Umami Mart

Zac was born at the end of last year, so for the last eight months CH and I have been super busy being (can I say awesome?) parents. We do our best and as a result he seems to really like us, the rest of the family, and pretty much anyone or thing we pass […]

Spending two weeks in Brazil the middle of the Umami Mart build-out was a bit disorienting. But the abundance of tropical fruits on street stalls, in the grocery store and in fancy restaurants forced me forget about home and embrace the fact that I was living amongst wild coconut trees and bossa nova. As a […]

Jackfruit floating in a pond in at Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro.

CH and I have relocated to Rio for work (and personal pursuits) and finally, we now live in the tropics. But this is not the Amazon, not even close. The Amazon rain forest is thousands of miles away. In this particular neighborhood in Rio, literally just outside our window, we have the largest urban tropical forest […]

*This post was updated on June 16, 2011, as it relates to Pusser’s vs. Painkiller. I’ve never been a big believer in alternative medicine. While there are centuries-old practices like acupuncture–and even relatively new ones like chiropracty–that seem to deliver on what they promise, I can’t really get down with all the new-age therapies that […]

The Mai Tai is one of the most important and enduring drinks in the continuum of the American cocktail–it is an indelible piece of the ever-changing mosaic called “Americana.” That it instantly conjures images of tropical sunsets, surfboards, and other props fitting for the mis en scene of Beach Blanket Bingo is the reason it […]

It’s still winter in Brooklyn, and it’s colder than ever. Last I checked weather.com said it was 20 degrees with a windchill that makes it feel like 4 degrees (I wish I had the degree symbol on my keyboard so didn’t have to constantly type out the word “degree”). If you read my previous post, […]

Part II in a series of food reviews from my trip to Ishigaki Island, Okinawa. The tropical climate of the Okinawa Islands yields wonderful fruits. Our visit, in the beginning of September, coincided with the best of pineapple season. I was eager to try as much fruit as possible. My first chance was the hotel […]

I would like to go by the 1992 Vanessa Williams’ hit “Save the Best for Last” regarding my reviews for the various eats I experienced during my 5-day trip to Ishigakijima (Okinawa). Ishigakijima is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. It was the ideal vacation spot to chill out and enjoy a […]

When we were near the Great Barrier Reef a few weeks ago, Jack and I rented a car for the day and drove from Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation- a beautiful daytrip through the Daintree Rainforest that reminds me of the Road to Hana in Maui. Before arriving, a man on the plane had told […]