Category Archives: Food

Time to Fish

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to get on a boat, to challenge my sea legs and to test the tensile strength of the combination of rod + reel + spectra / mono / flouro lines + swivel + barbless hook … Continue reading

Posted in Fishes, Fishing, Food

Hammer Time! Making Mochi

Once upon a time in Japan, the making of mochi was not performed by automated machines, but rather by people using large wooden mallets/hammers to pound rice in heavy-duty granite bowls. Pounding was performed to a rhythm, pulverizing the rice … Continue reading

Posted in Food

It all starts with butter…

…or a cube of beef fat into a big, hot pan, followed by thin, delicate slices of well-marbled beef. Then comes the vegetables, tofu, mushrooms, scallions and yam noodles. Toss on some sake, mirin, shoyu, dashi and sugar and let … Continue reading

Posted in Food

Fort Ross and Stillwater Cove

It turns out that there are a lot of camp sites available in the Fort Ross area of the California coastline, and the beginning of September during the mid-week is an ideal time to get a place to yourself. We … Continue reading

Posted in Aquatic Critters, Fishing, Food, Inverts, Marine Mammals, Northern California, Travel

China Bowl: The Best Al Pastor?

On the way up from Huntington Beach, Kohei and I picked up some fresh, wild-caught shrimp in a small town right before we reached Santa Barbara. If you are familiar with that stretch of coast line, it’s the place that … Continue reading

Posted in Food, Northern California

Cooking With Green Butter

Avocados are only 100 yen right now, and so I have been using them a lot lately. My favorite ways to eat them are sliced with shoyu (California-nisei style), as part of a sandwitch/cheeseburger, or as guacamole. Fresh tortillas are … Continue reading

Posted in Food

Cooking With Goya

This weekend I cooked with goya(bitter melon) for the first time, and it turned out awesome! I first tried goya in Okinawa as a component in a chop suey-like dish, and made it with the help of a friend. After … Continue reading

Posted in Food

A Gaping, Unfilled Niche

There are a few things that I used to depend on for everyday cooking and I still use many of them over here, but I sorely miss Mexican food ingredients. I miss the abundance of tortillas, both flour and corn … Continue reading

Posted in Food

Lost Bread Topped With Fried Bananas

Everyone knows how to make French Toast, but I consider my version to be top shelf. My favorite thing about FT is that I almost always have the ingredients, and it is a quick meal. Try this version out: Ingredients: … Continue reading

Posted in Food

Ode To Inaka Ninniku

On a routine after-work drive, deep in the country I spotted an unattended shack with a sign that read “yasai (vegetables), 100 yen”. Nestled among the daikon and shiitake mushrooms was a mesh bag containing two choice clusters of garlic. … Continue reading

Posted in Food