One of the easiest appetizers I enjoy serving (and eating) is bruschetta. And let’s be clear that the Italian pronunciation for bruschetta is: brus’ket.ta. Note, the “ch” is pronounced with a HARD “k”, not a “sh”. It drives me up the wall when I ask for brus’ket.ta at a restaurant, only to be incorrectly corrected by a server with a response that goes something like, “you mean, you...
Read More
Mmmmm. I love cheesecake. Cheesecake loves me. I love ANYTHING cheesecake, let me count the ways… There is my favorite childhood blueberry cheesecake cups, Cheesecake Factory’s pumpkin cheesecake and vanilla bean cheesecake, Japanese rare cheesecake from any type of Asian bakery, anything cheesecake (including cream cheese filled pastries) from Amandine Patisserie in Santa Monica, 85 Degree Bakery’s mango cheesecake, Marie...
Read More
Sumashijiru is a clear Japanese soup and can be made with a number of different ingredients, limited only by the creativity of the chef. Growing up, my Mom often made sumashijiru to accompany our dinners. One of my childhood favorites is a minimalist soup my mom often prepares with nori (seaweed) and tamago (egg) or nori tamago sumashijiru. She often serves this with her homemade gyoza. My mom’s gyoza and nori tamago sumashijiru...
Read More
I decided to neglect the MOUNTAIN of laundry that needs to be folded and quickly draft a post. Do I dare publish this on my blog within *GASP* a week of my last post?!? However, if you don’t want anything to do with our laundry, I recommend you stop reading and quickly jump ahead to the stir-fry recipe below. :) Yes, this post is about boring laundry because I write about whatever is on my mind, and unfortunately THAT is what’s on...
Read More
More clams?!? I just posted hamaguri no saka mushi or Japanese sake steamed clams, and here we are yet again with another clam dish. However, I cheated on the seafood with this dish and there was one short-cut that I regret… More on this later. Spaghetti with clams, or spaghetti con vongole, is one of my favorite Italian pasta dishes. In a former life when I dined out frequently each week, spaghetti con vongole made a regular...
Read More
I am a carnivore, and I love beef. Well, I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian for a short period of time, but it was beef that brought me back to being a carnivore once again. In fact, I can’t live without beef, especially prime rib, which is my favorite beef dish and that means Lawry’s is my favorite prime rib restaurant. I’ve celebrated several birthday dinners and special dates with Bebe Dada (who was my boyfriend at the time) at...
Read More
Over nine months ago, on March 5, 2010, I posted my very first blog entry. I was extremely nervous before I hit the “Publish” button. It wasn’t even a recipe post, just a simple ‘hello’ to no one in particular, and it read more like a ‘to do’ list. Yet, despite the simplicity of this first post, I was anxious. The thought of having my words float around in cyberspace made me a little giddy, yet also...
Read More
I know I’ve said this quite a few times in recent weeks, but I LOVE this time of the year! Thanksgiving for us is always very busy and sometimes even just a little hectic, but it’s still one of my favorite holidays. In one day, we celebrate with both sides of our family, which means packing (lots of food and baby gear) and driving (across counties, around town, and to the supermarket for forgotten items), but what I always cherish...
Read More
