okinawa hai!

CONTRIBUTED BY SARRA MCMILLAN Green Papaya Even though I have been living in Okinawa for 2 years, there are still moments where I am struck with fear in Japanese grocery stores, standing in front of vegetables that I couldn’t name, let alone know how to cook. OkinawaHai offers a great wealth of knowledge for deciphering [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KELLY ZENKEWICH Last week, Kelly started her list of seven great ways to use up those millions of little shikwasa that can be found in every corner market on Okinawa.  To read the first four ideas, click HERE.  And now back to Kelly… 5: Shikwasa & watermelon mint daquiri shikwasa06 This recipe was [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KELLY ZENKEWICH shikwasa01 In September at the supermarket I noticed shikwasas available in large amounts, for very low prices. Their harvest season is normally late summer but you can find them at lower prices into the fall. When looking at the large bags for sale I was confounded; how are they used in [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY LEAH MAGID At the ripe old age of 40, I finally started carrying a purse.  My previous reasoning for just jamming a wallet in my pocket (causing a need to carefully plan clothing assembly each day) was that I would just lose a purse.  It had happened before, back in my early twenties, [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY PENNY VAN HEERDEN My two-year-old daughter loves miso soup and even enjoys the seaweed.  As she can sometimes be full of nonsense about food this is a great discovery for me. Another healthy food that she actually enjoys, to add to her repertoire. The great thing about miso soup is that once you [...]

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I was so excited to receive this post from Penny because Hechima is the one common Okinawa veggie that I've never figured out how to cook!  Thanks for the step by step!CONTRIBUTED BY PENNY VAN HEERDENHechima or Nabera, as it is known in the local Okinawan dialect, resembles a cucumber and is from the gourd [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KATHRYN CALAGUIOne of the things that I love most about Okinawa is how convenient it is!I am originally from New York City, and what I miss most about New York are the steamed buns from Chinatown. Growing up, I called them siopao (show-pow), which means steamed bun in Filipino. In Okinawa, a steamed [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JOELLE YAMADA Guess which one is purple inside??   Hard to tell from the outside, eh?  These two tubers are abundantly available on Okinawa.  One is a sweet potato (beniimo – bottom one) and then other is a yam.  And even if you are someone who says, "I hate sweet potatoes," you should [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JOELLE YAMADA It's fruit time again! I'm a delayed gratification girl, so I'll start with a fruit I'm a bit ambivalent about.  But it's SUPER interesting, so worth giving a try.  And who knows, it may turn out to be YOUR favorite fruit ever! Egg fruit (aka, canistel) –   Its name comes [...]

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And you thought you knew what an apple was??? Two different apples to tell you about today!  The first is called a Custard Apple: When I asked my market guy about it he said that custard apple (also called sugar apple) is the sweetest thing grown on Okinawa.  And WOW is he right.  In fact, [...]

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