Umami Mart

If you love Japanese sweets and desserts, and live anywhere close to Berkeley, you should have Uji Time on your radar. Uji Time is a new Japanese dessert shop that opened in June in South Berkeley on Telegraph Avenue. Earlier this week, I decided to check it out. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite understand what I was getting […]

When I tried to come up with a recipe for the Umami Chef Matcha Challenge*, all the usual recipes were too ordinary (lots of sweets) and I wanted to make something a bit different and creative. I ended up discovering a recipe that can be used for both savory and sweet. Brilliant. When you think […]

High on our list of things to do in Chengdu was eat mapo tofu at the restaurant chain that started it all — Chen Mapo Tofu. No one can say for sure if they truly were the original restaurant to create the dish, but everyone just assumes it by now. Any taxi driver in Chengdu […]

As you all probably know by now, Hong Kong is a locus of culinary delights. Every little shop, however much it may be a hole in the wall, will offer something special. On this short trip, we made a point of only having Chinese food even though my friend S was dying to take us […]

My parents hosted a shinnenkai (New Year’s party) last night and it was a fantastic feast! As usual, Hideko and Kuni battled it out in the kitchen for cooking space, laughing and making fun of each other along the way. Who will make the best dish of the evening? This competitiveness has harshened lately, as Kuni has […]

I don’t know what’s going on in your neck of the woods, but what is going on with the weather in the Bay Area?!?!? We are experiencing really schizophrenic weather patterns — it will go from warm to cold in an instant. Take today, Tuesday 10/15. It was quite chilly in the morning, then we […]

The Japanese dish hambagu derives from the Hamburg steak. Hamburg steak is the patty of a hamburger. Hamburg Steak were usually served with a side of potatoes in Germany. The Americans put the Hamburg steak in bread — hence the hamburger. The Japanese appropriated the Hamburg by serving it with rice, of course. Eventually the Japanese […]

Spring is here and my local market is starting show signs of different colors of the rainbow after a winter abundance of orange and brown fruits and vegetables. I’ve been most excited about the appearance of more greens — broccoli, asparagus, green onions, etc. The bulk greens sections has also been exploding and the appearance […]

Life is busy these days. With the shop in full holiday swing, it’s hard to find time to cook. But Yoko and I are good about taking turns bringing bentos — it’s nice to take the time to plan out what to make next. The key is to make a big vat of something so […]

My sister has a giant myoga plant that is thriving in a shady spot by her chicken coup coop. Powerful myoga buds started busting through the styrofoam container walls a few weeks ago. The plant was inherited from someone who could not contain their myoga and had to give away large patches to get their […]