Pumpkin Mochi

Pumpkin Mochi

I couldn’t resist! I had to make something gold, Lakers Gold that is, for the Lakers vs. Rockets season opening game. I’ve had nothing but pumpkins on my mind and to me, any shade of gold (yes, goldish-orangish-pumpkin-brown is close enough to Lakers gold in my book) is cause for celebrating opening night. I’ve always had a love for pumpkin desserts. My first and most memorable experience with pumpkin is unsurprisingly pumpkin...

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Kumquat Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

Kumquat Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

  It’s finally that time of the year!!! It’s Lakers season! A week ago Saturday, I went to a pre-season Lakers game at the invitation of my family friend. I like to call my friend M-kun, my “lil’-brotha-from-anotha-motha.” (Apologies for my lingo, but I couldn’t help it!) His Dad is like a 2nd father to me and his Mom is like a 2nd mother to me. His older sister, Aya-chan, is like the little sis’ I...

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Watermelon Salad

Watermelon Salad

  Watermelon, BBQ’s and lazy, hot summer days always seem to go hand-in-hand. Not this time! Fall is finally in full-swing in So. Cal. but last week I made watermelon salad and it was quite refreshing, even for a Fall evening. Two weeks ago Bebe E and I went over to our good friends N & N’s home for a costume-making get together. I was originally invited over for my past creativity and craftiness with Halloween costumes, but...

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Ika-Furai (Calamari)

Ika-Furai (Calamari)

  It’s rare when I start writing a post and I have absolutely nothing to write about. My mind is blank. Yes, I could go strait to talking about the food, but that would be a little like my last post – a little boring, no? Since squid, or ika in Japanese, is from the sea, I decided share a few photos from summer related to, you guessed it, the sea! I’ve been fortunate to have always lived within two to four miles from the...

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Taco Salad

Taco Salad

I can’t believe it was over 100 degrees in So. Cal. last week and I had our A/C blasting. This morning, I woke up to pouring rain and I pulled on my warm bathrobe, fuzzy socks, and I’m thinking about hot cocoa. Crazy! It’s been drizzling the past few days here, and it’s cold (for my standards). Flip-flops one day, Ugg’s another day. Such is life in So. Cal…. Given all of the Japanese and Asian foods...

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