Umami Mart

By Yoko Kumano Originally posted on September 9, 2010 My mom used to pack rice balls for me as an elementary school kid for lunch way before the sushi craze swept the nation and way before there were sightings of Alice Waters toting around onigiri. Having these balls of rice wrapped in “black stuff” was […]

By Yoko Kumano Originally posted on November 10, 2009 I bought a sac of shirako at my local supermarket for 90 yen (85 cents). I never knew that shirako was so cheap since I had never had the balls to prepare it until now. Shirako is the seminal fluid of fish who shoot their sperm […]

I love Dead Poets Society. When I first saw the movie in Japan, I bought a duffle coat just like them, and begged my mama to change the liner to red satin. No wonder she said no, since that sounds so fucking gay. I live a couple of blocks from Ethan Hawke, and see him […]

My in-laws visited from Tokyo last week. I think my mother-in-law thinks that there are no Japanese products available in the states and brought us half a suitcase-full of food. Poor, unfortunate Americans. Turns out that half of the stuff she brought for us is available in the U.S. including Nagatanien‘s Otona-no Furikake, or rice […]

Aubergines are one of my favourite vegetables and I will always choose an aubergine dish if I can at restaurants (except if there’s beef, and I have to admit baba ganoush still defeats me). And nothing goes better with aubergine than oil. Life is tough. I grew up with a mother who cooked something different […]

As I promised, this week I am sharing my chicken shiso coRn ball recipe this week. I’ve made chicken meatballs many times for parties. I usually use it as mini chicken sliders with a piece of shiso leaf, with a slice of cucumber. But I kicked this up a notch this time, and served it […]

Cutting a block of raw fish was intimidating for the longest time for me. I know for a fact that I am still not doing it like the pros because 1) I don’t cut with a sashimi knife and 2) I’ve only cut raw fish about 5 times. Cutting, plating and serving sashimi at home […]

I don’t like vegetables that much. I am not keen on vegetarianism. I am not that into organic vegetables. I hate cooking for vegetarians since I have no idea what to do. Though I buy quite a few items at the Greenmarket, I don’t even care  if they are soaked in chemicals– I taint my […]

My mom used to pack rice balls for me as an elementary school kid for lunch way before the sushi craze swept the nation and way before there were sightings of Alice Waters toting around onigiri. Having these balls of rice wrapped in “black stuff” was actually a source of shame and anxiety for me […]

One of my tasks as a wee lass in the early 90s was to wash the rice for dinner while my single mom did the rest of the preparation and cooking. She told me that the ultimate goal in rice-washing is to get the water clear. With my tiny hands, I would grind the rice […]