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About

My sous chef in the kitchen is big on tasting
Being part Japanese, part American Indian, part Caucasian, this blog is my journey of self discovery through cooking and living my unique heritage. Join me on this adventure! Along for the ride are my Australian Shepherd, Tiara, my very patient boyfriend, Mr. Mochi, and troupe of friends and family always willing to eat something new and exciting.

 I hail from Southern California, born and raised in Orange County.  I consider myself blessed to grow up in a place where the beach, snow, and desert are all less than 2 hours away. Not only that, but Orange County has such a rich tradition of mixing cultures that I appreciate every day. Factor in a pretty good sized Japanese American (JA) community, and I am a pretty happy Miss Mochi Marie.

By day, I am a veterinary technician, and my original passion will always be animals. I was fortunate enough to be raised in a pretty rural environment for suburban America, complete with horses, chickens, and herding dogs on our partial acre.  My blog posts "Hapa Farm Girl" focus on chickens, gardening, and all sort of gems from my upbringing.

In regards to what "Hapa" means:

ha•pa (hä’pä) adj. 1. Slang. Of mixed racial heritage with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry. n. 2. Slang. A person of such ancestry.
Hapa, literally “half” in Hawaiian, was originally used as a derogatory term to describe people of biracial ancestry. Today, many multiracial individuals of Asian or Pacific Islander descent have embraced the word as a term of prideful self-identification. Although some object to the term’s appropriation and perceived misuse outside of its traditional Hawaiian context, “Hapa” has been widely adopted by the Asian and Pacific Islander multiracial communities, and even by some multiracial, non-Asians. (Taken from Hapa Voice)

Being multiracial is something that I have struggled with in the past, in regards to self identity. Being branded "white" by my looks, but being raised by a JA grandmother, I felt out of place in both Caucasian and Asian circles.  Nowadays, I pride myself on being a happy Hapa, and hope to share this experience with you.

Feel free to leave a comment or email me at missmochiofficial@gmail.com.


See Also:
Introduction
Humble Pie: Life Lessions
My City and Milk Toast

Text and Photography are the sole property of Miss Mochi Marie, unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved.

14 comments:

  1. I'm Hapa too and while I look more white than Japanese, I was raised in a very traditional Japanese way. Nice to meet you.

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    1. The more I blog, the more I find Hapas like me! Love your site! I love getting comments from people like me!

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  2. Thanks! I just approved your blog claim. Now your Urbanspoon profile picture is displayed on your blog page. You can upload a blog-specific photo if you prefer, and can change a few other blog settings there. Also, if you vote for a restaurant that you've reviewed on your blog, we now show your vote next to your post everywhere on our site.

    http://www.urbanspoon.com/br/5/8534/LA/Miss-Mochis-Adventures.html

    Best,
    Greg

    www.urbanspoon.com

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  3. Way back in July you commented on my post on Serious Eats about leaving dough out overnight and said you'd like to see the Springerle cookies I described (spilling out on to the cookie sheet). Due to some family emergencies, I couldn't get back to this until now. It's not really eye candy for the Serious Eats Photograzing crowd and I don't have another good way of getting the photo to you. Is there an address I could send the photo to or someplace on your blog for photos? Please let me know via e-mail: sd_ducksoup at cox.net (trying to miss some spam by leaving the @ sign out of the address). Best Regards, David

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. aloha miss mochi! can you please contact me at info@cookinghawaiianstyle.com. Growing up in hawaii, I grew up with a lot of hapas. Please contact me at info@cookinghawaiianstyle.com I would like to talk to you offline about recipes.

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  6. I'm hapa, too. Not hapa haoli, but hapa flip! I grew up in Japan but immersed in diversity (U.S. military/Catholic school for foreigners...) Some friends who are psychologists thought I had no culture to claim my own, but I have multitude of culture embedded in me and I am soooo proud of being international and who I am! Thank you for making this site, Ms. Mochi.

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    1. I might have gotten into a little bit of an intellectual throw-down with anyone who claimed I had no culture to claim as my own.

      Hapa pride! Not only do we get to drawn from the multitudes of culture that we are exposed to, we also have our own unique experience and culture.

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  7. I don't know if you have children but thought you might be interested in the book "the favorite daughter" by Allen Say. The little girl looks a lot like you & the story addresses common hap a experiences. Happy reading! Li Ann

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  8. Wow your site looks great! Glad I stopped by...look forward to catching up on your posts! =)

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  9. I've added a new feature so you can publish your blog posts on Urbanspoon yourself without having to wait for us to do it! Here's how it works:

    - Make sure you're signed into Urbanspoon.
    - Go to your Urbanspoon blog page (not your user profile): https://www.urbanspoon.com/br/5/8534/LA/Miss-Mochis-Adventures.html
    - Click "Edit blog settings".
    - In the Pending Posts section, click "Edit and publish my pending posts".
    - Then, enter the "snippet" text, verify the date and URL, and press Publish.

    Please make sure that:
    - The URL should be the permalink to the blog post (not the blog home page, a category page, a post preview, or a service like feedproxy).
    - The snippet should be 2-3 sentences (quoted from your blog post) that gives an idea of what's in the post.
    - The snippet should NOT include bylines, dates, address info, captions, tags, HTML code, etc.

    Note: there may be a delay of 1-2 hours after you post on your blog until our system detects the post.

    We'll give you one week to do it yourself, then it'll go into our queue to publish.

    Thank you for all of your contributions, and let me know if you have any questions.

    Best regards,
    Greg

    www.urbanspoon.com


    --
    greg(at)urbanspoon(dot)com

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  10. Hi Miss Mochi, another Hapa from OC here. :) Love your site, and about to follow you on Pinterest.

    I wondered if you were familiar with the book Part Asian, 100% Hapa by Kip Fulbeck. It's a book of portraits of Hapas and their answers to the question, "What are you?" Very interesting to see the combinations of ethnicities and the way mixed people (and children!) describe themselves. My daughter loves to look at the blonde, blue and green eyed children because they look like us, and the dark haired women that look like our aunties.

    Good luck to you! Looking forward to exploring your recipes. Andrea

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    1. I am definitely familiar with Kip Fulbeck's work, and I am very excited to see his new exhibit on Japanese Tattooing that is a feature right now at the Japanese American National Museum right now in Little Tokyo.

      I love his collection of photographs showing many different hapas. It shows the variety of features that we are blessed with, and demonstrates never to judge a person by their looks. Everyone, hapa or not, has a unique heritage and a story to tell.

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  11. As a fellow food blogger, I can really respect and appreciate all the awesome creations you make :) I found this blog while Google various Ramen noodle 'hacks' (which are AWESOME; I just made Ramen sushi!), and found your crispy Ramen treat. I plan on trying it sometime! It looks great!

    Also, I totally wouldn't complain if you went to thespartanskitchen.blogspot.com. Not at all. You'really awesome Miss Mochi!

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