Ramen is HOT in Boston! (+1 bonus London Ramen)

I remember many years ago, it felt like there was a brand new Ramen shop opening up every month in New York city. Now NYC is filled with great Ramen shops that you could only once get a taste of in Japan. Fast forward to 2016 and Boston is finally starting to boom too!

I still have a handful of places I need to visit but here are some that I was able to go to eat and get a sketch of too:

•  Little Big Diner (1st Sketch) in Newton is probably one of the more newer places to open up and I had the Shio Chicken Ramen which was excellent! They had a number of nice looking appetizers and a nice selection of alcoholic drinks too. I'll be sure to be back!

• Yakitori Zai (Now Closed) - This place used to be a high end Yakitori restaurant that also served really nice Ramen just on the weekends. I heard that the reason they closed down was due to the neighbors complaining from the restaurants food venting. Bummer... 

• Snappy Ramen - They have stores named Snappy Sushi too and I've been to the one on Newbury Street as well as the one in Davis square. This sketch is from the Newbury one and it was my very first 'Lobster Ramen'! This Ramen was actually more of a novelty item and was fun sharing with friends. I thought their more standard ramen dishes offered at the Davis Square store was much better.

• Here's the Davis Square version of Snappy Ramen:

• Yume wo Katare  This place has been super popular ever since they opened up 3 1/2 years ago. known for their Jiro-kei style Ramen, the place usually has people waiting in line for hours to get in. I thought the taste was really good but portion wise, I couldn't even finish 1/3 of the ramen bowl since it was too big. I have numerous friends who swears by this ramen and their large portion so if you're super hungry, this is the place to go!

• Santouka Ramen This ramen shop originally from Hokkaido is probably one of my favorite places in Boston. I used to visit New Jersey to see my father quite often and used to always have a bowl of Santouka before returning to Boston. Well, now it's open in Harvard square and it's really good!

• Ganko Ramen This place in Brookline opened up about 8 months ago and really enjoyed the overall presentation of the place. The menu is simple ( I believe only 4 dishes and couple of drinks), the interiors simple and calming too. I really like this place.

• This last one's not from Boston but had it on my recent trip to London at Shoryu Ramen 
  It was Excellent!

(Added January 2017)
I've been to the one in NYC but this was the first time visiting Totto Ramen in Boston.
It was actually really good and for some reason crazy filling too.

I had this for lunch, and skipped dinner and wasn't even hungry the next morning too !

Sketch NOW think later: Workshop booklets have arrived!

Updated 8/20:

I'm all sold out!

Thank you for everyone that showed interest in my booklet!
My last 2 copies were shipped out to Pennsylvania and Germany today and I'm completely sold out of this booklet.

I hope one day to be able to expand on this material to create a bigger sketching book and to be able to do more classes & workshops.

Thanks again,

miked

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Updated 08/10:
I'm super excited to have the booklets finally made available on my shop HERE

Sad news is that I only have a limited amount of copies but hope it's enough for everyone interested in this booklet.

thanks!
miked

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Updated 6/20:

Hot off the press!  I'm so excited that my workshop booklets have safely arrived. I thought they came out really nice, and my cat TenTen agreed too :)I can't wait to share them with everyone that signed up for my workshop.

I ordered more then the amount of people that signed up for my workshop and plan to make them available on my website in August after the symposium.

If you're interested in a copy, please leave your email here and I'll be sure to get back to you with the info! (Sorry, sold out on 8/20)

Zoo sketching with Sophie & Maggie

 
[Mike Daikubara in Boston] Last week I went sketching with Sophie and Maggie, identical twin daughters of our good friends and they have been interested in drawing. I had promised to go sketching with them for a while now and finally made an opportunity to go sketching together.
It was their first time sketching at a zoo so I went a little early to Stone Zoo to do some research and do a few practice sketches to see what would be easy to sketch.

My 1st choice: Flamingos. They were really loud and seemed to move a lot but in reality they didn't move very much. Even if they moved, there was another flamingo standing right next to the first flamingo in a similar pose. I thought this would be good.

2nd choice: Black-Necked Crane. Another one that didn't move very much which was good - but since there was only 1 crane, when he got up and walked away, you had to stop sketching.

The girls arrived so I took them to the Flamingo area.

They hated it!!

They couldn't stand the noise and especially the smell (which indeed did smell pretty bad)

So we started walking around and came across the alligator area.
He was all the way near the front glass and didn't move - most of all he didn't smell which was important to the twins :)
I started sketching, then the girls just followed along without any intimidation.
While we were sketching, there were lots of spectators, little children coming real close to see what the girls were drawing, yet the two just continued to sketch without being distracted - I was very impressed.
The alligator didn't move but the foreshortening perspective and the details of the reptile made it a very hard subject but they seemed to have enjoyed it and successfully captured the shapes/colors too.

 

Lots of other children were inspired by Sophie and Maggie sketching and they asked their parents if they could sketch too - that was great to hear. I also loved this one conversation:

(3yr old girl asking her dad): Can you draw the alligator?

(Dad): Mommy and Daddy aren't good at drawing...

(Girl): But I'm good at drawing!

What kept going through my head was Picasso's famous quote "All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up" - I wish the little girl can keep it up.

Next we walked around and saw 2 bears.
I immediately pulled out my sketchbook to see if the bear was even possible to capture since he just kept on walking around. The girls saw me do this and starting sketching while standing on their own too. I never thought they could sketch while standing so I was impressed. They also jumped right into using the felt tip pens I gave them that day.

We also spread a blanket on the floor to continue sketching the details and to add color. A while ago my wife and I gave them watercolor pencils and a water brush which they have been using really well. The youngest sister Ellie even started drawing with her crayons too!

I drew the 3 girls.
They loved the bear poop which I also added into the sketch :)

What a fun relaxing day!
Hope to do more sketching with them in the future!

'Sketch NOW Think Later' Workshop: Booklet

For the past few months I've been preparing for my workshop 'Sketch NOW Think Later ' taking place in Manchester UK for the Urban sketchers Symposium this summer.

The basis of this workshop actually goes back to about 10 years ago when I started carrying a stack of index cards and a pen (+an emergency pencil) at all times and would jot down anything I found relevant at the moment. This could be anything from what I saw that I wanted to research later, design ideas for work/personal projects and sketching ideas.

This workshop is actually made up of all these notes that was on sketching tools, techniques and mindsets that I find fascinating and important to me as an Urban Sketcher. Those thoughts over the years has not changed very much which turned into the core basis of this workshop: To be able to sketch more, with limited time and just have fun!

If you share this same thought, I hope to see you in this workshop!
The workshop booklet shown is currently being printed and will be distributed to everyone that signs up to my workshop :)

Index cards that I always carry with me

Trying to lay out the cards in logical order (while being disturbed by my 2 cats)

A few note cards in details

Sample thumbnail pages of the booklet

Happy New Year with Osechi!

Our good friend Mai-chan made Osechi - a traditional Japanese new years dish from scratch.A little taste of Japan right here in our home town Boston!

Hope everyone has a great Happy New Year!

Halloween Cat

Quick Halloween night sketch - I just had to get this neighbors house before it's taken down.Loved this inflated moving cat - it was almost as big as the house!


 

Latte Art in action - Boston

Today I went to the fairly newly opened Ogawa Coffee shop in Boston and saw Latte art in action for the very first time.
Haruna, the woman in the sketch is the 2010 world latte Art champion Barista and she made this beautiful work of art in no time. Taste was amazing too.

She mentioned that time is critical in making Latte Art and this felt like it was created in less than a minute. My only gripe is that I wish she could take more time in making the drink so I could get a more detailed sketch...  
I at least got to capture the making process so that was fun.

If you're ever in Boston, drop on by for a tasty and beautiful Latte!
 

The Butcher Shop @ South Boston

By Mike Daikubara in South Boston

Back in January, I had the opportunity to visit B&G oysters in Boston to sketch their special dishes each week. This was a great experience since I was able to not only have fun sketching but received great food in exchange for the sketches too!

Anyway, fast forward a few months, I received a call from the restaurants parent company asking me if I was interested in doing more sketches at their other restaurants. ABSOLUTELY!!!

The next restaurant I was invited to was The Butcher Shop.
I've passed by this restaurant numerous times one day wanting to visit so this was a great opportunity.

The restaurants quite small but modern and elegant.
My wife and I got to the restaurant quite early and there were seats available but within an hour the place was fully packed.



As the name suggests, this place had lots of meat.



They even had a fully trained butcher on staff elegantly cutting up the various meats.
Here he's slowly cutting up the duck so I can capture a sketch of him in action.



For dinner, we received 3 nice dishes and an impressive Charcuterie board.
It even came with wine pairing too!
I'm Jumping right into sketching so I could get right to eating!
 

 
Here's the finished sketch. They wanted to print it into a postcard so I rearranged the sketches to fit into the postcard proportion.

I once again had a whole lot of fun!

People sketching at Clover Food Lab - Harvard Square

It's almost April yet it was still snowing today in Boston...
Really can't wait until spring is here.

Anyway, I was at least able to get one fun sketch in this lousy weather today at a nice restaurant called Clover Food Lab in Harvard Square. My wife and I sat at the second floor and I had a fun few moments capturing the scenes happening on the 1st floor.

If you're ever in the area, have a visit. They have really good veggie food and the coffee is individually dripped per order making it really good too.

 

Eating and Sketching: When 2 passions come together!

By Mike Daikubara in Boston, USA

I love food.
As with many Urban sketchers I love to get a quick capture of the food before going into experiencing the taste. This allows me to enjoy the food visually then go into enjoying the food through the other senses.
In January I went to one of my favorite seafood restaurants in Boston called B&G Oysters and as usual made a quick sketch of our food. One of the waiters saw my sketch, said he really liked it and asked if I could send them the sketch. I sent them this sketch.



A few days later I was contacted by the Chef from the restaurant mentioning that he really loved my sketch and had a crazy idea. He told me they were starting an even called 'Shellabration" where each week for 7 weeks they were going to introduce a different pre-fixed meal and asked me if I could come sketch it. In return he offered my wife and I a free meal for each visit. I was really excited since this was one of my favorite restaurants to begin with and gave me an opportunity to sketch a different meal each week.

Here's the capture of the weeks I was able to visit:


Week 2: Paella Valenciana w/Pulpo a la Gallega and Bravas



Week 3: Fritto Misto w/Fennel and Pork Lasagna and Warm Squash Salad



Week 4: Puerto Rican Chillo Frito w/Lechon Rice and Beans and Papaya Mofongo




Week 6: Maryland Crab Bash w/Smoked Oyster Hushpuppies and  Hominy Chowder

I seem to be able to focus real hard when I'm hungry since the faster I could sketch, the faster I can eat!

Final Week: New England Clambake w/Rhode Island Clam Cakes & Grilled Pork Sausage

They used these sketches each week in their social media pages and seems like it was getting quite a number of visitors.

This was a great experience fulfilling both my eating and sketching passion!