Umami Mart

After having spent my later teen years plowing through the novels of Douglas Coupland, Bret Easton Ellis and other post modern cynics, I can’t help but see myself in so many typical Generation X situations. Meaning that you suddenly find yourself in a condition that requires an ironizing snark or a sarcastic comment–there’s just no […]

After seeing so many people starting a second career by opening gluten-free bakeries around the U.S., I thought, “Martha, you totally missed your chance to capitalize on my MO-dessert line!” Unfortunately, whenever I read recipes for gluten-free items online, it’s always so complicated. Xantham gum? What the hell is that? To substitute wheat flour people […]

I was recently in Holland for a week, and my good friend and travel buddy, Josh, became OBSESSED with stroopwafels, a Dutch delicacy. A stroopwafel is like a big wafer cookie sandwich that’s a bit chewy and filled with a sweet syrupy honey filling, and every bakery makes them differently. We hunted all over Holland […]

I am sure you have been wondering for a week what the hell I was going to do with Barbie doll.  I must say, this journey was one of the most hilarious baking experiences I’ve ever gone through. I made a birthday cake for a friend of mine, let’s call him Deric Dercep, to keep […]

Oh great, here we go again. Another blog post about Japanese food packaging design. But you know what? The reality is that the Japanese kick our butts many times over when it comes to intelligent, fun and groundbreaking ways to wrap something edible. Ok, so there actually are American designers at work behind the scenes […]

As you know, I love to bake, and I am especially fond of cakes. I do it all–classic cakes, crazy cakes, Japanese cakes, chocolate cakes, wedding cakes (trauma). I love to come up with crazy combinations, that I try to master after tweaking the recipe over and over. Over the years, I’ve posted many of […]

After getting canned without reason, the day after her maternity leave was up, Paula Cinini was not sure what to do; she had always worked as a journalist. To find some solace in this devastating situation, and cope with her mother’s passing, Paula dug up her mother’s old, partly-burned, worn recipe book and began baking. […]

As you may all know, I’m half-Japanese and half-Sri Lankan, so anything to do with either country sparks an immediate interest. So when I began hearing rumours about a new Japanese cake shop and tea salon springing up in trendy Primrose Hill in north London last year, my ears perked up. My sister and I […]

Dear Microsoft Office (and all you other people who can’t differentiate between a macaron from a macaroon), Macaron is not a macaroon. Every time I write “macaron”, you always highlight it, suggesting I misspelled the word and replace it with “macaroon” instead. How atrocious. I am not sure how Seattle’s gourmet food scene is, but […]

I know this piece of cake doesn’t look so hot, but to be fair, it’s been through a lot. Last weekend I was at a house party in Williamsburg. It was still Passover, so I was having wine instead of beer, cheese with no crackers and trying not to look at the cookies. I’d been […]