On March 11, 2011, real-time images from the devastation of the 9.0 magnitude Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami stunned the world as entire villages were wiped out and thousands of people were swept away. I, along with the rest of the world, was moved by how the Japanese people demonstrated remarkable resilience in the spirit of unity with remarkable stories of survival being glimmers of hope during one of the darkest moments in Japan’s history.
Footage of the tsunami blanketing streets, neighborhoods, and anything else in its path was a stunning reality to the sheer force of mother nature showing no mercy to anything or anyone in its way. Facebook and Twitter was lit up with links on how to support the relief efforts in Japan and the call to compassion was made, just as it was with the earthquake in Haiti. But not long after, other global natural disasters became front page headlines with news from Japan becoming less frequent with each passing day.
However, less frequent does not mean forgotten. Within weeks of the Japan earthquake, a few food blogging friends (Stacey, Rachel, and Marc) of mine decided to use their talents to produce a beautiful family-friendly cookbook featuring Japanese recipes called Peko Peko. The beauty of this cookbook comes not only from the recipes and gorgeous photos, but from each and every person who contributed to this book to make it happen for the common goal of showing solidarity towards Japan’s relief efforts. [click to continue…]
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Tonight we ate these delicious Citrus Ginger Teriyaki steaks and boy were they good. Even my kids commented several times how much they LOVED the sauce. I wasn’t sure how this recipe would turn out considering I started preparing dinner at 6pm and we were eating it by 6:45pm. In the end I was impressed with the Asian inspired sauce after a minor tweak I made. I am also giving away the 2nd and final $100 Visa gift card swag bag sponsored by the National Beef Association. You can read more about this at the bottom of the post but for now I want to talk more about this recipe.
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by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat. I was so thrilled because I had been looking through it in our hotel room asking questions about it. During my flight home I scanned through each recipe. With every turn of the page my appetite for hot pot grew. Browsing through the book one can’t help but notice the stunning food photography -the photos are beyond beautiful. The first recipe I tried was Kinoko Nabe a.k.a. Mushroom Hot Pot. And fyi, I’ve made this 4 times since reading the book! 
