Cherry Blossom Festa in Little Tokyo

Spring is in the air here in Los Angeles, and Little Tokyo is no exception. The Cherry Blossom festival is a bit newer here, our big festival is in August, but there were hundreds of people on the streets. There was traditional Japanese dance, folk festival music, lots of street vendors and a lot of food.

Blurry strawberries

Mochi, traditional sweet filled rice cakes.



A fellow playing the shamisen, the traditional Japanese Okinawan three stringed instrument. He said he learned over the course of many years, as a hobby when visiting Japan on business.

Trip to San Diego

With the new quarter, I have regrettably not had a lot of time to add pictures, but that hasn't stopped me from taking too many new ones. Here are some from a recent trip to Old Town San Diego. A venerable Old Town eatery, the Old Town Cafe is one of several restaurants in the area that makes fresh, hand-made tortillas.


They have an excellent posole at the cafe, it had a very tasty broth and just the right amount of cilantro, fresh onion, pork and hominy. In the weeks that followed, we worked on replicating this soup, with some success.

The enchiladas were wonderful as well, although were a bit more fragile than the machine made kind that most restaurants use nowadays.

Old Town is right in a state park so there is plenty of flora to marvel at. Many of these have been growing here for decades.