Umami Mart

My sister has a giant myoga plant that is thriving in a shady spot by her chicken coup coop. Powerful myoga buds started busting through the styrofoam container walls a few weeks ago. The plant was inherited from someone who could not contain their myoga and had to give away large patches to get their […]

At Japanese restaurants, sushi is usually served alongside with gari (pickled ginger). Why? It’s a nice way to cleanse your palate so that you can enjoy each piece of fish, without mixing the flavors in your mouth. These pickled gingers are widely available at Asian grocery stores, but if you have a couple of hours […]

On the very special occasion that a visitor from Japan would bring Toraya to our home in Cupertino, I would actually be excited about eating. I was a very picky, skinny child, but whenever my mom busted out the Toraya I would eat blocks of yokan (red bean dessert) and stack as much anko into my […]

If you have been to Japan, you’ve been to MOS burger, the best burger chain. Apparently it is coming to the U.S., which will be great.  Their burgers — from the regular MOS burger with bolognese sauce, to tonkatsu burger with cabbage, to real-deal teriyaki chicken to rice burgers — are made to order, so they […]

After I posted salt koji recipe a couple of weeks ago, I found out koji is literally a miracle condiments. This is the easiest thing to make, as long as you can find koji (usually at the Japanese grocery store), and the result is super-tacular. Marinate meat, even chicken breast, and it will never go dry. […]

As some of you may remember, I made umeboshi (pickled plum) last year, while Kayoko & Co. were doing the same on the west coast. I used yellow plums instead of Japanese plums, while the west coast group used real Japanese plums, but pickled while they were still green and unripe. Both results were ok, […]

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 […]

Shio koji, or 塩麹 (salted koji) is a going through a major boom in Japan right now. What is it?  It is a mix of salt and koji mold. Wiki says, “Koji (Aspergillus oryzae) is a mold used in Chinese and Japanese cuisine to ferment soybeans. It is also used in the making of alcoholic beverages such as sake, and shochu.” Basically koji is used to make […]

Gochi opened quietly in 2005, in a little non-descript strip mall on the back roads of Cupertino. It was actually a bit traumatizing for me — they bought out a nasty dive bar called the Peacock Lounge where my friends and I used to go when visiting our hometown for the holidays. The “Cock”, as […]