Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Each year, for as long as I remember, my Mom made corned beef and cabbage for our family. The tradition continues today, as my Mom is likely boiling her corned beef as I write this post. I too, have kept our March 17th tradition and went out to buy corned beef and cabbage this morning, but unlike my Mom, I like to throw the meat in my slow cooker. In a few hours, I’ll also add the vegetables. Our...

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Today, I picked up Bebe from school and afterwards as we walked to the library, she held my hand and simply said to me in that sweet voice of hers, “I love you Mommy very much”, to which I responded, “I love you too.” An older woman happened to be walking nearby and overheard Bebe, and commented to me on how precious these moments are. I wholeheartedly agree. I look back at our year and realize we have much to be...

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  Sometimes, the simple things in life provide great pleasure. Such as a bag of frozen strawberries that I found buried in our freezer. We’ve been fighting colds, sore throats, fevers, allergies, asthma, and generalized tiredness from overexerting ourselves during the weekends, but for the most part, we are still healthy and well. Given all that is going on, I’m still keeping our meal repertoire quite simple and once again, I...

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I still make oatmeal about twice a week on mornings I don’t make a green smoothie. Lately we’ve moved on from toppings such as caramelized bananas (recipe available here) to homemade granola (recipe available here), berries, fresh apples and fresh white nectarine slices. However, I recently remembered a dessert that my Auntie Sumiko made and I was inspired to try something new with oatmeal. The idea to top my oatmeal with soy...

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Happy 4th of July! Every year we enjoy a potluck dinner, swimming, and fireworks with family. A few days ago I saw a cute red, white and blue dessert on Pinterest with strawberries, blueberries and a white gelatin. As soon as I saw the picture, I thought I could easily make a similar dessert, but using a family almond jello recipe (available here). The strawberries and blueberries are slightly tossed with sugar and then served with little...

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When we were kids, my parents used to freeze fruit for us as treats. During the summer time, one of my favorites was frozen cherries and my other favorite was frozen bananas. I especially loved the frozen bananas dipped in chocolate that we occasionally got to enjoy down by the Santa Monica or Redondo Beach piers. At home, however, I don’t recall ever being lucky enough to cover our frozen bananas with chocolate (I’m sure my parents...

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I’m so glad that the sun has finally come out this afternoon. All this rain since Friday has really left me feeling down and blue especially after Friday’s tragedy in Connecticut. It was as if the Gods were crying with us all. It was raining again this morning and it was cold. I had to keep Bebe E from school today since she’s still fighting a cold, but I wanted to savor this lazy morning where we weren’t rushing to get...

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Happy Thanksgiving! Today I’m sharing several of my family’s favorite dishes for Thanksgiving. I haven’t had a chance to post all of our dishes yet, but I’m slowly getting there year after year. I often serve soup for the first course, but family members sometime complain that eating soup makes them full, leaving less room for the turkey. To that I respond, just have a few bites of soup, not a bowl! :) Pumpkin...

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