Our end result: bento lunch boxes
I joined Slow Food Waitakere this month and on Sunday 8 May went to my first event: a Japanese cooking class held at Pine Valley B&B in Silverdale, hosted by Kazuyo Friedlander.

Our hosts, from left: Kazuyo, Eri, Chikako

First, Eri did a soy milk and tofu-making demo.

Eri strains the boiled soy beans through a cloth then puts the mixture in a mould.

Then Chikako showed us how to make several dishes:
Buttercup and bacon croquettes
Daikon radish ume...

Spring blossoms in Union Square

What a joy to spend eight days in SF and NOT have a bad meal! First lunch off the plane was at friends Nick and Sabrina’s place in the Castro for homemade lentils and tortillas with all the trimmings – fresh avo, salsa, rice, chutney. It replenished our stomachs and our souls. Then Nick whipped up a Trader Joe’s brownie batch and even used vegan buttery sticks – moist and chocolatey.

We...

Downtown Los Angeles skyline around Pershing Square

Here is my first food report from the US while on tour with the dance group MAU. Nothing fancy, just miscellaneous observations on what I find as I travel across this great state…

In a nutshell, I had a week of very uninspiring food in Downtown LA. Broadway was the place of glamorous stars and movie premieres during the 1920s to the 50s but now it’s a wide treeless street of faded glory. It’s a primarily Hispanic area...