明けましておめでとう！ Akemashite Omedetou! Translation: Happy New Year! A few years ago, I vowed to learn how to make osechi ryori, or traditional Japanese New Year’s food. For as long as I can remember, every year, my Mom would make several different types of osechi ryori for our family to eat on New Year’s Day. Today, this is still true, to a certain extent, but recently I’ve been trying to help her by making...

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  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...

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Does anyone know how long the terrible-two’s last? Is it one year? Is it two years? Two and a half years? Over the weekend, Bebe E found a black ballpoint pen and drew a nice long dark squiggly line down the entire length of one cushion of our sofa. Nice, huh? And technically, she’s not even two yet. Scary. Of course, we have “coloring time” where Bebe E opens her little box filled with washable crayons and magical...

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  Goodbye 2010, hello 2011! Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu! Happy New Year! The holiday season flew by so quickly, I almost can’t believe the New Year has arrived. Yet here I am once again, asking Bebe Dada if he made any New Year’s resolutions. He told me he did, but this year he is keeping them to himself. While I wouldn’t share them on my blog even if he did tell me what they were, the nosey side of me nagged him for a good...

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  Over nine months ago, on March 5, 2010, I posted my very first blog entry. I was extremely nervous before I hit the “Publish” button. It wasn’t even a recipe post, just a simple ‘hello’ to no one in particular, and it read more like a ‘to do’ list. Yet, despite the simplicity of this first post, I was anxious. The thought of having my words float around in cyberspace made me a little giddy, yet also...

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If you’ve been reading my blog the past few weeks, the good news is that my ‘foodie funk’ got a good kick in the tush this past week. The bad news is that even though I’m back to cooking more than just tacos, the more dishes I cook, the further behind I’ll be on my food posts and I’m already quite behind. I know what you’re all thinking… My problem could easily be solved if I just posted more...

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Happy Boy’s Day!  Er, excuse me… allow me to politically correct  myself – Happy Children’s Day! Although May 5th is widely known as Cinco de Mayo for many across the world, the fifth day of the fifth month is also known as kodomonohi or Boy’s Day in our family. May 5th, or Boy’s Day was originally known in Japan as “Tango no Sekku“, or Boy’s Festival, to celebrate the healthy growth and...

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  Asari miso shiru is so good it could be a meal on its own. The last time I made this soup was when we hadtemaki sushi (hand-roll sushi). It definitely goes best with sushi but it’s also great with leftovers. My mom and I had the soup with leftover baked sea bass on Friday for lunch and it turned out to be a good meal. We found fresh katsu asari (manila clams) at Marukai – – they were on sale – – yay! These are...

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