hi i’m rika!

i’m the type of foodie that has her breakfast, lunch, and dinner planned out even before she even wakes up. relatable? maybe not.

i’m just a little bit crazy about food. here’s my story with it:

cooking for others is my primary love language: i started cooking and baking when i was 6 or 7 (then, with my baby sitter’s help) to surprise my working parents when they got home, and i continued through high school until i moved out of my parent’s home.

food is too dynamic to settle on flavor or creativity: in high school, i created a recipe blog (flikbook) for fun foods that could be made from basic ingredients in our school dining hall (which often served bland and atrocious noodles and sandwiches – think ‘lo mein’ made with spaghetti).

eating well is a form of preventative medicine: before college, i took a gap year and did some organic farming in Fukushima, Japan where the nuclear disaster was in 2011. harvesting rice, apples, and soybeans next to several 90-year-olds who were as nimble as my 18-year-old self, if not more, i realized the undeniable connection between nutrition and health/illness prevention. there’s a reason japan has the lowest prevalence of obesity in the world!

now, i implement my 3 pillars of food in everyday life:

living in nyc, you’ll find me taking the subway from work directly to my friends’ homes to cook japanese food for them (see my recipes!), or venturing downtown to try new cuisines and restaurants (my exclusive google maps guide to food spots in NY/LA), or eating healthy so i can run at my best!

i hope you can find inspiration here on new ways to love food – whether it be through cooking my recipes, discovering new food spots, or eating healthy to live healthy, i’m here to help!