Happy New Year! 明けましておめでとう！ 2014 is the Year of The Horse and true to family tradition, on January 1st my parents lined-up in front of their local Japanese market to get their free New Year’s zodiac ceramic. My Mom takes my Dad along with her so that he can get an extra ceramic to ensure that both my brother and I get one. Our ceramic horse is proudly decorated in our home as I write! (Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha) This...

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      My favorite osechi ryori, or Japanese New Year’s dish is kazunoko. It’s caviar made of herring roe, simply seasoned with dashi konbu (seasoned seaweed), katsuo dashi (bonito broth) and shoyu (soy sauce). Kazunoko is typically found in Japanese supermarkets only at the end of the year, which is quite unfortunate because I wouldn’t mind eating this year round. I’m sure there must be other markets that sell this...

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The day after Christmas, if not sooner, my Mom and I begin our Oshogatsu (Japanese New Year) menu discussions. Each year, our menu changes slightly, but my Mom still undertakes the bulk of cooking our family’s Osechi Ryori (traditional Japanese New Year’s dishes). Slowly but surely, each year I’ve been learning how to make a new osechi ryori dish. This year will be no different as I contemplate which dish to...

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Kabocha, or Japanese winter squash (also referred to as pumpkin), is a vegetable that I never really appreciated. It was only in my young adulthood that I grew to love very thinly sliced pieces of kabocha fried with a light tempura batter. (Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha) Although I have vivid childhood memories of my Mom cooking kabocha-ni, which is simmered squash, sadly, this was a Japanese dish that I never enjoyed, yet these days I find myself...

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Although almost two weeks have passed since we feasted on both traditional Japanese Osechi Ryori (New Year’s food) and non-traditional Japanese cuisine favorites, I’m still basking in the memories of delicious food and great times spent with family and great friends.  (Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha) My New Year’s posts are always a favorite of mine as I enjoy memorializing all the delicious food from our Oshogatsu (Japanese New...

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On Saturday, May 5th we celebrated Japanese Children’s Day | Boy’s Day. Our family got together for a grand potluck to celebrate with, none other than, food. When we pulled into the driveway of my parent’s home, we saw that my Dad raised my brother’s koi nobori on a traditional bamboo stick and the colorful carp were flying in the wind. Koi nobori are wind streamers in the shape of carp that are traditionally displayed...

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The week leading up to March 3rd, or Hinamatsuri (Japanese Girl’s Day), I was busy running errands to different Asian supermarkets. Bebe E was excited about her Hinamatsuri party and when I mentioned that I needed to cook or that I needed to run an errand, she started asking, “for my hina-ma-sri party?” :) Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha Many thanks to my bro-in-law for taking some amazing photos at our Hinamatsuri party! He has...

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  As I was preparing to make chirashi for our Hinamatsuri (Japanese Girl’s Day is March 3rd) party over the weekend, I remembered that I liked the amazu renkon, or sweet pickled lotus root, as a topping for chirashi, but I couldn’t find it in my recipe index. Of course, it was logically embedded in last year’s 2011 Hinamatsuri chirashi post, but I decided amazu renkon needed a recipe post all on it’s own, and I...

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