I like to think that this little dish of hamaguri no saka mushi is my ongoing effort to overcome my fear of cooking with seafood. (Have I mentioned this fear before?) Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat seafood, but cooking it is another story. My Mom cooked quite a bit of fish, squid, scallops, shrimp, octopus, and clams when my brother and I were growing up. Yet all these years I’ve never wanted to cook seafood as it was too...

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  Oh, my little blog… how I’ve missed you so!!! I had nothing but good intentions last week to share a winning onigiri post after the Lakers closed out Round 1 of the 2011 NBA Western Conference Finals against New Orleans. I even started a draft, but of course, the weekend arrived bearing much fun (a trip to LA, a pool party and birthday celebrations) and ultimately resulted in my being too tired to blog. Sadly, it doesn’t...

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  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...

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Last week we met bebe dada for lunch and I ordered a bento box with miso glazed salmon.  It was the second time I ordered this in three weeks, and I was hoping this time, that my first bite of salmon would be packed full of flavor… but it wasn’t.  I’m not sure why I ordered this again, knowing very well that I would be disappointed once more.  I believe my tummy is to blame.  :)  The tummy has a mind of its own and it...

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  A quick meal made with leftovers is kakiage donburi or kakiagedon.  Mixed tempura rests over a bed of brown rice and is served in a donburi.  When possible, I like to use leftovers in a new dish because it’s usually easy to prepare and keeps the dinner menu exciting. Earlier this week I made kakiage tempura and wrapped each leftover kakiage individually in plastic wrap and then placed them all in a ziplock bag.  I like storing them...

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Karashi Mentaiko is one of those foods that I refused to eat as a child.  Why?  You guessed it – It’s because of the way it looks.  It’s not pretty. It wasn’t until some time post-college when my Auntie Tree Village (our closest family friends) went back to her hometown in Kyushu, Japan and brought back fresh frozen mentaiko for our family. After some encouragement from my mom, I tried a bite, and it was so...

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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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Gindara Misozuke, a family favorite. Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha Nobu’s miso marinated black cod, or gindara misozuke as it is known in Japanese, is so delicious! This recipe won’t disappoint and will prove to be versatile for use on other types of fish such as grilled salmon. The first time I ever tasted this miso black cod was when the daughter of my Mom’s friend shared some of the fish that she marinated and baked for us....

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