By Marta Bernal Valencia

Last month, my English friend Elaine and I agreed to meet in Tarifa, a small town in Cadiz, Spain. It’s the southernmost point of continental Europe, very famous for its amazing beaches. If you are keen on wind and kitesurfing, this is your place! We drove from one beach to another, enjoying the small bars, restaurants and nightlife.

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By Johnny Lopes

Recently I took a trip to Southeast Asia, starting off in Thailand. I decided to make the trip up as I went. I didn’t even have a place to stay when I first arrived — a challenge when you land at 10pm. But my first post back has nothing to do with Thai food. Rather, I’d like to begin with Bangkok’s “ethnic enclave” — Chinatown.

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Ebi Chili is the best example of a dish that has been Japanified. It was originally created in the 1950s by a Chinese immigrant in Japan, taking cues from Sichuan-style cooking. It’s a shrimp dish that has a little spice and a little sweetness, perfect for the Japanese palate that typically can’t handle serious heat.

I remember loving Ebi Chili as a kid.

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By Marta Bernal Valencia

After weeks of cold and rainy weather in Madrid, I headed to Huelva (in southwestern Spain) to meet up with my friend Lucía from London. We were both starving for some good weather and Andalusian food.

We stayed in Ayamonte, a charming, small village in the edge of the Portugal border, beside the Guadiana River. Narrow white streets with geraniums pots and marshes welcome you to this fisherman’s town of never-ending beaches and pine forest landscapes.

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I just returned from a week in Vietnam with Johnny. We had an incredible time! I will be posting more in the coming weeks, as my jetlag fades, but here’s a snapshot from a market in Cái Bè, a small town on the Mekong Delta.

I love this photo. Amidst the chaos of the early-morning market, this lady sits among her colorful meat parts, calmly concentrating on her animal flesh.

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Forgive me, I am going to cheat a little here… like that “100 Episodes of Seinfeld” episode. I think Umami Mart has been around long enough for something like that. So this is a re-post/interpretation of another post I wrote in Tokyo 4 years ago.

The other day I got a tray of mentaiko (spicy cod roe) from my mom and all week Washi and I were dreaming of making the mentaiko rice recipe.

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INGREDIENTS

1.5 pounds large shrimp, head and shell left on, rinsed well (I used Ridgeback shrimps from Santa Barbara)
3 (12-ounce) bottles of Japanese lager beer (I used Sapporo)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 lemon, halved
2 coins of galangal or ginger (couple slices)
1 stick lemon grass (smashed)
2 stalks green onion (sliced)
2 dried red chilis
Few leaves Thai basil
Few leaves cilantro

METHOD

1.

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A gleaming school of herring greeted me upon my arrival on U.S. shores yesterday. After landing from Tokyo, my first errand after dropping off my bags at home was a visit to my local fish monger (Monterey Fish Market). Winter is a cornucopia of goodies for seafood. Crabs, oysters, salmon roe and herring are just some of what I look forward to every winter.

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Last week, Sakura wrote about chirashi sushi in London, a dish you can find at many Japanese restaurants throughout the world. I grew up in Kansai so when I was young, our chirashi (called bara-chirashi or gomoku chirashi) consisted of cooked root vegetables like bamboo shoots, carrots and yams — all mixed with sushi rice, and topped with thinly sliced egg omelet.

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When the persimmons and matsutake start populating the markets in Japan, so do the sanma (Pacific Saury). They are so abundant, they are practically giving them out for free. For less than 100yen per fish, it’s the most economical choice to celebrate autumn. It’s another story out here in California. I was perusing my local fish market and got seduced from sanma imported from Japan.

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