What are your most vivid childhood summer memories? My most vivid memories include swimming, spending time with my mom and brother on lazy days, tennis and art classes with my BFF (yes it’s the same “best friend forever” since I was 6 that lives across the street from me today), trips to Japan, and somen.  Somen is a very thin, white noodle made of wheat flour, and is typically served cold with a dipping sauce. As a child,...

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...

  How often have I started a blog post with, “I love ____ ! It’s absolutely my favorite childhood food that my mom used to make for us.” If you’ve been following my blog, I think you would agree that I have a lot of favorite childhoods foods, more than you could count on one hand, and if I really think about this, it’s very hard for me to pick just one food that is my absolute favorite because my mom lovingly made...

  At our house, chicken corn curry night always starts with rotisserie chicken from Costco.  If we eat rotisserie chicken for dinner one night (we had Game 3 Salsa with chicken tacos over the weekend), everyone knows that chicken corn curry night is in the near future. As I mentioned before, I love Costco rotisserie chicken because it’s tasty, cost-effective, and most importantly – it’s convenient!  It also freezes well,...

Oyakodon is a common donburi dish often found at Japanese restaurants or the deli section of Japanese supermarkets.  It’s chicken, delicately cooked egg, and thin slices of onion all resting over a bed of rice, and covered with a delicate sweet and savory sauce. Long ago, my Mom taught me why oyakodon is called “oyakodon” and tanindon (beef and egg donburi) is called “tanindon”.  Oyako in Japanese means...

  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...

Donburi sauce is the foundation of my Mom’s “-don” dishes, such as oyakodon (follow link for recipe), a chicken and egg donburi; tendon, a tempura donburi; and kakiagedon (follow link for recipe), a mixed vegetable and shrimp tempura donburi; and tanindon, a beef and egg donburi. Because of the many uses of donburi sauce, I felt this savory and sweet sauce deserved a post all to itself.  Eventually, I’ll get to each...

  We all know fried food is bad for us, but how can you resist crispy, crunchy, tasty tempura?  Forget about your cholesterol level, forget about those jeans you’ve been wanting to get back into, forget about your New Year’s resolution to eat healthier. Throw all of that out the door and simply, LOVE tempura with me, just for a little while.  :) I don’t eat tempura often (only when dining at a good Japanese restaurant), but...