Strawberry season is here! We always know when the season is in high gear because Marie Calendar’s starts selling their fresh strawberry pies and our local organic farmer, Tanaka Farms, starts their strawberry picking tours. If you’ve never been strawberry picking, it’s definitely worth the trip! The whole family can take a bumpy wagon ride through the farm grounds with a tasty treat at the end… all you can eat...
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I love zucchini, but pureed zucchini is something I never would have thought to make for bebe E. According to “The Baby & Toddler Cookbook“, zucchini is a natural first food for babies because of it’s tender texture and very mild flavor. In addition, it’s thin skin makes it easy to prepare and easy for baby to digest. Because bebe E will eat the skin of the zucchini, I felt it was important to buy organic. So...
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Last night was one of those night’s where Bebe E and I were home alone for dinner. It was quiet and lonely… :( For the past several years bebe dada’s been involved in a fundraising committee for a large charity in our county, and last night was the kick-off planning meeting for their annual winter gala. I slightly dread these evenings when he’ll be home late (or if he’s traveling) because it means the...
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Wakame and Katsuo-bushi are the basic ingredients for homemade katsuo dashi. I’m so lucky my BFF lives practically across the street from us. As little girls, we often said how wonderful it would be if our houses were right next door to one another when we grew up. Well, across the street is pretty excellent in my book. :) Since I started my blog, I’ve called on BFF to take extra food off my hands, such as sakura mochi....
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For the last 2 months I’ve been buying sweet potatoes with red skin, hoping to find vibrant, orange flesh on the inside. The past 3 times I purchased sweet potatoes for bebe E, I’ve been disappointed to find whitish yellowy-green flesh. There’s been some confusion in our family about the difference between sweet potatoes and yams. We always believed yams were different from sweet potatoes and had red skin and orange flesh,...
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Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki One of my favorite Japanese foods is okonomiyaki. “Okonomi” means, “what you prefer or like”, and okonomiyaki is a savory Japanese pancake made with only those ingredients that you like. Both my parents have roots in Hiroshima, Japan so it’s no wonder I grew up eating Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. This is where all of the ingredients are cooked in layers. Okonomiyaki differs based...
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Cheesy garlic bread is a favorite in our family on spaghetti night. Not too long ago I made spaghetti with meat sauce and I ALMOST forgot to post spaghetti’s best friend – that’s right, easy cheesy garlic bread you can make at home. OK, I did forget but I remembered… 2 weeks later. That’s just how my life is – or ,maybe that’s just how my scatter-brained memory is. :) Oh, and Bebe Dada...
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My mom’s chawan mushi is absolutely my favorite Japanese dish. While I was pregnant last year, every time I visited my parents my Mom would ask me if I wanted her to make something to eat, and I would say, “CHAWAN MUSHI!” Towards the end of my pregnancy my Dad refused to eat chawan mushi even though my Mom served it for dinner, and even Bebe Dada declined when I would bring home leftovers (I always asked my mom to make me...
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