I would like to have fresh cucumbers (if available Japanese cucumber but American mini-cucumber is a great substitute). Usually American min...

This is another installment of 9 “otoshi” appetizers . I managed to fill all 9 spots with small dishes I made. Three fish dishes and 6 veget...

Firefly squid or “ hotaru-ika ” ホタルイカ is one of our favorites. Spring (April-June) is the season for it and we realized we have some from la...

Some days ago when we did our usual take-out sashimi and sushi from Tako Grill , I spotted a sake called “Ice Breaker”. I immediately recogn...

The other day while we were shopping at the near-by Whole Foods, my wife found a new item which is called “Teeny Tiny Cucumber” (picture #3)...

We really like the pickled daikon which I posted before. I am making it regularly. As I mentioned in the previous post, the marinade contai...

My wife got three relatively small Japanese sweet potatoes or “ Satsuma-imo ” さつまいも from Whole Foods.  She was vaguely thinking of making sw...

We got fresh wood ear mushrooms “Kikurage” 木耳 from Weee . In an effort make the mushroom last longer I go through several steps. I wash the ...

This year, we were fortunate enough not to miss having some fresh matsutake 松茸 offered by Oregon mushrooms  to celebrate the start of the fa...

Cold noodle dishes using somen 素麺, soba 蕎麦 and ramen noodle “Hiyashi chuka” 冷やし中華 or “ Hiyashi ramen ” 冷やしラーメン are common especially on hot ...

We started using quail eggs ウズラの卵 from fresh eggs that we boil rather than using canned ones since the quality is much better. We can get fr...

I am always on the look out for places where we can get good and specialized (especially Japanese) groceries. I have known about the on line...

 We have been getting keta-slamon roe “Ikura” from Vital Choice . The available packages vary in size; sometimes only a tray of one kilogram...

 Because we got 4 large American cucumbers instead of the 4 mini cucumbers we ordered for our recent groceries delivery, we decided to use t...

This is the second dish we made using the large American cucumbers we got through grocery home delivery by mistake. Since my wife is into a...

Getting home delivery of groceries is very convenient but one problems that the quality of the fresh produce may be quite variable since we ...

Many years ago when we discovered the American mini-cucumber, we were delighted since it is the closest thing to a Japanese cucumber we can ...

This is nothing new; just a continuation of frozen and boiled Spanish octopus from Great Alaska Seafood . This is a good example of how an o...

When we got firefly squid from Regalis food , we also got 3 lbs. of fresh bigeye tuna sashimi メバチマグロ (akami 赤身). Since this was too much tun...

We have a good number of small Japanese-style bowls and plates but for some reason my relationship with breakable dishes ends up with them g...