I have over a hundred and thirty English language books on Japanese cuisine on my bookshelves, and yet I feel I’ve only begun to skim the surface. In the past few years, there have been scores of Japanese cookbooks, Asian fusion cookbooks, you name them, published around the world. It is hard to keep up!Read On >
Festive Fare: Traditional Treats for New Year’s
NEW YEAR’S IS ONE OF THE BEST TIMES IN JAPAN – at least for eating. Shogatsu, the New Year’s holiday, is celebrated from midnight on December 31 until January 3 or 4, or even longer by diehards. No New Year’s banquet would be complete without a bowl of zoni, soup with toasted mochi (pounded riceRead On >
Soba Celebrations for a Happy New Year!
IN JAPANESE CULTURE, soba (buckwheat) noodles have always been seen as a “happiness” food, served on special occasions. It is traditional, too, when moving into a new house to greet your neighbors with hikoshi soba (moving soba). This involves a play on words, as soba also means “close” or “near” – like neighbors. Another sobaRead On >
Get Breakaway Matcha Delivered With A Special Offer for Thanks For the Meal Readers
I admit it, that I am very obsessed with Matcha! And you may be wondering, what is matcha? It is finely ground powdered ultra-premium Japanese green tea. It can be drunk hot or cold. Look for my interview with Eric Gower, the owner of Breakaway Matcha from Marin County in the coming weeks for moreRead On >
Chanko Nabe: A One-Pot Dish for a Pot Belly
A little unknown fact about me is that I love sumo! It is one of the few sports I’ll watch. When I lived in Japan, you couldn’t tear me away from the television whenever sumo was on. I even went to a live Sumo tournament in Tokyo with my then father-in-law and it was sublime!Read On >
Guest Blog Post: Sake Paired with Whaaaat??
My niece, Corina Seligman, knows her sake! So I asked her to do a guest blog on some of its finer points. –Lucy I sell sake for a living. After 15 years of bartending and a few years in management I have recently transitioned to the other side of the industry: sales. I work for EmpireRead On >
Trefoil and Shimeji Mushroom Pasta
We are having another heat wave in the Bay area, so spending as little time as possible in the kitchen is my modus operandi at the moment. I have been hankering for mushrooms a lot these past few weeks. This is a yummy and quick pasta dish that incorporates East-West elements. Although I use shimejiRead On >
Canada Travels: Part 2–Victoria, BC
I fell in love in Victoria–His name was Sampson, a noble horse. He took us on a horse-drawn Tally-Ho Carriage Tour through the historic James Bay neighborhood where some of the oldest houses in Victoria still stand. Amazingly, Alisa, my hostess, knew the lively and engaging female carriage driver. She turned out to be aRead On >
Canada Travels: Part 1–Vancouver, BC
Just back from a wonderfully fulfilling and fun gastronomic trip to Vancouver and Victoria. I was thrilled to see how much of a Japanese influence on food there is in Canada. I had planned this trip without realizing that Canada turned 150 years old on July 1st! So young. Lol. I celebrated watching fireworks withRead On >
Lucy is Interviewed by Amber Temerity
I was just interviewed by the delightful Amber Temerity of http://www.embracingtemerity.com/ about the official launch of my new blog which focuses on Japanese food! I also have a Facebook page and you can find that at https://www.facebook.com/ThanksForTheMeal/. You can sign up on either my FB page and or website so you will automatically get blogRead On >