Photos by Kelly Ishikawa It's been 10 years since Yoko and I went to Japan for the Open Harvest project. We spent three jam-packed weeks with our pals from Ramen Shop, Rintaro, Kronner Burger, and The Perish Trust, visiting farms, markets, wineries,...
This month for Sake Gumi, we are featuring the Kid Shiboritate sake. We are also inviting the maker of that sake, Heiwa Shuzo, to host a brewery tour and sake tasting with us on Zoom! They are a small...
Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout California. Join today! The theme for this month came to me as I watched the bees buzzing in my backyard and 2021 was fast approaching. After learning about each of the sakes...
Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 200 members throughout California. Join today! These sakes have all been cooped up, as they age – just like we have this year. That’s why I feel like it's timely to explore jukuseishu, or...
Shochu Gumi is our quarterly shochu subscription service with members throughout the US. Join today! We’ve done it. We’ve nearly made it through this shitstorm of a year. Covid, shutdowns, wildfires, the presidential elections. And still, it ain’t over till it’s...
Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 200 members throughout California. Join today! We're seeing a shift these days of brewers making sakes that are higher in acidity and experimenting with using different kojis and yeasts to create more sour...
When the coronovirus hit, it was winter 2020. In the sake world, rice is already planted and harvested by the time winter rolls around. The last step is to use all of that rice for sake-making. But with the coronovirus, orders for sake...
20 years ago, I moved to Italy for a year – living first in Siena, then Padova (here I am above at Lake Como). I had daydreamed about Italy since high school, after watching Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty (the modern day film equivalent would be Call Me By Your Name),...
We are so excited to announce our very first Zoom cocktail event with our great friend Chris Lane, bartender extraordinaire and currently the Skurnik Wines West Spirits Specialist.Ever wonder how to use Japanese whisky in cocktails? Which whisky to use?...
In preparation for the Sake Gumi Magnificent Miyagi theme, I've been sipping on dry and clean sakes from Miyagi all month. It's been a year since I visited the prefecture, and I've been reminiscing on the times I had there by looking...
In preparation for the Sake Gumi Magnificent Miyagi theme, I've been sipping on dry and clean sakes from Miyagi all month. It's been a year since I visited the prefecture, and I've been reminiscing on the times I had there by looking at...
Miyagi cuisine (l-r): oysters, Katei Gyutan Yaki, Buttered Bamboo Shoots Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 200 members throughout California. Join today! Miyagi Prefecture was one of the hardest hit areas during the 2011 Tohoku Disaster which included a...
As a performer, occasional creator, and avid listener, music is often the backdrop (if not the focal point) for any activity in which I lose myself. Be it trying the longest possible execution of a new recipe, drinking with friends or hitoride (by myself), the music selection is as...
Ever since shelter in place came into effect, I have been diving head first into two indulgences: K-dramas and sweets, often at the same time. It took me a few tries with the K-dramas. I got about three episodes into Let's...
With the fires and virus raging, I spent all last weekend in my kitchen with the windows shut tight and the air filter blasting. Making this Pork Belly Kakuni recipe from our friends at The Japanese Pantry was the perfect weekend...
My mentee in "sunglasses" and me After the 2016 elections, I was in despair and generally pretty down about the future for women and girls. I wanted to do something beyond the ballot box. What could I offer? How could I reach out and...
When early fall rolls around, I'm always in the market for thin, deep purple nasu (Japanese eggplants), which are less spongy, and juicier than the large round American eggplants. The flavor of Japanese eggplants are more concentrated than their American counterparts, and don't take...
Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 200 members throughout California. Join today! Yeast is one of the four main ingredients of sake, the others being rice, water, and koji. Yeast is very important in sake-making because as the koji is...
Kohi zeri (coffee jelly) is a common dessert in Japan. You can find it everywhere - prepackaged at the conbini, at craft coffee shops like Maldive in Shimokitazawa, heck you can even get one fresh off the plane at Royal Coffee Shop...
To celebrate the release of Den Brewery's newest sake, Den Blanc, we called upon Lani Sako of the Den Duo, for some pairing tips. While tasting the new brew, she mentioned that she whipped together this Trout + Citrus salad that...
