An extremely delightful chicken dish makes it into our family's meal rotation. It's so unbelievably simple I don't have to refer to the recipe book as I type it up here: Rub salt and pepper onto chicken thigh fillets. Pan fry with skin side down until crisp (no need to put any oil). Turn the fillets over and pan fry the other side until browned and done. Top generously with chopped nira (garlic chives) and pour yuzu ponzu over it. That's it. And this was how I "met" Harumi Kurihara.
Harumi has a huge following because her recipes are far from complicated or stand-offish. Her recipes sometimes reject exact measurements or use leftover food in the refrigerator. She freewheels and introduces new ways of using or combining ingredients. Though famous throughout Japan and in many parts of the world, she appears simple and down-to-earth, as if fame never stopped her from being the ordinary housewife she has always been.
Her personality shines in her shop share with Kurihara Harumi. Here are the kitchen items, interior goods, aprons and clothes that reflect her lifestyle, creativity, and her philosophy of enjoying life. Harumi says that she has designed utensils that she herself has always hoped to use. She focuses on a product's usability and design to make time in the kitchen more enjoyable and comfortable. Take for instance a simple plastic clip available even in the ¥100 shop. But here in her shop, plastic clips come with a movable month and day marker on the side so you can mark when you opened a package.
Harumi loves to wear aprons. She says, “When I tighten an apron, I feel that I am ready to work." Her original apron line now includes over 600 thoughtful designs, including one with a detachable mini hand towel or a two-way apron that has shoulder straps but can be transformed into a garcon apron.
Check out Harumi's shop to see products born out of Harumi's idea of the good and delicious life.
