..I should probably explain the title.

At one of the elementary schools I used to work at, they often had very set ideas of 'untranslatable' Japanese words in English. I rather suspect that a previous teacher provided these 'translations' and they'd grown fond of them, but some I truly despised; samurai balls was one of them.

I'm sure lots of you will have heard of "takoyaki". The words literally mean "fried octopus", but that doesn't accurately describe the yummy, doughy, chewy saucy balls of deliciousness. You might be able to tell, but I LOVE takoyaki!

However, I had to endure an entire year of teaching kids - however reluctantly - that "takoyaki" in English is "samurai balls". Having never, ever, heard that term in my entire life beforehand I'm fairly sure we are the only group of people who have heard that, but I would like to make it known that I can never get the idea out of my head now, as much as I despise it. :(

Anyway. These are not TRUE takoyaki. They're a snack-present Maiko brought me back from her trip back home to Osaka! You know those peanuts you can get that are coated in a crunchy shell that's flavoured with something? In the UK we have that brand Nobby's Nuts. They're like that, except half of them are "mayonnaise" flavour, and the other half are "sauce" flavour - those being two of the popular toppings for takoyaki.

They're yummy, but not really as good as the real thing!