About

Food, without the gender bullshit. Not for cishet consumption.

About Me

I’m L.M., a bisexual nonbinary food blogger who lived in Japan and now lives in the Pacific Northwest. My pronouns are they/them/theirs. I also have used ze/zir/zirs, and those are fine, too!

Robin, sometimes referred to as C, is my partner of five years and uses they/them/theirs. (If you see pronoun/gender/name inconsistencies on the blog, I’ve had this blog for almost ten years, and that’s trans life, baby!)

When I’m not making satirical gender-reveal cakes or writing, you can find me swimming, gardening, cross-stitching, or community organizing.

About this blog

This blog started out as a food blog about learning to cook from scratch in Japan (2011-14); after I moved back to the U.S., I shifted the focus to being a queer food blog (2015- now). I post recipes here, as well as social commentary on the intersections of food, gender, and sexuality. Some of my favorite posts here are

If you like my work, please consider becoming a patron on Patreon, where I post bonus recipes, links, and zine sneak-peaks. I also write zines about food, gender, queer history, and Midwestern topics as part of The Corners of Their Mouth Press. 

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support me on Patreon!

Buy my zines!

Contact Me 

Homophobic/biphobic/transphobic hate mail subject to mockery on social media.

11 Comments Add yours

  1. genkiduck says:

    Thank you for your blog, I always enjoy it. Here is a shiny new Liebster Blog Award just for you. (^o^)

    http://thejwsdojapan.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/an-award-for-me-oooh-shiny/

    1. Leah says:

      Thank you! :3 I’m working on the post/questions for it now, but man, I am bad at picking a favorite food!

      1. genkiduck says:

        Haha, and I thought that was the easiest question. Good luck, I’m looking forward to reading your answers! :D

  2. Caitlin says:

    Hi! Long-time reader, first-time commenting…
    I was going through my old planners and in one from 2013, I found your blog URL written down so I could RSS it later (I did).
    I lived in Kanazawa in 2010, so I always enjoyed reading about it from your perspective later on. I live in Sendai as a JET ALT now, and I’m moving back to Australia this August.
    Just one of those weird things, realizing just how long I’ve been reading your blog and how I relied on it as one of many pillars of support (obviously cooking as an expat but also… feminism in food, identity, navigating big life changes, thinking about 帰国ing).

    So…. thank you! For your blog!
    Thank you, again!

    1. LM says:

      Hi, Caitlin,
      Thank you so much for the comment! I can’t believe I’ll Make It Myself! is coming up on its 5th anniversary. It makes me really happy to know that not just my recipes but also my writing about personal stuff, feminism, and identity was helpful to someone else.

      Thank you for reading for all these years, and I wish you the best of luck with your post-JET journey! :)

  3. Ashlegih says:

    Your blog is an absolute saving grace.

    I’m a Gifu JET ALT from Seattle living in the inaka, and trying to make foods from home without an oven or good-sized kitchen was draining my soul. I was missing hummus wraps something fierce when I found your tortilla recipe a few days ago.

    And wow. I’m so happy.

    You even posted about the Seattle gingerbread houses! I used to go every year.

    So I wanted to say thank you. Thanks for making inaka-friendly recipes and easy Japanese food words guides for illiterates like me. I love your blog.

    1. LM says:

      Hi, Ashleigh,
      Thank you so much! My initial goal with the blog was to do just that, and I’m so happy it’s been helpful to you. :D I might have even choked up a little bit when I was trying to read your comment to my partner just now.

      Also: your comment was also a good reminder to update my Japan-Friendly Recipes page and try to fix my menu options, so thank *you* for that!

      Thanks again, and happy cooking!

  4. Madeleine Bui says:

    Hi! I’m struggling to find your contact me page ):
    Any chance you could direct me to one or perhaps drop me an email? Your self-profession that you’re a “feminist food blogger” is super interesting and if you’re up for it, I’d like to perhaps talk about it with you. I’m writing my dissertation on food blogging communities and I feel like you’d have a really interesting and relevant perspective for my research aims.

    1. LM says:

      Sure! It’s illmakeitmyself at gmail dot com. :)

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