Happy Japanese Girls’ Day! Today, March 3rd, is Hinamatsuri, also known as Girls’ Day or Doll Festival. Since Bebe was born, this Japanese holiday is one that we celebrate annually in my family, and is something my daughter looks forward to each year. Many years in my childhood, my Mom would host Hinamatsuri parties for me and a handful of my friends, and now I in turn have the pleasure of doing the same for my...
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Last year, my mom taught me a new osechi ryori (traditional food for celebrating Japanese New Year) dish that she learned from a friend of hers: kuromame, or sweet black soy beans cooked in the slow cooker. [Photo Credit: Hideki Ueha] This slow cooker recipe is a life saver, given I’ve burned my share of kuromame batches by forgetting about the beans simmering on the stove. The beans need to simmer for a while in order to achieve the...
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It’s hard to believe 2014 is coming to a close and Christmas already came and went. I know it’s been awhile since I shared anything on my blog here, but believe it or not I had a post ready for Thanksgiving, and then again one for Christmas. The only problem is that I wasn’t able to find the photos I took of my food. So those posts have been saved until my archiving (and technology), backup, and memory (laptop’s not...
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Caramel… oozing all over crisp sweet apples. That’s exactly how I like my caramel apples. Last year, Bebe and I made these caramel apples for a Halloween party and honestly, these were just as fun to make as they were to eat. Unfortunately, this year the “Halloween Crunch” (which can be likened to the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year holiday crunch) really snuck up on us. Instead of making these fun caramel apples again,...
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Happy Japanese Children’s Day! May 5th is Kodomo No Hi, also known as Boys’ Day. It’s a day for celebrating the well-being, happiness and health of all children in our family. To celebrate Children’s Day, Bebe and I kept things simple. Since our favorite Japanese restaurant is closed on Mondays, instead we went to our local Japanese supermarket to grab a bite to eat in their amazing food court. Bebe feasted on her...
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For the past two months I’ve been craving my Mom’s jello cheesecake dessert. St. Patrick’s Day seemed the perfect excuse for Bebe and I to make this together and “greenify” it for a festive March 17th. I changed the original dessert recipe from a walnut crust to that which is made of graham cracker crumbs. We also added several drops of green food coloring to the creamy cheesecake filling. Finally, we chose a...
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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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Each year, during Hinamatsuri, or Girls’ Day, the Japanese markets near our home sell sweets specifically for celebrating this holiday. The most popular is “Hina Arare” or sweet puffed rice. The kids really seem to like this one. This year, we had a nice variety of treats thanks to my brother and my sister-in-law so I thought I’d share a photo of all the sweets we’ve been enjoying since yesterday. My...
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