Eat In


March 12, 2014

MOTOism: Homemade Miso

by Moto Yamamoto

As you may know, we recently bought a country house in the deep woods of Connecticut. We now own 9 acres of land, and my imagination goes wild with what to do — from building a chicken coop to a greenhouse, to planting yuzu and plum trees — an all Japanese vegetable garden. Unfortunately these […]

March 10, 2014

Kuishinbo: Easy Homemade Mirin

by Yuki HD

I’m sure Umami Mart readers know about mirin and have used it in cooking, but may not be sure about what it is exactly. Culinary experts in the U.S. believe that mirin is a mix of sake and lots of sugar. Sadly, this is incorrect. Yes, it’s sweet, but not just syrupy sweet — mirin […]

March 3, 2014

Ask a Bartender: The Chrysanthemum

by Kayoko Akabori

My alcohol tolerance is not what it used to be, sadly. The morning after a night of drinking just gets tougher and tougher. Hideko says, “You are no longer young.” WHAT?!?!? To curb this issue, I often order low-alcohol cocktails these days, like Vermouth or Sherry variations. They’re all the rage — the book Art […]

February 17, 2014

The Vin Vivant: Appetite for Detoxification

by Audrey Luk

I am incredibly lucky to be able to eat whatever I want when I want — I don’t have any known food allergies, I can find pretty much any ingredient within biking radius of my home and I live in the Bay Area, home to a wealth of stellar, international dining opportunities. However, sometimes my […]

February 7, 2014

Japanify: Salmon Avocado Donburi

by Yoko Kumano

Shopping for the freshest seafood just got easier with another fish market that opened in the People’s Republic of Berkeley. Fish is still my favorite thing to eat for dinner because it’s easy and so, so delicious. Grilled, simmered or baked, fish will let you do anything to it and it’ll adapt. But, by far, […]

January 31, 2014

Kuishinbo: Konnyaku Detox

by Yuki HD

Konnyaku has been used in Japan as a medicinal food for 1500 years and was very popular during the Edo period. It is likewise a staple in Chinese medicine, said to aid in detoxification as well as a host of other benefits. Konnyaku is also a very popular ingredient for weight loss because it is […]

January 27, 2014

The Vin Vivant: Tripel Happiness with Loh Bak Goh

by Audrey Luk

All day to do as I pleased, all night to gorge on cheese: this was my MLK weekend mantra. It was the start of the Winter Fancy Food Show at the Moscone Center, so Chris was away meeting luminaries of the gourmet world while I puttered about at home, varying my errands with cooking projects […]

January 17, 2014

Japanify: Take-It-Easy Takikomi

by Yoko Kumano

If there’s one thing 6 days in paradise (Kauai) reminded me about life, it’s that cooking rice on the stove top (and not in a rice cooker) is so easy! I used to do it all the time when I worked as a server at a restaurant called Konohana in Tokyo. That was the only […]

January 10, 2014

Casa de Kei in Kauai

by Kayoko Akabori

Let’s be real: when my brother Keisuke said he would join us for our First Annual Kauai Trip, I hoped (really hard) that he would cook for us. Ah hell, we all did. Have you seen Casa de Kei? His midnight creations are totally bananas — creative yet approachable; high art meets B-kyu (aka comfort food). […]

December 31, 2013

The Vin Vivant: Fat Belly, Tiny Bubbles

by Audrey Luk

When Old Man Winter’s icy digit stops mercury from rising, I am reminded of a traveler I met in Argentina, a Canadian middle-school teacher who once ran sled dogs. It was so cold in Saskatchewan that when he and the dogs returned to their cabin after a day of skittering across the tundra, he dropped […]