Strawberry season at Tanaka Farms, our local organic farm, opened in mid-March. Each year, we anticipate the season’s approach as we plan our strawberry-picking outing(s). Bebe E’s favorite wagon display in front of the produce stand. (April 2011) This season, Bebe E and I were fortunate to go strawberry-picking twice already. Once with “my girls” (best friends) and their families, and a second time with family (for Big...

I love Fall, not just because of the mild, yet cooler weather (with the exception of the 90 – plus degree temperatures we experienced last week) and the color of the leaves changing (in limited areas of Southern California), but because of all the wonderful festivities that take place in the Fall such as Halloween, family birthdays, and Thanksgiving. By far, Halloween is one of my FAVORITE holidays, but ironically I married Bebe Dada who...

  It’s finally that time of the year!!! It’s Lakers season! A week ago Saturday, I went to a pre-season Lakers game at the invitation of my family friend. I like to call my friend M-kun, my “lil’-brotha-from-anotha-motha.” (Apologies for my lingo, but I couldn’t help it!) His Dad is like a 2nd father to me and his Mom is like a 2nd mother to me. His older sister, Aya-chan, is like the little sis’ I...

  It’s rare when I start writing a post and I have absolutely nothing to write about. My mind is blank. Yes, I could go strait to talking about the food, but that would be a little like my last post – a little boring, no? Since squid, or ika in Japanese, is from the sea, I decided share a few photos from summer related to, you guessed it, the sea! I’ve been fortunate to have always lived within two to four miles from the...

  It feels like it’s been a long time since I traded weekend brunches and lazy lunches with girlfriends for soccer games, swim meets, little kiddie birthday parties, and mommy & me class. Of course, I say this lovingly, as I adore spending time with my family, but as I reflect upon the past 10 years of my life, in many ways its changed so very dramatically, but definitely for the better. This morning, as I sit in front of my computer...

View from the top of the bluff  at Laguna Beach. It’s been a very looooong time since I’ve posted food that I made for Bebe E. One of the reasons why I rarely post my homemade baby food is because it’s basically pureed organic fruits or veggies and honestly, it’s pretty boring stuff. Over the past several months, however, I’ve been taking photos of the food I made for Bebe E, thinking that one day I would write...