The beginning...

Hello from Tokyo! I am creating this blog to satisfy my creative side. I love to cook and I am beginning to love developing my own recipes while learning more about Japanese cooking. I thought it would be nice to share some of the things I learn along the way.

The name of this blog comes from the name of the apartment building where my husband and I live in Tokyo, Japan. It is a small building with 4 floors and a terrace outside of each window. The terraces are beautiful and my favorite part of the building.

Since moving to Japan, I have tried to learn as much as possible about the food culture. It is difficult to do this for two reasons: 1) the language barrier, and 2) lack of familiarity with much of the food. Through the creation of this blog, I hope to be more motivated to seek answers to my questions and broaden my knowledge of food in general.

Much of my experience with Japanese food has been attained from eating out at restaurants. Not knowing what I am ordering or eating has kept me from learning much about the food itself. I know what I like (salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi) and what I do not like (any form of cartilage...especially shark cartilage). My struggles come from not knowing what types of produce to buy and how to prepare it, to asking the fish monger down the street for a specific type of seafood.

I hope this blog will help others in similar situations and will entertain those who are curious about the everyday task of deciding "what should we have for dinner tonight?"

Enjoy reading! Please feel free to leave comments or questions...or answer my questions!

Rachael