Japanese Sweets Food Toys: Tea and Bean Cake

Continuing with photographing Japanese food toys before I get rid of them, are two sets of Japanese sweets.

This is the front of the box.

And this is the back of the box.

The first is the tea set. This I had opened long ago, and lost the green tea portion inside the cup and the piece of tissue for a sweet to rest on.

Here’s the top view.

The second sweets set are bean cakes and crackers.

The amount of detail on these toys is pretty amazing.

The box opens up and there’s a bean cake inside.

Regional Food Toys: Hokkaido and Nagoya

The next two sets of food toys I have are based on foods from different areas of Japan.

This is the front of the box.

And the back of the box.

The first set is from Hokkaido and is hokke, a type of mackerel.

Here’s the top view.

The second set is from Nagoya and is a shrimp roll.

And this is the top view.

Family Restaurant Food Toy: Katsu

I bought a lot of crap back in the day. I didn’t think of it as crap at the time. I just wanted…stuff. Things I thought were cute. Or interesting. Of funny. But they were things I never used. Things that just ended up in a box. Things I needed to get rid of.

In Japan, I bought food toys because they amused me. I thought they were silly and fun, and they showed the range of Japanese food available—from family restaurants, to sweets to regional cuisine.

However, I decided to finally get rid of these Japanese food toys that I hadn’t done anything with…some were still in their original packaging. [Sigh.] So, I decided I would take photos of them as a way give them some purpose before donating them to a thrift store.

Here’s a family restaurant toy for katsu—breaded fried pork. Family restaurants isn’t a term I generally use, but in Japan it’s a type of restaurant like a diner, much like Denny’s. Open 24 hours. Reasonably priced dishes that appeal to a wide demographic.

Here’s the front of the box.

And the back of the box. Ten toy sets in all to collect. I think the reception stand and menu in the #1 toy is pretty funny. But seriously, unless there’s a dollhouse restaurant, I’m not sure what anyone would do with any of these things.

A description of the dish and price.

I just think it’s hilarious that they included a bill as well.

Things I Didn’t Buy 23

Here are a few more ads from the 1950s. I like this Lipton Tea ad—with just one sip, everything is just brighter.

This Coca-Cola ad is interesting.

This Birds Eye freezer food ad makes me sad—that’s some unappetizing looking food…

This Campbell's soup ad isn’t particularly enticing; the most interesting part is that back in the day, there were only 21 soup options. Today, there are a seemingly unending number of soup choices.

A Hit Parade cigarette ad. That’s some wholesome and sophisticated fun those smokers are having.

Things I Didn’t Buy 17

Although it didn’t have a cover, I found what looked like a Life magazine from WWII. I had to take some photos of some of the ads in it. First is this Shell ad that states: “It’s sweeter because of petroleum.” Really?

I just thought the illustration on this Ductillite ad was interesting.

This Prem ad shows ways to dress up your canned ham.

Very patriotic-looking International Trucks ad.

I tend the find cigarette ads rather fascinating because the perception of cigarettes are so different today than they once were. Here’s a Lucky Strike cigarette ad.

I Like Breakfast Foods…Just Not for Breakfast

Waffles, pancakes, doughnuts, French toast, hash browns, bacon and sausage, these are all tasty breakfast items, and I like them…just not for breakfast. Most traditional American breakfast foods are just too sweet or too heavy for me first thing in the morning. Even things like yogurt or oatmeal (which tend to be your healthier options) are just not appealing to me.

Truthfully, I don’t think I thought too much about my breakfast options until I was in Japan. Growing up, I ate a lot of cereal for breakfast, and later, toast (and maybe an egg) with my coffee—and I was never really excited about any of these quick breakfast options. However, when I stayed at a traditional Japanese inn they gave everyone the same breakfast tray that had rice with nori, maybe a bit of fish and pickles, and miso soup. And I thought it was great—everything looked and tasted good to me, and I think it was then I realized that I’d been doing breakfast all wrong (at least for me).

Almost always, I want to eat something savory in the morning, and throughout this past winter I ate a lot of soup for breakfast. Perhaps at first glance that’s strange to some people, but I think it’s only because we’ve been conditioned to expect certain foods for breakfast. I like eating leftovers for breakfast because it’s fast and easy and tends to suit my savory appetite. Soup is great because it usually has vegetables in it (which I likely don’t eat enough of) and it isn’t too filling. Chicken noodle soup, butternut squash soup, minestrone, potato leek soup and ox tail soup have all been tasty starts to my day. [Pause.] Although with summer around the corner, soup probably won’t be too appealing; I may switch to salads…

Oops! of the Week

Well, it seemed inevitable that I would at some point forget my notebook with all my Word of Day drawings at work, so I’ll have to wait to photograph and post this week’s words later on. I’ll use a separate notebook to draw today and tomorrow’s words in, since I will continue to draw each word each day. I was just hoping to keep my notebook seamlessly continuous with my Word of the Day entries…well, that didn’t happen. Oh well. [Sigh.]

So instead I’ll share my “Oops! of the Week” (more so than forgetting my notebook) that happened when I picked up lunch this week. Generally I bring my lunch to work for the same reasons that most people do: it’s cheaper, faster and easier than going out and buying lunch. But sometimes I don’t have time to cook or feel like treating myself to sometime tasty (that I can’t make) and will buy something nearby.

So I decided on picking up some Indian food from a food cart. And stupidly, as I was walking back to the office, I leaned the food container against my khaki-colored coat and got a curry yellow line across the front of it. Immediately I thought, “Well, that’ll stain. Guess I won’t be wearing this coat anymore.” I was pretty irritated with myself for doing something so dumb. It was a coat I liked and wore often, but it wasn’t a coat I was in love with—it was more of a useful coat. I’d had it for a couple of years and it hadn’t been expensive, so while I’m disappointed that I ruined it, I didn’t feel as bad about it as I could have. [Pause.] Guess I’ll have an excuse to get a new khaki-colored coat.

Unexpected Distaste

Most of us have at least a few go-to meals to make when we’re lazy and don’t feel like cooking. Pasta with marinara sauce has been one of those staple meals for me over the years. I’ve always kept a jar of marinara sauce from the supermarket around for those times I want a fairly quick and effortless meal. It’s been the same brand of sauce for years, but not long ago I took a bite of my pasta with a good douse of marinara sauce and thought, “Wow, this is sweet. I don’t think I like this anymore.”

My taste buds did a 180 that created a bit of havoc for my go-to meal. It just took me by surprise, as just a few days prior I was eating this marinara normally with no qualms. And then BAM! My taste buds no longer appreciated this marinara sauce that had served me so well for years. [Sigh.]

My solution was to just make my own sauce (which turned out fine), but a part of me is somewhat disappointed that I just can’t grab my old instant supermarket marinara sauce and eat it with the same satisfaction that I used to have. I suppose if I really cared about having an instant sauce on hand, I could taste test various brands of prepared marinara sauces to find one that I like. But that sounds like a lot of work (and probably tasting a lot of not-so tasty sauces). And even if I found one that I liked, my taste buds could change again and then I’d be right back to where I started. So in the long run it’s probably better just to make my own sauce that I can adjust as my taste buds adjust (and make enough to freeze so that it’s “instant” when I want it).

The Ultimate Fast Food: Leftovers

As a child, I never fully appreciated the awesomeness of leftovers. In fact, I didn’t really appreciate them at all. I didn’t want the same meal two days in a row. I wanted something new. Something different. The food just didn’t seem to taste the same the next day (which in my defense is true with some foods if you don’t reheat them properly. You can’t put something that was fried and crispy in the microwave and expect it to turn out crispy—it doesn’t happen, you have to use an oven instead).

Even the word “leftovers” sounds unappealing, like it got rejected from the rest of the food. It’s strange; you could make a wonderful pot roast one night, and then the next day it’s been transformed into “leftovers”. There should be a better word for “leftovers” then “leftovers”, because ”leftovers” is a word that hardly whets the appetite.

Older and wiser, I understand how fantastic leftovers are because it takes practically no time and effort to heat up. It’s an instant meal—it’s like a frozen dinner without it actually being a frozen dinner. When I cook, I like making too much so that I’ll have leftovers, because cooking can be time-consuming and there are times when it just seems like too much effort to chop anything and combine ingredients and cook it on a stove. So I have a great appreciation for leftovers—especially when I’m hungry and want to eat something immediately.

Sharing Size

I once had dinner in Japan, where at the end of the meal the hostess brought out a single Cinnabon roll to be split between us. She cut the cinnamon roll into five pieces and everyone got a slice. I thought it was a bit funny at the time, not only having a breakfast pastry for dessert, but that it was presented in a cake-like fashion (and I had never thought of a cinnamon roll as a cake before).

Part of the reason I was surprised by this dividing of the Cinnabon, was the fact that I generally think of a cinnamon roll as being one serving. They sell them individually, and thus it’s easy to think of one cinnamon roll as one serving. Yet Cinnabons are huge, and I for one doubt that I could ever eat an entire one in one sitting. So taking a step back, dividing the Cinnabon up makes perfect sense because you’re eating a portion size that’s not large enough to overwhelm you.

It’s so easy in the U.S. to get large portions and end up eating the entire plate of food placed in front of you. On my smart days I may get a smaller portion size or take the leftovers home with me. On my not so smart days I’ll consume it all (as though it’s some sort of accomplishment to have cleaned my plate)—but I know I’m bound to regret this poor decision later as my stomach grows more and more uncomfortably full. It’s grossly apparent when you’ve eaten too much when it becomes an effort to eat and you no longer enjoy the food you’re eating. And yet sometimes I still forget about what a serving size should be and eat too much; it continues to be a lesson that I have to relearn on a regular basis because it just doesn’t quite want to stick. [Sigh.]

Convenience is Convenient

I can’t really remember the last time I bought anything at a convenience store in the U.S. As a kid, I went every so often (mostly in the summer) for a slushie. But since then I haven’t really had any reason to go; convenience stores aren’t particularly plentiful nor conveniently close to where I am and they’re usually filled with items that I’m not terribly interested in.

However, in Japan I went to convenience stores all the time because they were quite convenient. They were everywhere. In urban areas they were on every street corner, and sometimes even in the middle of nowhere there would be a lone convenience store waiting for you like an oasis in the desert. I loved Japanese convenience stores because they were filled with interesting items, like seasonal junk food or limited-time only beverages. I rarely bought the truly odd items (as I had little desire to actually consume them), but I would indulge in seaweed potato chips or spicy ramen snacks, and would often get bottled tea or coffee.

Mostly I liked and would buy their prepared food, some of it was seasonal (like oden in the winter), but much of it was just ordinary meals—and each convenience store chain had their own take on it. There were bento boxes with rice and something fried, noodles, salads and sandwiches. But my go-to food was rice balls. In any convenience store there was an entire section dedicated to rice balls filled with different vegetables or seafood, and I had my favorites (salmon and pickled plum…yum). Because sometimes you just wanted something that was fast, easy, healthy and good. [Pause.] I really miss those cheap rice balls. And I really miss the convenience of Japanese convenience stores.

It Won’t Kill You

I’m not going to say that I love all foods because I don’t. I love some foods while I like, tolerate and hate others, but almost always I’ll at least try whatever’s in front of me.

In Japan I tried all sorts of foods that I’d never eaten before and some that I’d never had the desire to ever try, but I tried it. Some I loved (like beef tongue, ox tail and jellyfish), others I tolerated (like grilled pig intestines) while others I disliked (like grilled chicken cartilage and fermented fish guts). But even if it didn’t look appetizing I’d force myself to just try a little bit of it. Sometimes I was pleasantly surprised, while other times I quickly downed my drink in order to wash the taste away, but I never regretted any of it because you don’t know if it’s any good unless you try it.

I understand an inability to eat certain foods because of allergies or having a delicate stomach or being vegetarian, but I find it disappointing when people (who could eat anything) constantly refuse to even try food (whether it’s an entire ethnic cuisine, a certain dish or a specific ingredient). What harm is there in just taking a tiny bite? What’s the worse that could happen? Just some momentary distaste…it won’t kill you.

It’s sad to see people box themselves into very specific “acceptable” foods while avoiding large segments of foods out of shear stubbornness, because they’re missing out on some tasty treats. [Pause.] But I guess it’s their loss.

What’s Your Favorite Dish on the Menu?

Whenever we go to eat somewhere, the inevitable question one of my friend’s will ask the cashier/waiter/owner of an eatery is “What’s your favorite dish on the menu?” (or the question is varied to: “What’s the most popular item?” or “What do you recommend?”). Almost without fail, she will ask and will almost always take the suggestion given.

I’m the opposite and never ask. To say that I don’t care what other people suggest sounds rather harsh, but it’s kind of true. They are free to give their suggestions but whether I take them or not is another matter. The most popular item on the menu might not appeal to me (and sometimes I wonder if something is popular because it’s actually good or popular merely because it’s popular).

While my friend seems to enjoy taking recommendations (as she might eat something she might not otherwise try), I would rather follow my gut. I can make my own eating decisions; I know my stomach better than a stranger, whose likes and dislikes might be vastly different than my own. Besides, usually I’m in the mood for something, whether light or heavy, sweet or savory, spicy or mild (or I might be craving a specific item altogether). I’d rather choose something for myself and take my chances (and only have myself to blame if it doesn’t work out).

Keeping my friend’s tendency for food advice in mind, I couldn’t help but add this “What’s your favorite dish on the menu?” as the first page of her Knock on Wood notebook. It was a quick little design, and while “What’s your favorite dish on the menu?” doesn’t match the aesthetic of the Knock on Wood notebook, its purpose is merely for amusement and nothing more.