So much love in this homemade obento

Japanese culture gives subtle love here and there to people and to the earth, and I think one of them well depicted with homemade obento. Typically, kids bring bento for their lunch boxes (yes, same in many other countries), but these packed lunches are well balanced with nutritious food to fulfill one’s energy until dinner…

Let’s talk about figs

Figs – a fruit that I had never purchased fresh ones for myself up until this year. I had always had figs in dried form because they are easily available all year long in supermarkets (yes, in Japan they have it in convenience stores), but when I moved neighborhoods this past summer and my local…

En boca, Tokyo

This was a good find. My sister first took me here for my birthday this year, and my mom also had always wanted to go, so we took ourselves to En boca again for a casual family dinner. My original request/theme for my birthday dinner with my sister was vegetables, and she found this place…

Amalia’s breakfast: egg in bell pepper, brazilian sausage, wraps, and savory egg cake

Yes, Amalia’s breakfast goes oooon! Her creativity is beyond the world; I say she is amazing. For this breakfast, seriously we had so much to eat I was too full to eat one of the dishes created that I missed out on eating the wrap! Here we have egg in bell pepper – I believe…

Keema curry at Soup Curry Cocoro, Tokyo

This is a blurry photo of this keema curry I had at Cocoro, but I wanted to share this with you because this week turned out to be a curry week for me (out of 7 nights, I had curry 4 times). No, I am not the biggest fan of curry (though Japanese curry was…

Japanese and Korean new year food

In my family, we celebrate the New Year’s Day with lots and lots of Japanese and Korean food. My family background is Japanese and Korean, and we celebrate it both ways and in both cuisines. We had three new year celebrations this year: two on January 1st and another on the day before work started…

Lunch at Ark Hills Cafe

I chose to go to Ark Hills Cafe for lunch during the weekdays when I want something good and filling. They usually offer five different kinds of lunch, which differ weekly. The one pictured below is their “ofukuro no obanzai” or translated to Ma’s Kyoto style home cooked meal. Miso soup, salad, and rice are…

Ippudo, Tokyo, Japan

Ippudo and ramen in general is a heated topic in the U.S. right now, and I hope many readers will like this post. Ippudo’s original store is not in Tokyo but is located in Fukuoka, which is in the western region of Japan. Ippudo is a chain ramen store and don’t get me wrong and…

Ramen Dojo, San Mateo, California

Ramen is getting the hype nowadays in the U.S. Many friends visit me in Japan saying they want to try “real” ramen. I will say that Japan has really good ramen, and favorites can be found everywhere according to your taste. Each ramen shop has different history and background, they use all sorts of broth,…

HRD Coffee Shop, San Francisco CA

Yes, I love Asian food and I love Mexican food. Of course, Jeff knowing the best, he took me to HRD Coffee Shop for a late lunch. All these places in SF, gosh these popular places have endless lines wherever, but it is totally worth the wait for good food with good company. Diners Drive-ins…

Steakbites

Just wanted to share these steak cubes I got from a teppanyaki restaurant in Hakone, Japan. The most interesting part of this steak was the sides that came with it. You can see in one of the photos, the “sauces” that complemented the beef. From the left (if I recall it correctly): miso pork thick…

Parade of pork and daikon

Another one of my mom’s homemade dishes. These days living back at home, I find that homemade meals provide lots of nutrients compared to eating out, even with an attempt to eat healthy outside. This dish, I named it a parade of pork and daikon. It uses thinly sliced pork belly and the white daikon…