Umami Mart

Some ideas for recessionary cooking: Tonight’s dinner was cornish hens ($5.80 for two at the local Trade Fair in Astoria). The price by weight was significantly lower than chicken breast, which is why I bought it–my usual strategy for dealing with whole chickens has been to buy the pre-rotisseried variety from Whole Foods or the […]

Being one month early for a party is good because it gives you time to perfect your entrance. I was getting ready for a pizza party on Saturday, by making one of my favorite finger foods of all time: chicken nuggets. If there’s one fast-food item I still get weak-in-the-knees for, it’s KFC’s chicken nuggets. […]

Moms have the best recipes. This one for salmon pate has been a hit (gone in under an hour) at both parties I’ve brought them to. I have only made it twice but it’s so simple and reliable that it’ll become a regular in my limited recipe repertoire. Ingredients: A)2 green onions chopped1/2 cup of […]

In the world of food blogs, it’s a rare occasion to see a recipe gone bad. Gorgeous, mouthwatering foodporn shots of well-prepared, perfectly crisped, braised and roasted dishes abound in the blogosphere. But what about all the times when your master creations have totally FAILED??? So today, I’m going to talk about how I totally […]

I know I’ve done many lobster postings, but I had to do it again. Thanks, or due to the economic crisis, no one is buying lobster these days. Lobster used to be a status symbol (really?) for the rich. They are not cheap, and if you have them at restaurants, they are pretty pricey. It […]

Happy New Year! 2009 doesn’t look different from 2008 at all. I thought about cutting back 1. smoking, 2. boozing, 3. eating, plus adding exercise into my daily routine, but already failed all of them, or wait, I didn’t even try. It’s still in my head, thinking I will be able to accomplish them some […]

I adapted this recipe from a mag I was thumbing through. The original recipe tells you to serve cold and in thin strips, like say if you were to make strips with a potato peeler. I just turned it into mashed potatoes because I can’t resist the smoothness of mash. I often come across mentaiko […]

A while back I made this venison recipe that I thought would be useful to share now that fall’s fast approaching. It’s originally a Bobby Flay (stop hatin’ on the boy) recipe from the Mesa Grill cookbook, that I made with a few adjustments. We served it with Horseradish Twice-Baked Potatoes, also from the Flay […]

Beef tongue looks gross. However, that long slow moving tongue of a cow becomes such a delicate dish (if you don’t mind looking at the fetus-like part below). Since I live in Chelsea, I do most of meat shopping at Western Beef, where there are quite a few different parts of every kind of meat. […]

Temaki (hand-rolled sushi) is an easy way to entertain a crowd. There aren’t much prep work involved, but the spread is quite luxurious looking and it’s surely a crowd pleaser. You just make whatever you like to be inside, spread it nicely and voila, party starts. Instead of going to Japanese grocery store, and buy […]