As a kid, one of my favorite Japanese foods was sweetened kinako, or roasted soy bean flour. Of course, back then, I had no clue as to what the dry, golden brown, powdery flour-like substance called kinako was, other than the fact that my mom said it was made from soy, but to me, it was magical. It was the most delicious food ever, especially when my mom dusted fresh warm mochi with sweetened kinako. The sugary sweetness of the kinako, combined...

It’s hard to believe 2014 is coming to a close and Christmas already came and went. I know it’s been awhile since I shared anything on my blog here, but believe it or not I had a post ready for Thanksgiving, and then again one for Christmas. The only problem is that I wasn’t able to find the photos I took of my food.  So those posts have been saved until my archiving (and technology), backup, and memory (laptop’s not...

Happy Japanese Children’s Day! May 5th is Kodomo No Hi, also known as Boys’ Day. It’s a day for celebrating the well-being, happiness and health of all children in our family. To celebrate Children’s Day, Bebe and I kept things simple. Since our favorite Japanese restaurant is closed on Mondays, instead we went to our local Japanese supermarket to grab a bite to eat in their amazing food court. Bebe feasted on her...

Valentine’s Day is just a week away! At our home, this means that Bebe and I put up various little heart-shaped decorations and start working on Valentine crafts. We also like to pull out our favorite Valentine’s Day children’s books and we start reading them at nap and bed time. It’s definitely a fun holiday that we enjoy. (Photo Credit Above: Hideki Ueha) As for celebrating on the 14th, I usually cook dinner and...

Today’s indulgent Japanese afternoon snack was ohagi. Over the weekend, we spent some time at my parents home and my beautiful Mom made ohagi. If you’re not familiar with ohagi, it is glutinous sweet rice that is steamed in a rice cooker and then slightly pounded, or in this case it was gently mixed and mashed with a wooden spoon until it resembled a sticky mass. If this glutinous rice is pounded until it is smooth, it is then...

One of the things I love about motherhood is discovering that my daughter finds joy in the same foods I enjoyed as a child. I almost forgot about these colorful tiny little pieces of pillow-soft mochi, otherwise known as chi chi dango or coconut mochi. (Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha) (Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha) I can’t remember the first time I ate chi chi dango, but it was what I considered “my kind of mochi” since it...

Welcome to my new (blog) home! If you’re coming over from my old site – – – It’s nice to see you here! I’m glad you could make it! If you’re new to my blog – – – It’s very nice to meet you! (Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha) Aside from a little fresh paint and a little redecorating, my old friends will find that the content of my new home is very similar to the content of my old home....

For as long as I can remember, my Mom used to keep a re-used glass jam jar filled with little orange candied kumquats or kinkan kanro-ni in the back of our refrigerator. It never looked appealing to me, and as a child, I recall trying several of these kinkan kanro-ni over the years, but I never found the sweet, sour, and slightly bitter flavor of the candied kumquats to my liking. (Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha) As I got older, the little glass jar...