January 5, 2012
If you can get your hands on sake kasu (sake lees, a yeast by-product of sake making) a subculture of cooking opens up to you. Most commonly used for marinating fish and pickling, sake kasu looks like pizza dough with the consistency of wet clay and aroma of nama (unpasteurized) sake. It’s usually available for cheap,
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October 13, 2011
PREFACE The Ume Project: Foraging The Ume Project: Pickling for Umeboshi The Ume Project: Umeshu (Plum Liqueur) The Ume Project: The Aka-Shiso Edition
Since July, Yoko and I have been working on umeboshi (pickled plums) with Sylvan of Peko Peko, a Japanese catering company based in Oakland. From picking our own ume
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October 3, 2011
PREFACE Battle ReCPY: NYC Umeboshi Project, Pt. 1 Battle ReCPY: NYC Umeboshi Project, Pt. 2
Finally, I finished pickling my ume. All I had left to do was to dry them under sun for a day or two. Being in NYC, I don’t have a gigantic backyard where I can freely dry my ume,
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September 16, 2011
This post is rather late, for which I apologize. Er, about a month late. SORRY! Where has all the time gone? How is it already mid-September? I look outside and the leaves are turning color. The light gives off a deeper glow. It is dark at 7:30pm.
Sigh. San Francisco’s (non-existent) summer is officially over.
So… let
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August 29, 2011
PREFACE Battle ReCPY: NYC Umeboshi Project, Pt. 1
After a couple of weeks of pickling plum in salt, it extracts all the water out of the plums, which makes umezu (plum vinegar). Once the liquid rises above the plum, it’s time to add red shiso (perilla). You can either do it or not
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July 25, 2011
After seeing the Ume Project on the west coast, I was intrigued. I like umeboshi (pickled plums) and every time I go home to Japan, I bring back my mother’s homemade ones. After all, I am from Wakayama, where Japan’s best umeboshi is made. I should have the umeboshi making gene in me.
I’ve
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July 22, 2011
While it’s no Musso & Frank or Mateo’s, Umami Burger is quickly becoming a fixture in the LA culinary world. Seriously. Six locations have popped up since the original La Brea location opened in 2009 and the popularity doesn’t appear to be losing steam. Though it embraces the similar
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July 19, 2011
After our Berkeley backyard ume foraging adventure, Yoko, Sylvan (of Peko Peko) and I met up six days later to start pickling our umeboshi (pickled plum). Hooray! Umeboshi is the rice accompaniment of choice in Japan–the image of the sour little scarlet ball, sitting on a bed of steaming rice for
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May 23, 2011
I don’t know what got into me this weekend. I am a proud carnivore. I cannot live without meat, and I don’t even care if it’s “organic” or not. Food Nation didn’t scare me enough to eat only grass-fed beef or cage-free chicken. I will pretty much eat whatever meat parts are served in front
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