Umami Mart

  I’m always stealing ideas from my family. The latest cooking technique I stole was from my Aunt Judy (who also inspired Kayoko’s Happy Hour post last week), who specializes in making drinks and savory foods to along with it. Aunt Judy had read somewhere that a beef restaurant in Japan was trying to find […]

Shopping for the freshest seafood just got easier with another fish market that opened in the People’s Republic of Berkeley. Fish is still my favorite thing to eat for dinner because it’s easy and so, so delicious. Grilled, simmered or baked, fish will let you do anything to it and it’ll adapt. But, by far, […]

INGREDIENTS 1 kampachi kama (or any other desired fish collar like yellowtail, red snapper, or salmon) make sure to clean it thoroughly for scales and grit, it is not pleasant to eat 1 bunch komatsuna (or spinich) 5 small matsutake mushrooms (or any other mushroom like enoki, maitake, shiitake, bunshimeji, etc.), sliced thin 1 Tokyo […]

Last night Johnny and I had plans to watch the season-premiere-of-the-same-season of Breaking Bad. It was a few nights delayed but I had been looking forward to it nonetheless. For this, I wanted to make a nice-ish dinner without slaving over it. I’ve been too busy lately to spend serious quality time with my kitchen. […]

Last week, Johnny and I randomly went to Russian River. We hadn’t seen each other much for the past few months, since the conbini planning and build-out, so Yoko gave me the weekend off and I booked a cottage in Guerneville, a town along the Russian River. Neither of us had ever been to Russian […]

During midsummer, tradition is to have unagi (freshwater eel) on specific days. The days are called doyou no ushinohi (土用の丑の日) to provide a nutritional treat, as well as to help survive the hot season. Unagi carries a lot of “stamina” nutrition, such as vitamins A and B-complex. The ancient Japanese diet, like today, was mostly vegetables […]

By Marta Bernal Valencia Last month, my English friend Elaine and I agreed to meet in Tarifa, a small town in Cadiz, Spain. It’s the southernmost point of continental Europe, very famous for its amazing beaches. If you are keen on wind and kitesurfing, this is your place! We drove from one beach to another, […]

Sometimes the most humble ingredients can yield some seriously satisfying results. Some days I procrastinate until the last stop on my train to plan out what I’m going to make for dinner. I mentally piece together what I have in the fridge and try to make a meal out of it… kind of like how […]

I love canned fish. When I was little, I would eat canned sardines in miso sauce by the spoonful. Like ice cream! Haha. During my year living in Italy, I learned how to make this dish: pasta with canned tuna, onions and tomatos. So easy! In Italy I also discovered the increased quality and flavor […]

Last week, I shared a bowl of nishin soba with you, and I asked you to not to throw out the egg and sperm sacs. I have two recipes that will have you wondering why people would ever throw them out in the first place. Personally, I look forward to the herring shirako and kazunoko […]