We’re entering the pinkest and most beautiful time of the year (at least in Japan and DC): Cherry blossom season! The cherry blossom trees in DC hit peak bloom this weekend—the second earliest ever. And while there are plenty of cherry blossom afternoon teas to attend in Washington and Japan, there aren’t so many on […]
I realize we are already past Christmas and into dry January, but I didn’t want to wait any longer to share this Kentucky Christmas punch recipe with y’all. We found this when we were looking for a fun cocktail for a crowd for a progressive party in our neighborhood over the holidays, and it turned […]
Happy Halloween! Did you already go trick-or-treating? We’re going tonight, but we got in the spooky spirit this weekend with this toddler-approved Halloween tea party. The best news: Everything other than decorating the cookies is super easy and fast, so if you want to throw together a similar Halloween tea today—or just try one or […]
It’s almost Valentine’s Day! And most of us are still stuck at home. So why not celebrate the day of love with a Valentine tea? I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I always have a planned menu for various parties or events… and I almost always end up not making at least […]
How long do you leave your Christmas decorations up? I always like to leave mine up past New Year’s anyway, but this year in particular I think we need as much cheer as we can get, so we may not take everything down until mid-January. If you’re still in a celebratory mood, but don’t want […]
One of the things I was most excited about when we found out we were moving to Okinawa was the purple sweet potatoes, or beni imo. Then, mainly because I am foolish and was only shopping at the commissary and the local grocery store closest to our house, instead of going to farmer’s markets, I […]
I wanted to do something extra special for Valentine’s Day this year, and since I have become pretty enamored with rose water, I thought chocolate cupcakes with pink raspberry frosting that look, smell, and even taste a bit like roses would be perfect! Can you think of a better Valentine’s gift than a dozen homemade chocolate […]
I was so busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas this year that I didn’t get a chance to bake ANY Christmas cookies at home! Luckily, I had a chance to whip up some snickerdoodles at my mother-in-law’s house, so we had something to leave for Santa. These snickerdoodles are pretty simple to make, […]
Several years ago, when I was living in South Carolina, I had to work the day before and the day after Thanksgiving, so I couldn’t go to my family’s house in Michigan. Instead, I drove up to Charleston to have Thanksgiving dinner with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle. But said dinner wasn’t in […]
As much as I love cranberry sauce, I also like to mix things up every once in a while. And with Thanksgiving coming up (so soon!), I wanted to try a slightly different cranberry recipe. This is super simple and doesn’t require as much sugar as regular cranberry sauce — the apples sweeten things up significantly. I […]