meemalee

If you have even the slightest leanings towards being an otaku ie Japanese geekdom, you absolutely have to go to Hyper Japan  Christmas this weekend.   Even if you haven't, it's a wonderful day out anyway. I went to the Spring Hyper Japan event in February, and it's the closest I've come to feeling like I was actually in Tokyo - the clothes (and that includes the visitors), the shops, the food, the games.  Me, S and a Panda There are street fashion shows, martial arts and technology displays, sushi workshops, sake tastings, music and film showings and even a cosplay parade. Hyper Japan definitely tends towards the trendy side of Japan, although there is also traditional food, drink and even beautiful pottery. The pictures I took will explain better. Just go and immerse yourself in Japanese culture! The debut of Ittenbari Ramen Japanese sweets including Strawberry and Green Tea Mochi I have no idea Doki JapaneseTableware Go...

It's the year 2000. Tandoori Palace on Histon Road. We've just had a rather nice curry, when my boyfriend turns to me and says, "These chocolate mints taste a bit odd". I try one and grimace, and I say to him, "They're orange, you idiot" ... Green & Black's are looking for an Assistant for their Head of Taste, Micah Carr-Hill. That's right - they're hiring a Chocolate Taster, possibly the BEST. JOB. IN. THE. WORLD. The recruitment site says the following: " Do you plan what you are going to cook and eat several meals in advance? Does the science and technology of food excite you? Can you discern between acceptable tastes and excellent ones? Do you love chocolate? Do you want the opportunity to build a career doing what you love? Green & Black's is looking for an assistant to the Head of Taste ". Successful applicants will be asked to undertake a series of tests, and some of us blogging folk have been invited to take pa...

We interrupt our normal schedule for a guest post from A Scot in London: "There is a very strange thing in Anglo-Saxon culture that would be worthy of in depth anthropological study and that is the gender assignation given to food. If you are not sure what I mean then look at the number of food reviews describing food as macho, separating men from boys, butch, etc etc. Almost everyone writing in English is at it. Personally I blame Anthony Bourdain and the like. At some point chefs decided they were pirates and that cutting meat was akin to hoisting petards. Well I’m sorry boys, you don’t swash buckles, you chop onions and last time I looked it wasn’t the same thing. The losers in this, as always, are the women, as anything a man decided he liked became macho. So it is with steak. We – me and a few n’er do wells on Twitter- have decided it was time that this imbalance in our culture was redressed and that a new phenomenon of women meeting for steak and martini, as opposed to after...