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August 4, 2010

Alcoholics Not Anonymous: The Office Edition

by Moto Yamamoto

Working for a non-profit gives us ample opportunities to drink during work. With all our donor cultivation/ post-program/ gallery opening receptions, the building is filled with booze, literally, all the time. Sometimes when we work late, and hear (or smell) a gathering going on, we go downstairs, get a glass of wine, and come back […]

August 3, 2010

Happy Hour: Tales Recap Pt. 4 (Highlights and Lowlights)

by Payman Bahmani

PREFACE: Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 1 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 2 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 3 I had never been to New Orleans prior to going down for this year’s Tales of the Cocktail, so when it came to deciding where to eat and drink (which are always my […]

Slightly Peckish: In München

by Sakura Gooneratne

I went for a lazy summer holiday to the Bavarian capital of München to visit two school friends, both of whom I’ve known for over 20 years. Oh yes, we’ve been lazing around together since we first met at boarding school, talking and eating 24/7, and things haven’t really changed much. So going from a […]

August 2, 2010

Happy Hour: Tales Recap Pt. 3 (John Besh + Kermit Ruffins = happy mouth & ears)

by Payman Bahmani

PREFACE: Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 1 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 2 New Orleans is perhaps most famous for its great food and rich musical tradition. They’re what folks often point to as the most tangible markers of a New Orleans culture that’s sometimes too intangible to define. So despite a schedule packed […]

Letter From The Editor: Sloth Season

by Kayoko Akabori

Sloth: Disinclination to work, or exert yourself.* Jesus considers it a deadly sin, but we all deserve to lay low once in a while, don’t we? And every year, people around the world seem to choose the entire month of August to be lazy. Cubicle junkies in the U.S. get Fridays off; New Yorkers spend […]

July 30, 2010

Happy Hour: Tales of the Cocktail Recap Pt. 2 (my liver will make yours quiver)

by Payman Bahmani

PREFACE Tales Recap Part 1 Anticipating that I’d have a hangover the size of a punch bowl, and knowing that I’d be competing as a finalist in the Catdaddy Bar Chef Challenge in the afternoon of my second day at Tales of the Cocktail, I intentionally lightened my schedule to allow some breathing room.  In the […]

July 29, 2010

Happy Hour: Tales of the Cocktail Recap Pt. 1 (my liver is ballsy, yours has cerebral pallsy)

by Payman Bahmani

Last week I gave the foolhardy impression that I could give a daily recap of the events at Tales of the Cocktail, while still down at Tales. Instead, I left you high and dry as I ate and drank and partied and competed and sat in seminars with a hangover, then ate and drank and […]

July 28, 2010

Boot and Shoe Service: Pizza! And So Much More (OAK)

by Kayoko Akabori

When Jade’s comes into town, it usually means trouble. Trouble in the form of drinking too much, going out for extravagant meals, and not remembering where all your money went the next morning. She’s the ultimate enabler. So… Jade’s in town. Mix that with Yoko and Washi right up the street, and I’ve got a […]

July 21, 2010

Happy Hour: Tales of the Cocktail! (Day 1)

by Payman Bahmani

Ok so here goes the beginning of an effort may prove fruitless and waning. Today’s the first official day of Tales of the Cocktail, the biggest mixology fete/conference in the world, and my earnest plan is to provide daily updates for folks who couldn’t be here to witness it in person. There’s no substitute for […]

GO PAYSTYLE!

by Kayoko Akabori

Umamimart’s very own Paystyle and his wife Vanessa are off to New Orleans today for Tales of the Cocktail! This is absolutely THE most anticipated week of the year for bar chef/ booze-heads, jam-packed with galas, parties, cocktail-offs, and seminars (“Umami in Cocktails” on Thursday afternoon, anyone?). Lest we forget that Paystyle’s Chinese Bootlegger’s Punch […]