Posts from — February 2007

Ayako Suwa is the master of “Food Creation“!  Ping Mag has an interview with Ayako, who creates unusual compositions of taste and visuals. She has a graphic design background (inspiration for all you designers out there who love the kitchen) which seems evident in the experimental approach to her dishes.

I quite like the way she attempts to play with people’s perception of what something will taste like. I also like that she designs the food to accompany her husband’s art exhibitions, and therefore attempts to match the food with the art themes. I wonder if any of their guests have mistaken the art for food, or food for art? Is there any difference?

Food creation at Ping Mag

Technorati Tags: Ayako Suwa, cuisine, design, Japanese

Matt Fischer’s Ramen homepage was posted previously, but for the Year of the Pig, we draw attention to the Pork recipes category..

Pork Ramen recipes

Photo from Flickr

Technorati Tags: cuisine, Ramen

Big Yellow describe themselves as having a unique brand of indie guitar and are made up of a classically trained alter boy, a double-jointed bass player, a slightly manic guitarist and a mellow drummer.

Help them make history. They’re releasing their debut single onto the UK Singles Chart  to co-incide with Chinese New Year 2007, and they’re asking you to buy it for just 79p. The single is called “Twist and Turns” and by purchasing it, you can help to boost their profile, support their campaign and perhaps change the perception of British Chinese people in UK pop music.

Buy Big Yellow’s debut single “Twist and Turns” for just 79p between the 12th and 17th February. More details…

Technorati Tags: Big Yellow, British East Asian, entertainment, music, United Kingdom

If pork is too inhumane for you, here’s a roundup of cute piglets to make you smile. From CuteOverload, click the corresponding links for the commentary on each photo, in the way that only CuteOverload can deliver.

Technorati Tags: Chinese New Year, pigs, Vietnamese Pot Belly Pig

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Celebrating Year of the Pig implies pork dishes right? The Chinese love their food; a typical greeting between good friends and relatives consists of the phrase “have you eaten yet?” - a gesture of care, rather than the more formal “how are you“.

So therefore, here are a few photos to remind ourselves what we can look forward to in the coming weeks. (Mental note to myself - don’t surf for gluttonous food photos after midnight when I’m starving.)

Pig on a spit from this Flickr profile

Pork dish from this Flickr profile

Pork, amongst other meat on a market stall from this Flickr profile

Beijing style sweet and sour baby-back pork ribs from this Flickr profile

Technorati Tags: Chinese New Year, cuisine

Wa-hey - 3D Doraemon jigsaw puzzle. I guess it does exactly what it says on the tin? From Tokyo Mango and originally from Yanoman.

Technorati Tags: Doraemon, toys

Lisa Katayama, of Tokyo Mango, has a post up on Wired, presenting a series of toys she has handpicked from Japan. Two of note are as follows.

David Beckham Planter : I seem to remember the Japanese have a fascination with Beckham. Its amazing how this guy’s popularity has transcended his football ability and interview technique. Well, now, you too can shape and control one of his known assets - his hairstyle. Water his scalp and groom the resulting growth into your desired personality.

Old Living Room Diorama : Japan is known for all things miniature, but there is something appealing about having a pint-sized version of the real thing. Maybe its the portability factor, or the difference in scale. This well-crafted replica of a Showa-era Japanese home actually includes a working 1.5-inch color television. The knobs on the side are for turning the set off and on, and adjusting the volume.  A/V inputs on the back let you watch movies or play Wii.

Cool Toys for Grownups

Technorati Tags: gadgets, Japanese, toys

China have released Year of the Pig stamps that taste of sweet and sour pork.

When you scratch the front of the stamps, it smells of the popular chinese dish and when the back of the stamp is licked it tastes of the dish too.

Hm. Although its a welcome idea to make these ‘tiny vehicles of design’ more interactive, I would still hesitate to actually lick them. I prefer more practical self-adhesive stamps. So, if they become collector’s items, what happens to the taste and smell after 20 years, and would you still lick it?

From Ananova.com

Technorati Tags: Chinese New Year, design, stamps