FAQs

1. Do you share recipes from other sources or do you create your own?

The recipes I share on www.lafujimama.com are all my own creations.  I will occasionally share a recipe from a new cookbook that I’m loving, or something of a similar nature, but unless I state otherwise, the recipes you see are the result of me spending time developing them in my kitchen.

2. Why is your website called La Fuji Mama? Are you Japanese? Is your husband Japanese?

I am not Japanese, and neither is my husband.  We’ve lived in Japan twice (and return often to visit), and our oldest daughter was born while we were living in Tokyo.  I started my blog in February 2007, 6 weeks after she was born, so that I could have a space where I could write about my experiences living in Japan, my favorite place in the world.  The name was cobbled together from my situation.  I was a new mom and we had a fantastic view of Mt. Fuji, one of my favorite mountains, from the balcony of our Tokyo apartment.  Fuji Mama was taken on Blogger, where I originally started my blog, so I added the “La” as a nod to my background in French and my time living in Paris.  Thus, La Fuji Mama was born.  Random, but I have always loved the ring of it.

3. Did you really name your kids Squirrel and Bug? What kind of mother are you?!?

This is probably the question I’m asked most.  No, my children are not really named Squirrel and Bug, but those are their real nicknames.  When I started my blog, I didn’t use any real names, and wrote under the pen name of Fuji Mama.  I originally called Squirrel “the Babe,” but soon realized that if we ever had any more children, this might pose a problem.  So I decided to start calling her by one of the nicknames that my husband gave her when she was only a few weeks old.  When Bug was born, I used the first nickname that stuck.