I am hosting a rather important dinner party with lots of opinionated eaters this weekend, so I've been practicing and experimenting with what I may serve. In the last year or so, whenever you go to an upscale restaurant, you always encounter sous-vide this and...
When you see ramps at the Greenmarket, it is a sign that spring is here. These delicacies are only available for short period of time. I discovered this awesome plant last year, and its flavor of onion, garlic, scallion, mixed all into one is very...
I am finally back. Although the past couple of weeks have been super hectic, I had the opportunity to go to my favorite restaurant Kajitsu, twice in two weeks. At the end of March, my work held a special dinner gathering...
PREFACE Martha, You Want Me Last week was intense. News reports on the Sendai Quake was getting worse by the hour and the number of victims had already exceeded that of the Kobe quake in 1995. It is still increasing. Radiation has been...
Before I go into this week's tear-jerking post, I am fortunate to tell you that all my peeps in Japan are fine, but my thoughts are with everyone who is affected by the earthquake. This is truly awful, sad, and devastating for all of us....
About a year ago, Dickson's Farm opened up a shop in Chelsea Market and I often go there to get my meat. It's fresh, and sometimes you can see the guys butchering huge chunks of cow. It's nice to buy meat where you can...
My MO-obsession (baking with rice flour) has returned, and this time, it's the MOcaron. Now that I know exactly what to do when it comes to macaron-making, substituting almond flour with other ingredients is not that hard. Having said that, I had no idea...
I've tried making gnocchi in the past, but the whole thing dissolved while boiling, so it was a complete failure. Since then, I haven't even thought about making it again. A few weeks ago, I pondered what I would make for a small gathering. I...
PREFACE: Battle ReCPY: Madeleines (Mary Ann + Marcus) Valentine's Day is so overrated. Why do people pay extra for red roses? Why do you have to buy new lingerie? WTF is up with all the chocolate? I don't understand what's so romantic about today--it's...
Since I got a nice Williams-Sonoma gift card for the holidays, I went there to hunt for things I wanted, but didn't necessarily need. Aside from multi-color paper muffin cups for my MOffins and new sheet pans for my macarons, I also picked...
When I was in Japan last month, I visited the Shinyokohama Ramen Museum. Yes, there is a museum that is devoted to ramen. As kitschy as it may sound, it was actually a lot of fun. The lower level was set up...
Since seeing Michael Romano's collections of Japanese knives (many were around $1,000, but some were custom made and cost him $5,000, which he displays, never uses) at one of the programs I organized last fall, I determined the need to graduate from my Global...
I am from a town so rural, you wouldn't believe it. Although Japan is portrayed as a metropolitan, clean, and simple city to Westerners, that's not how real Japan is all about. Whenever I say I am from Japan, first thing people usually ask is,...
"HELP! I ate three bites of raw chicken, am I going to get sick?!" "I had chicken for dinner but it was pink. I ate it, but I am worried now. What should I do?" "Warning: FDA strongly advises chicken to be cooked completely before...
I know, I know, I have to revisit the Flødeboller Battle, but it takes too much effort so I diverted to macarons this week. You may be sick of how I keep praising myself for making perfect macarons, but if you know the precision...
I don't like cheese cake. Especially NY-style cheese cake, which is like eating cream cheese as is. You are done after one bite, it's enough. In Japan,...
