{ the jaunty magpie }

When the Bird isn't pondering over pretty baubles or digging through the Jaunty Wardrobe, I do a bit of writing. Along with this blog, and my food blog, Wasabi Prime, I have a column on HonestCooking.com called Sense Memory that has monthly thoughts and ponderings over food and the way we develop personal relationships with it.

My latest article for April started out as a wandering thought as I was steaming rice for dinner, and how much the smell really evokes a feeling of home and family. That grew into collecting quotes from fellow food bloggers, those in the culinary community, along with family, and it turned into this month's piece titled The Heart and Soul of Rice in a Bowl,  sharing people's memories lovingly donated to the piece to both inspire a love of home and family, but also to remind all of us that the efforts to help Japan recover so that they can have their own bowls of comfort food is ongoing and efforts are still needed.

I hate to toot my own Jaunty horn, but I admit, I really J'adore this photo -- it was the featured image I took of some rice in a sake bowl, with an old wooden kokeshi doll from Japan. I have several of these small dolls; they were my father and aunt's, collected over the years, given as gifts to commemorate special occasions, and now they sit in our own home. It's a nice reminder of family and tradition, and why it's still important to hang on to things. Even though nothing lasts forever, no one wants to wind up on an episode of Hoarders, but keeping these little totems of our past helps keep our loved ones right in our homes.


Jaunty Fine Print:  photograph by Denise Sakaki