Have I ever shared with you that my best friend, the one I always refer to as my BFF on my blog, has been my friend since I was five years old? It was one of those acts of fate where we were destined to grow-up together, go to different colleges, go to different graduate schools, yet end up living in the same town, practically on the same block. Our moms, both Japanese nationals, used to take my BFF (on the right) and I to the same park in the...

Never mind that we just experienced one of the hottest weekends in Southern California and it was 93º today and currently 80º at 9:30 PM. My sore throat from last week disappeared mid-week, only to return on Friday and nag me throughout the weekend. I’m not exactly feeling sick, but I just can’t get rid of this sore throat and this morning I woke up with just a slight scratchiness in my throat, which is a significant improvement,...

  A few Saturday’s ago I had the privilege of celebrating my good friend’s bridal shower at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. As one of her bridesmaids, I can’t express in words how excited I was about celebrating my friend’s upcoming wedding nuptials. I happily handmade her bridal shower invites using her wedding colors (photo above). I’ll share with you our wonderful afternoon tea in just a moment, but first I...

One of the great things about living in Southern California is that we have a number of Japanese take-out bento restaurants that are within our reach. On Saturday morning we woke up and decided to take a quick trip to the beach and pick-up bento at a Japanese take-out restaurant that we like to visit occasionally, Betoss. Every month they usually have a special on a different bento, or Japanese lunch box. Our favorite is the $4.99 chicken...

I don’t want to get in the habit of posting my jaunts dining out, since I don’t dine out very often, but this week I find myself compelled to share yet another favorite Westside Los Angeles eatery: Tito’s Tacos. Tito’s Tacos is nothing short of a historical landmark. Anyone who grew up in Los Angeles or has spent a significant amount of time here, know’s EXACTLY what I’m talking about. When we locals move...

Once upon a time, there was a young girl who loved dining out in Los Angeles. Then she grew-up and moved away; not far away, but far enough. After moving away, she still visited Los Angeles and occasionally dined at her favorite restaurants as a singleton, but the frequency of visits to her favorites markedly declined during her post-L.A. life. She tried desperately to find new favorites in her post-L.A. neighborhood, but alas, “you can...

  We’re sick again. At the beginning of last week I felt as though I was coming down with a cold. My throat was feeling slightly uncomfortable and my body felt heavy. After three days of eating chicken soup and taking it easy, I felt that I succeeded in fending off a full-blown cold. Yesterday morning I was nuzzling Bebe E when I noticed her neck was just a little warmer than normal. A quick check of her temperature indicated only a...

  I considered a non-food related, no-recipe blog post about our pre-Easter weekend extravaganza. However, after a little thought I changed my mind and decided on a post about “perfect” boiled eggs, how to color them with simple food coloring, as well as to share a few crafty ideas for decorating eggs. Before we get to the cooking and decorating of eggs, I’ll share what I really wanted to write about, which is our...