Umami Mart

Yamahomo’s super fucking expensive oven broke last night. It doesn’t heat up. After making another batch of raisin-wiches, I had the exact amount of egg white left for macarons, so I decided to re-open my battle with Laduree. Complete and Utter failure, becausethe oven was 202 degrees, instead of 350. It’s like owning an expensive […]

After my unsuccessful trial to make “baked” doughnuts, it has been sitting on my head that I need to make edible doughnut. I have a tendency to keep trying until I succeed, as you can see from my Laduree battle. Speaking of macarons, I still make them for parties and when bored, and I have […]

I’m back this week with my lady Vanessa’s fridge. You may recall that I went through V’s fridge a few weeks ago, as she was moving out of her SF apartment- here’s her fridge, just as fun as her freezer was! Fish sauce! I remember this just sat in my cupboard for a few years […]

My allergies are in full force. It was so nice outside yesterday, but I couldn’t even be outside for more than 20 minutes. It was bad. And it is bad today too. I am wearing a mask, which makes me look like either a shady criminal or I that I have SARS. I want to […]

*Preface in 2 Posts- Yamahomo vs. Laduree Macaron Battles Part 1 & 2 The Battle Continues I must master this. I think I came pretty close to what macaron should be on trial 3, but I mixed the batter too much, hence it was too thin. Over the weekend, I made it three times. Here […]

I have been baking like a maniac. I can’t stop. It’s like girls PMSing, and craving chocolate. I am not PMSing, but I have this “need” to bake. As you can see from my battle of macaron, or other various baking business, I am pretty much baking every day recently. Maybe I am too angry […]

Every morning, Bobby Fish parks his busted up maroon Dodge van at the edge of a Hess Express parking lot on West 207th Street. He unloads his signs and opens his Coors Light umbrella. “Bobby Fish,” the signs proclaim, “El Rey Del Ceviche.” People call him the King- it’s not just his own posterboard. (from […]

Aya: Hey Tmonkey, boo tmonkey: hey have you recovered from The Banquet? Aya: um I don’t even know what you’re talking about because I’ve had my memories from Friday night removed from my brain. tmonkey: nooo ok the movie was painful but the ramen at Setagaya! Can’t forget that! Aya: hmmm seem to have a […]

It all started with this recipe in 101cookbooks, which I love, but whose hype I had never succumbed to until one day last weekend, when I decided to make Aya a bon voyage lasagne (my girl loves her some lasagne) before her trip to Wiener-ville. It’s a masochistic lasagne, a fact we learned later in […]

I don’t care what Time Out thinks. They ridiculously passed up the The Smoke Joint for Blue Smoke in Manhattan in their Eat Out Awards last week for Best BBQ, and all I have to say is: BAD CALL. I’d like to testify that The Smoke Joint is far superior to Blue Smoke, in taste […]