Freddy's Harajuku

Meyer Lemon Baked Cake Doughnuts

When life gives you many, many lemons, you have to find things to do with them besides make lemonade. So when I happened upon a bunch of Meyer lemons, I already had a couple ideas in my back pocket. Meyer lemons, compared to your standard lemon, is a more orange hue compared to the yellow,…

Grilled Romaine with Sesame Dressing

Brown butter-grilled romaine is my favorite savory discovery in 2025. Brown butter adds a toasty, nutty flavor to anything, and when you grill romaine with it, you get this smoky, crispy, crunchy lettuce that is super addictive. While my home’s ventilation system hates me whenever I break out my grill pan for this, brown butter-grilled…

Apple-Brown Butter-Sesame Cake

This cake was the result of me making caramelized apples, and wanting to do some fun things with them. I was attempting to make a tarte tatin(whomp whomp) and if that wasn’t foreshadowing enough, I basically ran out of butter to actually make one. So with the butter that I still had, I decided, instead…

Meat and Potatoes: a plated dish

Whenever I think of meat and potatoes, steak and mashed potatoes come to mind right away. I almost immediately picture this quintessential dish of a giant slab of red meat with a pile of home fries. I wanted to slightly change that up, by doing potatoes two ways, and trim down the portion to be…

Sweet Peach Tea Affogato

This recipe is my homage to sweet peach tea, combined with one of my favorite ice creams in mascarpone sorbet. Back in college, I learned how to make mascarpone sorbet by combining mascarpone cheese and simple syrup, freezing that solid, blending it with my immersion blender(I was the weirdo who owned one in his dorm…

Kale Crespelles with Mushrooms and Hazeluts

This dish has been on my to-make list for ages. I always loved the combination of hazelnut, brown butter, and thyme, mostly because it is woodsy and earthy. While I usually make desserts with that flavor combination, it made just as much sense to do something savory with it as well(since it is an inherently…

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ripple Cake

If you are looking for pure decadence, look no further than this cake(assuming you don’t have a nut allergy; if you do, sub the peanut butter and peanuts in this recipe with Biscoff and cookie butter?). I grew up loving Butterfingers and Reeses, both of which are peanut-based candy bars. Chocolate and peanut butter is…

Pork Loin and Fennel Salad

This dish is a loose homage to a vitello tonnato. Vitello tonnato is an Italian dish consisting of thinly sliced chilled veal loin with a creamy tuna mayonnaise sauce, usually served with capers, lemon, and parsley. It’s basically a meat salad. I wanted to do something similar to that, but in this case, with pork…

Japanese Apple Pies

These Japanese apple pies were inspired by me perusing through multiple Japanese bakery tour videos on Youtube, and seeing these adorable little scalloped half moon-shaped hand pies. In Japan, apple pies are popularly made with puff pastry, and can range from either a traditional pie shape to the more portable hand pies. So I figured,…

Grilled Pork Loin with Apple Nuoc Cham

This dish came about after I realized I still had 2 whole heads of romaine lettuce, and I was sick of eating a chopped salad. When it comes to lettuce, I had some semi-traumatic experiences as a child since my mom would serve us boiled lettuce. What you don’t think about when it comes to…

Strawberry-Rhubarb Entremet

This honestly was one of the prettiest entremets I have made in a while, and it came together so organically. I always loved the combination of strawberry and rhubarb, because that is two tart ingredients(rhubarb being a bit more bitter and strawberries veering a bit more sweet), which makes for an automatic foil to sugar…

Peach-Olive Oil Upside Down Cake

I was honestly ready to stop with the peach recipes(and focus on maybe other stone fruit like cherries), but my parents decided to gift me with a large bag of overtly ripe peaches, and I had to find a way to use them up(my dad suggested I make peach wine). While I did make a…

Everything Goes On: a plated dessert

This dessert was loosely inspired by my most recent trip to the Big Island, where my friends and I hiked through a dormant volcanic crater in Kilauea. At the bottom of the large crater, there was a surprising amount of plant life that was sprouting out of the black volcanic rock, and the visual contrast…

Pink Peach Mille Crepe

My obsession with pink peaches continues as we get towards the end of peach season. It’s crazy to think that summer is almost over – 2025 really has flown by. That being said, I wanted to make another dessert that would really embrace the prettiness of these pink peaches. For those who have not seen…

Artichoke-Roasted Garlic Dip with Artichoke-Rye Crackers

This recipe was my take on artichoke dip, but made with feta cheese, confit garlic, and meyer lemons to give it a more Mediterranean feel! Artichokes are an ingredient that I just love, because they play off of cheese well. That’s because they have this sweet aftertaste that works with the salinity in cheeses like…

Elderflower Panna Cotta with Rhubarb and Strawberries

Rhubarb, strawberry, and elderflower will always be an iconic dessert trio for me. Rhubarb is sour and crunchy, strawberries are tart and tender, and elderflower brings a sweetness and floral notes. The three together have a lot of synergy, and create a great contrast in any dessert that they are used in. With rhubarb being…

Blackberry-Yuzu Drifloon Pies

Drifloon is one of the cutest Pokemon out there, being a ghostly purple balloon with a yellow cross shape(I’m assuming that the balloon was popped and patched up), and a little wispy cloud on top of its head. I still have memories of playing Pokemon Pearl and finding them in the Valley Windworks on a…

Blueberry-Sweet Corn Basque Cheesecake

I wanted to make a corn dessert of some kind, just to embrace the seasonality of corn. Corn is just naturally so much sweeter and juicier during the summer, and it makes for some really great desserts because of that. I wanted to make a basque cheesecake, pureeing sweet corn into it, and just to…

Honey Butter Buns with Creme Fraiche

These honey butter buns are inspired by Japanese honey butter toast, but in sticky bun form. Honey butter toast is made by spreading a paste of honey, brown sugar, and butter around a piece of bread, and toasting that until the sugars caramelize, and you get this almost creme brulee-like exterior to the toast itself….

Pistachio-Blackberry Namelaka Cake

This recipe came about because I was craving a cake that had a light sponge and a rich frosting. There is just something so satisfying about a light as air cake and a silky, creamy sweet frosting that just melts in the mouth and makes you want to go back for another bite. I already…