Wishing everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year! May 2012 be blessed for you and your family! In Asia, the color red is always associated with festivities, such as red lanterns, red envelopes, red clothing and red ornaments. Red is also used in food. One of these red foods for festive occasions in …
Sekihan Recipe – Festive Red Rice for the New Year! Read More »
photo: George Deputee Wishing everyone a very Happy Holiday Season! Thank you for your continuous support! Asian Lifestyle Design has given me great pleasure and I look forward to finding and sharing many more interesting and wonderful ideas from the East. May 2012, the Year of the Dragon, bring everyone much Happiness and Good Health. …
Through my studies of feng shui, I have come across a new idea called the biophilia hypothesis, a term that also suggests how nature can affect our well-being. According to Wikipedia, biophilia was originally created in the 1980’s by Eric Fromm, a psychologist and philosopher, but was popularized by Edward O. Wilson through his book …
When you hear the word origami what comes to mind? I always think of paper cranes in an assortment of colors. Origami can be useful as well as decorative too. Why not try these chopstick rests? This is my attempt at a vlog or video blog. I’d like to try to do more of these …
Now that my boys are in college I realized that there are things I never bothered teaching them and this is one of them: laundry symbols. These are the symbols on the tag placed inside your clothes, where they describe the fabric content and the recommended laundry method. It may seem obvious to many but …
Learn the International Laundry Symbols to Take Care of Your Clothes Read More »
In karma, your actions whether good or bad will come back to you. Most Asians do believe in karma as it’s part of our culture, imbedded in how we were raised rather than a religious issue. As a young child I didn’t know what karma was but in our Japanese-American home we knew what “bachi” …
I just wanted to share with you what I think is the most beautiful fruit in the world: the dragon fruit! It is found in southeast Asian countries and China. The first time I came across this exotic dragon fruit was in Japan when my father received it as a gift. The vivid shocking pink …
image from pixabay Arranging your living room furniture can be a challenge. One must always understand the relationship between the size of the room to the size and number of furniture pieces. The other day I was trying to help arrange the furniture in a client’s living room when I noticed that each piece they …
The past few days I have been staring at my monitor for way too long! This causes my eyes to feel very heavy and tired and I begin to squint. So, I decided to ask my master if he had any advice or exercises he could teach me. Master Hsu is like a …
With such a large variety of kitchen faucets in the market choosing a kitchen faucet can be very confusing. Faucets are tactile. We touch the handles multiple times on daily basis so it is important to think about how they feel in your hands. I tell my clients that looking at faucets on the internet …
Over the summer my Japanese girlfriends came to visit and we had a great time catching up with one another. My girlfriends are always so generous with their gifts and they brought so many wonderful things from Japan! One gift was hoji cha from Nara. Hoji cha is a Japanese roasted green tea. Green tea …
First I must explain that there are many different schools of feng shui. Although I believe the ultimate goal of each school is the same, to find the best living environment based on qi energy, the method used to achieve that goal differs immensely. Therefore, when you meet someone who practices feng shui, it is …
Continuation from Part III. click here for Part I and Part II. Sunday, December 7, 1941 the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor and the following day, President Roosevelt gave his famous Infamy Speech, declaring war against Japan. Although Seattle is a good distance away from Hawaii, life in Japantown started to change. Announcements to the citizens …
The weather here in the Northwest has become cool and wet and I am sad to see the sun go. But, the fall vegetables bring a variety of change to the dinner table which is always enjoyable. The other day a very close childhood friend who lives in Oregon rang me up for an eggplant …
This has been on Youtube for many years but it still seems to amaze me. She folds a t-shirt in just 22 seconds! Photo: Pixabay
Watercress has that crunch and sharpness that is very distinctive that seems to divide people into those that really like the bite and those who find it too bitter. By adding a warm soupy dressing seems to compliment the flavors so I hope you give this a try if you are in the group …