Gift wrapping in Japan is an art. However, many of us don’t have the talent or fine motor skills to create such beautifully wrapped creations–including me… To understand how this is a “skill” you have to watch this Japanese video. She shows us how the Japanese department stores wrap their boxes. As you will see, it’s …
The Season for Gift Wrapping – Asian Accents with Origami Read More »
This is the continuation of my attempt to video blog, or vlogging! In my previous life, or should I say my life before kids, I did a lot of T.V. and video work. So, I’m trying to dig up those skills and the hope is to share a little bit of Asian culture. not only to the …
Many in the West may know the 80/20 Rule, also known as the Pareto Principle. It states that “80 percent of the results are achieved by 20 percent of the group or 20 percent of your effort will generate 80 percent of your results.” According to the Wikipedia ” Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, observed in 1906 that 80% …
The classic Japanese rice ball, onigiri, is now a favorite amongst many people worldwide. It’s simple, convenient, tasty, and easy to eat. It’s the Asian version of the sandwich. This is my second video in a series of four on rice. You can watch the first video: How to Cook Japanese Rice in a Frying …
Recently, I’ve had many requests on cooking Japanese home-style food. There are a lot of good cookbooks and recipes available, however, when living outside of Japan, it’s often difficult to find and get all the unique Japanese produce and ingredients. So, I decided to put together simple recipes with ingredients that are readily available in the …
There are many legends of the origin of silk, but this story from the American Museum of Natural History is my favorite . Empress Xi-Ling, was drinking hot tea under the mulberry bush when a cocoon dropped into her tea cup. When she attempted to pick it out of her cup, a strand began unraveling from …
As a student of feng shui and Taoism, we learn that our health is a part of our holistic well-being. Feng shui is about “living in harmony with nature”. This means not only living in harmony with our living environment, it also includes how to take care of our bodies as well as our mind …
Chinese Traditional Medicine and Four Simple Guidelines to Maintain your Health Read More »
Our family loves the spicy and rich flavors of Korean food. When the kids come home during their school break, their restaurant of choice is the local Korean BBQ. Apparently, in their neighborhoods, there are plenty of Japanese and Chinese eateries but not many Korean. So, off we go and they consume an embarrassing amount of …
Feeling a bit tired or need a protein boost? These little chocolate protein bites uses tofu as the vegetable protein. If you eat protein bars, you will have a good idea what this will taste like. It has that soy flavor, that is commonly used in those energy bars. Now, if you don’t like tofu, …
Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, has many different schools of thought. On Asian Lifestyle Design, we have shown arrangements from Ikenobo and Ryuseiha Schools. Today, I’d like to introduce another school called Sogetsu. Compared to Ikenobo, the original school of ikebana with a 550 year history, the Ryuseiha School is 120 years old, …
This last week we have been working and studying with Master Hsu on the next feng shui book he is writing. There is so much information that my brain is full and confused! It’s probably filled with lots of unnecessary and useless information that I pick up here and there in the news and on T.V.. …
I love anything sesame, from the sesame seeds with peanuts sweets, sesame dressing, sesame oil, the Chinese sesame balls with bean paste, and tahini, the Middle Eastern ingredient. If it has sesame in it, I’m bound to love it. In Japanese sesame is goma and it is heavily used in many dishes. Apparently Japan is …
During a feng shui consultation, once a client asked me, “Is my clock okay?” I really didn’t understand the question. She then asked whether the clock on the wall was placed in a good feng shui position. I explained that there was nothing wrong with her clock and that in feng shui, clocks do not …
What is the Relationship between Feng Shui and Clocks Read More »
We live in this digital age where everything is just a finger tip away. Questions on anything and everything can be answered instantaneously. Want to know a meaning of a word? A good restaurant? directions? title of a song? artist? history? Immediate answers have become the norm. From an Asian philosophical perspective, as a society, we …
Mizuna is a Japanese green leafy vegetable that has spikey leaves and to me, tastes like a sharp watercress. Something with a bit of bite. According to Johnny Seeds, where my husband orders his seeds, it’s official name is brassica rapa (Japonica group). The mizuna in the photo above is from our home garden! It’s …
For many of us, back to school means slowly changing our routines to accommodate the school and our children’s schedules. In our home, this will change, as over the weekend we are sending our youngest to college. Our kids decided to go to university an airplane ride away. Because of these logistics, I have had to …
