Umami Mart

I was recently on a little Caribbean island off the coast of Honduras for a friend’s wedding. This conch soup was made for the bride and groom the day after their wedding and served at a big family brunch.  Friends had caught the conch and picked coconuts on the island for the broth. It was […]

Cutting a block of raw fish was intimidating for the longest time for me. I know for a fact that I am still not doing it like the pros because 1) I don’t cut with a sashimi knife and 2) I’ve only cut raw fish about 5 times. Cutting, plating and serving sashimi at home […]

This title might be deceiving. You know I cook a lot, from lazyass to the it-will-take-all-day kind. But fish is something I’ve never explored much. As I mentioned last week, something about the eyes, the mouth, and the flesh freaks me out. In Japan, where fish supply is abundant, most people buy fish whole, and cut […]

Thursday, another start of a four-day weekend, was spent in the kitchen. It was gorgeous outside, and it would have been a perfect day to lay on the beach, but all the travel, sand, and that return trip with sand stuck in your butt crack didn’t sound too attractive, so I decided to devote it […]

For those who are curious to eat more responsibly in the seafood arena, mackerel is an ideal option. For the rest of us who don’t care about being responsible, mackerel is also an ideal option because of its salty-savoriness that’s addictive and a great complement to a glass of shochu. Succeeding last week’s Japanify for […]

I love sardines – canned or fresh. My addiction started as a child when my mother would serve sardines from a can with a dab of kewpie mayonnaise. Packed with protein and fun to eat, they are also better for big blue because they are low on the food chain. When you can get your […]

This was originally supposed to read “Octopus, Shrimp Avocado Salad with Kewpie-Wasabi Dressing,” but the octopus part did not happen. After reading a recent string of octopus posts on Umamimart including Tokyo JUNKtion: Corpse Candy, ¡Viva España!, Umamiventure #26: San Pedro Fish Market (LA), ReCPY: Best Octopus(sy) in NYC and Raw Octopus from Tsukiji Market […]

I know there is good food in Los Angeles and I’m trying to be more open to new things. That being said, I don’t like driving and I don’t particularly like Santa Monica, so I normally don’t travel to the west side of the city to do anything, beyond what I have to for work. […]

It’s funny how when you mention Japan and food in the same sentence, there only seems to be two options. You can take the fabulous gourmet-cheering, sushi-adoring, heavenly-graced and experimenting Michelin-guided way. Or, you can choose the back alley into the world of eyeball-abusing, crazed up, disgustingly weird nastiness that freak the shit out of […]

Photos by Alda Ly, Moet Hashimoto, and myself. Sara wrote a post two years ago about the San Pedro Fish Market, and I’ve fantasized about visiting since then. All that sunny, surfside seafood looked like paradise. So that was the obvious choice for Umamiventure #26, since I was coming into town. Also, with all the […]