Hello Reader, It's Yukari! When I first moved to Colorado, there weren’t many of us here. Not many Japanese people, not many Japanese restaurants. A few, scattered, if you were willing to drive. And the ingredients I’d grown up with were mostly not available at all. This was long before you could order anything from anywhere. So if I wanted the food I missed, I had to make it. And if I wanted to make it, I had to make it out of what Colorado actually had. That’s where I learned it. Not from a...
22 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, It's Yukari! It was a last-minute decision, but I went to visit my dear friend in Japan for two weeks. (I talked about her in this email newsletter, too. Read ➡️ The Teacup that Broke Me) Now I’m back from Japan. Before the jet lag wears off and everything starts to feel normal again, I want to tell you about an embroidered T-shirt. It cost 5,900 yen, which is about 38 US dollars, at a souvenir store. Fujin and Raijin T-shirt had gorgeous embroidery on the back with Fujin and...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, It's Yukari!Aric's mother made a meat sauce that the whole family knew by name. She'd sear the meat. Build the sauce. And then she'd let it go on the stove for hours. Low, slow, the kind of long that fills a house. The part I still wonder about: How did she get up in the middle of the night to stir it? Not once. Every time she made it. Two in the morning, standing at the stove in the dark, making sure nothing caught on the bottom... That's the sauce Aric grew up on. So that's...
2 months ago • 2 min read
I know. It's August. Nobody wants to think about Thanksgiving right now, including me. It's still hot. The tomatoes and peppers are still full in our veggie garden outside. November is a rumor. But we're building something for that week, and I need to ask you about it before we build it. Not after. So bear with me for a few minutes, and then we can all go back to dog days of summer. Here's where it started. Last November, we were telling old Thanksgiving stories. The kind that are only funny...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, It's Yukari! Last week in New York, we ate at one of the best restaurants in the world...Eight courses, Michelin star, the whole thing. And yet the meal I can't stop thinking about? A $5.00 bodega sandwich, eaten on an airport bench at midnight. Let me explain. 😄 Food, Food, Everywhere! We've been to New York several times over the years, and the city has always amazed us. But this time, it really showed us what it's about. Maybe it was summer. Maybe it was the World Cup. There...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, It's Yukari! Last time, I asked what would change how often you cook: a helpline, someone to show you, a cheerleader, a video library, or all of the above. Your answers confirmed something Aric and I have believed for a while: Most people don't need more recipes. You already have recipes.Google, Pinterest, Instagram, maybe AI too. But when it's actually time to cook? That's when the questions show up... "Is this onion cut too big?" "How do I know when this is done?" "Can I fix...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, It's Yukari! Many of us don’t actually hate vegetables. We hate the way they were cooked for us when we were kids. Our Experimental 30-day Short Video Challenge We recently made a video comparing frozen and fresh asparagus, and the comments stood out. One person remembered only soggy, overcooked asparagus from childhood, while another grew up with canned asparagus.And that makes sense.One bad texture or smell, repeated enough times, can stay with you for years. My Cauliflower...
6 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, It's Yukari! Mother’s Day can bring up a lot of different feelings. For some people, it’s joyful. For others, it’s tender. And sometimes, it’s both. My Mom, Me, and Secret Sauce For me, one of the things Mother’s Day makes me think about is how love stays with us through food. My mom and I had a complicated relationship, and she wasn’t someone who taught me to cook. But one thing she made stayed with me. Her “Secret Sauce.” It was simple. It even makes me chuckle to think about...
7 months ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, It's Yukari! I hope you had a beautiful Easter and got to enjoy a little spring sunshine. Food, Connections, and Memories Last Easter Sunday, Aric and I were invited to our clients’ Easter crab boil party, and it was one of those gatherings that reminded me why food matters so much. They went all out. There were inflatable unicorn and lobster costumes for the egg hunt, little eggs filled with chocolates and gifts, and a few hidden golden eggs with special surprises. And, of...
7 months ago • 2 min read