Umami Mart

I mention all the time that there’s a Greenmarket every Wednesday outside of my work. There’s an awesome Korean-owned farm, who always have Japanese cucumbers, eggplants and shishito peppers. This season, shiso is abundant as well. I only buy shiso there since everything else is extremely expensive. On top of it, the next tent sells […]

When the heat rolls in, laziness comes in the form of “I don’t want to cook.” Maybe it’s also an instinctual thing where I am unconsciously preparing for a fire or earthquake which is more likely to happen in the hot summer months by hoarding a bunch of canned booty. Whatever the reason, I am […]

Quite possibly the only herb in the mint family that the Japanese will not associate with toothpaste is shiso. Shiso, or sometimes referred to as perilla, Japanese basil or beefsteak plant is often found as a garnish in Japanese cuisine. I noticed that Yamahomo and I seem to have somewhat of an obsession with shiso […]

Piggybacking on Yamahomo’s drunk cooking post, this week’s Japanify introduces techniques for making instant ramen that will please drunks. After a long, explosive night of dancing, my husband prepared Sapporo Ichiban instant ramen. An avid eater of Sapporo Ichiban instant ramen in his native Japan, my husband was ecstatic that Sapporo Ichiban was also available […]

After getting drunk on a bottle of white wine Saturday night, I made a drunk-person purchase at 7-11. Placed side-by-side in the soda refrigerator were Shiso Pepsi and Green Tea Coke. The Green Tea Coke was on sale for 125 yen, marked down from the standard soda price in Japan of 150 yen. This was […]

You read it right – 88 cents (or yen). I have mastered the art of cheap bastardism, and come up with a meal that could be the favorite for both my taste buds and my wallet. In a city like Tokyo, where you expect to spend $30-40 for a dinner out with friends, here’s a […]

Last night, I was at a local izakaya, Washio, with some friends. My friend Takachiho, fresh off of work, downed two bottles of beer, three sake servings and quickly moved onto his next drink all in the time span of about 80 minutes. “Master, please give me an awamori!” (Master is the word used in […]

Shiso, as you might know, comes with your sashimi dish at any Japanese restaurant. It is usually green, and looks as if they are recycled since no one eats them. I like them wrapped in a piece of sashimi since it absorbs fishy-ness from fish. People call it “Japanese basil” or perilla. There is also […]