“I measure the time and I stand amazed” – Orcas Island

A year ago, my best friend* and I took a day-hiking trip to Orcas Island on President’s Day. We left at 5:30 in the morning to find the first Zip Car’s keys were missing; got a ticket in a speed trap in Skagit County; didn’t pack enough food; weren’t able to get food at the brewery where…

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Crying a Thousand Beautiful Tears into my Tofu

On my business trip, I had an overnight in Kyoto, and my coworker and I stopped to get lunch at Kyoto Station before going to our hotel. While I’m partial to the “solid tofu”(katatôfu [堅豆腐]) of the Kaga region, I also love Kyoto’s yuba (ゆば, 湯葉), the “tofu skin” and didn’t want to leave the city without eating…

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Star Wars Gingerbread

Silly name aside, if you’re a geek in Seattle this holiday season, you must check out the Sheraton Hotel’s annual (and free) gingerbread village “May the Holidays Be With You.” That’s right, Star Wars-themed gingerbread to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Here’s some photos I took last weekend!

Favorite Pumpkin Beers 2015

Snatch up the last of those pumpkin beers, because it’s time for the annual pumpkin beer list (and some real talk about hate crimes against queer folks and mental health~).

“Seattle Sweeties” Campaign Predictably Compares Women to Food, Detracts from Cause

I desperately wanted to like “Seattle Sweeties,” Cupcake Royale’s line of cupcakes benefiting Runway to Freedom and Mary’s Place, NPOs that work with homeless women and survivors of domestic violence to help. I love cupcakes almost as much as I love overthrowing the patriarchy. Yet the campaign’s language, in trying to empower women, only manages to reduce them to food terms, objects for consumption.

Buckwheat (Soba) Apple Muffins

Inspired by the fall flavors of Nagano, this muffin combines buckwheat (soba) flour (soba ko, そば粉) with juicy apples for a moist but not-too-sweet (and non-pumpkin-spice) fall breakfast.

Halloween in Japan 2015: Beverages

The part of me that desperately missed Halloween and pumpkin food in Japan when I was there in the early ’10s is very pleased, but 2015!me is a little alarmed by how quickly it happened, if 10 years is “quick.” Globalization is a factor, of course, but just as much at work is Japan’s marketing of seasonal goods.