Have you purchased your copy of Peko Peko: Family-Friendly Japanese Recipes yet?!

While I’m sure the fact that 100% of the proceeds support relief in Japan is genuine motivation, allow me to speak to a more primal—and hungrier—part of you.

Check out this complete list of recipes that you’ll find in the book and then try not to click the “Buy” button immediately!

Soups
* Dashi
* Clear Clam Soup
* Shiitake Miso Soup
* Tonjiru (a pork soup flavored with miso)

Vegetables and Salads
* Kinpira Gobo (a simple preparation of burdock root)
* Quick Cucumber and Shiso Pickles
* Green Beans in Sesame Dressing
* Roasted Shiitake Parmesan Pops
* Japanese-Style Potato Salad
* Edamame-Spinach Dip
* Miso Ratatouille
* Umeboshi (Pickled Plum) and Avocado Salad
* Mock Unagi (Fried Sweet Potato and Nori Patties)
* Spinach Ohitashi
*Hijiki Salad
* Mushroom and Scallion Tamagoyaki

Fish and Shellfish
* Miso-Glazed Salmon
* Salmon Rice Bowl
* Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice
* Japanese Crab Cakes
* Gluten-Free Miso Shrimp with Spicy Peanut Dip
* Grilled Teriyaki Shrimp
* Sparkling Sake and Scallop Sunomono

Meat and Poultry
* Yakitori (grilled chicken skewers)
* Japanese Fried Chicken
* Japanese-Style Chicken Wings
* Chicken Katsu with Two Dipping Sauces
* Misoyaki Roast Chicken with Shoyu Onion Sauce
* Panko and Tea Encrusted Duck Salad
* Pork and Shiitake Mushroom Gyoza (with a photo how-to!)

Rice
* Matsutake Mushroom Rice
* Gingered Rice
* Meat-Wrapped Rice Ball
* Mirin-Infused Rice, Avocado and Orange Salad

Noodles
* Cold Soba Noodle and Seared Tofu Salad
* Tangy Mustard Stir-Fry with Noodles
* Soba Noodles with Maitake Mushrooms and Grilled Tofu
* Yakisoba with Shiitake Mushrooms
* Summertime Kabobs with Udon Noodles
* Peko Peko Udon
* Miso Ramen with all the Trimmings
* Japanese Vegetable Noodle Soup

Sweet and Savory Snacks
* Kale Chips with Gomashio
* Candied Sweet Potato Wedges
* Honeydew and Green Tea Smoothie
* Baked Furikake Sweet Potatoes
* Whole What Choco-Sticks (i.e., homemade Pocky!)
* Gluten-Free Matcha Green Tea Pistachio Muffins

Desserts
* Matcha Green Tea Marshmallows
* Simple Green Tea Ice Cream
* Green Tea Krispy Kandy Bars
* Matcha Green Tea Macarons with Peach Pate de Fruits Filling
* Yuzu Cupcakes
* Almonst No-Bake Tofu Cheesecake
* Strawberry and Green Tea Daifuku
* Raspberry and Banana Sushi
* Japanese Street Crepes with Coconut Ice Cream
* Almond Tea Cake
* Poached Plums in Plum Wine with Shisho Ice Cream

Buy Peko Peko now to get all of these recipes, plus an indispensable glossary of over 50 common Japanese ingredients (with suitable substitutes for the American home cook when applicable) and an essay on bringing global foods to the family table.

Stacie
xo

Have you heard?! Peko Peko: Family Friendly Recipes went on sale Friday. We are up and running!

Now it’s time to raise money for Japan.
Buy your copy now!!

Every book costs $29.95 and 100% of the proceeds, $11.45 of every purchase, goes to GlobalGiving. Every other penny goes to printing and shipping your order, nothing else. Blurb has waived their cut and every person involved in making the book (including me!) is buying personal copies.

Every sale counts.

Tell your friends, post, tweet, Facebook—help spread the word. Post your questions or drop a line. I’d be happy to tell you anything you want to know about the project (you hear that, press!).

Peko Peko has been a true labor of love. Everyone involved has done their part for free—from editing the manuscript to buying ingredients, from photo shooting and editing to laying out pages—and all admin costs came out of pocket without reimbursement. Nobody is making a dime off of this project except for Japan. And I believe that I speak for everyone involved when I say: we couldn’t be happier.

Thank you all for your support. Tell us what you think when you get your copy. And stay tuned. I’ll be posting here periodically to share fun press and keep you posted on how much we raise along the way.

Stacie
xox

Peko Peko cover photo credits: Marc Matsumoto & Alice Currah

That’s right. There’s more than one way to support Peko Peko!

Of course you’re going to buy the book. That’s a no-brainer. You’d do that even if $11.45 of your $29.95 purchase wasn’t going to charity. Otherwise, how would you get 59 family-friendly Japanese and Japanese-inspired recipes, a glossary of over 50 Japanese ingredients with substitutions for the American home cook AND an essay on bringing global foods to the family table by none other than me and La Fuji Mama?! Not to mention the eye candy that is the photography in Peko Peko, shot by many of our talented contributors (exhibit A above: Yakisoba contributed by Gaby Dalkin of What’s Gaby Cooking) and the venerable Marc Matsumoto.

In addition to buying the book, we’ve made it super easy for you to become a sponsor! We’ve worked with GlobalGiving to make it possible for you to donate directly to the GlobalGiving Japan Earthquake and Tsunmai Relief Fund in support of Peko Peko.

Just visit the Peko Peko page on GlobalGiving, give in any amount and your entire donation will go to GlobalGiving and also count towards what we raise for them. It’s a wonderful way to support our project and, more importantly, the people of Japan.

Because there is still great need.

Those of you who have been keeping track know that this wasn’t the way we’d originally conceived of sponsorship. At first, our hope was to raise a lump sum that would go towards buying an inventory of Peko Peko cookbooks that would then be sold for $29.95, all of which would go to GlobalGiving. It was an ambitious goal that involved raising money across both individuals and corporations, while also working out two separate printing and pricing options with Blurb. In the end, it proved to be too much. This new approach is much simpler and allows people who are interested to support our ultimate goal of raising as much for relief in Japan as possible.

One more bit of info: as a result of this change in approach, we will not be including donors’ names in the book as we once suggested. Instead, we will list sponsors’ names on the site.

Thank you, again, and stay tuned for the book, coming your way June 10th!

Stacie
xo

We’re so close! I should get my proof of Peko Peko: Family-Friendly Japanese Recipes in the mail by this Friday. From there, it’s a final read through and, then, game time! By Friday 6/10, you’ll be able to buy your own copy!

Though I haven’t held a hard copy in my hands yet, the book design came out gorgeous. (Thank you, Rieko!) We’re looking at 120 full-color pages packed with gorgeous photography (just look at the cover for a sample!) and 59 family-friendly Japanese and Japanese-inspired recipes contributed by 56 of today’s best and brightest food writers.

Peko Peko also includes an indispensable glossary of over 50 Japanese ingredients, including suitable substitutions for the American home cook, plus an essay on bringing Japanese food and other global cuisines to the family table.

Peko Peko will be available for $29.95 beginning the week of June 6th through Blurb.com. $11.45 of every sale will go to the GlobalGiving Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. The rest of the money covers printing costs. Nobody involved has or will profit from the making or selling of Peko Peko, including Blurb. As a Peko Peko sponsor, the good folks at Blurb have agreed to forgo their usual cut of book sales.

We’re close, friends. Cannot wait to share the fruits of our labor with you and the proceeds with the people of Japan.

Mark your calendars. Spread the word.

Stacie
xox

Well, my my. It’s certainly been hard putting this book together while also keeping you up to date on our progress. Sorry that I haven’t been able to keep up! The good news is that long periods of radio silence between posts is a sign of work, work, work getting us closer to a finished book and sale date.

Before I give you an update on both of those things, please take a moment to look at that Yakitori! We can thank Shaina of Food for My Family for those delicious chicken skewers. Tasty and easy. Gorgeous, too, right?

Be sure to sign up (to the right) so that we can email you when the book goes up for sale. You don’t want to miss out on this or any of the other amazing 54 recipes.

Now that I’ve whet your appetite, let’s get down to business!!

I just reviewed the latest layout of Peko Peko and it looks GORGEOUS! It’s going to be 120 pages packed with goodness, including an extensive guide to Japanese ingredients and an essay on how and why to bring global foods to the family table.

The book will retail for $29.95. $11.45 per book will be donated to GlobalGiving (every other penny goes towards printing).

We’re doing one more round of editing this week into early next. Then, by mid next week, we’ll be ordering our proof. You know, to make sure that all of the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed. That process takes about 8 (interminably long) days, which leaves us with a sale launch date sometime the week of the 30th.

So, you’ll go off, have a great memorial day weekend, get back and PLACE YOUR PEKO PEKO ORDER!

Stay tuned. There will be more news before the book is available. I know, I know. I don’t have a great track record but, trust me, there will be more in the days leading up to the big sale!

Thank you for your patience. I promise, it’s SO WORTH IT!!

Wow. This project has us busy! Rachael, Marc and I knew that putting together this cookbook would be a big undertaking but, as is always the case, we didn’t know just how big until we were knee deep in. It’s been great, though. We’re tired—I cannot lie about that!—but it’s been a pure joy to work on Peko Peko. And things just got more exciting.

Rachael, Marc and I are over the moon to let you know that we’ve decided on a charity. All of the profits from sales of Peko Peko will be donated to GlobalGiving, a foundation that gives access to new sources of funds to causes that might never be funded through traditional development and philanthropy approaches. Projects listed on GlobalGiving go through a rigorous due diligence review and, once approved, are listed on their site where folks like you and me—who might never otherwise know about the cause—can donate.

GlobalGiving has been wildly successful at helping raise money for small non-profit projects and NGO’s and now, in certain cases, they’ve started their own funds. The GlobalGiving Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund is one such effort, to which we will be donating Peko Peko proceeds.

For their Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund, GlobalGiving is regularly assessing needs in stricken areas of Japan and, at benchmarks along the way, giving to the organizations meeting those needs as they change. GlobalGiving provides updates on their research and decisions on how to disseminate money on the fund’s “report” page.

Our original idea was to donate to a cause specific to children to connect with the Peko Peko focus on family-friendly food. As the crisis in Japan unfolded, it became clear that the needs there will continue to change quickly. This is further complicated by the reality that Japan is a country rich in resources with strong global political ties. Though organizations like Save the Children and the Red Cross are doing critically important work on the ground, we are heartened by the chance to also help support smaller organizations and help meet changing needs—not just single, focused one—as they arise.

As of April 14th, GlobalGiving and GlobalGiving UK have disbursed more than $3 million to 14 organizations: Architecture for Humanity, Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA), Association for Aid and Relief (AAR), Civic Force, International Medical Corps, Japan Platform, Japanese Emergency NGOs (JEN), Lifeline Energy, Mercy Corps, Peace Winds, Save the Children, Shelter Box, Shine Humanity, and Telecom for Basic Human Needs (BHN).

We’ve been working hard to make Peko Peko: A Charity Cookbook for Japan a book of the highest quality that will stand on its own and endure long after this natural disaster is top of mind. But, even then, Japan will need our help. We believe that the GlobalGiving Earthquake and Tsunami Relief fund run will ensure that money is donated where it is most needed as book sales continue into months (and years!) to come.

It’s been a little while since our last post and much has happened!

The biggest news is that close to all SIXTY recipes have been submitted. We’ve got soups; vegetables, seaweeds and salads; tofu and eggs; seafood; meat and poultry (like the Pork and Shitake Gyoza we shared a week and a half ago); rice, noodles and pancakes; sweet and savory snacks; and even desserts (remember these Green Tea Kit Kat? Yea… like that!).

While I’m on the subject of Peko Peko recipes, check out the “Peko Peko Udon” that the unstoppable Alice Currah from Savory Sweet Life created for us. How badly do you want to eat that?!

I find it hard to believe that you don’t know Alice already but, just in case, she is a mom of three and the voice (cook, baker and photographer) behind Savory Sweet Life and Everyday Alice. She also writes for PBS Parents Kitchen Explorers and is a regular contributor at the Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen Blog.

I cannot thank Alice and all the rest of our contributors enough for their hard work on Peko Peko.

Speaking of work, we’ve been laser focused on raising $15,000. We’ve had many generous individual pledges, but are still looking for the right corporate sponsor. Why $15,000? It’s the amount that will pay for a print run of 2,000 books. With printing costs covered and Blurb, a sponsor and our publisher, willing to forgo their cut, the entire retail price of these first 2,000 books will go to straight to charity. So, let’s say that the book retails for $35 (this is not a final price!), our $15,000 investment turns into a $70,000 initial donation. Powerful stuff.

I will post a PayPal account soon that will allow people to make donations directly into our printing account with Blurb. In the meantime, please let us know if you are interested in becoming a sponsor or introducing us to a potential sponsor.

There would, of course, be no need for sponsors with out a BOOK, so we’ve also been hard at work on a manuscript which is being edited by professional cookbook editor Justin Schwartz of justcooknyc.com. I’ve got two words about Justin: BAD ASS. If you’ve ever been frustrated by a complication cookbook before, you’ll be amazed at Peko Peko. Justin is single handedly harmonizing recipes from over 50 writers, all in his free time. We are beyond lucky to be working with you, Justin. Thank you.

To keep us moving on as fast a track as possible, we’re working on design at the same time as we’re completing the manuscript. (See why it’s been a little while since our last update?!) Our gorgeous logo and site were designed by Ayaka Ito who had to move on to another project. Before she did, she hooked us up with another lovely and talented designer, Rieko Yamanaka who is also volunteering in her free time to make Peko Peko as beautiful as possible.

There are lot of other exciting details in the works… more news to come soon! And, until then, SPREAD THE WORD! Let’s make everyone “peko peko” for Peko Peko!

With love,
Stacie
xox

More gorgeous food!

These Pork and Shitake Mushroom Gyoza come to us from Liren of Kitchen Confidante. She found the recipe, which will be published in Peko Peko: A Charity Cookbook for Japan, in her mother’s recipe binder. You know what that means, right? This is serious biz, people! And, a mother two herself, Liren knew to give readers the option to make their own gyoza dough (kids can help roll it out!) or use store bought.

I’ll probably end up doing both… I have a feeling I’ll be making these a lot.

If you want to make these, too, be sure to sign up (on the right!) to find out as soon as Peko Peko goes on sale. And be sure to thank Liren for her fabulous contribution by checking out Kitchen Confidante and following her on Facebook and Twitter, @kitchconfidante.

With an ongoing nuclear crisis, there is no shortage of news on the aftermath of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in Japan. To be honest, some of it is too much for me. But, in the midst of a barrage of reports fearing nuclear fall out, I found this piece describing CNN correspondent Kyung Lah’s perspective on the devastation in Japan.

In the piece, which ran in the Huffington Post, Kyung Lah describes observations of and interactions with the most vulnerable affected, the elderly and children. She also makes an astute observation about the “culture gap” that may explain the “translation issues” faced by foreign press working to help us understand what’s happening on the ground in Japan.

Though sad, it’s a good read that helped me better understand what’s going on, as opposed to just making me feel scared. I thought you might be interested.

Stacie
xo

As we organize the recipes streaming in, I thought I’d share some of the brilliance that you’ll find in our upcoming Peko Peko: A Charity Cookbook for Japan

First up, Homemade Green Tea Kit Kat!

How. AMAZING. Do. These. Look?!!?

Thank you to Josie of Daydreamer Desserts (@DaydreamerDsrts) for this spectacular contribution!

If you’re as hungry to try this as I am, sign up (to the right!) to get word as soon as the cookbook goes on sale.

xo, Stacie