The Chatty Gourmet

Typically we release our new menu every October, however this year we are pushing it back a couple months. We have so many new items that we don't know which ones to choose! We have been busy working on a new menu and we want to make it the best. We have taken all of our customer feedback and the expertise of our new Executive chef, James Brice and we are putting together the final pieces. We are hoping to release it by December so keep an eye out for it! Thank you for your patience!

There are many kinds of foods that are said to be beneficial for one's body, such as blueberry improves one's eye sight, a kind of potato from southeast asia makes women's breast big, sea weeds restore hair,  a special mushroom which cures cancer...etc. There is no scientific evidence, but these superstitious foods attract people a lot at supermarkets. I am one of them.

In Japan, fish oil and soy are said to be good for one's brain. My mother cooked fish very often when I was studying for my entrance exam for highschool and college.

These days, I don't eat a lot of fish but my brain works properly so far. However, I am not confident enough not to make my kids eat fish saying " This makes you smart".

Have a nice week!

Until recently, I had never thought about excercing for my health.

As I did not drive in Japan, I walked and biked a lot everyday. I needed to do so if I want to go somewhere.

I got my first driving license a month ago, one week before I began my internship here.

I had never driven a car in Japan.

I was grew up in a small city where public transportation is more convenient than driving a car. My parents have a car but my mother uses it mostly. My father goes to work by bus.

After graduating highschool, I moved to Tokyo to go to college there. It is pretty rare to have car in Tokyo if you do not have kids. You can go anywhere by train and subway.

When you visit Tokyo, I strongly recomment NOT to drive there. It is really hard to find parking, even if you find one,it is super expensive to park and also, the road is so narrow compared to here.

Since I began driving, I stopped walking. I used to walk to the subway station and between stations. Even after I came here, I biked everyday to school.

And I realized that I need to be little tired to have good sleep. Sometimes I have difficulty in getting to sleep. And of course, I gained a little weight.

These days, I go to the gym every other day and I have very good sleep now.

What I am trying to do now is stop parking the car as close as possible to the gym and park a bit further to walk.

As an intern, I work three times a week; Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

When I am not working, I go to gym, library and hang out with friends. I am pretty relaxed and enjoying nice Californian weather. I am from southern, very warm part of Japan, but climate here is much nicer, less humid and sky looks much brighter.

One of the things that I like about working here is that I can work for three companies at the same time. For example, one day, I read some articles about health for Susan's Healthy Gourmet in the morning, and I did small reserch about chocolate brokers for Xan in the afternoon. I also did some paperwork for Life Spring. Life Spring's office is close to the kichen and the scent of the room keeps changing and someitmes makes me so hungry.

I will come back soon to talk little more about here.

Have a wonderful week!

This past week I was able to attend the Natural Foods Expo in Anaheim and it was amazing! Coming from a nutrition/food background I felt right at home. I have gone to expos before in the past but this one was all about natural and healthy products, it full of "good for you" foods. We usually go in a big group, Susan, Kerry, John, Erin, Monya and myself but this time I was the only one available to go and it was a different experience. As I was walking up and down these long aisles packed with every product imaginable I was really able to realize just how many companies are out there trying to get good food and products to the consumers. I just never realized how big these food shows really were, they are enormous and there is something out there for everyone. There was natural, organic, vegan, non-dairy, fresh and frozen. Whatever "healthy" product you were looking for it was there! 

The day before I attended a "Healthy Baking Seminar," with our chocolatier Tracy. It was so interesting and we both learned so much about where the trends in healthy baking are today. There was such a diverse group of people there, food scientists, vice presidents of major food manufacturing companies, nutritionist and product developers.  By chance we sat at an all-woman’s table for lunch and it was so motivating to hear where everyone came from and what they did in the world of food. Being that I am still pretty young it really got me thinking about how much more studying I would like to do and reconfirmed my true passion to work with food and healthy living.

I feel very lucky that I am given the opportunity to attend events like these, I enjoy them so much! It is such an indescribable feeling to be in a room filled with your peers who share the same passion as you do and who are making a difference in the world of food and health today.