Japan 2016 Travel Journal, Part 3 Tokyo & Hiroshima & Food

Japan 2016 Travel Journal, Part 3 Tokyo & Hiroshima & Food

It’s been a year since we travelled to Japan, and while I never got around to sharing the last of our family photos from our wonderful trip, the fact my mom just arrived in Osaka was motivation enough to publish a blog post. Both Bebe and I are definitely pining to be with my mom in Japan. Bebe loved Sanrio Puroland in Tokyo. It’s a teeny tiny Sanrio version of Disneyland but it was Japanese style cuteness overload, and we spent a...

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Japan 2016 Travel Journal, Part 2 Kyoto

Japan 2016 Travel Journal, Part 2 Kyoto

  Kyoto is one of my favorite sightseeing destinations in Japan. Throughout my life, I’ve had the privilege of visiting this beautiful city a few times, but because I’ve visited at such different stages in my life, it felt familiar, yet also new each time. (Sorry, some of the images are large and may load slowly; I forgot to compress them!) My younger experiences included visits when I was in early elementary school, followed...

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I Am Back! Japan 2016 Travel Journal, Part 1 Arriving in Osaka

I Am Back! Japan 2016 Travel Journal, Part 1 Arriving in Osaka

It’s been over a year since I last shared anything on my personal blog, and it’s also been a year since I was last in Japan. I thought I’d kickstart my blog by sharing a few pictures from our travels to Kyoto and Tokyo this spring. I also have several pictures from last year’s trip to Japan in spring 2015 that I’ve wanted to share for more than a year now, but somehow time just kept slipping away. Maybe I’ll...

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Barley and Spinach Salad & Mothers Day 2014

Barley and Spinach Salad & Mothers Day 2014

I hope everyone had a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend! We enjoyed a nice weekend spent with family and we also took Bebe to her first Dodgers game. Of course, she had more fun looking through the binoculars at the outfielders and eating frozen yogurt while playing with our family, but she was a good cheerleader and had a blast. Here are some photos of our family at the game. Or skip down to the salad recipe at the bottom of the post. Me...

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Crab Fishing, Catch 2012 vs. 2013

Crab Fishing, Catch 2012 vs. 2013

My husband’s good friend takes us crab fishing at least once a year, and it’s such a treat, especially for the kiddo. It’s easy for us because we just show-up, but our friend hauls these big round (and somewhat odiferous) fishing nets and brings along interesting bait. Last year he brought a scary fish head and some chicken which the crabs seemed to like quite a bit. This year he brought along chicken and salmon collars, and...

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Little Tokyo & Marugame Monzo Restaurant

Little Tokyo & Marugame Monzo Restaurant

It’s no secret that I’ve been having a difficult time creating regular posts for my blog. I’d like to blame my absence on a recent heat wave in our neck of the woods which completely turned me off from cooking and going anywhere near the stove. Unfortunately, I can’t get away with eating out every night for two weeks straight so I’ve resorted to what I refer to as lazy cooking. I mainly rely on cooking somen...

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Happy New Year! Welcome 2013: Lilianas Tamales & Elfie

Happy New Year! Welcome 2013: Lilianas Tamales & Elfie

Happy New Year! It’s 2013! The Year of The Snake. What new year’s resolutions have you made for 2013? Me? As usual, nothing new or specific. Long ago I stopped making resolutions such as, “eat healthier, don’t eat chips and chocolate, exercise, diet, on and on”. In general, I try to focus on being positive, living without regrets, looking forward to new experiences, learning new things, being thankful and finding...

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Apple Picking, Simmered Apples & A Quick Tart

Apple Picking, Simmered Apples & A Quick Tart

  Over the weekend, my family and I went apple picking at Riley’s Los Rios Rancho in Yucaipa, CA. This year, I decided I wanted to celebrate my birthday differently than years past. When I was little, my parents used to take us cherry picking and I can’t recall if we went apple picking too, but our jaunt to rural Southern California brought back great childhood memories and it was quite a pleasant get-away for us city...

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