I’ve decided to be a pescatarian for a month, just to see if it will make me feel any different. I’m not a huge meat eater, but I consume it out of habit, without thinking. This month, I want to be deliberate about what I put into my body and part of this is making […]
Savory rice with mushrooms and just a hint of ginger. My mom made this when we visited over the holidays and it reminded me how much I love this dish. There are 3 types of mushrooms used here: shimeji, shiitake, and eringi. First, the mushrooms are cooked in dashi and strained. Then, you take this […]
There’s no escaping the record-breaking 113 degree weather in Los Angeles. It wouldn’t be so bad except my husband and I are all about gaman. That means we’re the only crazy people on our street to tough it out and not turn on our air conditioning. I had to figure out a dinner plan that […]
For my first Foodbuzz Project Food Blog challenge (please head over here—voting starts September 20!), I decided to take on a favorite of mine, inari zushi. We make it every year when we visit my husband’s family for Oshogatsu (Japanese New Year) in San Juan Bautista. I’m there with the aunties, cousins, and neighbors, year […]
I need to ease back into things here. I’ll start with this simple, delicious salad—a recipe I’ve set aside for a long time. My mom grew these beautiful tomatoes this summer and I carefully carried them with me on the plane, hoping not to bruise them. This isn’t a complicated recipe and I think it […]
I would’ve never thought pairing sumeshi (vinegared sushi rice) and curry powder could deliver such a great combination. The flavors in this unconventional chirashi are so delicately nuanced, I couldn’t help but feel it exemplifies a Japanese sensibility. I’m not always in the mood for curry-flavored foods because I expect it to be overwhelming, but […]
I love burnt rice. It’s hard to top something as simple and perfect as yakionigiri, but this recipe shows that the slightest effort makes something entirely different and delicious in its own right. I saw a photo of this recipe in the Japanese magazine, Kyouno Ryouri Beginners. This “beginners” series focuses each issue on one […]
We all have failures in the kitchen from time to time. This is one of mine. My mom couldn’t stop raving about these tofu donuts—she loved them so much she fried these babies up 3 days in a row. The original recipe (which comes from a Japanese cooking magazine) calls for Morinaga Hot Cake Mix. […]
As a kid I called it “suki yucky” because I was tickled by the oxymoron (suki means like or love in Japanese). Sukiyaki was a treat growing up. My mom would plop the portable electric stove on the dining table and the meat, vegetables, and tofu would bubble as we filled our bowls, then dipped […]
I’ve been wanting to bake mochiko batter on a shortbread or pie crust. I’ve seen mochiko baked in a brownie-like batter, and I’ve seen it in a cake form, but I’ve never had it layered with a firm base. I imagined it would have a great textural quality—biting first into the chewy mochi, then into […]
