Umami Mart

Part I: THE GOOD @Nougatine, NYC There are only a couple of desserts in the world that I could devote a series of posts to- molten chocolate cake (aka Lava, Warm, Flourless) is one of the chosen few. When it comes to dinner, I could easily spend a half an hour deliberating my entree choices; […]

Newest omiyage (gift) in the Akabori household from Japan: green tea Baumkuchen from a patisserie in Dojima, Osaka called Mon Chouchou. From the website, it looks like it is a relatively new shop (2003), that takes its inspiration from the old world of Osaka, calling Dojima the “New York of Japan.” Of course the most […]

Japanese are very clever on naming things.  They come up with some English mixing with Japanese.  For example, Bridgestone (tire company)’s founder’s name is Ishibashi (Ishi=stone, bashi=bridge), Suntory’s founder’s name is Torii.  Flipping Torii-san become Suntory.   Pan (or Pain in some Euro word) means bread.  Da in Japanese means something like “is”. Hence this […]

Here’s a fun accompaniment to U N I F O R M B E H A V I O R’s flan choux discovery. One morning my mom enthusiastically proclaimed to me, “Kayo, try this now, it’s delicious.” I admit this frightened me a bit, as my mother is never so apparently excited about anything, let […]

I was a little skeptical about this week’s Kit Kat flavor “Mango Pudding” because of its shocking orange color. I am usually not a fan of chocolate doesn’t taste like chocolate, but the Mango Pudding coating was actually quite enjoyable. Imagine having mango pudding with a wafer served on the side and you get the […]

Remember the UM poll back in May when everyone voted for “more boobies”? Well, I am going to fulfill that request for a second time. Here are some shots of Oppai Pudding (Boobie Pudding) available at Le Edo‘s Aqua City in Odaiba, Tokyo. I noticed Thet there were two flavors. For folks who are just […]

Preface: Apricot Jamming: Fruit Prep, Pt. 1 Apricot Jamming: Sterilizing Jars, Pt. 2 Apricot Jamming: We’re Jammin, Pt. 3 I’m not gonna lie- this step was the biggest pain in the ass. Mostly cause some of the jars didn’t cooperate and I had to try sealing and resealing them over and over again. NOT FUN. […]

Preface: Apricot Jamming: Fruit Prep, Pt. 1 Apricot Jamming: Sterilizing Jars, Pt. 2 Now that you have let the apricots rest for at least two hours, and your jam jars are set and ready to go, let’s get to jammin’! This is a pretty straight-forward procedure: bring apricots to a boil, and for the next […]

Preface: Apricot Jamming: Fruit Prep, Pt. 1 Once you have the apricots marinating in the sugar-lemon mixture (for at least two hours), this would be a good time to sterilize the jam jars. I couldn’t find the Ball mason jars anywhere- you know the ones with the lids and seals that come separately? I looked […]

When I saw Merriberry’s beautiful apricot tree budding with gorgeous blush-hued fruit, I knew just what I wanted to do: JAM IT! This would be my first time attempting such an arduous-sounding project, and arduous it would indeed end up being. All in all however, it was well worth all the spills, burns and bottling […]