Spark of Inspiration

Recently, I met an artist, PenelopeLovePrints, who works in watercolor and enjoys illustrating food related art. This passion led her to create a Japanese cookbook.

Naming her cookbook, “My Lovely Cookbook: An Amateur Guide to Asian Cooking,” was perfect. Her recipes are easy to follow with adorable drawings. I like her two-page spread format. Recipe on one page, drawing of the meal prepared on the other page.

Here you can see how easy this recipe for Japanese Fried Chicken is. It’s hard not to fall in love with her art which is whimsical.

I wanted to share this with you for a few reasons. If you enjoy Japanese cooking, I think you will like her cookbook. If you need a clever gift idea, this would be unique. Adults and children would love this. PenelopeLovePrints has a Facebook page where she shares more illustrations/recipes she is working on. It’s amusing to see.

My daughter went through a cooking phase when she was young. She wanted to make sushi and Taiyaki (Japanese fish cake), so off to the Japanese part of town we went. She was very dedicated in doing this.

For those of you who do not know, this is what Taiyaki looks like. I wanted you to see the griddle they use too.

It’s a bit of a process, some failures in learning how to use the griddle, but finally a WIN! We all had fun with this.

Oh, online someone asked, “When you eat Taiyaki, do you start with the head or the tail first?”

ANSWER: Which ever you choose! (I always started with the tail first.)

Meeting new people and learning about their passion is energizing.

Are you pursuing anything new? Something you’ve ALWAYS wanted to do?