Have I ever shared with you that my best friend, the one I always refer to as my BFF on my blog, has been my friend since I was five years old? It was one of those acts of fate where we were destined to grow-up together, go to different colleges, go to different graduate schools, yet end up living in the same town, practically on the same block. Our moms, both Japanese nationals, used to take my BFF (on the right) and I to the same park in the...

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As the title of this post implies, I made fried food! It was somewhat impulsive. I was cleaning out our freezer and I came across a pack of Nanka Seimen egg roll wrappers that I purchased quite a long time ago. To be honest, I'm not even sure when I bought these, but after defrosting them, they didn't have any noticeable freezer burn so I didn't want them to go to waste. I remembered a type of egg roll that my Mom used to make for us when...

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  Just when the rain started to fall, the weather turned cooler and I felt as though it might finally be time to get the flannel sheets out, we are suddenly facing hot Fall weather in the upper 80’s this week. I love Southern California! (Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha) Fortunately, grilling is practically a year-round activity in my neck of the woods because I love this Korean style marinade that I learned over a decade ago from my...

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Since every blogger has an occasional “Silent Saturday”, “Silent Sunday” or “Wordless Wednesday”, I thought I’d join the bandwagon and post a few pictures from a trip to our local Farmer’s Market. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to be “silent” or “wordless”, but I’m trying. Lazy weekends usually involve a brief trip to our local Farmer’s Market, a trip...

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  I am really enjoying my daughter’s nursery school experience, and honestly I’m not sure who is having a better time: Bebe E or Mama. I was so worried about Bebe E having separation anxiety as she used to cry when I would leave her with my parents, a family friend, or even my husband, but it seems she is growing up. Since school started last month, Bebe E hasn’t shed a single tear when I dropped her off at school. Every time...

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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...

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  Let’s just call this week, “Kale Week” at our home. Did you catch Monday’s soup post with ground chicken, kale and brown rice? Kale’s been a regular in our fridge, along with spinach, romaine lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes, but I’ve been using it more in what I will call, “noticeable dishes”, such as the soup. In the past, I’ve always chopped up kale finely and added it to traditional...

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Never mind that we just experienced one of the hottest weekends in Southern California and it was 93º today and currently 80º at 9:30 PM. My sore throat from last week disappeared mid-week, only to return on Friday and nag me throughout the weekend. I’m not exactly feeling sick, but I just can’t get rid of this sore throat and this morning I woke up with just a slight scratchiness in my throat, which is a significant improvement,...

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