By The Way - Cutsey in the Kitchen: Move over Sweety, this one is for Mummy!

My daughter just turned 5 in February and out of all the fabulous presents that she unwrapped were two very fascinating Japanese cooking toy sets complete with equipment and pictorial instructions. One set was a DIY kit to make Norimaki (a type of Japanese sushi roll) and the other an ice cream making kit.

If you have not already caught on - the latest boom and trend in children's toys that has swept Asia by storm is the advent of Japanese-made cooking toys. Yes the Japanese are probably the most quirky and inventive creators in the world. Seeing is believing so I urge you to copy and paste the link and look at the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxDSRIDET4w&feature=player_embedded

Japanese toymakers invented this new category of cooking toys to specially to entertain little girls between 6 and 12 years old and to give mums a chance to do an exclusive activity with their kids at home. This trend has taken the parenting world by storm not only because the gift idea is novel and fantastic but parents, especially mums like me are the real ones who are hooked. Sega for instance sold 110,000 of their Kururin Ice Cream maker within the first week of their launch at the 2008 Japanese Toy Fair. Since then the product has taken the parenting world by storm.

See Sega's Kururin Ice Cream Maker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YLzb_g_1Kg

The ELC Dolls House, once top of my "must-buy my little-girl because I never had one" wish list and always too expensive for me to fork out precious mula for, is now a passe item. I have recently been dreaming up reasons to reward my daughter (or rather myself) with her next set of cooking toys to add to my fantasy collection. Afterall, let's face it, this is wish fulfilment at its 'bestest', a chance to relive my play doh fantasies - only this time in real time and with real, totally edible food made to be served and enjoyed, albeit in bite sized proportions.

What is the real draw? Perhaps the fact that these colourful, plastic hand-controlled cutsey gadgets, all focusing on either lunch box material or traditional Japanese snack foods are completely electricity and oven-free. Read the words "SAFE" and "WON"T BURN THE HOUSE DOWN" written in between the lines. Of course this does beg the question as to what actually goes into the calorie laden contents but then again, that is another discussion for another day. For now and about HK$249 or approximately S$50 for one kit, it provides hours of pleasure and something (at least for me) with endless entertainment possibilities rather than me just spending the afternoon with my little girl just mindlessly raising my Wii controller to throw paper balls at the teacher in another session of Raving Rabbids. 

If you have not, DO... this one is what I term, "DIE-DIE MUST TRY!" 

- Elaine