Two gay men got married in the early 00's (yes, that's right USA, listen and learn from the Danes), spent eight years together, got divorced, and became good friends again after some time. Straight people could also earn learn a thing or two from the...
The early 90s... I was distancing myself from my Sandylion stickers while making multiple trips to the Wherehouse to make sure that I got tickets to see Radiohead at the Edge in Palo Alto. It was a confusing time, but it shaped me. Foodwise,...
It's been such a nice summer here in Denmark for a change. After literally 6 months of cold, dark and snowy weather it was finally time for the sun to return to the land of vikings and LEGO. It's bright from 4 in the morning until...
I had some left over persimmon after making this salad for Thanksgiving, so I sliced them into wedges and made these little appetizer sandwiches, which people seemed to really like! You could use any kind of cheese, really… but do make...
Crostini are great for entertaining, and this caper/shallot mixture can be made ahead of time. Burrata just makes everything better, so the combo of these ingredients is absolutely delish! Burrata is like a super soft fresh mozzarella that comes in water...
If this is posted on 10/30, it means I survived Hurricane Sandy. My friend Chisa told me numerous times that I should start teaching cooking lessons. I was a bit skeptical in the beginning, and didn't have time to think about it. Now I have...
Izakaya MOTO is an invite-only, very exclusive izakaya, located in the heart of Financial District in Manhattan (aka my apartment). I had my friends over one night, and decided to host an izakaya-style evening. I have a large counter in my kitchen where guests can...
Last weekend on a warm Sunday evening in the woods we hosted A Forest Fiesta in honor of the recent opening of the Umami Mart shop in Oakland. Guests who came were contributors and...
I just got back from the most lovely weekend in New York City. A dear friend from college is getting married this summer so we threw her a “Spice Shower” dinner party in our friend’s backyard in Brooklyn. It was a warm evening so...
Last weekend we hosted some people from my husband’s work for a little late afternoon cocktail party. While Jack set up the bar on the deck, I put together some snacks. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I went for colorful and...
This asparagus tart is SO easy it’s kind of fail-proof. Buy some frozen puff pastry (I like Pillsbury). Place one of the sheets of dough on a cookie sheet. Let it defrost a bit then pinch up the edges to make a...
Spring has sprung in the woods! Passover is this week and to kick it off, we hosted a first-night Seder. We spent two days cooking all the traditional Jewish dishes: matzah ball soup, haroset (a paste of dried fruit and nuts), farfel (quiche-like squares), tzimmes (a...
Confession: I'm kinda tired of Asian food. Maybe because I eat it every day. So when my Mile High Dining Club friend declared he wanted to throw a Moroccan inspired dinner I was totally there. Moroccan, African and Arabian are probably the less trendy...
"Oshibori Udon" is a famous udon from the Shinshu district of Nagano prefecture. It is delicious with spicy grated daikon. My friend made this batch! *Nahoko Morimoto is a Tokyo-based photographer. Her work has been featured in Brutus and Vogue Japan.
Five minutes. That's litterally how much time I had to decide whether I was going to accept the out of the blue New Year's Eve dinner party invitation from my friends in Stockholm at 12:30 in the afternoon on Dec 31, 2011. That's all the time...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AwoE-59pMqc The OPENharvest group visited the Hachisu residence in Kodama-gun in Saitama Prefecture. We enjoyed a Japanese farm food meal which included fresh edamame, natto, fall vegetable soup, ohitashi (blanched spinach) and mochi. After the meal, Harigaya-san and his troupe performed a shishimai (lion dance).
I can't believe I just spent another weekend in a kolonihus (colony house). But that's how the Scandinavians roll and who can say no to a pumpkin ravioli punch? My Icelandic friend's friend has a cute little cottage in Copenhagen which she visits regularly on weekends and slowly...
I haven't hosted any house parties for a while, but on a recent weekend, I ended up hosting three parties in a row. Thursday night was a last-minute potluck baby shower, and of course I made a beautiful diaper cake for the mother-to-be. Friday night,...
Cooking at home in your kitchen is so housewifey. Real men cook in nature. Especially when it's summer, and your garden is full of edible food which is the case with my friends C&A. I blogged about our Sunday Forest Lunch last year with...
All photos by Yoko Kumano and Vanessa Bahmani, I've been running Umamimart for over four years now (since February 2007), bringing together people from all over the world to share their personal experiences through food and drinks. It has gone through...
