Last week I made a dish my mom enjoys so this week I decided to make one that my dad especially loves! I present to you: taiyaki! It’s a fish-shaped cake that’s filled with red bean paste. But you can fill it with any filling you like such as nutella, custard, and even peanut butter! There’s different styles of taiyaki but I like my mine super crispy on the outside yet chewy on the inside. In Korean, we call these guys bungeoppang (붕어빵)!

My mom told me about an anmitsu that she ate in Japan that she really enjoyed. So since it was her birthday soon, I decided to make her this delicious treat! If you didn’t know, anmitsu  is a Japanese desert made with agar jelly topped with an array of delectables such as syrup, fruit, red bean paste, and shiratama dango. It’s so refreshing to eat during the summer! And even though it’s the end of summer, it’s still been pretty hot here in LA.

One of my favorite things I’ve had during my recent trip to Japan this summer was definitely ujikintoki. It was so refreshing in the scorching heat. Now that I’m back in Los Angeles, I crave this matcha shaved ice more and more each day. So I decided to make it myself! Here’s my attempt. :)

As a kid, one of my most favorite dishes to eat during the summer was (and still is!) hiyashi chuka. This is a Japanese cold ramen dish with Chinese influence; it also directly translates as “chilled Chinese!” It features cold ramen noodles covered with an array of different toppings such as cucumber, egg, ham, and tomato. It’s then drizzled with either a soy sauce-based dressing or a sesame dressing, which I prefer more. This dish is so refreshing and I would definitely recommend you to try it!