Cataloguing and rating anything edible (with special emphasis on sweets), Katie firmly believes that every place has something good to offer and is determined to find it. “The Tasty Traveler has been a project since 2016, when I began blogging while traveling in Europe and living in Prague,” she explains on her personal website. “Before starting the blog, I was incredibly active on Yelp writing reviews across the USA, with a heavy focus on Oklahoma and Colorado.”

A life-long nomad, Katie has lived in seven different countries, visited over 30, and has had serious bouts of food poisoning in at least five of those beautiful places. Now her main focus is on Tokyo, her current home. Her blog posts include a Tokyo Pancake Quest, The Japanese Kit Kat Project, and Marigold Dessert Ranking.

Recent articles also include a deep dive into Japanese insect cuisine (shudder). “By the time we made it to dessert, I felt like a new carnivore,” writes Katie. “I was proud of myself for eating all the creepy, crunchy, and squishy things. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much of the food wasn’t awful. I was fully expecting to be grossed out by every dish, but only a few really made me hesitate. It was difficult at first, but at the end of the day, they’re just bugs.”

We’d rather go for Japanese pancakes.

The post Try Some Japanese Desserts with the Tasty Traveler appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Soba noodles can be used in a variety of foods, and here are the basic things you need to know.

Soba is eaten with chopsticks. 

Like most Japanese noodles, the Soba is served cold and dry in summer and in winter, with soy or dashi-based sauce. Most of the toppings are almost uncooked. 

Cold Soba noodles are most often served on a bamboo mat called a Zaro. Sometimes, dried Nori seaweed is added to the dish in a sauce called Soba Tsuyo as a side dish. The Tsuyo is made from a blend of Dashi, sweetened soy sauce, and Mirin. Wasabi, pickled ginger and scallion toppings are common additions to the Tsuyo sauce.

With Soba noodles, it is customary to eat vegetables or fish in light tempura made from excellent light beer and soda water.

Soba is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Eve in most areas of Japan—a tradition that survives to this day. In the Tokyo area, it is customary to give Soba to new neighbors who have moved apartments, but this custom is not as common as it used to be.

The post A Basic Guide to Soba Noodles appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Here are 3 of the most popular fish dishes Japan has to offer.

Nanbanzuke

In Japanese this dish means “foreign marinade.” This is because the fish is marinated in vinegar, deep fried and served with onions, cucumbers and hot red peppers. These were foods introduced from the West.

Unadon

This interesting dish is made from grilled eel fillets and steamed rice. The eel is specially grilled in the kabayaki style, where it is put on a skewer and grilled in tare sauce.

Hitsumabushi

This traditional Japanese dish centers around grilled eel and steamed rice again. But it is accompanied by a number of garnishes and condiments and is served in a very particular way. It is served in four portions. The first is eaten on its own. The second is served with seaweed, green onions and wasarbi sauce. The third is the same but with a green tea soup addition, while the fourth can be enjoyed in whatever way you like.

The post 3 of the Best Japanese Fish Dishes appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Be sure to have these three condiments ready before serving up your sushi masterpiece!

Wasabi

Wasabi is a paste made from the ground base of a plant known as Japanese horseradish. Its intensely pungent smell and quick burst of spicy heat is a favorite to eat with sushi, even though it might not be for everyone.

Soy Sauce

If you don’t like eating wasabi along with your sushi, you’ll almost certainly like soy sauce instead. This salty and umami-filled traditional sauce from Japan enhances the flavor of both the fish and the rice—which constitute the base of sushi.

Pickled Ginger

Are you looking to cleanse your palate between different varieties of sushi? If so, be sure to serve pickled ginger alongside your homemade creation! This traditional accompaniment is easy to make at home or to find in specialty grocery stores.

The post Making Sushi at Home? Be Sure to Have These Condiments Ready appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Instagram has also helped push the concept of a single-portion home-packed meal forward. With more than 330k followers, Shirley Wong—aka Little Miss Bento—might as well be the godmother of bento boxes.

Based in Singapore, Wong is in fact the first Singaporean to be certified under the Japan Sushi Instructor Association in Tokyo and the Japan Salonaise Association.

An award-winning bento artist, her inspiration comes from her day-to-day, with special focus on pop culture references. “I tell people that inspiration is not from one source, but it is from multiple sources,” she explained in an interview with the Epoch Times. “I could be inspired by pop culture, popular culture, or whatever that is trendy now.

“I will usually draw first, after which I will come up with the design and figure out what box I would be using, and the ingredients which I need,” relayed Wong, going into detail about the process itself. “This usually happens the night before, or sometimes a few nights before. I can also have the design hanging out for a week before I start making it.”

In Japan, the word “bento” has been used since the 13th century, and the container itself—also called “bento”—has been known since the 16th century. But over the years, the bento box has changed its face many times.

The post You Don’t Have to be a Kid to Enjoy These Bento Boxes appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

The first thing that you will notice about udon noodles in comparison to other noodles is that they are quite thick. Made with wheat flour, these noodles are generally cut to have a thickness of about four to six mm, considerably thicker than other Japanese noodles.

The thickness of udon noodles allows for them to soak up the flavors of the sauces and broths in which they are served, causing them to practically burst with flavor at every bite.

In Japan, udon noodles are traditionally served cold in summer months and hot in winter months in order to cool down and heat up the body, respectively. When served cold in summer, these noodles are generally served plain and accompanied only by a simple dipping sauce!

Outside of Japan, you can find these noodles in all different sorts of varieties at any time during the year. We personally love them stir-fried with vegetables and chicken and also served warm in a salty broth.

So, whatever your noodle preferences are, be sure to give udon a try and let us know what you think!

The post Udon Noodles are a Trending Japanese Favorite appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Cataloguing and rating anything edible (with special emphasis on sweets), Katie firmly believes that every place has something good to offer and is determined to find it. “The Tasty Traveler has been a project since 2016, when I began blogging while traveling in Europe and living in Prague,” she explains on her personal website. “Before starting the blog, I was incredibly active on Yelp writing reviews across the USA, with a heavy focus on Oklahoma and Colorado.”

A life-long nomad, Katie has lived in seven different countries, visited over 30, and has had serious bouts of food poisoning in at least five of those beautiful places. Now her main focus is on Tokyo, her current home. Her blog posts include a Tokyo Pancake Quest, The Japanese Kit Kat Project, and Marigold Dessert Ranking.

Recent articles also include a deep dive into Japanese insect cuisine (shudder). “By the time we made it to dessert, I felt like a new carnivore,” writes Katie. “I was proud of myself for eating all the creepy, crunchy, and squishy things. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much of the food wasn’t awful. I was fully expecting to be grossed out by every dish, but only a few really made me hesitate. It was difficult at first, but at the end of the day, they’re just bugs.”

We’d rather go for Japanese pancakes.

The post Try Some Japanese Desserts with the Tasty Traveler appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Soba noodles can be used in a variety of foods, and here are the basic things you need to know.

Soba is eaten with chopsticks. 

Like most Japanese noodles, the Soba is served cold and dry in summer and in winter, with soy or dashi-based sauce. Most of the toppings are almost uncooked. 

Cold Soba noodles are most often served on a bamboo mat called a Zaro. Sometimes, dried Nori seaweed is added to the dish in a sauce called Soba Tsuyo as a side dish. The Tsuyo is made from a blend of Dashi, sweetened soy sauce, and Mirin. Wasabi, pickled ginger and scallion toppings are common additions to the Tsuyo sauce.

With Soba noodles, it is customary to eat vegetables or fish in light tempura made from excellent light beer and soda water.

Soba is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Eve in most areas of Japan—a tradition that survives to this day. In the Tokyo area, it is customary to give Soba to new neighbors who have moved apartments, but this custom is not as common as it used to be.

The post A Basic Guide to Soba Noodles appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Here are 3 of the most popular fish dishes Japan has to offer.

Nanbanzuke

In Japanese this dish means “foreign marinade.” This is because the fish is marinated in vinegar, deep fried and served with onions, cucumbers and hot red peppers. These were foods introduced from the West.

Unadon

This interesting dish is made from grilled eel fillets and steamed rice. The eel is specially grilled in the kabayaki style, where it is put on a skewer and grilled in tare sauce.

Hitsumabushi

This traditional Japanese dish centers around grilled eel and steamed rice again. But it is accompanied by a number of garnishes and condiments and is served in a very particular way. It is served in four portions. The first is eaten on its own. The second is served with seaweed, green onions and wasarbi sauce. The third is the same but with a green tea soup addition, while the fourth can be enjoyed in whatever way you like.

The post 3 of the Best Japanese Fish Dishes appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Be sure to have these three condiments ready before serving up your sushi masterpiece!

Wasabi

Wasabi is a paste made from the ground base of a plant known as Japanese horseradish. Its intensely pungent smell and quick burst of spicy heat is a favorite to eat with sushi, even though it might not be for everyone.

Soy Sauce

If you don’t like eating wasabi along with your sushi, you’ll almost certainly like soy sauce instead. This salty and umami-filled traditional sauce from Japan enhances the flavor of both the fish and the rice—which constitute the base of sushi.

Pickled Ginger

Are you looking to cleanse your palate between different varieties of sushi? If so, be sure to serve pickled ginger alongside your homemade creation! This traditional accompaniment is easy to make at home or to find in specialty grocery stores.

The post Making Sushi at Home? Be Sure to Have These Condiments Ready appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

Instagram has also helped push the concept of a single-portion home-packed meal forward. With more than 330k followers, Shirley Wong—aka Little Miss Bento—might as well be the godmother of bento boxes.

Based in Singapore, Wong is in fact the first Singaporean to be certified under the Japan Sushi Instructor Association in Tokyo and the Japan Salonaise Association.

An award-winning bento artist, her inspiration comes from her day-to-day, with special focus on pop culture references. “I tell people that inspiration is not from one source, but it is from multiple sources,” she explained in an interview with the Epoch Times. “I could be inspired by pop culture, popular culture, or whatever that is trendy now.

“I will usually draw first, after which I will come up with the design and figure out what box I would be using, and the ingredients which I need,” relayed Wong, going into detail about the process itself. “This usually happens the night before, or sometimes a few nights before. I can also have the design hanging out for a week before I start making it.”

In Japan, the word “bento” has been used since the 13th century, and the container itself—also called “bento”—has been known since the 16th century. But over the years, the bento box has changed its face many times.

The post You Don’t Have to be a Kid to Enjoy These Bento Boxes appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.

The first thing that you will notice about udon noodles in comparison to other noodles is that they are quite thick. Made with wheat flour, these noodles are generally cut to have a thickness of about four to six mm, considerably thicker than other Japanese noodles.

The thickness of udon noodles allows for them to soak up the flavors of the sauces and broths in which they are served, causing them to practically burst with flavor at every bite.

In Japan, udon noodles are traditionally served cold in summer months and hot in winter months in order to cool down and heat up the body, respectively. When served cold in summer, these noodles are generally served plain and accompanied only by a simple dipping sauce!

Outside of Japan, you can find these noodles in all different sorts of varieties at any time during the year. We personally love them stir-fried with vegetables and chicken and also served warm in a salty broth.

So, whatever your noodle preferences are, be sure to give udon a try and let us know what you think!

The post Udon Noodles are a Trending Japanese Favorite appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.