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March 27, 2012
Great UM Noodletown: Tsukemen @ Ramen Halu (San Jose)
I should confess that I have never really been a fan of tsukemen (ramen with dipping sauce). Shouldn’t ramen be in a piping hot broth, brimming with scallions and chashu (pork) and menma (bamboo shoots)? Tsukemen just always seemed so WRONG to me, despite the fact that I love zaru soba (cold soba with dipping sauce).
But I
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March 23, 2012
Upcoming Event: OPENharvest at the Headlands (Sausalito)
Remember when Yoko and I went to Japan last year with the OPEN crew? God, it seems like forever ago. We had so many rad, eye-opening opportunities, like rice harvesting in Niigata, visiting farms in Nagano and organizing a line of pop-ups on a busy street in Shibuya. Wow!
Yoko
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March 21, 2012
Tokyo-SF Bartender Salon
On Sunday 3/11, the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Northern Japan, Yoko and I helped organize a cross-cultural exchange between bartenders from Japan and San Francisco. Held at Prizefighter Bar in Emeryville, it was an intimate gathering of old friends, and new.
Tomokazu Kai (Heuga Bar) and Masako Ikegami (Bar Shake) had won a
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March 9, 2012
Remembrance
Spring is just around the corner, and plum blossoms are bursting all over Japan, California, and beyond. A year after the devastation of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, Japan still stands, its spirit strong, with people going about its business just like the rest of us. While the struggle is not over — affected areas are
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February 15, 2012
Sobayuwari (Shochu + Hot Soba Water)
By Shizuka Wakashita
What do you drink when you go to a soba place? Beer? Sake? Shochu?
I thought sake but I was wrong.
I was converted into a sake lover about three years ago. Ever since then I almost always order sake when I go out for Japanese food, except for the occasions when I am with new
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February 13, 2012
Culinography: Kebab Night
Our neighbors recently invited us over for kebab night. In California in February, it’s easy to grill outside and I’m convinced everything tastes better when cooked outdoors! This was a seriously flavorful meal: beef kebab served with a plate of herbs (radishes, mint, green onions), homemade baba ganoush (made from grilled whole eggplants), rice
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February 9, 2012
Homemade Pedialyte
My latest hangout spot is in the infants aisle of Target but I have no babies with me. Stocking up on Pedialyte, bananas and apple sauce have been a full-time job since getting the worst incident of food poisoning of my life in Mexico last week. It was a life changing trip inside (literally) and
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January 26, 2012
Ika no Shiokara (Fermented Squid)
By Kenji Miura
Shiokara is a fantastic savory condiment to your favorite glass of shochu. This particular shiokara is made with surume ika (Japanese Common Squid or Pacific Flying Squid).
INGREDIENTS 5 fresh squid 2 tbsp salt
METHOD
1. Clean the squid. (Here’s how via Kyoto Foodie)
2. Cut the legs and ears (the triangular portion of the squid) off of
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January 20, 2012
Tokyo Nights: Bikes + Bottles
Photo by Kelly Ishikawa, a San Francisco-based photographer and the co-owner of The Perish Trust.
January 19, 2012
Fuguhire Zake (Hot Sake with Blowfish Tail)
Back in Cupertino, Kuni (my pops) had a huge bag of fuguhire (dried blowfish tails) from Tsukiji market, which he is grills to make fuguhire zake. These tails are from the blowfish variety tora-fugu or “tiger fugu”. Fuguhire zake is a common way to drink hot sake in Japan during the cold winters, at least amongst my father’s generation
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