This post is for my buddy, M-kun. I thought about you when I was making this chili because I know how much you appreciate the Islands, surfing, and of course, Zippy’s. At our home, cold weather begets stews, casseroles, soups and of course, chili. I grew up with, none other than, Hormel Chili with No Beans. Chili is not something my native Japanese Mom cooked for us. As such, canned chili is not something we ate often, unless my Dad was...

I love Fall, not just because of the mild, yet cooler weather (with the exception of the 90 – plus degree temperatures we experienced last week) and the color of the leaves changing (in limited areas of Southern California), but because of all the wonderful festivities that take place in the Fall such as Halloween, family birthdays, and Thanksgiving. By far, Halloween is one of my FAVORITE holidays, but ironically I married Bebe Dada who...

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...

  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...

  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...

  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...

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...

Surprise! I’m alive! OK, I’m just being obnoxious. Two weeks, going on three, is probably the longest I have EVER gone without updating my blog. I’m not sure why, but time has REALLY been flying by the last few weeks and on Friday, I realized that a few weeks had passed without a new post! Horribly shocking, I know! (Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha) Perhaps the weeks have been flying by because school and soccer season started....