Umami Mart

I was recently on a little Caribbean island off the coast of Honduras for a friend’s wedding. This conch soup was made for the bride and groom the day after their wedding and served at a big family brunch.  Friends had caught the conch and picked coconuts on the island for the broth. It was […]

Last month, I took a relaxing trip to Pt. Reyes with one of the best books I have read this year, the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was another one of my favorites this year). Although I felt like I kind of knew what Pollan’s deal was from hearsay, […]

Last week I was invited to dinner at the Farm on Adderley in Brooklyn and by chance there was a special dinner going on, so we signed up for it! The butchers from Fleisher’s in Kingston, NY were hosting the prix-fixe meal at a handful of communal tables in the back room. Their shop supplied […]

Since moving back to California, I’m trying to branch out more and find new places to eat all over the Bay Area. A few weekends ago my parents and I took a nice drive out to Pescadero, a quaint little town out on the coast, just south of San Francisco. We had an awesome Umamiventure […]

I was inspired to make this when watching Jacques Pepin make it on his show the other day. He just made it look so easy- it’s a raw vegetable soup for god’s sake! No pots and pans- just your knife, peeler and food processor. It’s a lazyass cook’s call from heaven. I’m working at a […]

I’m still hopeful that winter will make its curtain call as scheduled, despite the seemingly unrelenting frigidness of late. So to get through this late-stage frostiness I knew some hearty comfort food would be in order, and homemade chowder fit the bill. I used a recipe I had for Portsmouth Seafood Chowder from BG’s Boat […]

Ever since Kayoko packed her bags and returned to the land of eternal sunshine and spotless minds, I’ve been having an ever-growing yearning to return to the good old days of the NY Umamiventure. In particular, I’ve been reliving and re-tasting in my mind the sultry sandwiches we ate during the Banh Mi Crawl, or […]

One of my new year resolutions is to cook more. I’m serious this time! Here’s something I made yesterday that is super easy, and perfect for the cold winter months. Oops, I’m in California where it’s 65 today. Sorry NYC suckas!!! Tonjiru is a Japanese dish, which is just miso soup with hearty vegetables, tofu […]

Probably one of the most labor intensive soups I’ve made next to home-made pho. I had this notion in my mind of borscht as a cold beet soup and therefore the thought never occurred to me to make it or like it. But Aya basically held a gun to my head and made me make […]