September sakes ship today for Sake Gumi, our monthly sake subscription club. If you like what’s on deck here, you should join! One of the most common questions we get at the store is “What is Umami?†So I wanted to explore umami this month in the context of Sake Gumi. All of the sakes this month […]
Author Archives: Yoko Kumano
August 29, 2016
Japanify: Summer Slurp Series: Avocado Walnut Soba Salad
There are ingredients that I always keep in stock in my kitchen; they are my daikoubutsu (favorite foods). Without them I feel like I have no fall-back option when sipping on sake or wine. Two of these ingredients are avocado and nuts. I regularly incorporate both into sauces, dips, and salads. They are really handy when […]
August 16, 2016
Event Recap: 4th Annual Umami Mart Matsuri
This past Saturday we celebrated our four-year anniversary in Oakland. And as we have done every year since opening, we threw ourselves a huge birthday party. I don’t really keep track of my own birthdays anymore because celebrating Umami Mart birthdays seems so much more of an accomplishment, especially as our community grows year by […]
August 15, 2016
Sake Gumi News: Happy 1st Birthday Sake Gumi (August 2016)
August sakes ship today for Sake Gumi, our monthly sake subscription club. If you like what’s on deck here, you should join! “Celebrating Design, Drinks, + Japan” is at the core of everything we do at Umami Mart. It is our tag line, afterall. Four years ago today, full of giddiness and hope, Kayoko and I took […]
July 28, 2016
Event Recap: Preserving and Cooking with Shio Koji @ Preserved Oakland
This was our second time teaching the Preserving and Cooking with Shio Koji class at Preserved, a retail shop focused on preserved and fermented goods, owned and operated by our good friend Elizabeth. The shop is full of tools, books, and goodies to help you pickle, brew, jam, and can to your heart’s content. Elizabeth has […]
July 18, 2016
Japanify: Shochu Root Beer Float
I’ve combined all of my loves into one recipe. It’s the Shochu Root Beer Float! I know that whisky is often used to spike root bear floats so I chose a shochu that has qualities of whisky. Kannoko Mugi Shochu is a barley shochu that is aged in oak barrels for three years making it a […]
July 15, 2016
Sake Gumi News: Celebrate Individuality (July 2016)
July sakes ship today for Sake Gumi, our monthly sake subscription club. If you like what’s on deck here, you should join! This month we celebrated the 240th year of the U.S. of A. To commemorate this event, I thought of how I value individuality – in people and in sake. So for this month, I chose […]
June 29, 2016
Japanify: Simplified Japanese Curry
Kayoko and I taught a class on how to make Japanese curry from scratch two years ago and the resulting recipe was epic. It delivered great results, but at the expense of toiling in the kitchen all day and collecting a laundry list of ingredients. Who has time for that? Not me. The following recipe […]
June 15, 2016
Sake Gumi News: Sakqueso! (June 2016)
June sakes ship today for Sake Gumi, our monthly sake subscription club. If you like what’s on deck here, you should join! There’s a little known secret outside the sake world: Sake + Cheese = Harmony. Before formulating the theme for Sake Gumi this month, I was fortunate enough to talk to all four of the brewers […]
June 6, 2016
Event Recap: Sake Gumi Exclusive Field Trip to Sequoia Brewery (SF)
Last Sunday, 27 Sake Gumi members took a field trip to the Bay Area’s very own sake brewery – Sequoia Sake in San Francisco. Jake Myrick, his wife Noriko Kamei, and Jake’s friend Warren Pfal started Sequoia Sake together in the lower Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco in 2014. What makes Sequoia Sake so special […]