It was, in fact, my birthday yesterday. Normally I don’t really look forward to my birthday. It’s not that I don’t like birthdays, it’s just that I tend to have very unmemorable birthdays, so it’s just another day for me. This year, however, was different. Although my day wasn’t all that great because of some work annoyances, my evening was [...]

Although I didn’t mention about the 1st harvest, this morning for breakfast I collected a salad and some baby bok choy for breakfast. The salad is really light and really fresh. The salad was so fresh, that I think I can safely say I now know the taste of freshness. I’m planning my second crop and I think I’ll try [...]

Over the past couple days, I’ve made okonomiyaki with yakisoba (technically Hiroshima style) 3 different times. I guess it’s safe to say that it tastes pretty good, otherwise I wouldn’t keep making it. Since okonomi means “what you like” and yaki means “grilled” or “cooked” (put it all together and you get “cook what you like”), I’ve named my dish [...]

I’m sure that title has no meaning, but it’s the figurative translation for tiramisu, which I just happened to make last night and it just happened to make me happier. I’m pretty satisfied with how it turned out and the flavor was really good, I just need to work on the whipped cream/marscapone part. Although the recipe for tiramisu is [...]

Living in California, one would expect to experience an earthquake at some point. I guess it turns out that even there are frequent earthquakes in the area, they are often too small to feel unless you are close to the epicenter. My friend said she’s only experienced 3 earthquakes in the 16 years she’s been in Cali. I was fortunate [...]

Normally during the week, I don’t cook. It’s probably a good thing, because I seem to be rather slow when I cook, plus I really like not having to cook when I get home at night. Weekends are the time when I try to cook. This weekend I made a seafood casserole that was super yummy and chicken cordon bleu [...]

I’ve been dancing salsa for a little more than 3 years and Reiko for about a third of that. A couple months back, Reiko and I joined a performance group. Although we are learning tricks and other things we don’t normally get to learn, salsa has become more like a job than a passion. Even as such, Reiko and I [...]

A little more than a month ago, Reiko and I started growing vegetables. We planted baby bok choy, Mesclun sweet salad mix (Bull’s Blood Beet, Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach, Red Salad Bowl Lettuce, Black-Seeded Simpson, and Tendergreen Mustard), lettuce, arugula, wild arugula (stronger taste than regular arugula), and shiso. The only non-vegetable we have is a small pot with a [...]

About a month ago I bought a home ice cream maker in an attempt to satisfy the ice cream monster that lives in the bottom of Reiko’s stomach. The first one I made was a Fresh Strawberry ice cream. In my opinion, it was the best strawberry ice cream I’ve ever tasted. This, I think, was also my best batch [...]

Although I’ve been twice before, this time was different. This time I went to gamble. I took a road trip Friday night with my special lady to Sin City. We had a luxury suite over looking The Strip in The Palazzo, 26th floor. Really nice room, sunken living room, 3 flat screens, spa shower and separate tub, pretty much pimp [...]