Behold: the laziest of all Lazyass Cookin' recipes I've ever written in the 15 years of this column. This salad is going to make the most uninspired cook weep with joy. I sure did. And with the summer heat coming up, when the last thing you want to do is cook...
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),...
Ah, the summertime - here we are, can you believe it? There's something about the heat that makes me crave a gooey okonomiyaki, filled with cabbage and pork belly, oozing with Kewpie mayo and sauce. Crack open a cold beer or get a glass of shochu on...
Yoko and I have talked a lot about bentos on this blog. We often make them for each other when we are both working at the shop, and reminisce about how we used to be so ashamed of the bentos our moms made us growing up. Lord knows I just...
When the days become shorter and the air crisper, it's time to bring out my donabe from the depths of my kitchen cupboards. I give it a good dusting-off and wash, then let it sit in the sun to dry. Once this ritual is...
Many of you are well aware of my noodle addiction. I like all noodles: soba, udon, ramen, linguine, naengmyun, pho, any and all of it. Fried, boiled, in broth. Cold soba is probably the only food that I crave all of the time -- and...
Frozen housemade Chinese dumplings have been my #1 go-to lazyass meal for years now. Here's how I prepare and eat them when I'm feeling lazy and hungry.
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...
Last night Johnny and I had plans to watch the season-premiere-of-the-same-season of Breaking Bad. It was a few nights delayed but I had been looking forward to it nonetheless. For this, I wanted to make a nice-ish dinner without slaving over...
In seven years of Umami Mart, there has not been a single post about dashinomoto! As the editor and founder of this international food blog, I am... ashamed. Dashinomoto (aka fake dashi aka MSG) is the backbone of LAZY Japanese home cooking. Yoko and
I love canned fish. When I was little, I would eat canned sardines in miso sauce by the spoonful. Like ice cream! Haha. During my year living in Italy, I learned how to make this dish: pasta with canned tuna, onions...
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....
Two out of three of my closest friends do not like eggs. How could this be? If I had to choose one thing on this planet that I love the most and could eat everyday, it would be the egg. They are sacred! So...
As we continue to celebrate the almighty noodle here, I give you one of my most delicious, yet absurdly lazyass recipes in my repertoire: curry udon. I love making Japanese-style curry in the winter, it is so soul-warming, with all the carrots, onions, meat and potatoes....
I've been obsessed with making this dish for a few months now -- it is really satisfying when you are craving noodles, and so ridiculously easy to make. You can usually find nabeyaki udon on the menus at Japanese restaurants, for $12+. This is so easy to...
I have missed writing this column, so I'm bringing it back! I can not pretend that I have abandoned my lazy ways, or that I've stopped cutting corners when cooking. My kitchen may be much bigger than what I had in Brooklyn, but this only means...
The idea of a salad at many Japanese restaurants in America is some iceberg lettuce, julliened carrots and a cherry tomato (if your lucky) - topped with a creamy, sesame dressing. I can say that I am sometimes a fan...
