Too much kokoro?
June 5, 2008
Well, another ZenKitchen monthly gourmet vegan dinner on May 31 went into the history books. This was a meal inspired by my culinary journey to Tokyo and there was so much that I wanted to do with the dinner, so many things I wanted to create and have people try, and as always, the clock ticks faster and quicker than you can implement all the things you want to.
The challenge with Japanese cuisine is that there are no large plates with one or two items like in standard French or North American cuisine but a series of small plates or tastings of items that can be quite simple or complex. So, I had all these creations and tastings but putting it all together and in the order that I wanted, and serving it to about 60 people quickly and effectively, with limited smaller type plates and plates in general, was quite the feat.
Thus, it ended up to be 7 different courses, some small, some larger, but each requiring separate plating and service to bring the dish to the guest and take it out after done, and this took some time. By the time we reached the main dinner plate... we already had the raw wrap, the clear broth, the hot age dashi tofu, and salad plate with three different kinds of salads... and then this main plate required all the individual components coming together (pickles (3 kinds), adzuki rice, kura age, age tofu in orange-teriyaki sauce, burdock and carrot kimpira, eggplant dengaku, fiddlehead and wild garlic in dark miso dressing) at the same time so we could plate it and then repeat this plating quickly. The repetition of the plates was quite the mind game after working from early that morning, and all the day the day before, and trying to get all the components out and in the same place and quickly.
After a big relief when that went out, we were exhausted as we moved on to the matcha zaru soba (cold) with dipping sauce and then the grand finale - the strawberry rhubarb soup with jewelled fruit kanten and dorayaki (pancakes with red bean an inside). The dessert turned out so lovely that we were happy and energized by it, or at least I was. It's one thing to work hard, but when it turns out, then it's especially rewarding and uplifting. As one guest said, the meal started with omph and fanfare and ended with fanfare.
Madness? Yes. Craziness? Yes. Over the top, way over the top? Yes. Trying too hard and accomplish too much? Yes, yes. But at the same time, there was this incredible peacefulness and calm as the entire kitchen and service team worked through the menu and the dishes one by one and helped out each other. And, while I felt guilty that people had to go through seven courses that lasted about three hours. We will warn them next time if this is the case, and will keep to the standard four courses for future dinners. On the other hand, I can certainly say that people got their money's worth, it was unique Japanese fare with my own spin that is not being served in Ottawa, and if my biggest fault was that I was too passionate about what I was doing and wanted to do too much for dinner guests, then I guess I can live with that, learn from it, and move on.
They say that the Japanese chef puts his or her heart or kokoro in each dish that they present to the guest and that's exactly how I felt. That I put my heart and soul into everything I was doing and was completely drained physically by the end, but totally charged emotionally at the same time. I know it sounds weird, but it's that feeling when you work so hard and so long to create something and you feel so satisfied and emotionally charged that it's done and has been presented.
And, I guess like all creations, you always feel that there was something you could have done better, something you would have changed. The only difference with food is that it's an art form that doesn't last and disappears so quickly. And, despite what I read recently in the newspaper about a restaurant critic saying that cooking is just a craft. I beg to differ. I would say that you can say craft for just about any creative endeavour, but where does the "art" part come in and I would say that it 's based on the creator, the artist behind the creation and not so much the resulting object. Almost anyone can paint, sing, write, but what makes it into the art form? Is it the passion, the working from the heart, the struggle to take those ideas and concepts from your head and transform into your medium - whether paper, canvas or plate - and the reaction and interaction with the person receiving this "gift"? I don't have any easy answers, but I do know for me that it's certainly an art form and not just a craft, and through my food I hope to transmit nourishment and positive energy and memories to my guests.
Anyway, Japanese cuisine for 60 on May 31, with so many inspirations and ideas from the past and my recent travels to Tokyo, all combined with what I have learned and am learning day by day. My head was almost ready to explode before I actually started creating things for the dinner and hoping that the guests would enjoy it.
So, without further delay, here is the menu with my words of welcome and I will get back to recovering from that dinner as I plan for the next dinner. That's the craziness of it all. Once I finish a dinner, the next morning, Dave and I start tossing around ideas for the next dinner even though we are exhausted and are still putting away the dishes from the evening before, and so the story goes.
As always, we try to put up photos from the dinners and special events on our ZenKitchen photo gallery on flickr.com, which can be accessed from the links on the blog and the ZenKitchen web site. And, my photos from Tokyo are on the blog links as well. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, Caroline
----------------------------------------------
Irashimasen! Welcome!
I have just returned from a culinary journey to Tokyo, where I met with a number of leading vegetarian chefs and had an opportunity to work at Veggie Paradise, my friend and colleague Yuki Itoh’s raw vegetarian café.
Of course, I also delighted in many unique and fantastic dining experiences, from an all-tofu restaurant to sharing ramen with salarymen to an extraordinary feast of temple vegetarian cuisine, exquisite in every way.
While in Japan, I visited many of the shops in the culinary district where I bought some specialized tools. I also went to the famous Tsujiki Market, an incredible location to buy top quality sea vegetables and other products that are hard to find in Canada.
All of this leads to tonight’s meal. I’ve drawn inspiration from many of my experiences, combining authentic Japanese cuisine with our local and seasonal ingredients, and adding in my own culinary twists. The foundation for this was created long ago with early teachings on Japanese cuisine and culture from my mother.
Too often, when we think of Japanese food we think only of food such as sushi. But Japan had more than 1,000 years as a strictly vegetarian nation, part of its Zen Buddhist tradition, using natural ingredients and following and celebrating the harvest of the seasons.
Also part of the Zen Buddhist tradition and Japanese cooking is putting one’s whole heart or “kokoro” into every dish, and this resonates deeply with what I have been trying to do with ZenKitchen and my food.
So, here it is: my trip on a plate made with kokoren and my gift to you that I hope will nourish your heart and body.
Caroline
May 31, 2008
Raw wrap
Suimono consomme
Silken tofu with fresh wasabi
Salad Plate
Sunomono (marinated cucumber); grilled asparagus;
Land and Sea vegetable salad
Tasting plate
Kura-age (wheat gluten); adzuki rice; assorted homestyle pickles; eggplant dengaku; burdock and carrot kimpira; age tofu; fiddleheads with wild garlic
Matcha zaru-soba (cold green tea soba) with dipping sauce
Strawberry-rhubarb soup with jeweled fruit kanten and
Dorayaki red bean pastries
Japanese tea
Well, another ZenKitchen monthly gourmet vegan dinner on May 31 went into the history books. This was a meal inspired by my culinary journey to Tokyo and there was so much that I wanted to do with the dinner, so many things I wanted to create and have people try, and as always, the clock ticks faster and quicker than you can implement all the things you want to.
The challenge with Japanese cuisine is that there are no large plates with one or two items like in standard French or North American cuisine but a series of small plates or tastings of items that can be quite simple or complex. So, I had all these creations and tastings but putting it all together and in the order that I wanted, and serving it to about 60 people quickly and effectively, with limited smaller type plates and plates in general, was quite the feat.
Thus, it ended up to be 7 different courses, some small, some larger, but each requiring separate plating and service to bring the dish to the guest and take it out after done, and this took some time. By the time we reached the main dinner plate... we already had the raw wrap, the clear broth, the hot age dashi tofu, and salad plate with three different kinds of salads... and then this main plate required all the individual components coming together (pickles (3 kinds), adzuki rice, kura age, age tofu in orange-teriyaki sauce, burdock and carrot kimpira, eggplant dengaku, fiddlehead and wild garlic in dark miso dressing) at the same time so we could plate it and then repeat this plating quickly. The repetition of the plates was quite the mind game after working from early that morning, and all the day the day before, and trying to get all the components out and in the same place and quickly.
After a big relief when that went out, we were exhausted as we moved on to the matcha zaru soba (cold) with dipping sauce and then the grand finale - the strawberry rhubarb soup with jewelled fruit kanten and dorayaki (pancakes with red bean an inside). The dessert turned out so lovely that we were happy and energized by it, or at least I was. It's one thing to work hard, but when it turns out, then it's especially rewarding and uplifting. As one guest said, the meal started with omph and fanfare and ended with fanfare.
Madness? Yes. Craziness? Yes. Over the top, way over the top? Yes. Trying too hard and accomplish too much? Yes, yes. But at the same time, there was this incredible peacefulness and calm as the entire kitchen and service team worked through the menu and the dishes one by one and helped out each other. And, while I felt guilty that people had to go through seven courses that lasted about three hours. We will warn them next time if this is the case, and will keep to the standard four courses for future dinners. On the other hand, I can certainly say that people got their money's worth, it was unique Japanese fare with my own spin that is not being served in Ottawa, and if my biggest fault was that I was too passionate about what I was doing and wanted to do too much for dinner guests, then I guess I can live with that, learn from it, and move on.
They say that the Japanese chef puts his or her heart or kokoro in each dish that they present to the guest and that's exactly how I felt. That I put my heart and soul into everything I was doing and was completely drained physically by the end, but totally charged emotionally at the same time. I know it sounds weird, but it's that feeling when you work so hard and so long to create something and you feel so satisfied and emotionally charged that it's done and has been presented.
And, I guess like all creations, you always feel that there was something you could have done better, something you would have changed. The only difference with food is that it's an art form that doesn't last and disappears so quickly. And, despite what I read recently in the newspaper about a restaurant critic saying that cooking is just a craft. I beg to differ. I would say that you can say craft for just about any creative endeavour, but where does the "art" part come in and I would say that it 's based on the creator, the artist behind the creation and not so much the resulting object. Almost anyone can paint, sing, write, but what makes it into the art form? Is it the passion, the working from the heart, the struggle to take those ideas and concepts from your head and transform into your medium - whether paper, canvas or plate - and the reaction and interaction with the person receiving this "gift"? I don't have any easy answers, but I do know for me that it's certainly an art form and not just a craft, and through my food I hope to transmit nourishment and positive energy and memories to my guests.
Anyway, Japanese cuisine for 60 on May 31, with so many inspirations and ideas from the past and my recent travels to Tokyo, all combined with what I have learned and am learning day by day. My head was almost ready to explode before I actually started creating things for the dinner and hoping that the guests would enjoy it.
So, without further delay, here is the menu with my words of welcome and I will get back to recovering from that dinner as I plan for the next dinner. That's the craziness of it all. Once I finish a dinner, the next morning, Dave and I start tossing around ideas for the next dinner even though we are exhausted and are still putting away the dishes from the evening before, and so the story goes.
As always, we try to put up photos from the dinners and special events on our ZenKitchen photo gallery on flickr.com, which can be accessed from the links on the blog and the ZenKitchen web site. And, my photos from Tokyo are on the blog links as well. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, Caroline
----------------------------------------------
Irashimasen! Welcome!
I have just returned from a culinary journey to Tokyo, where I met with a number of leading vegetarian chefs and had an opportunity to work at Veggie Paradise, my friend and colleague Yuki Itoh’s raw vegetarian café.
Of course, I also delighted in many unique and fantastic dining experiences, from an all-tofu restaurant to sharing ramen with salarymen to an extraordinary feast of temple vegetarian cuisine, exquisite in every way.
While in Japan, I visited many of the shops in the culinary district where I bought some specialized tools. I also went to the famous Tsujiki Market, an incredible location to buy top quality sea vegetables and other products that are hard to find in Canada.
All of this leads to tonight’s meal. I’ve drawn inspiration from many of my experiences, combining authentic Japanese cuisine with our local and seasonal ingredients, and adding in my own culinary twists. The foundation for this was created long ago with early teachings on Japanese cuisine and culture from my mother.
Too often, when we think of Japanese food we think only of food such as sushi. But Japan had more than 1,000 years as a strictly vegetarian nation, part of its Zen Buddhist tradition, using natural ingredients and following and celebrating the harvest of the seasons.
Also part of the Zen Buddhist tradition and Japanese cooking is putting one’s whole heart or “kokoro” into every dish, and this resonates deeply with what I have been trying to do with ZenKitchen and my food.
So, here it is: my trip on a plate made with kokoren and my gift to you that I hope will nourish your heart and body.
Caroline
Menu
May 31, 2008
Raw wrap
Suimono consomme
Silken tofu with fresh wasabi
Salad Plate
Sunomono (marinated cucumber); grilled asparagus;
Land and Sea vegetable salad
Tasting plate
Kura-age (wheat gluten); adzuki rice; assorted homestyle pickles; eggplant dengaku; burdock and carrot kimpira; age tofu; fiddleheads with wild garlic
Matcha zaru-soba (cold green tea soba) with dipping sauce
Strawberry-rhubarb soup with jeweled fruit kanten and
Dorayaki red bean pastries
Japanese tea
posted by Caroline at 7:59 AM
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