Hi!!  Thank you for visiting my website.  This is a place where I share my love for food.   My name is Shihyi (like a pronoun ‘she’), and I’m crazy about food.  I’ve had blogs 17 years ago, on different genres.  Upon moving and going through some life changes, they faded away.  The urge to write and share my thoughts and experiences came all too sudden, again, but this time, on food.

I have always been crazy about food, but more on the consumption side, than the process of preparing food.  There are two crucial points in my life when I became more conscious about how I eat.   After I had children I became more attentive at what I prepare.  Sometimes I rely on store bought items, but try to cook meals out of fresh ingredients as much as possible.  I try my best to avoid additives, chemicals, etc.  It wasn’t until after I moved to California three years ago I changed the way I thought about food I consumed.   My very first cleanse program was an eye opening experience-I changed my views on food I eat, and I hope to

I use a lot of Asian ingredients since that is strongly related to how I was raised.  However, because I’ve been moving globally since 12, I’ve been exposed to .  I’m a strong supporter of farmers market; I’m immensely in love with seasonal food.  I love to share my weekly farmers market finds from I have sweet tooth, in fact, I bake French macarons regularly to friends, acquaintances, it has been my obsession and passion for more than a decade.

I have a 10 year old daughter and a 7 year old boy, who, just like most children at their age, have likes and dislikes, love candies and sweets,  and very honest about what they think of their food.  If they love it, they will eat them all, if they don’t, they would not touch it at all.  I have been lucky that they are not too picky eaters.  Well, maybe a little, my son would not eat kale, but he will eat broccoli.  Meat isn’t his favorite, but he loves dumplings with ground chicken in it.

This is a place to record and share some of my culinary experiences and discoveries.  You will see more sweet treats, desserts, breads.

Until I had children, I wasn’t too interested in cooking.  I’ve always loved food, more on the consumption side of it, not so much in preparing.  Both of my parents worked full time, although they did their best in bringing home made food from time to time, my mother enjoyed being out there at her work than staying and cooking at home.  Just like in many other Japanese households in the late 70s, we did not have ovens, my mother never baked, but she often bought delicious sweets from well known bakeries.  Thanks to my gourmet mother, I was exposed to good quality of food, but not so much in the making.  The only time I had access to Even after I went to live on my own in my college years, I was not impressed at my own cooking, and often relied on my flat mates and friends who were great cook and bakers.  I was amazed at how they could cook delicious simple meal at such ease.  Then after my first child was born, I was suddenly terrified at the thoughts in preparing nutritious food daily.  I read many parenting books, most suggested the importance of food preparations using fresh ingredients.  That was the start of my journey in home cooking.  The baking desserts came rather unexpectedly.  Through playdates and playgroups I got acquainted to a wonderful group of moms.  One of the moms was a pastry chef who baked amazing