Back to All Events

[ONLINE] おうちごはん!Ouchigohan! | Japanese Home Cooking with Table for Two and NAJAS

TABLE FOR TWO USA is hosting Ouchigohan - Summer Picnic with Sushi Rolls and Veggies with Sesame Dressing in collaboration with our Japan America Societies family as we present recipes from our forthcoming book, "Japanese Cooking with Kids" (Tuttle Publishing, Fall 2024)! We will make a tray of sushi rolls (norimaki) – Japanese rice, stuffed with delicious fillings and rolled in nori, steamed green vegetables in a tasty sesame dressing, and Japan’s favorite summer thirst quencher – mugicha, healthy roasted barley tea. Perfect for a summer picnic!

Bonus activity: Make your own set of “hashioki” – chopstick rests!

Our own Debra Samuels will lead the class to choose from tuna-mayo, cucumbers, avocado, and imitation crab to fill your rolls. Crush up nutty sesame seeds into a yummy sauce to top veggies and learn how simple it is to make a pitcher of mugicha. Debra Sensei will additionally teach you how to tie a Japanese knot and make a set of chopstick rests. Two (2) class participants will win a copy of “Japanese Cooking with Kids.” The winners will be selected randomly and notified!

Members of other Japan/Japan America Societies—please enter your society’s discount code at checkout for member pricing. Advance ticket purchase required. One registration per family.

The recipe card with ingredient list and Zoom link will be provided a few days before the event. 


$10 JASH Members / $15 Non-members. JASH members use code "Houston" to register.


About “Japanese Cooking with Kids”:

TABLE FOR TWO USA’s new cookbook “Japanese Cooking with Kids” is the perfect way for you and your kids to learn about Japanese cooking while having fun in the kitchen — and getting them to eat more healthy meals. Some of these dishes may even become their new favorites!

Each chapter in this book contains a fun, hands-on activity like counting to 10 in Japanese while washing your hands, growing your own green onions or making your own chopstick rests! In addition to preparing delicious Japanese recipes, kids will learn the basic principles of Japanese cuisine — eating foods that are in season, and only eating until you feel 80% full—to help you live a healthier life.

Japanese Cooking with Kids will give you and your family a whole new perspective on food and eating—the Japanese way!


About the Instructor:

Debra Samuels leads the program content and curriculum development of TABLE FOR TWO USA’s Japanese inspired food education program, “Wa- Shokuiku -Learn. Cook. Eat Japanese!”.

She was a food writer and contributor to the Food Section of The Boston Globe and has authored two cookbooks: “My Japanese Table,” and “The Korean Table.” She curated the exhibit, “Obento and Built Space: Japanese Boxed Lunch and Architecture,” at the Boston Architectural College (2015) and co-curated “Objects of Use and Beauty: Design and Craft in Japanese Culinary Tools,” at the Fuller Craft Museum (2018). Debra also worked as a program coordinator and an exhibition developer at the Japanese department of the Boston Children's Museum (1992-2000).

Debra has lived in Japan, all together, for 12 years and specializes in Japanese cuisine. She travels around the country and abroad teaching hands on workshops on obento, the Japanese lunchbox. During Covid 19 she is teaching live online cooking programs to youth and adults.


This program is made possible by:


Program Note: Photographs may be taken during the event for the records of the program host and for use in public media outlets. Registering for the event generally signifies acknowledgment that your likeness may be used in these ways.