keep away the cold

the rainy winter is finally here in the bay area. but this year, my heart is warm and jolly with hope. my tiny faux tree lights our dark nights.


and over the weekend, we found tokyo fish market, the place v was hoping existed in east bay, where you can purchase japanese grocery and other japanese goodies. we bought ourselves a cast iron sukiyaki pot and made our first sukiyaki from scratch! even without the store bought sukiyaki-no-tare "sauce," the combination of shoyu, sake, sugar, & kombu dashi (and clearly, a slab of beef fat to coat the pot) were all it required to make the flavor that was perfectly authentic.

no better way to fight off the cold winter but some hearty japanese goodness in a pot...! yummmmmm.