Recent Posts

Oshogatsu 2024

Oshogatsu 2024

Happy New Year! 2023 came and went and here we are a brand new year and ready to go in 2024! I am so grateful to continue to share these Japanese and Japanese American traditions from the Fujitaki family! Every year things get a little 

A 40th birthday to remember! 

A 40th birthday to remember! 

Happy Birthday, Brandon. Well, it was a few weeks ago, but you know time, life and everything else that goes into things. But I still wanted to document Brandon’s birthday on the blog! On Brandon’s birthday, which was 9/7, we had a really delicious meal 

Bachans 100th Birthday

Bachans 100th Birthday

When I think back on all of the many caterings throughout my time as a chef, this particular one is probably the most significant catering that I have ever done. In fact, I get emotional just thinking about how much my Bachan has impacted my life. If you’ve followed my blog for some time, you’ll know that Bachan is my grandmother on my father’s side. She has been a significant pillar in my life and continues to shine with grace and love at the amazing age of 100. 

All the Japanese food I cook and the Japanese New Year traditions that I have kept up with as an adult, are because of Bachan. Though she may not remember now at 100-years young, almost every year, during the week between Christmas and the New Year, I would spend time cooking, helping and preparing some traditional and Fujitaki family traditional foods for good luck in the coming year. I am truly blessed to have held these traditions and to continue them as time moves forward because of her willingness and patience to share them with me. Though the recipes may have changed a bit and the techniques modified ever so slightly, the essence of love and togetherness through food is always the priority. I am so privileged to be able to share this gift with our family and friends and for Bachan’s 100th birthday. We really did create a memorable event for everyone to enjoy! 

When we cater, we always get the question: how long did this take you? And this catering was a lifetime in the making. It consisted of so many different steps, details, and moving pieces that ultimately took weeks to plan and execute, but I wouldn’t have done it any other way. The gift of love she showed me through her cooking over the decades is deeply expressed in my gift of food and love for her and our family during her very special celebration. 

Japanese serving dishes and platters from three households were present on our tables. These special platters and trays are part of the beautiful display of food that we prepared. Each dish has a special meaning to us and these dishes are plated on dishes that are older than I am – some of them even older than my dad! That’s the care and detail that Bachan has always preserved in her home and her cooking. To use these platters, trays, and dishes was a special touch that I am so grateful we were able to execute. It took a lot of time and care to transport and carefully place each dish, but the sentimentality of the presentation made all the difference.

I also want to say that about 85% of this food was made in Bachan’s very own home kitchen. And if you’ve seen Bachan’s kitchen, then you know that it isn’t very big at all. Something I always remember is that it’s not the kitchen that makes the chef, it’s the chef that makes the kitchen. I can cook anywhere and I am grateful to have the help of my amazing husband, Brandon, to do the odds and ends that sometimes just overwhelm me AKA baking, though I did make mochi and matcha cream puffs this year, which was definitely a stretch for me. 

This year we smoked some of the beautiful trout we caught in Mammoth and our Uncle Kenny brought us some delicious tuna he caught for sashimi and spicy tuna rolls. I am so grateful to my sister, my cousins, my Uncle Wayne, and our family for putting together such an amazing party. It truly was a team effort. 

Here is the menu:

Bachan’s 100th Birthday Menu 

Appetizers 

Wonton

Fruit Platter 

Vegetable Platter 

Spinach Dip 

Edamame

Main

Carrot Ginger Salad

Chile Bean Sprouts 

YakiTori (Chicken Skewer)

Grilled Vegetable Skewer 

Asparagus 

Somen 

Chicken Katsu/ Tonkatsu 

Chirashi

Wild Caught Tuna Sashimi 

Smoked Eastern Sierra Trout 

Sushi

Spam Musubi 

California Roll 

Spicy Tuna Roll

Shrimp Roll 

Veggie Roll 

Inari

Desserts

Paradise Cake 

Bachan Jello

Mochi

Fruit Skewers

Cupcakes 

Matcha Cream Puffs

Many of amazing photographs were taken by Lyz Cooper and Monarch Photography. If you need photos and are in the Ventura County area, I highly recommend them.  🙂 Also my cousins and family took a lot of the food photos because I was busy cooking.

Thank you everyone for being a part of this special day and a very special thanks to my amazing sister Kristen and my husband Brandon for putting up with all my shenanigans and making this beautiful event happen.

100 years and so much love. Thank you for all the love you have always shown us all. We love you so much Bachan!

<3 Sachiko

Fabulous at Forty!

Fabulous at Forty!

My sister, Kristen, just turned forty on March 12th. My sister-in-law, Linh’s, birthday is just one day before on March 11th a couple years before, so each year we get to celebrate these two lovely ladies and everything they do for our family on a daily 

Oshogatsu 2023

Oshogatsu 2023

Another Osechi Ryori has come and gone, but this year is also a special one because Bachan will turn 100 on July 21, 2023, so this is her 100th Oshogatsu and I am so grateful that I was able to prepare and host this year’s 

Christmas 2022

Christmas 2022

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make all my usual Christmas deliciousness because Brandon had his hip replaced just before Christmas. The unknown of going through a surgical procedure was a little unsettling, but luckily his hip replacement went really well. Now he’s on the mend towards a really wonderful new opportunity to be pain-free and move around so much better, which is really exciting. 

We were able to have a lovely Christmas and see our family and friends while sharing the days with so much love and laughter. Christmas is for tamales, pozole, pasta, prime rib and all the yumminess that we can pack into the days surrounding. We got to see everyone. Brandon stayed stationary so everyone came to him, but he did great and we all made the best out of this lovely holiday season that I adore so much. 

Here are some of the photos of the food and celebrations. 

Hope you all had a great holiday season and are enjoying the newness of 2023!

Cheers

-Kimberly

Unrivaledkitch

Cu-Tea Boba Baby Shower

Cu-Tea Boba Baby Shower

Baby Fujitaki # 3 is on his way! My brother, Kyle, and my sister-in-law, Viet-Linh, are having their third child and…drum roll, please…it’s a boy! Needless to say, his arrival is much anticipated, especially since Kyle already has two daughters, Adelyn and Quinn, and my older sister, 

Thanksgiving Ideas

Thanksgiving Ideas

So we are rapidly approaching Thanksgiving! This year is going by crazy fast but I’m excited to eat, give thanks and hang out with family. If you’ve been around my blog you’ve seen many Thanksgiving feasts from previous years. It’s usually the same stuff with 

Trunk or Treat and Meal Delivery

Trunk or Treat and Meal Delivery

Hello everyone!

I hope you had an awesome week. We had a pretty busy weekend for Halloween. I spent most of the week just recovering and trying to keep things together. But it was good to have some healthy things for us to eat during the week, after all, those Halloween goodies. Amaya had a trunk or treat for her school she decided that she wanted to have a blue witch bakery so my sister had to hand-make a lot of the decorations and we made cupcakes and treats to put in the trunk. It was a lot of fun and everyone liked the cupcakes and treats. We tried to give away as many of them as we could but still ended up eating a bunch. Here are some of the pictures:

This is the menu for this week’s meal delivery.

Please contact me for time slot/ delivery opportunities if this is your first time ordering.

You can email unrivaledkitch@gmail.com or you can text/ call 818-231-1293.

Here are some of the photos of last week’s meals for reference. Each week I change the menu to reflect seasonal changes, variety of cuisine and keep things fresh and different. If you have recommendations for dishes you’d like to have you are welcome to email me or comment and let me know.

Meal Delivery

Meal Delivery

I started doing meal delivery because there were families in my life from my prenatal yoga classes and baby and me yoga classes that needed support after their babies were born or during their pregnancy with food options for busy lives. Meal delivery is really