Beef & Green Chile Chili

October in Santa Cruz: 70-80 degree weather engages in a battle with the coastal fog. Usually they settle this amicably and agree to take turns. In terms of dinner (because it’s all about the food), this means a week of barbecues followed by a week of chili and soup, or “earthquake weather,” as we call [...]

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Ravioli Soup with Carrots, Kale & Parmesan

It’s spring in Santa Cruz, which means we flip flop between hot days that draw us outside to beaches and parks, and cold days that beckon us back inside for comforting meals like soup. The latter inspired this meal. When Levi is enjoying what he’s eating, he makes this cute little humming sound. Using that [...]

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Black Bean Tortilla Soup

Even though it postponed our trip to the pumpkin patch, the rain last Sunday was refreshing, and it put us in the mood for soup! We have so many dried beans in the pantry, I finally decided it was time to make a conscious effort to remember to soak them. I was envisioning a black [...]

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Chili-Lime Shrimp Stir Fry & (our best yet) Miso Soup

Finally. FINALLY! We are back! Since I last posted, I joined the world of twitter. Immediately I thought of the episode of The Daily Show, where reporter Samantha Bee makes fun of the “tweet” frenzy. But nevertheless we’re jumping on the bandwagon. If you aren’t already, please follow along here. (You can also view our [...]

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Aunt Doris’ Lentil Soup

I’m excited to share this family recipe that goes back to my Mom’s great-aunt Doris. It’s also the lentil soup that I grew up eating. The ingredients are so simple and adaptable (we added some chard; sometimes my mom has added sausage), it uses water instead of broth, making it very economical, and it’s a [...]

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Miso Soup Take Two

Ahh … as you lift a bowl of miso soup to your lips, and the smell of the steam meets your nose, there’s a short moment when you feel that everything is going to be alright. We love the taste of red miso. Its flavor is a little richer and earthier than white miso, which [...]

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Teriyaki Chicken & Miso Soup

It’s about time we made two of the most well known Japanese dishes. The chicken teriyaki is best made with chicken thighs, but we used these skinless chicken breast strips instead. We were really happy with how the teriyaki sauce turned out. It actually tasted like the “real thing,” with just a hint of sweetness [...]

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Spicy Tomato Soup

The bad news: I recently got the cold that’s been going around our English classes. The good news: When I mentioned that I was craving something spicy for dinner, Dustin found this recipe for spicy tomato soup on Epicurious while I was at class, and made it for me when I got home. It was [...]

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Something Like Tom Kha Gai

We definitely can’t claim that this is the traditional way to make the famous Thai soup, but we enjoyed the challenge of creating something that tastes pretty close, using the ingredients that were available to us in Japan. This recipe serves 2 with enough for seconds. On a side note, it’s been snowing all day [...]

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Italian Egg Drop Soup with Meatballs

The undeniable chill in the air today moved me to make garlicky meatballs swimming in a soothing broth with a touch of green and swirls of egg, reminiscent of our favorite Chinese soup –but Italian style, adapted from Rachael Ray’s recipe. Our version includes the addition of garlic (no surprise there), uses Japanese supermarket-friendly ingredients [...]

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Comfort in a bowl: Roasted Tomato & Garlic Soup with Parmesan Wafers

If you live in a foreign land, far from friends and family, and you find yourself in a mid – semester English – teaching slump, then we have just the soup for you! Comfort = tomato soup and grilled cheese. We usually try to avoid recipes that involve blending hot liquids, but once in a [...]

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Moroccan Chickpea Chili for a Japanese Halloween

Can we get any more multi-cultural? I don’t think so. So, Halloween in Japan: No trick-or-treaters can be found, and if you’re lucky enough to find a pumpkin that’s big enough to carve, it will cost you the equivalent of 40 US dollars or more. But at least the stores have plenty of festive decorations [...]

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Spicy Corn and Potato Soup with Lime & Quick Yogurt Biscuits

Yesterday in Osaka it was 95 degrees. Today it was rainy and around 75. Fall must have finally hit us, and it’s about time because I’ve been wanting to make soup for ages!! This is one of our favorite soup recipes – Spicy jalapeños are a good match for sweet corn. The soup is thickened [...]

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