New Addition to my Donabe Family

Look how cute (and big compared to my donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san") this new donabe is! This is a Donabe Steamer made by Nagatani-en from Iga, Japan. I'm going to import them very soon. So, this past week, I've been trying different recipes with this donabe almost evey night.

I LOVE this new DONABE STEAMER so much!!! There is an inner tray with the wholes, so you can put the ingredients on this tray, fill the donabe with water, and you can steam-cook the ingredients by heating it. The key is, you can cook quick simple dishes and turn them into the very nutritious and delicious dishes. It's also fun to surround the donabe steamer with your company at the table and cook and eat together.

Here are some of the photos from my test cooking.

Simple vegetables with broiled miso paste and yuzu kosho/ olive oil condiments.

Steamed namulu (Korean-style vegetable appetizer).

Chicken and cabbage. I also made Chicken Meat Balls, Shrimp, and Vegetables.

Tofu and Broccoli combo was great with the black sesame sauce.

Pork.

Many different condiments..."Tsuke Dare" (dipping sauce) and "Yakumi" (condiments).

The good juice from the meat dripps down from the inner tray with the wholes. After cooking all the vegetables and meat, the water in the donabe has so much flavor. So, at the end, as a "Shime" (ending dish), we made ojiya (Japanese-style soup risotto).

Donabe Steamer, "Mushi Donabe", is scheduled to be on sale on http://www.toirokitchen.com/ in early May!

Some of the food pics from Japan

Since I don't have time to explain everything...I'm going to post some of the pictures of the food I had last week back in Japan in this one posting.

Shao long pao, poached gyoza, an tan tan mien.

Lunch at a French bistro in Urawa.

Mmmmm....Nakashima Tofu is the best!!!

Garlic Miso Paste from Aomori...Great condiment for roasted vegetables.

Dinner at Oden restaurant in Aoyama.

One of my favorite Sushi restaurants...Kyubey in Ginza. I had the amazing lunch!

Homemade soba at a neighbor noodle joint.

Sushi Izakaya dinner.

Wines I had with my family in Japan last week

Before coming back to Japan, I always order a bunch of wines (mostly Burgundy and Champagne) from a Japanese online wine shop and have them shipped to my mom’s house. It’s always such a treat to do so and taste these wines with my family, especially since the wines I order are not easily found in L.A.


Andre Beaufort, Champagne Brut, Elabore par Saint Jean-Baptiste (Ambonnay)
He is one of my favorite “artisanal” producers in Champagne, and his wines are so hard to find, because the production is so limited. He is one of the pioneers of biologique Champagne. All the labels are put on the bottle by hand manually. Super terroir-oriented. Look at this golden color…the aroma was so deep with the brioche and earthy tone. The mousse was smooth and the finish was so long.


1999 Lou Dumont, Chassagne-Montrachet, 1er Cru “Clos Saint Jean”
“Courtiers Selection”. It was hard to believe the wine was almost 10 years old and it still had the bright fruit and the forwardness. Very nice.


2005 Gilbert et Christine Felettig, Chambolle-Musigny
I felt the pretty powerful tannin in the first attack right after opened. However, as the wine opened up in the air after 15-20 minutes, the feminine side of the wine became more prominent. Great balance and pure Chambolle quality of pure fruit and elegance. 30-year-old vine. Aged in barrel for 15 months (20-30% new oak).


2006 Alain Hudelot-Noellat, Vosne-Romanee
Hew, I got this wine right before it went sold out! Hudelot-Noellat makes the wonderful full-body Vosne-Romanee which shows the beautiful “rose” like aroma derived from its terroir.


Michel Pithois, Champagne, Brut Reserve, Grand Cru (Verzenay, Marne)
Real artisanal RM Champagne. The winemaker is Michel’s daughter. I was so lucky to find it this time, because there are only small number of cases are imported to Japan and it sells out so quickly. I taste the rich berry from Pinot Noir. Really beautiful.


2004 Alain Geoffroy, Chablis 1er Cru “Beauroy”
I like 2004 Chablis. This one was showing really well with the earthy character as well as the ripe fruit. I was a kind of surprised how ripe it tasted…almost tropical!


1998 Domaine des Varoilles, Gevrey-Chambertin, 1er Cru “Clos des Varoilles”
It’s Varoilloes’ monopole vineyard. Great depth and minerality. I often order his wine upon my return to Japan.