Kura Cooking in April 2026

The miso-making classes finished and April became a quiet month.

However, we were truly delighted to receive a variety of inquiries.

For example, representatives from a Hong Kong travel agency who came for a site visit bought Kura Cooking aprons for their entire group. They plan to have the participants’ names embroidered on them before bringing them back.

Additionally, Kura Cooking has been approved as a provider of return gifts for Iwakura City’s Hometown Tax Donation program.

We will provide more details on this in a future update.

This month’s decorations were for the Boys’ Festival. We displayed ornaments which were various types of samurai helmets and carp streamers.

    　

The welcome drink was made from lemongrass and lemon balm harvested from our garden. Its refreshing aroma was perfect for this season. Everyone enjoyed it and said it was delicious. It tasted great whether made with hot water or cold water.

In the class with the student who always brings fish, Japanese and international students cooked together. Both English and Japanese were flying around. We filleted a large yellowtail and a scorpionfish. We made sashimi and some seasonal dishes made from bamboo shoots. Everything was really delicious. It was a very exciting class.

A guest from the U.S., who loves cooking, enjoyed making some Japanese dishes. All the ball-shaped sushi were the same shape and size—the most beautiful ones I’ve ever seen in my many foreigners’ classes.

　

In Japanese cooking class, we made a “Bamboo Shoot Plate” made from seasonal bamboo shoots.

The best dish was rikyu-age which were dumplings made by grating bamboo shoots adding flour and seasoning, rolling the mixture into balls, coating them in sesame seed, and then deep-frying them. For dessert, we made a “Fresh Green Parfait” using matcha jelly with red bean paste made from scratch.

In one of the Japanese cuisine classes, we also made yomogi mochi (mugwort rice cakes) for dessert upon request.

For the afternoon tea classes, we held two kinds of classes based on requests: the “Cherry Blossom Afternoon Tea” class—which was very popular in March—and the “Fresh Green Afternoon Tea” class.

We welcomed many guests in April who came to learn how to cook Japanese dishes. In every class, I thought everyone was able to relax, enjoy a break from the daily routine, and have a good chat.

I look forward to meeting many more people in May and spending some wonderful time together.

Thank you so much for your continued support. I hope you’ll continue to support us in the future.