There are three things that I love at The Cheesecake Factory: 1. Vanilla Bean Cheesecake; 2. Mushroom Soup; and 3. Avocado Egg Rolls. Everything else on the menu is good and I have my favorites and not-so-favorites, but the three dishes I listed above are truly what get me through the restaurant’s doors. The first dish, Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, I will never, ever, try to re-create. Ever. It’s just one of those recipes that deserves...

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Happy Lunar New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choi! For those of you who visited my blog recently and had difficulty with some of the links on my blog, I sincerely apologize! Most all of the links are fixed but I thank you for your patience while we work out all of the issues. Please don’t hesitate to browse the “Recipes” page for any dishes you might be interested in while we continue to work out the kinks. I had hoped to post this last...

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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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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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  Usually, I’m quite the motivated cook in the kitchen. However, these days (ok it’s been more like a few months now), all I wish for is some type of cooking-kitchen-elf who will make dinner magically appear. Let’s also include lunch for that matter, since a few days out of the week I also need to feed Bebe lunch on days she’s not in school and the appearance of a cooking-kitchen-elf twice a day wouldn’t be so...

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Of all the foods my Mom makes, the more I think about it, the more I’m certain that gyoza, or potstickers, are hands down my favorite dish. Sometimes my Mom would set aside a few gyoza for lunch the next day which she would simply boil in a hot pot of water. It only takes a few minutes for the sui-gyoza to cook, which are quickly drained and then served with a simple sauce of ponzu (citrus – soy dressing) and spiced with Japanese...

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Today, I picked up Bebe from school and afterwards as we walked to the library, she held my hand and simply said to me in that sweet voice of hers, “I love you Mommy very much”, to which I responded, “I love you too.” An older woman happened to be walking nearby and overheard Bebe, and commented to me on how precious these moments are. I wholeheartedly agree. I look back at our year and realize we have much to be...

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I’m not sure what motivates me to start writing a blog post at 12:45 AM on a Sunday night/morning (insomnia?), but here I am with thoughts of roasted golden cauliflower on the brain. I’ve also been thinking about Thanksgiving sides and this was one of those oldies-but-goodies that I thought deserved a blog post prior to our big holiday this Thursday, given that it would make a great turkey day side dish. There are some that refer to...

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