Keep Calm and Carry On: The Diary of Foodie and Gourmet

Hello all! I just wanted to check in and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope that everyone enjoys a wonderful Holiday season!  Our Christmas tree this year Christmas dinner  Salad + grapefruit red cabbage mashed potatoes with truffles Individual Beef Wellingtons Mincemeat Palmiers Flaming Christmas Pudding

Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend Umeya's 19th Anniversary party. Umeya is our favorite Japanese restaurant near us and we have been patrons for 19+ years! We've known the owner and his family from the days before they opened the restaurant. I have essentially grown up here, so it was really wonderful to be able to celebrate 19 years of success with Umeya and their loyal patrons. The event was invite only and it was an amazing evening. As always, the food at Umeya never disappoints, and this was no different. They put on the most wonderful of feasts. Sushi, sashimi, tako-yaki, grilled lobster, yaki tori, oysters, wagyu sushi…the list goes on. I felt like a kid in a candy store and I ate like there was no tomorrow. There was a lot of sake, too! The restaurant was packed and everyone eagerly jumped in and started feasting. Between the shabu-shabu and the sushi, the selection was astounding and everything was absolutely delectable.  The main event a...

About one month ago, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to lecture upon a topic that is near and dear to my heart: Bletchley Park, Enigma, and ULTRA. My lecture was a year in the making and I enjoyed every second. It was a lot of fun jumping back into my notes, re-educating myself, and creating my powerpoint. After months of preparation, I produced about 35 slides and I ended up lecturing for an hour and twenty minutes! But let's back track and I can give you a bit more detail about my lecture. (Above, I have posted a screenshot of the title slide from my lecture.) Four years ago, now almost five years ago, I began researching Bletchley Park. I've written about Bletchley Park a couple times, so please allow me to re-write what I've posted previously: Bletchley Park was the center for Allied cryptography during the Second World War. During WWII and even during the interwar period, it was common for countries to send secret diplomatic messages and ...

Two weeks ago, my parents and I were fortunate enough to snag an invite to an event called "Crabfest." Crabfest was an elaborate Japanese feast that revolved around fresh Alaskan King crab, which was specially flown in! The event was held at our favorite Japanese restaurant in Cresskill, Umeya.  Whenever we go to Umeya, we always sit at the counter. ALWAYS. The past couple times that we have been to Umeya, we have run into a guy name Mike. Mike is very interesting. He is in IT, but for fun, he opened up a delicious ice cream store in Hackensack (Ice cream by Mike). Very cool guy. A few weeks ago, when we were at Umeya, he told us that he was planning on purchasing a bunch of fresh King Crab and he invited us to join him and his friends at Umeya for "Crabfest." My parents and I were intrigued and excitedly accepted his gracious invitation.  To say that Crabfest was incredible is an understatement. The atmosphere was lively, but more importantly, the fo...

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone! For those who celebrated, I hope that you had a wonderful day filled with love, laughter, and delicious food! For those who did not or don't celebrate, I hope that you too had a wonderful day! I know that we are on the cusp of December, but I still wanted to share my Thanksgiving with you all. Every year, my parents host Thanksgiving and it is a rather large affair. We have anywhere from 13 ~ 20 people come, so there is a lot of food to be made and consumed. This year, our Thanksgiving consisted of 15 people and the food was amazing (if I do say so myself). My family is rather small and spread out internationally, so our Thanksgivings tend to be "Friendsgivings." I love our Thanksgivings because they have a Japanese-American twist. We tend to invite our Japanese friends to join us mainly because: (1) our American friends spend Thanksgiving with their families and (2) our Japanese friends don't really celebrate the holiday...