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Guava Cake from the Aloha Kitchen Cookbook

IT’S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been excited about this book ever since Alana first mentioned she was going to be writing one and I was so excited to hear it was going to focus on home.

All the years I’ve been writing on this blog, I have always struggled to explain to people what the food is like in Hawaii. People commonly think what we eat in Hawaii is simply Hawaiian food (poi, lau lau, lomi…

Coco Cake Land Book Launch!

Hi guys! I am so excited about this post today! Coco Cake Land is now also a BOOK and I am so incredibly happy and over the moon for my dear friend, Lyndsay ♡

“Life is short. Enjoy the good times, treasure your loved ones, and don’t forget to eat cake.”

In the last 4 years that I have spent on this baking and blogging journey, I have met a slew of wonderful and talented people. Connecting with…

Summer Stonefruit Picnic | Clafoutis & Tarte Tatin

Apricots remind me of my Nana. I ate them constantly in her energy bars or would sneak a few from her her snack stash in the kitchen. In Hawaii, I’d only ever see dried apricots and had never baked with fresh ones. Which is why when summer produce hit the grocery stores, I was so excited to see rows and rows of fresh and juicy little apricots.

I was set on making a pie. I love pie. We all love…

Salted Caramel Chocolate Birthday Cake for Roy!

For Valentine’s Day this year, Roy got me an entire Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake from Republiqueand he’s been obsessed ever since. Admittedly, it is a damn good cake. Three incredibly moist layers of dark – almost black – chocolate cake sandwiched between a salted caramel filling that oozes out a bit down the sides and requires the cake to be refrigerated when not eating. All of which is…

Mailing Homemade Cookies | Happy Father’s Day!

At home, we call my Dad the garbage disposal. He is forever eating leftovers and whatever I leave on my plate at the end of dinner. Don’t get me started on what happens at buffets. When discussing Father’s Day gifts, Mom suggested I make his favorite, chocolate chip cookies – and somehow that turned into a version of kitchen sink cookies, vacuum sealed, and shipped 2000 miles across the ocean.

As…

If you know anything about me, it’s probably that I love adorable things… and if there’s one thing I’m almost embarrassingly obsessed with, it’s definitely Rilakkuma. He tops my list of most favorite thing in the world and I’m quite sure I’ve invested a big chunk of money in San-X as a company with all the things I’ve purchased over the years. I follow Rilakkuma on Twitter and check San-X’s…

Japan ’18

Last month, Roy and I spent 10 days in Japan. We stayed in Tokyo and made a short day trip to Aomori to see the cherry blossoms for the first time. We did a lot of walking and even more eating. 5 years ago, our first trip to Japan focused mostly on sight-seeing. This time around, Tokyo had changed significantly and I loved how we got more of a chance to explore the city in a different way. This…

Food52’s Cream Cheese Banana Bread

There are a handful of things we always keep on standby in our home. A plant-based milk, dry pasta, tomato sauce, garlic, onion, and bananas. Lots of them. Bananas are my absolute favorite fruit. I eat one every morning, usually in smoothie form and on days when I sleep in a little too much, as a grab and go breakfast. I wait till they’re extra ripe before freezing for smoothies or baking with. A…

It’s that time of year again… time for pie! With my pie in the oven, I’ve spent all day watching Superstore on Hulu, shopping online for Christmas gifts, and taking out the holiday decorations. Roy promised he’d let me put them up the day after Thanksgiving. There are few things I love more than enjoying a kitchen filled with the smell of apple pie. I took a note from last year and split the…

Skeleton Bear Oreo Cookies

I love oreos so much. Not so much the filling but those crunchy chocolatey cookies. We don’t usually have a lot of snacks at home but oreos and goldfish are always welcome. So when October neared and I saw Trader Joe’s chocolate sandwich cookies with festive jack-o-lanterns, I was super excited to take them with us on our road trip to the bay area to visit Roy’s family. But – and I don’t know how…

Rilakkuma Halloween Bread + My Favorite Halloween Snacks

I’m not the biggest on costumes when it comes to Halloween. I usually throw something together the night before and curse myself for not doing it sooner. But what I really love Halloween for are the snacks. I absolutely love Halloween themed goodies. Store-bought and homemade treats with cute and a lil’ creepy written all over it – that’s my jam! I’m going to be honest in saying that this…

I’ve been playing around with ways to make my favorite local Hawaii foods vegan/vegetarian/meat-free. It’s tough and I haven’t been as successful as I originally imagined, but man oh man have we got a winner! This recipe delicious… and yes it’s also unbelievably meatless (I fooled my fellow Hawaii born & raised friend Peter). You wouldn’t even know it. In Hawaii, manapua is the local version of…

Roy Bakes a Cake!

For my birthday this year, I asked Roy to bake me a cake. This is what happened. Roy doesn’t like baking and doesn’t usually like to cook things that take too much effort. Simple meals are his favorite to prepare at home. But last week, when I was recipe testing for a meatless Manapua/Char Siu Bao (yes, posting this soon!) our friend Peter came over. I was in the middle of cooking, the dough…