Author Archives: Kayoko Akabori


March 20, 2009

Fridgin’ Out Closed Today

by Kayoko Akabori

SORRY! Please come back next Friday for an awesome one, I promise!!!!

$100/5 Days/NYC/Tourist: Day 4

by Kayoko Akabori

Hotdog vendor walking his cart home in the middle of West Broadway. God, I love this city. Preface:$100/5 Days/NYC/TouristDay 1Day 2Day 3 Unless you’re an insider, it really is hard to know where to go for cheap food in NYC. When I first started this series I had hoped it would be all about finding […]

March 19, 2009

$100/5 Days/NYC/Tourist: Day 3

by Kayoko Akabori

Preface:$100/5 Days/NYC/TouristDay 1Day 2 NYC is flaky. Trains never come when you need them to. Cabbies pull up, scoff, and zoom away as soon as you tell them you need to get to Brooklyn. It’s 20 degrees one day, 60 three days later. This is the reality of the city, and as a result, the […]

March 18, 2009

$100/5 Days/NYC/Tourist: Day 2

by Kayoko Akabori

Preface:$100/5 Days/NYC/TouristDay 1 Ok it’s pretty official: I’m SO SCREWED. To make it through the next 3 days, I’m gonna have to somehow keep it to $12/day. But I’m sticking to it for as long as I can, damnit! Trying to balance play with budget is hard- especially when you don’t see your friends too […]

March 17, 2009

The Umami Reader, vol. 047

by Kayoko Akabori

The Definitive Guide to Banh Mi: Tam Ngo throws down all sorts of mad knowledge on the ingredients of the venerable sandwich, from NYC’s best banh mi shop, Ba Xuyen. Love that girl! (Serious Eats NY) Pulitzer-winning food critic Jonathan Gold: “Snoop Doggy Dog is kind of the Miles Davis of rap.” Amazing. Here he […]

$100/5 Days/NYC/Tourist: Day 1

by Kayoko Akabori

Preface: $100/5 Days/NYC/Tourist I woke up this morning with a feeling of doom- Judson commented yesterday on my Facebook, “$20 a day? Impossible. Why even try?” He is so right. Met up with two really good friends last night at a sorta fancy tapas/wine bar thinking I would just get a glass of wine and […]

March 15, 2009

$100/5 Days/NYC/Tourist

by Kayoko Akabori

Remember back in 2007 when I did $100/2 Weeks/NYC??? It actually was a really stressful, painful series full of suffering and no-holds-barred ranting. People seemed to enjoy it though (my suffering) and I often get emails asking me to do it again. But I just couldn’t do it again. Could you imagine living on $100 […]

March 13, 2009

Fridgin’ Out: Get Money, Get Paid

by Kayoko Akabori

I’ve been saving this video by Mr. Chi-City that was featured on Today’s Big Thing back in October, for a day that just needs some extra laughs. Today is that day. This video (titled “Keeping your refrigerator stocked will get you many women”) is so obscenely funny that I just could not pass it up […]

March 10, 2009

The Umami Reader, vol. 046: WHADDUP GREENS!

by Kayoko Akabori

– Two acclaimed liqueres, St. Germain elderflower liqueur and Domain de Canton ginger liqueur were started individually by feuding brothers, who come from a long line of liqueur distillers. (WSJ; via Paystyle) – Various sandwiches + scanning of the cross section = SCANWICHES (via Tmonkey + Ayagwa) – Foie Gras Manifesto: how the foie debate […]

Umamiventure #14: Strong Beer Month at Magnolia Pub and Brewery (SF)

by Kayoko Akabori

Went to Strong Beer Month at Magnolia Pub in San Francisco a few weeks back with a group of UM readers. The first Umamiventure since I moved back to the west coast! No better way to start off my California residency than some delicious beers brewed right in the middle of the city! As CJ […]