I was fortunate enough to peek into the Peko Peko kitchen this last weekend, while they were preparing all 40 boxes of their highly coveted annual osechi bentos. What a crew! Sylvan had about five people working the kitchen — peeling, dicing, de-shelling 40 Dungeness crabs… wow.

Sylvan and his right-hand chef Yuko took me through
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In honor of this last day of Hanukkah, I made sufganiyot (jelly donuts). Believe it or not, this is a Hanukkah tradition, right along with latkes (potato pancakes). This was the first time I’d made them so I used Martha Stewart’s recipe. They came out great!

*This post first appeared on Erin
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By Kenji Miura

I celebrated Christmas in Japan by making wagashi, or traditional Japanese sweets.

Santa is shaped out of shiro-an (white bean paste).

The holly is made out of ogura tsubu-an (red beans boiled with sugar, skin-on).

The tree is comprised of shiro-an and kanten (agar agar). The kinton (mashed substance, in this case the shiro-an and kanten) was then pressed through
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Winter is coming. The leaves are long gone; stark bare branches and the increasing chill in the air are all that remain of autumn. The sun’s attempts to warm its subjects get undermined by the biting wind. Perfect time to duck into your favorite watering hole and defrost with a winter libation. Keeping
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Chanukkah, the eight-day Jewish holiday and festival of lights, started last night!  We light a new candle on the menorah every evening after sundown. I will be making the traditional latkes (potato pancakes), like I do every year, and I plan to attempt making sufganiyot (jelly donuts!) from scratch. I’ll let you know how
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It’s Christmas in a minute or two, and from my windows overlooking the big lakes of Copenhagen I watch people rushing back and forth in the typical December rain. They’re probably leaving one Christmas party to go to the next. This month is not only about stressful giftshopping or Christmas Eve preparations or even killing trees
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I think I’ve cooked turkey for the past 13 years or so. I am slowly starting to break that tradition. Why? A.) I don’t like turkey, it is are too gamey for me. B.) It takes up too much space in the fridge, in the oven, everywhere. C.) More and more people have family obligations on
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My family’s Thanksgiving turkey that we BBQ’d in Santa Barbara last year. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Photo by Erin Gleeson

The Jewish Harvest holiday of Sukkot starts this Wednesday, Oct 12th and continues for a week. During this time, people eat their meals outdoors under a sukkah (or little hut), decorated with corn, gourds, pumkins and other harvest-inspired decor. It’s traditional to say a blessing during this holiday while holding the
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This summer has been a whirl of social engagements, what with friends visiting, me visiting friends and everyone congregating in London. And to crown it all, my friends and I decided to go to Oktoberfest in Munich. Lucky for us, two of my friends actually live in Munich and they
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