Umami Mart

I was so happy to get nectarines, plums and apricots in the CSA box this week. This is a quick and easy summer dessert- it also works great on the grill if you’re BBQing. I was so happy to get nectarines, plums and apricots in the CSA box this week. This is a quick and easy […]

As I’ve written about in the past, I have developed an annoying food allergy. I’ve discovered that stone fruite are definitely not for me.  Not that I need to carry an epi-pen, or that my face breaks out, or my body is covered with hives — but it’s just uncomfortable, since my throat scratches so […]

Hi, welcome to my new column, MOTOism. I’ll mostly be cooking here, as always, with the occasional restaurant rant, to keep everyone on their toes. It’s summer, it’s hot, and it’s time to make an easy dessert that doesn’t boil the kitchen. Over the weekend, I made batches of macarons, but I still haven’t figured […]

I have so many lemons right now I don’t know what to do with them all! So I tried candying them and they are quite nice atop ice cream with a bit of lemon zest. Vanilla Ice Cream + Candied Lemon + Slice 1 lemons into circles. Boil five minutes. Drain. + Simmer 1 cup […]

I know it’s been almost two months since I visited Bangkok, but I didn’t want to deprive y’all of the wonder that is Thai sweets and desserts. So here’s a quick run down of the sugary delights we sampled in Bangkok. Us folk who don’t live in Thailand are truly hard done by as it’s […]

Spring has sprung in the woods! Passover is this week and to kick it off, we hosted a first-night Seder.  We spent two days cooking all the traditional Jewish dishes: matzah ball soup, haroset (a paste of dried fruit and nuts), farfel (quiche-like squares), tzimmes (a sweet potato carrot dish), plus a roasted chicken with rosemary […]

In Japan, everything is made easy for busy housewives who have to raise kids, clean the house, yet also have to cook and make dessert. You throw things in a microwave and five minutes later, you can a serve main course to your hungry kids and demanding, asshole husbands. I was recently given a simple-to-make sakuramochi […]

Dish by Elements. Photo by Erin Gleeson.

After reading Moto’s post about making anko (sweet bean paste), I began to reminisce about my visit to a wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionary) shop in Koishikawa, Tokyo called Ikko-an. All of the wagashi are made by hand by the owner Chikara Mizukami, while his wife works in the storefront. He has made it a point […]

So this weekend I was having a few people over for a potluck birthday party and I took it upon myself to make the dessert. A long time ago I remembered making a super delicious rye bread layer cake — crunchy, fresh and sweet with raspberry cream–but I couldn’t find the old recipe so I […]