Kayoko here, filling in for Yoko. From here on out, just call me (Ka)Yoko. By now, I'm sure you know what ponzu is. I don't even have to explain it to you. In fact, it's such a part of our colloquialism that I don't even...
Do you serve your best food on ugly plates? Are you still using the saucers from your mom's back closet from when you moved away from home? Or do you instead spend all your birthday money on new additions to your Floral Heaven...
I've been pretty sickly lately. Two weeks ago I caught some awful stomach flu (or food poisoning? whatever) and as I laid in my bed for 72 hours in a sweat pool of misery, starving but unable to keep anything down (nay liquids, tmi), all...
The Japanese Grill: A Whole New Level of Summer Favorites Thursday, June 16 @ 6:30 pm Japan Society, NYC You may think grilling is a signature American summertime sport, but it has been used in Japanese cuisine for a very long...
I am sure you have been wondering for a week what the hell I was going to do with Barbie doll. I must say, this journey was one of the most hilarious baking experiences I've ever gone through. I made a birthday cake for a...
Recently, I was at someone's house for brunch and bacon-covered mazoh balls were served (I believe inspired by this NPR show). How terribly traif! Well... almost. This meal was in a kosher home, so the...
In a city like São Paulo with its mild climate, and millions of Italian immigrants, you would expect to find loads of good gelato. Instead there is a ton of picole (popsicles) and regular ice cream. Luckily for us, just down the street is
Design, function and environmental sustainability were heavy on our minds when Yoko and I were thinking of new items to include in the Umamimart Shop. We wanted to include hashi (chopsticks) somehow, but all the ones we looked at were...
Smelt. Fried, they are a great accompaniment to a pint of beer. Grilled and served with a bowl of white rice, they complete a Japanese breakfast. They also win the Cheap Bastards' Choice Award, since they average $3.50/lb. The "Wakasagi" variety of smelt were introduced...
Like a whirlwind, the Manhattan Cocktail Classic came and went in a flash, leaving a trail of devastation and destruction in its wake. Except in this case the damage wasn't in the form of homes and property, but rather brain cells and...
Oh great, here we go again. Another blog post about Japanese food packaging design. But you know what? The reality is that the Japanese kick our butts many times over when it comes to intelligent, fun and groundbreaking ways to wrap something...
Help send Paystyle to the annual Tales of the Cocktail extravaganza and vote for his Rainforest Cobbler every day on Facebook, now through this Friday. Paystyle started the Happy Hour column in 2008, which has brought countless...
This post goes out to all you haters out there on the internet (specifically, those living in the suburbs of Chowhound and Yelp), please stand corrected. Of the many, many times I've dined at Howard's Famous Bacon & Avocado Burger, I've never...
As you know, I love to bake, and I am especially fond of cakes. I do it all--classic cakes, crazy cakes, Japanese cakes, chocolate cakes, wedding cakes (trauma). I love to come up with crazy combinations, that I try to...
*Dear Martians, please welcome the newest addition to the Umamimart Familia, Jerkey. She is based in LA, and a good friend of Umamimart writer Sarah Nevada and Yoko's cousin (and loyal reader) Tomo. We first met at the San Pedro Fish Market Umamiventure,...
I admire killers. I admire butchers, mongers, soldiers and... Dexter. I admire them for the balls and boobies they possess to kill with confidence--without squealing or being a hesitant little sissy. They don't do things like "name" their kill--like I did...
It feels good to return to normalcy (read proper hydration) now that the Manhattan Cocktail Classic (read Manhattan Hangover Classic) has concluded. For myself and the other Bar Fellows of this year's cocktail classic, normalcy took a bit longer...
PREFACE Skankynavia: In the US (Part 1 - Berkeley) Last week I listened to the great NYC radioshow called RadioLab. They deal with quirky science and interesting true stories, and last week's subject was "memory" (a rerun from 2007, listen here)....
My family and I went on a flying visit to Paris again to rendez-vous with my dad (since he managed not to get his UK visa in time--visa people suck). Last year I gave him a copy of Ernest Hemingway's memoir...
I don't know what got into me this weekend. I am a proud carnivore. I cannot live without meat, and I don't even care if it's "organic" or not. Food Nation didn't scare me enough to eat only grass-fed beef or cage-free chicken. I will...
