This post is for my buddy, M-kun. I thought about you when I was making this chili because I know how much you appreciate the Islands, surfing, and of course, Zippy’s. At our home, cold weather begets stews, casseroles, soups and of course, chili. I grew up with, none other than, Hormel Chili with No Beans. Chili is not something my native Japanese Mom cooked for us. As such, canned chili is not something we ate often, unless my Dad was...

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I can’t believe it was over 100 degrees in So. Cal. last week and I had our A/C blasting. This morning, I woke up to pouring rain and I pulled on my warm bathrobe, fuzzy socks, and I’m thinking about hot cocoa. Crazy! It’s been drizzling the past few days here, and it’s cold (for my standards). Flip-flops one day, Ugg’s another day. Such is life in So. Cal…. Given all of the Japanese and Asian foods...

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  This weekend I overindulged in food, some of it was really bad for me – like the Hamburger Doritos and fried wontons. Saturday night we celebrated three of my best girlfriends’ birthdays and we ate crab and temaki sushi.  I love these girls – they REALLY know how to eat.  :)  I forgot to take pictures of the crab but here’s our temaki spread.   Sunday night we watched the Lakers game with Yin-yin and Pa-paw (Bebe...

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  As a kid, my favorite dish was my mom’s spaghetti with meat sauce.  It was, as the kids say today, “the bomb!” The funny thing was that, being Japanese, my mom would always ask us if we would like rice too.  My dad, brother and I would always say, “no”.  Yet, she always cooked a fresh batch of rice for dinner every time she made spaghetti, just in case one of us said, “yes.” The spaghetti I make...

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