Umami Mart

I’ve heard a lot about Cassava in the last few years and finally made it over to the Avenues in Outer Richmond for the Japanese breakfast. To my knowledge, it is the only traditional Japanese breakfast offered in the Bay Area, and absolutely worth the trip. Cassava opened in 2012 (just like Umami Mart!) by […]

I’ve made quite a few dishes using natto (fermented soy beans) in the past years — from Natto Moffin to sweet Natto Sandwich. If you like natto, it’s good with everything (almost), but if you hate natto, you wouldn’t understand any of my creations. That’s ok, I proudly HATE cilantro myself and I refuse to eat any […]

I’m in a flurry of packing at the moment. Actually, Yoko and MOTO had to come over and help me pack since I just can’t seem to get it together. The movers come tomorrow and my days of single living are about to become a faint memory. I am 33 years old and have lived […]

Don’t we all have that certain staple food, drink or condiment in our lives that is devastating when it cannot be found in the kitchen? For some, it is Sriracha, or cream for their morning coffee. Or a cold can of beer. For Johnny, it’s Kashi cereal (GMO-free only) or Mountain High plain yogurt. For me, […]

Congrats to UM for being around for five years! I still remember my first post on Peking duck back in 2007 (after constant harassment from Kayoko to write for her), and over the past five years, I’ve written over 200 posts. When we started, it was a fun, jokey, let’s-talk-about-food-in-a-very-funny-way kind of activity. But 5 […]

I have missed writing this column, so I’m bringing it back! I can not pretend that I have abandoned my lazy ways, or that I’ve stopped cutting corners when cooking. My kitchen may be much bigger than what I had in Brooklyn, but this only means that I can spread out my laziness over more […]

I’m going through Yoko withdrawl. We were literally joined at the hip for the last month, gearing up for our GIFT OF FOOD benefit: chatting, Skyping, meeting with each other, organizing, coordinating, planning with our other awesome collaborators. It was definitely a huge team effort to put on THE GIFT OF FOOD, and without Yoko, […]

There are quite a few breakfast sandwich recipes in Japan that uses natto. The natto & cheese on toast sounded pretty good. Put natto and cheese on bread or an English muffin and toast it, I guess. But it is too straightforward and not my style. I wanted to push natto’s culinary limit. When I […]

The idea of a salad at many Japanese restaurants in America is some iceberg lettuce, julliened carrots and a cherry tomato (if your lucky) – topped with a creamy, sesame dressing. I can say that I am sometimes a fan of this combination, but it’s really not the kind of salad you will ever see […]

This is a whole new level of ReCPY, everyone. I’ve created many baked goods in the past, but nothing compares to this. I heard Iron Chef had an episode on natto, and Morimoto made some kind of dessert with natto soaked in Coca-Cola or something. The thought of natto mixed with something sweet made me […]