The convenience of having a Japanese supermarket near my home is that I can pop on over to the store to pick-up a few things, but more importantly, I can buy sashimi for a really simple and quick dinner. We don’t feed Big Onechan sashimi since her idea of sushi is an avocado roll or tamago, and Bebe E is too young for sashimi, but when I need a quick dinner for Bebe Dada and I, my go-to item is inexpensive wild maguro (tuna) from the...

  While at first we might think of spaghetti as uniquely Italian, my instant go-to-kid-friendly spaghetti with meat sauce is, by my standards, American-faire, not Italian. Then there is pasta as it relates to Japanese cuisine. There are Japanese pasta dishes that are definitely not what I consider Italian cuisine, but it is uniquely Japanese and… I absolutely love it! As a child and throughout my teens, my Mom often took me to visit our...

  Great news! Bebe E graduated from “Tadpole” to “Guppy” at her swim school! (In other words, from beginner to intermediate.) Hurray for Bebe E! OK… I admit that I am an overly proud parent who is using this blog to boast about her child’s accomplishment, but seriously, can you blame this first-time parent?!? Rather than continue to gloat about Bebe E’s achievement, I will share with you the school...

As a kid, I never used to like pork much. Especially pork chops. These days, I seem to like pork more, not just because lean pork is lower in calories and fat than beef, but because I like it’s versatility. However, I still don’t make pork chops very often, in fact, I rarely make pork chops although Bebe Dada would enjoy it if I did. Instead, I’ve been using thinner bite-sized cuts of lean pork typically found at Japanese...

  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...

  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...

  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...

  I originally planned to post this on Friday, March 11th, but it turned out to be the morning after the 9.0 earthquake that hit Sendai, Japan on March 10, 2011. It seemed inappropriate to immediately post a celebratory chirashi sushi dish that I made for a festive Japanese holiday, Girl’s Day. Featured Above: Photo Credit Hideki Ueha (chirashi that I made in 2012). Our thoughts, prayers and condolences are with all of those who...