March 29, 2012
After reading Moto’s post about making anko (sweet bean paste), I began to reminisce about my visit to a wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionary) shop in Koishikawa, Tokyo called Ikko-an. All of the wagashi are made by hand by the owner Chikara Mizukami, while his wife works in the storefront. He has made it a point
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March 27, 2012
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 21, 2012
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 20, 2012
One of my favourite Thai dishes is som tum, the spicy green papaya salad so prevalent in Northern Thai or Isaan cuisine. I used to love it as a kid, and I love it even more as an adult although sometimes my tongue and stomach rebel against the fiery heat of
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March 13, 2012
São Paulo has the second largest Japanese population outside of Japan (about 650,000+), but since my arrival here I’ve been pretty bummed by the lack of good Japanese restaurants. Thank God for the Koreans!
Koreans immigrated to SP with promises that Brazil was the country of the future — and Brazil still strives towards this dream. Brazil
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March 6, 2012
One of the main things I look forward to whenever I visit Thailand is to be able to eat Thai steamboat or Thai suki (hot pot) at Coca, a restaurant which has been going strong for the last 50 years and is now a culinary empire extending to Singapore and even Japan. My
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March 5, 2012
Spaghetti alla Chitarra prepared by chef Dan Kluger at The Core Club. He is now the chef at ABC Kitchen in NYC.
Photo by Erin Gleeson.
March 2, 2012
I woke up to an email this morning with the subject line: “You’re so ahead of your time!” Bryan’s good friend Rob was informing me that March is National Noodle Month, and forwarded me this article about the celebrations in LA. So what the hell, let’s extend noodle month through March! April! FOREVER!
Today,
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February 24, 2012
Sakura’s noodle report from Bangkok earlier this week had me craving for a bowl of bah mee nam here in the Bay Area. I scoured the city’s Thai restaurant menus but did not find anything comparable to Sakura’s favorite noodle dish. But, fear not, as an awesome Thai spot recently opened up in the Richmond called
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February 21, 2012
Umamimart is celebrating 5 years this month with a celebration of noodles and how delightful that I get to talk to you all about one of my favourites: bah mee nahm (Thai noodle soup).
When I lived in Bangkok, Thailand, from the ages of four to eleven, apparently the only things I liked
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