Umami Mart

When Old Man Winter’s icy digit stops mercury from rising, I am reminded of a traveler I met in Argentina, a Canadian middle-school teacher who once ran sled dogs. It was so cold in Saskatchewan that when he and the dogs returned to their cabin after a day of skittering across the tundra, he dropped […]

Myoga madness continues as I experiment with the harvest from my sister’s myoga plant. Last week, I topped raw myoga on tofu. This week, I make a stir fry with myoga and slices of pork shoulder. I am very inexperienced with cooking mammal meat and quite intimidated when it comes to preparing chunks of it. […]

I’ve been reading on many Japanese blogs that people are stuffing sticky rice inside a whole chicken, which absorbs all the good stuff from the bird, and makes a very nice sticky rice accompanying a perfectly roasted bird. I was going to roast the whole bird, but realized I would be the only one who […]

Let’s give thanks for everything we eat today. Photo by Kelly Ishikawa, a San Francisco-based photographer and the co-owner of The Perish Trust. 

Photos by Thomas L. Young One dollar street tacos at a busy intersection in downtown Los Angeles is about as old school as you can get. On the corner of Mateo and 7th street, in front of the Mexican restaurant La Reyna (Est. 1974), is a taco stand run by one guy on the grill […]

Photos by Derek Dercep. I am currently writing this post from Lake Muskoka in Canada. My friend OWNS a freaking island here. Apparently, this lake is ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for summer vacation destinations. Screw the Hamptons, this island is so much better!!! (Although I’ve never been to the Hamptons). Life is good, […]

My sister is married to a wonderful man, whose mother also happens to be an exceptional cook. As a Malaysian diplomat’s wife, the prime minister preferred her cooking to going out to restaurants whenever he rocked into London. She’s that good. The injection of Indian and Chinese influences are especially evident if you ever visit […]

With the in-laws away in Paris, my sister-in-law, grandma, house chef Gracinha, and dog-in-law Pri (short for Princess or Priscilla, still not sure) have come to stay with us. The opportunity was ripe to finally ask Gracinha to show me her feijoada-lite recipe. I wrote about feijoada last year, as it’s Brasil’s national dish. Feijoada […]

The French are famous for their cuisine and although it seems a daunting task to find the diamonds amongst the gazillion eateries in Paris, we had our trusty mother– with her Japanese travel guides– who took us seemlessly from one good restaurant and bistro to another. She likes to do her research before travelling and […]

One of my loyal Monday night regulars brought me these on the other week. A bag full of Chinese sausages! YAY! He grew up in  San Francisco and swears that this one butcher in Chinatown, Mow Lee Co., makes them the best (774 Commercial at Grant, 982-5767). He brought me the regular pork kind, and […]