Yesterday I took a cooking class at Kei's Kitchen, where we learned to cook a traditional seven-course kaiseki meal. There were nine of us in the class, including me. We arrived just before 10:00 and were greeted with hot cups of green tea, which we drank while getting acquainted with each other around Kei's dining room table. We then spent the first 15 minutes going over the "early winter" menu that we'd be cooking, with Kei and her daughter Masako drawing our attention to any special cooking techniques or unusual ingredients we'd be using.

( Kaiseki menu & photos! )