made baja shrimp burrito for dinner! again, this is one of daniel's bbq war item, so please vote for 5 star here. thank you :)

バハ　シュリンプ　ブリトーを夕飯に作りました。これはまたダニエルの参加しているBBQサイトのアイテムなので５スターにポチっと一票してもらえると嬉しいです。＾＾　リンクはこちら。

we used baja citrus marinade packet and grilled it on the bbq.

バハ　シトラスというマリネードを使ってエビに味付けしてガスBBQで焼きました。ブリトーの中身はキャベツ、サワークリーム、トマト、サルサ、アボカド、パクチーとライムでトルティーアでくるりと巻いて食べました。

made ginger beef rice burger for dinner. we marinated the meat in ginger, soy sauce, yakiniku (korean bbq) sauce and bbq-ed and put them in the rice patty i made. yum!　daniel is part of BBQ Wars and you can vote for this burger or your favorite burger here.

モスバーガースタイルの焼き肉バーガーを作ってみました。お肉はガスバーベキューで焼いて、焼きおにぎり風のご飯を作って出来上がり！ ダニエルはBBQ　Warというサイトのメンバーでもしよかったらこのダニエルバーガーに一票お願いしま〜す　＾＾リンクは こちら。

we had bbq kebobs for dinner last weekend. it was yummy!

it's been raining all weekend long and we've been cooped up in the house. so i decided to make peanut butter choc. chip cookies on sunday afternoon.

今週の天気はずぅーと雨！週末もちょっとした買い物以外はどこにもいかず家でのんびり(掃除以外は...笑）と過ごしました。でもあんまりにものんびりすぎたので日曜の午後のおやつにピーナッツバターとチョコチップのクッキーを作りました。

making the criss cross with a fork right before baking.

焼く前にフォークでクロスの模様付け。

not very festive, but made vanilla cupcakes for the new years! we had few friends over at our house, watched the time square ball drops on tv with a glass of champagne and celebrated the new years! how did you guys spend your new years?

ちょっと寂しげ（？）ですがニューイヤーのパーティーようにバニラカップケーキを作りました。数人の友達がうちに来てくれてタイムスクエアのボールがカウントダウンで落ちていくのをテレビで見ながらシャンペンでお祝いしました。さすがにカイは１０時でダウンでニューイヤーはベットのなかで過ごしました。＾＾；

we had a small bbq with both sides of the family. we made lots of kabobs!

家族みんなでのファミリーバーベキュー。シシカボブをたくさん焼きました。

i baked spiced apple bread using the mix from trader joe's.

トレーダージョーズというスーパーで売っていたアップルスパイスのパウンドケーキミックスを使って焼いてみました。シナモンが結構きいていて、しっとりとしあがってGood!

remember? in july, we did this but i said we were missing my parents iphones? well, we got all of our iphones this time ;)

７月に一度 みんなのiphoneの写真をとったけど、私の親のが抜けてましたが今回はちゃんと入ってます！　＾＾

i tried to be healthy and green today ;) so i decided to make some corn muffins that used whole grain corn meal, wheat flour, and soy milk. i topped them with some smart balance spread in a reusable silicon baking cups ;)

今日はちょっとヘルシーなコーンマフィンに挑戦。材料はおもに全粒の穀粉、ウィートフラワー、とソイミルク。焼いた後はヘルシーなマーガリンを少しのせてリユーザブルのシリコンカップで作ってみました。砂糖、オイル（上にのせたマーガリン以外）はなし、味もちょっとヘルシーだったので（←あたりまえか！笑）蜂蜜を少しつけて食べました。

with parmesan cheese sprinkles in top.

ソーセージをパンの生地でくるり！パルメザンチーズも振りかけてみました。

i bought this apple slicer from ikea a while back but i finally started using it the other day. it's so cool! i don't know why i didn't use it sooner! it definitely worth $2.99 price tag :)

このアップルスライサーはかなり前にイケアで買ったんだけど引き出しに入れっぱなし...先週リンゴを買ったので使いはじめてみました。さすが、名前のとおりリンゴは一瞬でスライス！もっと前から使えば良かった！2ドル９９セントの価値かなり有り＾＾

yesterday was daniel's birthday. i worked in the afternoon so when i got home i made some heath bar cookies. this is the special heart shape cookie for his b-day ;)

p.s. we just went out for dinner for his birthday since it was during the week.

昨日はダニエルのバースデーでした。午後はパートで働きにいったので帰ってきてからヒースバーのトフィークッキーを作りました。これはダニエル用のスペシャル♥型バースデークッキーです。(^^*)

P.S. 火曜日だったので特にこれっといった事はしないで夜はバースデーご飯を食べに行ってきました。

i made the summer theme "goldfish" jello today. i saw the real, store bought one here (thanks to yukosy-san!) and inspired me to make my own "fruit" version (real one is made out of japanese beans + candy i think...). as you can probably guess, i used strawberries, grapes, and tangerines!

夏をテーマにしたフルーツ金魚ゼリー（実は寒天）を作ってみました〜！yukosyさんのブログでyukosyさんが塩瀬総本家で買ったゼリーをみて可愛くて自分でもちょっとトライしてみたくなりました。材料は寒天、イチゴ、ぶどう、とみかん。寒天は水っぽい感じをだしたかったので２層にしてみました、下はブルーで色をつけて上は透明。やっぱり本物にくらべるとまだまだですけど、雰囲気はでたとおもうのでGoodかな？＾＾

we made kabobs for dinner on sunday. yum! i wanted to put cherry tomatoes but i forgot to buy them :( and didn't put green peppers 'cuz daniel doesn't like them. but if i did, would be prettier picture with different colors :D

日曜日の夜はシシカボブをBBQで作りました。チェリートマトを先にのせるつもりだったけど買い忘れ...ピーマンはダニエルが嫌いだから入れませんでした　(今回はレッドオニオン、マッシュルームとビーフ）。でもいれたらきっと色合いが奇麗な写真がとれたのになぁ〜。残念！＾＾；

it's been so hot here in the triple digits temperature! i think this past weekend got up to like 105 F so pretty much we were in the house trying to stay cool. i just decided to make some mojito for us to freshen up our spirits :D

p.s. this is my "number 500" post, yay! thanks for all your support :)

最近ますますと暑い天気になり、４０度を超える日もあります。（汗）はっきりいって暑すぎー！でも日本みたいに湿気が多くないので少しは助かるのですがでもやっぱり外にでるとサウナにはいっているよな気がします。＾＾；という事でリフレシュなキューバのカクテル、モヒートを週末に作ってみました。フレシュのライムとミント、パウダーシュガー少々、クラブソーダにホワイトラムが入っています。

p.s. 今日のブログ５００回目です★　皆さんのサポートありがとうございます！＾＾

i had some fresh blueberries in the fridge so i decided to make some muffins. it turned out to be cupcake size "mini muffins" which is perfect for breakfast :)

what did kai think about the muffins? see cont. reading!

checking out the muffin...

a very big bite with crazy face!

i think he approved it :)
it turned out to be a pretty small bite after all ;)

on friday, we went to trisha + greg's bbq so i made few things to bring stuff over to their house. one of the thing i made was this "4th of july" cake (i say that just because of the colors, tried to do red, blue, and white thing). i was gonna do the american flag decoration but then i thought that blueberries are gonna be all on the one corner so i decided to to more of strawberry shortcake style to even out the strawberry:blueberry ratio :)

it looks good here (right after i decorated) but after few hours, strawberries were starting to get very juicy on the cake and there were lots of pink juice everywhere! what a disaster!!! but luckily, it didn't go thru the frosting so cake didn't get soggy. wheeew! now i know, not to cut strawberries in half unless it's gonna be eaten right away!

i volunteered to make cupcakes for the fund raising + charity for the mothers club for this weekend's events. i made the cupcake topper so that it matches with t-shirt design i did for this event. there's gonna be parade, decorated bike contest, pie-bake off, etc. for our community. it should be fun and we are planning on attending the 4th of july celebration (not to mention i'm volunteering also)!

right out of the oven!

after putting cream cheese frosting to all of them. yum!

4th of july is also my neighbor's daughter, jordynne's birthday! so i set aside some of them and decorated (i think those colors are her favorite colors...) so that i can give them to her :)

i was craving for some potatoes for breakfast so i made some breakfast spuds! i had something like this when i lived in portland at the restaurant called junior's. ever since then, i love it and like to make it when i can. i just put together what i had in the fridge and this is what i came up with. there's red potatoes, minced garlic, bacon, breakfast sausage, onions, green onions, and cheese mix.

bought these sweet + juicy bing cherries (they are called 'american cherries' in japan.) for the first time this year. they were on sale for $2.99 lb., i paid $5.20 for the 1.75 lb. (794 g) bag for this basket full of cherries (is that cheap or average?). just washed them and now i'm gonna put them in the fridge for the dessert tonight :) yum!

i made chocolate croissants for breakfast! but i didn't make them from scratch, i just got the frozen stuff from my favorite trader joe's! it comes with 4 tiny croissants but you let them sit over night (about 9 hrs) and they totally poofs up and you just bake them for 20 min.! they were really yummy and i definitely recommend them for the good price, easy to cook, and tasty :)

this is the yummy stuff!

i volunteered to make some carmel corn for the kite festival here on sat. for the fundraising for the mother's club. i never made it before so it was interesting to make something new! and yes...i did have to "try" some to see if they are good and it was! i definitely want to make some for kai when he is a bit older, they are good yummy snacks! (but they are really fatty tho...).

cont. reading for the recipe.

++ INGREDIENTS ++

7 quarts plain popped popcorn
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt (opt out if you use salted butter)
1 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

++ HOW TO ++

1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.

3.Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.

4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bags.

decided to bake amish friendship bread this afternoon. since it's one of the rule that i'm not supposed to use metal bowl while mixing ingredients so i had to do it manually (rather than using the mixer). in a process, i made a lot of mess on the counter!

this time it turned out pretty well...actually i made some few weeks ago and that turned out bad 'cuz i messed up measuring on some ingredients :( anyways, just in case you are wondering, this "amish friendship bread" taste like cinnamon + sugar pound cake. yum!

i love pf chang's chicken lettuce wraps and i always wanted to make one like it. so i tried to do that last night for dinner. i was pretty easy to make, just took long time to chop all the ingredients besides that, turned out pretty yummy and cheap! i'm thinking this is pretty healthy stuff, (right?) so i wanna make this more often, we ate half of the lettuce between two of us!

++ INGREDIENTS ++
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnut
1 cup bamboo shoot (optional)
2/3 cup mushroom
1/2 onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 iceberg lettuce
oil for cooking

++ dipping sauce ++
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp chinese style hot mustard
1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste

++ HOW TO ++
1. make the dipping sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl.
2. Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.
3. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.
4. Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the dipping sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.
5. Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.
6. Saute chicken breasts until they are cooked.
7. Remove chicken from the pan and cool and mince.
8. Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.
9. Mince water chestnuts, bamboo shoot (optional), onion, and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.
10. Add minced chicken and remaining ingredients and cook it with teriyaki sauce until they are done.
11. Serve and enjoy!

i was craving that yummy and moist starbuck's lemon pound cake all day yesterday. then i remembered that i had one of those pre-mixed lemon bread thing so i decided to make it for dessert around 8 pm :P

well, it turned out to be okay...but the process was kinda disastrous...first of all i didn't measure right and put too much water, so i drained some water as i was mixing it and added some flour. it supposed to only cook for like 40 min. but took me over 1hr after checking with toothpick many times. but i think i ended up over cooking few min. cuz i was distracted by kai going crazy around me.

anyways, i should find a good recipe on lemon pound cake (anyone know a good one?) and make it from scratch, it will probably taste better!

had cravings for some yummy cookies, so why not bake them rather than buying them, right? (that way, i don't have to leave the house!)

i was in the mood for some muffins, so i baked some real quick (maybe 25 min. total including the baking time) this morning for breakfast.

made steamer clam spaghetti with garlic butter sauce for lunch today. i really wanna say i made it from scratch and took forever to cook but that's not true... the only thing i did was cook spaghetti and heated up frozen steamer clams that i got from trader joes in the microwave. super easy but looks gourmet, right?

this is the yummy frozen steamer clams from trader joe's. this is my secrete recipe (or cheating?) of the day ;)

i had cravings to eat potato salad today so i made it but with a little twist. daniel doesn't like potato salad 'cuz he hates mayonnaise (he is not much of a condiment kinda guy to start with). the only thing he likes is ranch dressing and he is okay with japanese mayonnaise. so, that being said, i put a little bit of japanese mayonnaise and lots of ranch to create this potato salad today. the results? well, if you like ranch, it's pretty good! daniel better like it too, we'll see what he says about it tonight.

speaking of potato salad, i really love to put some of this bull-dog sauce on it. daniel again looks at me like i'm a crazy person but i think it totally adds to the flavor of the salad. i guess it's a japanese thing??? or maybe not but my mom does it and i got sucked into doing it too :)

made mac + cheese for lunch for me and kai.

this was my first attempt to make kinpira gobo for the first time (it's a typical japanese side dish that is sauteed + simmered burdock root with carrots), i had to call my mom to ask how to make it! i guess i'm going through "making japanese food" kick since we went to japanese market ;)

anyhoo, i think it taste good but it doesn't look so good...i got tired and lazy of evenly cutting them after 10 min. or so of chopping. daniel looks at it with strange "what the heck is that?!?" expression on his face and says "it looks dangerous and looks like you are eating forest..." ha ha ha. i guess i take it as that he doesn't wanna try? ;)

i made lasagna (such an odd spelling! i always wanna spell it "lazania" like how it sounds but maybe that's just me...) last night because daniel has "italian" theme pot luck today at work and actually i've been craving it! daniel is not a big fan of spinach, so i just made a plain old meat lasagna. i'm eating this left over and a little side salad for lunch today...and that's the reason why it doesn't look so "fresh out of the oven." ;)

i haven't baked in a while (probably since snowflake cupcakes) and that's because my repeating new years resolution: lose weight this year! but anyways, i thought it would be fun to bake some cupcakes and give them away to friends and family for valentine's day. they are vanilla cupcakes with sprinkles cream cheese frosting.

cont. reading for this cupcake recipe

these are my secret craft weapon for those cupcake tags on top. i made a template file for these 1" circles on my computer, design, and print them out. after that, i punch each of them out with plain circle or scallop edge circle punch. then i punch a 1/16th hole with the hole punch on top and bottom for the tooth pick. you put tooth pick thru and you are done! they are pretty easy to make and fun decoration :)

++ FROSTING ++

8 oz cream cheese
4 oz butter
3¾ cups confectioner's sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
few drops of red food coloring (optional)

1. cream the butter, cheese and salt in a stand mixer until light and fluffy
2. gradually add the sugar until incorporated, then add the vanilla and food coloring (optional).

++ VANILLA CUPCAKES ++
makes 1 dozen (actually made a little over 20 for me)

1½ sticks unsalted butter
1¾ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
2½ teaspoons baking powder
2½ cups flour
1¼ cups milk

1. preheat over to 375 degrees. adjust oven rack to middle position. line standard muffin tin with paper or foil liners.

2. to make cupcakes: In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. beat in eggs, vanilla, salt and baking powder. add flour in 3 batches, alternating with milk.beat at low speed for 30 seconds or until mixture is smooth and satiny.

3. divide batter evenly among cups. bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean. cool on wire rack for 45 minutes or until at room temperature.

made japanese curry + rice last night. curry is definitely one of my favorite dish! i like it so much that i can eat it until it's gone for few days no problem (i usually make a big pot of it)! i think that there's so many way to eat curry too, like i can eat it with rice, noodles (like curry udon), or if i wanna be really healthy, eat it with tofu. i'm missing fukujinzuke in this picture tho, i didn't have any... :(

made hummus to bring it to a little get together for the new year's eve tonight.
i forgot to buy the toasted pine nuts to garnish on top! next time...

i made some vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for the xmas family gathering today. i'm not so happy with my frosting job today, they are kinda messy! yes, i did do the same decoration thing like kai's cupcakes, i just put snowflakes with different colors on them. makes them a bit festive, right?

maybe i'll put cute pink + red hearts on the valentine cupcakes...if i make them anyways...

made my mom's recipe, dry curry last night. this was my first time actually making it and i think it turned out well. daniel likes to eat it with garlic nann but of course, i like it with rice ;)

you know, it's getting "soup kinda weather" these days so i decided to make taco soup for the first time. it got thickened overnight so it almost work as dip too. but either way it's yummy with tortilla chips.

i haven't baked stuff in a while but i made chocolate chip cookies today to bring them over my neighbor, mike + michelle's bbq. i got this colorful sugar sprinkles a while back and as you can see, i got little too excited with them today ;)

made scones this morning for breakfast (i was craving to eat one with my morning coffee). daniel wanted chocolate chips in them so i made those and some plain buttery ones for myself. i tried to make the "scone" shape but didn't turn out so well :P oh well, i'll do it better next time!

made a baked cheese cake tart to bring to our neighbor's bbq we went today. this time, i got a deep tart baking pan (about 1.5" deep) so it looks better and totally looks like what my mom used to make for me! since it's a "tart" looks a lot better with those ridges than the last one i baked in the regular round cake pan (look at the last one on cont. reading).

another one of my weekly baking item. i thought it was gonna be cookie like treats but turned out to be cake-y kinda stuff. i also substituted 1 cup of sugar (out of 2 cups) to 1 cup of apple sauce to cut the sweetness and some calorie. i actually gave some to kai for snack (i picked the chocolate chips tho) and he liked it :) maybe i'll try to put some oatmeal next time and see...stay tuned!

+++ INGREDIENTS +++

1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 cups brown sugar (or substitute 1 cup apple sauce)
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

+++ HOW TO +++

1. place butter, brown sugar (apple sauce), eggs, and vanilla in a medium size bowl and mix.
2. add flour, baking powder, and salt. mix. when it's well mixed, add chocolate chips.
3. put dough into a 9x9 inch greased and floured pan. bake at 350F for 20 to 25 min. cool in pan, cut them up, and enjoy!