Roots II and sticky fingers...
So, back to my roots and my Japanese-inspired and influenced activities over the past while. On Monday, December 3, the worst storm we've had for awhile hit the city, with so much snow, blowing winds, and havoc in the city. That was the same day as my Asian Tapas course at the Urban Element and we discussed in the morning whether we should postpone it until the next year. I heard the weather reports that the storm was supposed to start calming down in the afternoon, I knew that some participants lived fairly close by to the Urban Element, and all the supplies had been bought and prepped. We decided to call all participants to let them know we would be running the course and to let us know if they had concerns. So, in total we had 9 people come out of the 14 scheduled, which was actually a great number to work with as it was a close intimate group in the kitchen for both the students and myself. It was a wonderful class and great to have such a positive group for the last class of the year.
I won't be teaching as much next semester as I have some big commitments in January-February, and will probably be travelling to San Francisco or Japan in the spring to do some more interning or staging at restaurants. I decided I could squeeze in one course in March (March 12) on New Vegetarian Cuisine, with a vegan, whole foods approach to the course. I'm also doing a Japanese Vegetarian cooking class at the Ottawa Japanese Community Centre at the end of March (March 30). This will be a much different approach and setting than the Urban Element, but very nice as well. I'm looking forward to both of them. I'm also thinking of starting up some other cooking classes but I just need to find the time, location and approach for this. I know my classes have been very popular and I want to find a way to accommodate the people that are truly interested and excited about my approach to cooking and food and health.
Here's the menu from the Asian Tapas course, including a pomegranate-ginger saketini as one of the tapas. Everyone did a great job, the tapas turned out really well and it was nice to have the tapas and drinks after a job well done at the end.
Asian Tapas - Zen Raw Wraps; Tonkatsu Glazed Tofu and Vegetable Skewars; Wholewheat Phyllo Bundles with Carrot-Burdock-Arame Kimpira; Green String Beans dipped in a Miso-Sesame Sauce; Lychee Fruit stuffed with Lemon Ricotta, and Pomegranate-Ginger Saketini.
The kimpira dish was so tasty and people seemed to love it, so I decided to demo it for my Caroline No Kitchen segment on Contact Japan on Rogers TV. I went into the studio on Wednesday night and it aired Saturday morning at 9 am and airs again on December 15 at 9 am. I don't get the station as we have satellite TV but I have a friend to tape it so I can watch it and see how I'm doing. The regular host for this show was away so I worked with the Japanese host in the kitchen. I think the kimpira turned out quite well, which I served on top of Japanese rice. Well, I guess the best indicator was that all the camera people ran over to the dish and the frying pan with the kimpira and asked to try it right away. They loved it and wanted to know more about ZenKitchen. Now, they didn't do that with the stinky Japanese pickle episode and probably actually ran the other way. The thing with the kimpira that I love is that it's easy to make, it tastes great, and it's so good for you, with burdock (called gobo in Japanese) very good for the blood system, the arame sea vegetables full of calcium and minerals (do you know that one 1/2 cup of sea vegetables like arame is equal to 1/2 cup of calcium?), and the kimpira dish is supposed to be good for the intestines. So, good for all, but in particular for those that are ill or don't want to be ill. It's a traditional recipe that goes back thousands of years and I hear that they even used to eat it before battles to make the warriors strong. I adapt the recipe a bit with natural products and try to make the techniques as easy as possible so you're not standing there cutting small matchstick pieces of carrot and burdock forever. I'll have to see if the episode is popular.
I also have been doing some private dinners, including an interactive cooking component, which have been exciting, and I will continue that in the new year. Interesting, there were a lot of people who wanted to give this as a gift certificate for their friends and family.... a personal chef cooking an interesting and delicious meal for 2 to 4 in a home. Who wouldn't love that? I would. So, I continue to be surprised by the requests, questions and comments I receive on a daily basis, and will really give some thought in the new year to the focus I'd like to take besides the monthly gourmet dinners, which are definitely part of the equation because I love them and people love them. Well, the money factor comes in there as well, and I'll have to figure that out so that I can sustain myself and my business, and feed my clients, for a long time.
The finale of my Roots saga was the Mochitsuki Festival today from the Ottawa Japanese Community. It was at the St. Anthony's Soccer Club in Little Italy, that is until the Ottawa Japanese Community can have their own location downtown. I'm on the committee that is looking at the creation of a Japanese cultural and arts centre in downtown Ottawa. There is one now but it's out in the east end and difficult to get to, quite small, and there are so many groups that desperately need a larger more central centre, from the Japanese Language School, to the taiko classes, to martial arts, etc. etc.
Ok, back to mochi. My newsletter describes the significance of the mochi festival and why it's so much fun and interesting for all ages. I was at the rolling table, taking the very hot... so hot that it burns your hands and the women kept on yelling out "Hot!" and "Very Hot!" "Too hot!" in Japanese but everyone else probably thought we were saying, "Buy your fresh mochi here" or something like that... and sticky mochi, which comes in big blobs from the rice pounding with big mallets and bowls, or from the mochi machines. You have to quickly break this sticky hot blob apart into workable pieces and then form them into mochi cakes that are rounded, smooth and put on to plates. It's quite the labour intensive operation, and people seemed fine standing in a long line-up to get some of these freshly made mochi cakes, which are impossible to get in town except at this festival. And, it's important to have the mochi cakes as you are supposed to eat them on New Year's Day in a special soup to give you good luck in the new year. I love that special soup and mochi and miss it. It's the first thing you are supposed to eat in the morning, and then you have this wonderful Japanese food with all different dishes that are intended to bring good luck and fortune to the eater in the new year. My mom used to spend the whole week preparing for this feast on New Year's Day, which was absolutely wonderful and I still crave to this day. I have made a similar, less elaborate feasts in years gone by or participated in ones at my sister's place and other places, but usually if I'm home, it might be just mochi cakes in simple broth if I'm lucky. So, if you know someone still making this feast and you can join in, you are one lucky person. Actually, I had this traditional meal on New Year's Day in NYC last year at a Japanese hotel and it was lovely but very expensive, and just not the same.
So, mochi cakes are served in a number of ways and I thought that I should set up a Mochi 101 booth at the next Mochitsuki so I can discuss with people what to do with these rice cakes. Well, hot or warm, or just fresh, they can be eaten with red bean paste, called anko, with some soybean flour dusted on top or eaten with it. Delicious! However, this can only be done when the mochi is fresh and you can make "manju" type cakes that are often eaten with Japanese tea. You can also put them on the stove or microwave or oven to heat them up and make them puff up, and then eat them with a soy sauce-sugar combination. Yummy! I used to love this as a kid and it was hard to stop eating them as they are so good. Also, you can put these puffed up cakes into soups or stews like dumplings or in a sweet adzuki bean soup but you have to eat them quickly as they start to melt and become very gooey. Mochi cakes freeze well so you can put them on a cookie sheet and when frozen, put them into bags for use. Lots of options. There you go.
It was a nice way to spend the afternoon with the Japanese women rolling mochi. It reminded me of rolling mochi when I was a young kid with my mother and sister and helping out at Japanese community events in Toronto. There is such a small Japanese community in Ottawa that I rarely see any other Japanese people, however there is a much wider community in Ottawa-Gatineau that loves Japanese culture, art, food, etc. and loves these types of events as well and helps keep them alive.
Never a dull moment with ZenKitchen and even the sticky situations are fun...
I won't be teaching as much next semester as I have some big commitments in January-February, and will probably be travelling to San Francisco or Japan in the spring to do some more interning or staging at restaurants. I decided I could squeeze in one course in March (March 12) on New Vegetarian Cuisine, with a vegan, whole foods approach to the course. I'm also doing a Japanese Vegetarian cooking class at the Ottawa Japanese Community Centre at the end of March (March 30). This will be a much different approach and setting than the Urban Element, but very nice as well. I'm looking forward to both of them. I'm also thinking of starting up some other cooking classes but I just need to find the time, location and approach for this. I know my classes have been very popular and I want to find a way to accommodate the people that are truly interested and excited about my approach to cooking and food and health.
Here's the menu from the Asian Tapas course, including a pomegranate-ginger saketini as one of the tapas. Everyone did a great job, the tapas turned out really well and it was nice to have the tapas and drinks after a job well done at the end.
Asian Tapas - Zen Raw Wraps; Tonkatsu Glazed Tofu and Vegetable Skewars; Wholewheat Phyllo Bundles with Carrot-Burdock-Arame Kimpira; Green String Beans dipped in a Miso-Sesame Sauce; Lychee Fruit stuffed with Lemon Ricotta, and Pomegranate-Ginger Saketini.
The kimpira dish was so tasty and people seemed to love it, so I decided to demo it for my Caroline No Kitchen segment on Contact Japan on Rogers TV. I went into the studio on Wednesday night and it aired Saturday morning at 9 am and airs again on December 15 at 9 am. I don't get the station as we have satellite TV but I have a friend to tape it so I can watch it and see how I'm doing. The regular host for this show was away so I worked with the Japanese host in the kitchen. I think the kimpira turned out quite well, which I served on top of Japanese rice. Well, I guess the best indicator was that all the camera people ran over to the dish and the frying pan with the kimpira and asked to try it right away. They loved it and wanted to know more about ZenKitchen. Now, they didn't do that with the stinky Japanese pickle episode and probably actually ran the other way. The thing with the kimpira that I love is that it's easy to make, it tastes great, and it's so good for you, with burdock (called gobo in Japanese) very good for the blood system, the arame sea vegetables full of calcium and minerals (do you know that one 1/2 cup of sea vegetables like arame is equal to 1/2 cup of calcium?), and the kimpira dish is supposed to be good for the intestines. So, good for all, but in particular for those that are ill or don't want to be ill. It's a traditional recipe that goes back thousands of years and I hear that they even used to eat it before battles to make the warriors strong. I adapt the recipe a bit with natural products and try to make the techniques as easy as possible so you're not standing there cutting small matchstick pieces of carrot and burdock forever. I'll have to see if the episode is popular.
I also have been doing some private dinners, including an interactive cooking component, which have been exciting, and I will continue that in the new year. Interesting, there were a lot of people who wanted to give this as a gift certificate for their friends and family.... a personal chef cooking an interesting and delicious meal for 2 to 4 in a home. Who wouldn't love that? I would. So, I continue to be surprised by the requests, questions and comments I receive on a daily basis, and will really give some thought in the new year to the focus I'd like to take besides the monthly gourmet dinners, which are definitely part of the equation because I love them and people love them. Well, the money factor comes in there as well, and I'll have to figure that out so that I can sustain myself and my business, and feed my clients, for a long time.
The finale of my Roots saga was the Mochitsuki Festival today from the Ottawa Japanese Community. It was at the St. Anthony's Soccer Club in Little Italy, that is until the Ottawa Japanese Community can have their own location downtown. I'm on the committee that is looking at the creation of a Japanese cultural and arts centre in downtown Ottawa. There is one now but it's out in the east end and difficult to get to, quite small, and there are so many groups that desperately need a larger more central centre, from the Japanese Language School, to the taiko classes, to martial arts, etc. etc.
Ok, back to mochi. My newsletter describes the significance of the mochi festival and why it's so much fun and interesting for all ages. I was at the rolling table, taking the very hot... so hot that it burns your hands and the women kept on yelling out "Hot!" and "Very Hot!" "Too hot!" in Japanese but everyone else probably thought we were saying, "Buy your fresh mochi here" or something like that... and sticky mochi, which comes in big blobs from the rice pounding with big mallets and bowls, or from the mochi machines. You have to quickly break this sticky hot blob apart into workable pieces and then form them into mochi cakes that are rounded, smooth and put on to plates. It's quite the labour intensive operation, and people seemed fine standing in a long line-up to get some of these freshly made mochi cakes, which are impossible to get in town except at this festival. And, it's important to have the mochi cakes as you are supposed to eat them on New Year's Day in a special soup to give you good luck in the new year. I love that special soup and mochi and miss it. It's the first thing you are supposed to eat in the morning, and then you have this wonderful Japanese food with all different dishes that are intended to bring good luck and fortune to the eater in the new year. My mom used to spend the whole week preparing for this feast on New Year's Day, which was absolutely wonderful and I still crave to this day. I have made a similar, less elaborate feasts in years gone by or participated in ones at my sister's place and other places, but usually if I'm home, it might be just mochi cakes in simple broth if I'm lucky. So, if you know someone still making this feast and you can join in, you are one lucky person. Actually, I had this traditional meal on New Year's Day in NYC last year at a Japanese hotel and it was lovely but very expensive, and just not the same.
So, mochi cakes are served in a number of ways and I thought that I should set up a Mochi 101 booth at the next Mochitsuki so I can discuss with people what to do with these rice cakes. Well, hot or warm, or just fresh, they can be eaten with red bean paste, called anko, with some soybean flour dusted on top or eaten with it. Delicious! However, this can only be done when the mochi is fresh and you can make "manju" type cakes that are often eaten with Japanese tea. You can also put them on the stove or microwave or oven to heat them up and make them puff up, and then eat them with a soy sauce-sugar combination. Yummy! I used to love this as a kid and it was hard to stop eating them as they are so good. Also, you can put these puffed up cakes into soups or stews like dumplings or in a sweet adzuki bean soup but you have to eat them quickly as they start to melt and become very gooey. Mochi cakes freeze well so you can put them on a cookie sheet and when frozen, put them into bags for use. Lots of options. There you go.
It was a nice way to spend the afternoon with the Japanese women rolling mochi. It reminded me of rolling mochi when I was a young kid with my mother and sister and helping out at Japanese community events in Toronto. There is such a small Japanese community in Ottawa that I rarely see any other Japanese people, however there is a much wider community in Ottawa-Gatineau that loves Japanese culture, art, food, etc. and loves these types of events as well and helps keep them alive.
Never a dull moment with ZenKitchen and even the sticky situations are fun...
posted by Caroline at 8:52 PM
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