ZenKitchen rocks!
April 27....
Wow, what a week! A Whole Foods Vegetarian/Vegan Cooking Class at the Urban Element cooking studio on Wednesday. The class went well and it's interesting to see the kind of people that are coming to my classes. Some vegetarian, some with a partner who is a vegetarian and they want to learn how to cook for him/her, people who want more plant-based foods in their diet, and those interested in the philosophy of ZenKitchen and already support buying local and being more mindful in their lives or desire it. It's both rewarding and interesting for me to meet these people. I even met a women that said she wanted to volunteer with me, and I liked her spirit and energy, and invited her to join our kitchen crew on Saturday for the monthly gourmet dinner. She was thrilled and I had another resource for the day. It's interesting the kind of people that walk into my life or that people connect me to since I've started ZenKitchen.
As many people tell me in emails and conversations... ZenKitchen rocks! ZenKitchen rules! Well, we did rock and rule on Saturday, April 26 when we served 70 people at the monthly gourmet vegan dinner at the Chelsea Club, our largest number yet, using 3 dining spaces in the Club. It was a special dinner as April marks the first anniversary of ZenKitchen monthly dinners, starting from a vision and passion for a communal dinner setting with beautiful and delicious gourmet food that is healthy, environmentally conscious and where mindfulness is top of mind in the decisions made of what to make, where to buy from, making the food, assembling the right team to make the food and to work together in the kitchen (a team where there is collaboration, cooperation and peacefulness as much as possible especially during the critical service period which is quite stressful and hectic to say the least), providing the setting for guests to relax, unwind and really enjoy the food that is made for them, course after course, and providing people with good healthy food made with positive energy that can help energize, strengthen, heal. And, so far all of this has happened with the first action to start ZenKitchen and go out on a limb to try out this dinner concept that built on the Friday dinners at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in NYC that I loved so much... a graduating class plans and prepares a full 4 course gourmet meal for 100 people that is graded and people gather at communal tables to enjoy the food and the kitchen classrooms are transformed into dining rooms. It was interesting who ended up coming to my final dinner, which was indicative of my time there... a staffer at a health club I joined in NYC that I from the beginning had a special connection with, friends from Ottawa that happened to be in NYC, friends of those friends who I got to know and became close with when in NYC, etc. etc. Anyway, back to the ZenKitchen dinners.
It's interesting when you start to serve larger numbers and the additional challenges involved, in particular trying to keep the quality, creativity of the menu and the plating of each dish, which makes it beautiful, special and gourmet, while trying to get the plates out as quickly as possible to everyone. It's almost like two opposing forces and sometimes and there is a constant balance that you have to play between one side and another. It's like a seal balancing a ball on its' nose and constantly keeping its eye on the ball and shifting from side to side to ensure the balance is kept. Also, the other challenges of ramping up the quantity of recipes is interesting as it's the general multiplying of most of the ingredients but the seasonings are tricky to get exactly right and I'm often going through all the different dishes and sauces to make sure along the way and just before service that the seasonings and the general properties of each dish are excellent in colour, texture, taste, etc. and I find that I really need to focus on this to ensure I'm not distracted by the million other things and people that are calling out to you in the kitchen. The other challenge is just the capacity of the kitchen to serve that number of people with the size of the vessels for cooking that they have and to ensure the right quantity so you don't go short and you don't have too much that it's taking a lot of space, though I'd rather have more than less in this case as it's often impossible to make more of something just before or during service. Well, much more on the trials and tribulations as I move forward with larger numbers to the dinners, which may well have to be the case with the dinners selling out so quickly these days.
But in the end of the day, I've come to realize that like with most things, the team that you assemble is one of the best assets for the dinner, and I'm not just talking about how many culinary degrees someone has. In particular, Pamela and I work very well together on the tasks at hand and asking each other questions and making suggestions to each other along the way. She also has the same philosophy toward the food, loves what she does and has a positive and peaceful nature that only adds to the collective peacefulness. I am so fortunate to have such great people like Pamela working with me in the kitchen, and of course Louis who has been a steady and peaceful force for awhile.
This dinner was very interesting for me in particular because it brings so many different people together, in particular the age range, from about 15-95. All these people coming for a gourmet vegan menu where they don't have a clue what they will be eating and coming with hope for a good meal and dining experience. That's a lot to entrust in another person. This week, I just thought about how important it is what I'm doing. It's like I'm giving a pill, a good one filled with natural food medicine, that people take... well more on this thought later as I need to prepare for an Inter Pares reception on Monday for 100 and pack for Tokyo, among many other things! And, of course, breathe!!
Wow, what a week! A Whole Foods Vegetarian/Vegan Cooking Class at the Urban Element cooking studio on Wednesday. The class went well and it's interesting to see the kind of people that are coming to my classes. Some vegetarian, some with a partner who is a vegetarian and they want to learn how to cook for him/her, people who want more plant-based foods in their diet, and those interested in the philosophy of ZenKitchen and already support buying local and being more mindful in their lives or desire it. It's both rewarding and interesting for me to meet these people. I even met a women that said she wanted to volunteer with me, and I liked her spirit and energy, and invited her to join our kitchen crew on Saturday for the monthly gourmet dinner. She was thrilled and I had another resource for the day. It's interesting the kind of people that walk into my life or that people connect me to since I've started ZenKitchen.
As many people tell me in emails and conversations... ZenKitchen rocks! ZenKitchen rules! Well, we did rock and rule on Saturday, April 26 when we served 70 people at the monthly gourmet vegan dinner at the Chelsea Club, our largest number yet, using 3 dining spaces in the Club. It was a special dinner as April marks the first anniversary of ZenKitchen monthly dinners, starting from a vision and passion for a communal dinner setting with beautiful and delicious gourmet food that is healthy, environmentally conscious and where mindfulness is top of mind in the decisions made of what to make, where to buy from, making the food, assembling the right team to make the food and to work together in the kitchen (a team where there is collaboration, cooperation and peacefulness as much as possible especially during the critical service period which is quite stressful and hectic to say the least), providing the setting for guests to relax, unwind and really enjoy the food that is made for them, course after course, and providing people with good healthy food made with positive energy that can help energize, strengthen, heal. And, so far all of this has happened with the first action to start ZenKitchen and go out on a limb to try out this dinner concept that built on the Friday dinners at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in NYC that I loved so much... a graduating class plans and prepares a full 4 course gourmet meal for 100 people that is graded and people gather at communal tables to enjoy the food and the kitchen classrooms are transformed into dining rooms. It was interesting who ended up coming to my final dinner, which was indicative of my time there... a staffer at a health club I joined in NYC that I from the beginning had a special connection with, friends from Ottawa that happened to be in NYC, friends of those friends who I got to know and became close with when in NYC, etc. etc. Anyway, back to the ZenKitchen dinners.
It's interesting when you start to serve larger numbers and the additional challenges involved, in particular trying to keep the quality, creativity of the menu and the plating of each dish, which makes it beautiful, special and gourmet, while trying to get the plates out as quickly as possible to everyone. It's almost like two opposing forces and sometimes and there is a constant balance that you have to play between one side and another. It's like a seal balancing a ball on its' nose and constantly keeping its eye on the ball and shifting from side to side to ensure the balance is kept. Also, the other challenges of ramping up the quantity of recipes is interesting as it's the general multiplying of most of the ingredients but the seasonings are tricky to get exactly right and I'm often going through all the different dishes and sauces to make sure along the way and just before service that the seasonings and the general properties of each dish are excellent in colour, texture, taste, etc. and I find that I really need to focus on this to ensure I'm not distracted by the million other things and people that are calling out to you in the kitchen. The other challenge is just the capacity of the kitchen to serve that number of people with the size of the vessels for cooking that they have and to ensure the right quantity so you don't go short and you don't have too much that it's taking a lot of space, though I'd rather have more than less in this case as it's often impossible to make more of something just before or during service. Well, much more on the trials and tribulations as I move forward with larger numbers to the dinners, which may well have to be the case with the dinners selling out so quickly these days.
But in the end of the day, I've come to realize that like with most things, the team that you assemble is one of the best assets for the dinner, and I'm not just talking about how many culinary degrees someone has. In particular, Pamela and I work very well together on the tasks at hand and asking each other questions and making suggestions to each other along the way. She also has the same philosophy toward the food, loves what she does and has a positive and peaceful nature that only adds to the collective peacefulness. I am so fortunate to have such great people like Pamela working with me in the kitchen, and of course Louis who has been a steady and peaceful force for awhile.
This dinner was very interesting for me in particular because it brings so many different people together, in particular the age range, from about 15-95. All these people coming for a gourmet vegan menu where they don't have a clue what they will be eating and coming with hope for a good meal and dining experience. That's a lot to entrust in another person. This week, I just thought about how important it is what I'm doing. It's like I'm giving a pill, a good one filled with natural food medicine, that people take... well more on this thought later as I need to prepare for an Inter Pares reception on Monday for 100 and pack for Tokyo, among many other things! And, of course, breathe!!
posted by Caroline at 10:01 PM
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