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Urban Homestead - Vancouver
| Posted on May 10, 2012 at 12:45 AM |
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Rosa and Mr. Costa preparing the land to plant potatoes.
I was invited to stay at my son's future in-laws home in Vancouver, British Colombia. Laura and Alfred Yeung live in the city, right across from Trout Lake. Vancouver is blessed with many beautiful gardens and parks. During my visit, the Yeungs took me to the maginificent gardens of Van Dusen Botanical Gardens and the Nitobe Japanese Garden of the University of British Colombia. But what also inspired me while staying there was the garden of the Portuguse couple, the Costas, who live just next door to the Yeungs. I was so fascinated, I couldn't keep my eyes off of their garden.
When the Yeungs moved to Trout Lake ten years ago, Rosa, Mr. Costa's wife, hardly spoke any English. But being the friendly person that she is, she introduced herself to Laura. "Hi, I am sexy and my husband is sexy, too," she said. Laura later figured out what Rosa really meant, which was "I am sixty and my husband is sixty two." A bit of interpreting is always needed when they talk to each other but they became good neighbors.
The Costas are diligent urban farmers who lead a subsistent life, growing what they need to live, including vegetables, fruit, grapes to make wine, and they also go crabing and fishing. They go hunting for moose and elk with their grown up children; they cure their own meat. What surprised me was they even make their own Bacalao.
The Yeungs get so many vegetables and fruit from them, they hardly have to go shopping. Laura bakes bread and makes jams from the Costa's apple and fig tree and brings them over to the Costas.
The tilling is all done all by hand. "Look at the color of their soil," a neighbor commented. Laura tried to introduce me to the Costas but Mr. Costa was having lunch when Laura went inside their house to look for them. They never lock their doors. "This is Vancouver," Laura said to me for the reason. Mr. Costa was eating his lunch upstairs. facing the garden and park. Rosa was busy serving him. Noone disturbs Mr. Costa when he is eating so we decided to visit them later.
The Bacalao hanging in the garage.
Mr. Costa's fishing boat and his wine making shed. It looks shabby but it's organized. Laura said, "They waste nothing." Feathers found at the park are tied to the poles to scare the birds. Mr. Costa goes around the park collecting firewood.
The grape vines are just beginning to leaf. Mr. Costa reaches out from the second story to prune the vines. I tasted Mr. Costa's red wine. It was really delicious. Plums, berries, mellow on the tongue.
Homemade wine aging in the oak barrels.
I was hoping to say hello to him on Sunday but the Costas were at church. They get all dressed up and look like different people. Later in the afternoon, I saw Mr. Costa riding his bicycle. I was afraid he might loose his balance but he was actually a good rider.
Copper Beech Tree in South Hampton
| Posted on May 1, 2012 at 10:45 AM |
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The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty. Consider living creatures -
none lives so long as man. The Man fly waits for the evening, the summer
cicada knows neither spring nor autumn. What a wonderfully unhurried feeling
it is to live even a single year in perfect serinity.
- Kenko from Essays in Idleness
Tsu La La - Icycles
| Posted on April 15, 2012 at 11:25 AM |
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Long icycles formed by the doorway of our ranch. I was singing Tsu la la, Tsu la la. It means icycles in Japanese.
Too much excitement going on here with all this snow. But this morning, the Tsu la la was all gone and the sun came out.
Hearty Winter Vegetable Soup
| Posted on April 14, 2012 at 11:25 PM |
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Sakai bought a large Lodge cast iron black pot to put on top of our wood burning stove. The pot added a lot to the ranch ambience. Seasoned a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to use the pot to cook something hearty - like a stew or soup. Such moment arrived.
Yesterday, we've had more than ten inches of snow in Tehachapi. My neighbor, Deborah, down the road said Tehachapi hasn't had snow like this in two years. We ventured out into the snow and had ribs at Red House BBQ for lunch. A lot of people had the same idea. The restaurant was more crowded than we expected.
Today, it snowed even more. All I did today was idly watch the snow fall. I took a walk down Old Country Road and made a snow man. It was my first snowman in years.
After all the outdoor adventures, feeling almost like a kid again, I suddenly felt really cold, and I wanted to eat something warm. So came Soup time! I gathered up the vegetables in the fridge and basket and began chopping them up to make a vegetable soup. I was in pretty good shape to make a hearty soup because I had made the chicken broth in advance. (It's a good thing to keep around in the freezer for these moments.)
The soup consisted of kale, carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, zuchinni, spring onions, spanish onion, parsely and garlic. I let the vegetables simmer for a couple of hours in the rich broth. I made enough soup to last three days. I also fixed a quick carrot and daikon radish salad with some cilantro, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I grilled the remaining half of the salmon I had in the fridge and served brown rice onigiri. It was a warming supper, which is exactly what Sakai needed, after spending most of the day working outside in the snow.
WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP
Serves 6
8-10 cups Chicken Broth (preferrably homemade) Use the chicken broth from the
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick, crosswise
2 zuchinnis, sliced 1/4 inch thick, crosswise
3 kale leaves, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2 inch
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced 1/2 inch
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
5 parsley sprigs, chopped for garnish
1/4 cup Olive oil or more, as needed
In a large cast iron pot, use about 1/4 cup of olive oil to saute the vegetables. Start with the onions. When they soften, add the potatoes, carrots, zuchinnis, kale and garlic and saute over medium heat for about
5 minutes. Add the broth and bring to aboil. Lower heat and simmer for 2 hours. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve the soup in bowls and garnish with chopped parsley.
A Deer Moment - Tehachapi
| Posted on April 13, 2012 at 1:45 PM |
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Our two feral cats, Chibi and Kurokin, were neutered at the Tehachapi Veterinarian Hospital this month. Chibi's left ear has been clipped for identification purposes. Kurokin, Chibi's mother, didn't get her ear clipped due to an oversight by the vet's office but her surgery was a little more complicated than Chibi's because she had a hysterectomy. Despite their respective surgeries, the two cats are pretty much back to their old selves. They are back to catching gofers and mice, which is what we want them to be doing. I don't like it when the cats bring their catch into the studio, but I like seeing them playing out in the fields.
This afternoon, we had five deer visit the ranch. It was the first visit of 2012. It almost felt like alien landing. We all came out to greet the deer, including the cats. I have never seen so many deer on our ranch. The deer were as curious as we were but maintained a safe distance. They were nibbling on grass and looking around to see what's new this season. Soon, it was time for them to move on, and they did.
Happy Easter
| Posted on April 8, 2012 at 9:05 PM |
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Happy Easter! Happy Birthday Buddha. And a Happy Happy Birthday to my 89 year old Father. He is checking into the hopsital tomorrow to put a pace maker in his heart. I hope the surgery goes well.
These eggs are so colorful. Too bright for my taste. I have not dyed eggs in so long - not since my son was little. Next year, I will try natural dyes....!
We had roasted rack of lamb, brocollini with onions, garlic and red pepper, yellow beets chutney, green salad with tarragon, and buttermilk biscuits with straberries and cream. Delicious lunch. Sorry no pictures. I was too busy cooking and entertaining.
Songs of Spring - Tehachapi
| Posted on April 7, 2012 at 3:15 AM |
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There were a few days in March that Tehachapi suddenly warmed up and felt like ealry summer. But then winter came back and temperatures went down to a record 28F. The ranch was covered in snow. The fruit trees were confused as I was about how to deal with this climate change. Some lost their blooms from the sudden drop of temperatures. Others perservered. When the warmth returned, a number of fruit trees turned out to have some spring left in them. They began blooming again.
Buds of cherries and of a tree I don't know.
The young leaves of peonies.
The yellow of daffodails
The cedar trees waiting to be planted.
The crow in the sky.
Ana at the ranch.
Bareroot blueberries.
The peach trees in full bloom.
Assures me that spring is here, at last.
Boy cat looks after Mother cat - Tehachapi
| Posted on March 25, 2012 at 4:25 AM |
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Chibi is one of two feral cats that was living with underneath our ranch house in Tehachapi when we bought the property. Chibi, means little in Japan but he has outgrown his name and his mother, Kurokin.The black cat curled up next to Chibi is Kurokin. Normally, Kurokin will not let Chibi near her but she is recovering from surgey and feeling either too weak to shoo Chibi away or in need of tender, loving care. After a whole year of trying to catch these feral cats, I finally trapped Kurokin yesterday, and took her to the vet to get her spayed. She appeared pregnant and sure enough, she was. I am sorry about the abortion but we had to do it.
Chibi and Kurokin last spring. They were living underneath the
ranch house. Chibi didn't not make an appearance until
a few months after we bought the ranch. Kurokin was
keeping her in hiding. Chibi was a complete surprise.
Chibi missed his mother a lot while she was away. I could hear the sadness in his meow. Now that they are back together, they are inseparable. Kurokin is doing everything a cat can do to comfort his mother. He licks her shaved tummy and holds her lovingly. In just a a couple days, Chibi appears to have matured and learned to show compassion. In fact, he acts like the mother cat. We had to leave them both in Tehachapi like we always do. It's good Kurokin has company. Two is better than one. People and cats, we are all the same.
Kurokin - the feral cat that used to bark at us.
Now she lets us pat her on the back if she feels like it
and follows us around but always keeps a safe distant.
Common Grains - Soba Salad
| Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:55 PM |
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I don't know who invented the soba salad but it's not the Japanese. Go to Wholefoods, Tavern, Real Food Daily, M Cafe in LA - Soba salad is on their regular menu. I can't get used to the idea of pre-seasoned soba noodles though.The Japanees tradition is to eat fresh soba plain and quickly with a dipping sauce before they go limp or eat soba in a hot soup. The first time someone served me a soba salad, I was horrified. But I have become more open to fusion. If pasta works, why not soba?
During the Common Grains event, we decided to put soba salad on the menu, and people went for it. But we did something slightly different with the dressing to maintain the quality of our fresh, handcut soba.
Fresh hand cut tartary soba noodles.
Flour: Anson Mills Tartary Soba blended with Kitawase Soba
Water ration: 48%
We went light on the salad dressing and used two instead on one dressing. The oil based dressing was used with the leafy vegetables and the oil-less Dowari- sauce for the noodles. This way, you can taste the noodles before they get masked with the salad dressing.
It's simple to make this salad. Pour the Dowari dipping sauce over the cold noodles. In a separate bowl, toss the leafy greans with the oil based dressing, and serve the salad right on top of the noodles. This presentation allows you to taste the texture and flavor of the soba before it gets tosed up with the seasoned leafy greens. I sprinkled some deep fried buckwheat grouts on top on this salad.
Soba salad with leafy greens, avocado, kiwi, red radishes, cilantro
and buckwheat groats.
Here is a simple sesame dressing that I used for the leafy greens.
Creamy sesame dressing for Soba Salad
(Makes 2 cups)
1 cup grape seed oil or canola oil
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup Mori tsuyu dipping sauce or more to taste or use 1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbls sesame oil
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
3-4 Tbls Atari Goma (Japanese sesame paste)
1 tsp grated ginger juice
1Tsp sugar to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Put all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until creamy.
Dowari dressing
simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and
let cool. Keeps in the fridge for a week.
Common Grains - Salmon Onigiri - Sprouted Brown Rice
| Posted on March 16, 2012 at 4:05 PM |
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Besides soba, our other popular seller at the Common Grain pop ups was Onigiri. Among the onigiris we offered, salmon onigiri sold like peanuts. The 40 cup electric rice cooker, nicknamed R2-D2 for its shape and sizer, turned out to be a practical thing to have.
I used to make onigiris with mostly white rice but now I am inclined to make it more often with brown rice ever since I met Monica Spiller of the Whole Grain Connection at one of our events. Monica is working to revive ancient wheat varietals and advocates eating whole grains. I have been reading her book What's with Fiber? which she co-wrote with her late husband Gene Spiller. It's a book about improving your health with a high-fiber, plant-based diet. I am thinking, why mill away the nutrients. Eat food whole, whenever possible.
I highly recommend the book.
Today, I made onigiri with sprouted brown rice, which in Japanese is called Haiga-mai. It is slightly milder in flavor than brown rice and cooks fast like plain white rice. Sprouted brown rice contains high levels of minerals and dietary fiber. It's very easy to cook and digest. I used a donabe rice cooker to cook the rice. One cup of uncooked rice yields three large onigiris.
I use my hands to make Onigiri. You can use onigiri molds but hand molded onigiris taste better.
Here is what you do to make onigiri. While the rice is cooking, I get the seasonings and fillings ready. For the Salmon Onigiri, you will need salt, water, and grilled salmon. You can grill a fillet or two of salmon and flake it into small pieces. You can also use leftover salmon from last night's dinner. Put the salmon in a bowl and set it aside.
Prepare a bowl of salt water to rinse your hands in so the rice doesn't stick while you are molding the onigiris. Also, have some salt for seasoning the rice. Put everything on a tray.
Divide the cooked rice into six mounds and place salmon flakes in the middle. Alternatively, you can mix the salmon flakes into the rice to make salmon rice.
Mold each mound into a triangular shape with your hands. Make sure you wet your hands in the bowl of salt water first. Dab a little salt on your palm and then pick up the mound of rice and make the triangle onigiri. Don't press too hard. The onigiris should be firm but soft in the inside. The salmon rice onigiri is in the center of the picture. The onigiri stuffed with salmon is in the background.
Take a piece of nori seaweed and cut it into wide strips. The width is a matter of preference. I use about 1/3 of the nori seaweed sheet to wrap each onigiri. Onigiri is best eaten fresh. You can also freeze Onigiri and microwave it.
I am not a regular microwaver user but it does magic with cooked rice.
Common Grains - The Disappearing Kabocha
| Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM |
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One of my soba students, Liisa Margosian, came to almost every single Common Grains event. She always saved up her appetite for soba and ordered two or three serving in one sitting. It is a pleasure to watch her eat. Sometimes she brought friends, and a couple times she brought food. Good food. There were the half a dozen fresh eggs from Dr. Stefan Magopian's biodynamic organic farm. The yolks were sunny and full. I almost cried, they were so delicious. Then there was this pumpkin that Liisa grew herself. She showed me pictures of her garden on her I-phone and promised she would give me one. But it took a long time to get the pumpkin because she had to "cure" it for a couple of months. I waited and waited, and finally in February, she brought the pumpkin to me to the event that took place at Atwater. The pumpkin was big and heavy. She apologized for the delay but it was well worth the wait. I took the pumpkin from her and put it away. I was so busy that night. I completely forgot about it.
When that ATX event was over, I realized a few days later that I had left the pumpkin at the Atwater Crossing. My staff was back there to collect our stuff, so I asked them to look for the pumpkin. Luckily, someone had put the pumpkin on the bar counter to be admired. Thank goodness noone thought of eating it.
Yesterday, I got myself in the mood of finally cooking the pumpkin. Kabocha pumpkins can be hard to split and cut, and if you are not careful, you can loose a finger. I gave my pumpkin undivided attention as I sliced and beveled each piece. The meat was orange and firm. It was a jewel of a pumpkin.
I simmered the pumpkin with a little sugar for about 10 minutes, just until I can get a toothpick through the meat.
I turned off the heat and let the pumpkin soak in the syrup overnight. This dish is called Kabocha-no-Amani. Here are various recipes of the Kabocha pumpkin dishes (1), (2) (3), (4), (5) By the way, Kabocha goes very well with soba and compliments nutritiously. Kabocha is loaded with Vitamin A. I tooked the left over Kabocha no Amani to our ranch in Tehachapi. From Malibu - Atwater - Pasadena - Tehachapi - the pumpkin has come along way. And now, it's gone!
KCRW Good Food
| Posted on February 26, 2012 at 7:45 AM |
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Teaching soba at Tortoise, Venice.
I got to go on KCRW Good Food to talk with Evan Kleiman about making soba at home.
It was fun to talk about something I love doing so much with one of my favorite talk show hosts.
It was a good thing for the Common Grains project, particularly soba.
Dashi - The essence of Japan
| Posted on February 10, 2012 at 10:30 AM |
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Jubei Yagi - Proprietor of Yaghi-cho - Katsuobushi shop
The Common Grains project has finally arrived at the final destination - Soba-ya in Torrance. Doing event after event is like running a long distance marathon with pots on my back. I have a dent in hub cap and a scratch on my new Prius, not to mention the car has not been washed in weeks; I got one traffic ticket, and lost my I-phone. Otherwise,we've been sailing smoothly, and the people have responded very well to our soba. This makes me very happy, and there are a few more events before we wrap at the end of the month.
Common Grians is offering its final soba pop up at Soba-ya until Feb 21, featuring handmilled soba. One of the highlights here is the upcoming dashi workshop, probably the first comprehensive dashi workshop to be held in LA, or maybe in the country!
Karebushi (katuobushi) blocks on display at Yagicho
Yagi-cho, a specialty dashi shop's owner, Mamiko Nishiyama, daughter of Chobei Yagi (picture above) will join us from Tokyo to do a Dashi workshop with me. I wrote about Dashi and the shop in the LA Times. I have two big boxes plus what Nishiyama stuffed in her suitcase ful of bonito blocks, bonito flakes, dried sardines, a variety of konbu and wakame seaweed, donko shitake mushrooms, sesame seeds, soybeans. Nishiyama was so thrilled she passed through customs safely. If I had a way, I would have moved their entire store here. I wish Chobei Yagi would join us too but he is holding the fort. It turns out that Nishiyama went to grade school with me. I didn't remember until my sister reintroduced me to her 40 something years later. Mamiko and I hit it off like old girlfriends. What fun.
Here are two pieces of mature Karebushi - katsuobushi blocks. The upper part and lower part of the fish. 4 blocks makes a whole.
Jubei Yagi taps two karebushis together. He can tell by the sound how good the karebushi is.
He takes a sip of freshly brewed dashi. It's delicious.
Mitsuwa Marketplace - Soba Demonstration and Sales
| Posted on January 26, 2012 at 9:30 PM |
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Today, we started Phase 3 of the project at Mitsuwa Marketplace. We are doing soba demonstrations and sales of fresh soba there. An elderly gentleman came to watch us make soba. He wore a Dodgers baseball cap and a clean white shirt. His back was quite bent but he walked without a cane. He watched us making soba, had a tasting of soba, then another, and after that, he wanted to buy the take home soba. But later, he came back to tell me that he didn't know the soba noodles were uncooked! Yes, I explained to him that the noodles needed to be cooked at home. He said he lived alone and didn't think he could cook the noodles by himself. He seemed a little lost because he had already paid for the noodles. I felt bad for him so we made an exception and cooked the noodles for him. He was very happy. It turns out that he is a 105 years old retired math teacher. He is a regular at Mitsuwa. His son (who is in his early 80s) brings him to a bus stop where he picks up the bus that brings him to the market every week. He likes to hang out at the food court.
He watched the soba demonstration with curiousity. He enjoyed talking about his family. His wife passed away a couple of years ago at age 94. He said that his wife getting sick forced him to walk again because he had to go visit her at the hospital. He thanks his "kachan" in heaven everyday for enabling him to walk again. Now he visits her at the cemetary every week. He says walking and appreciating people are the way to longevity. He has 55 grandchildren and some. When the noodles were cooked, I packed it carefully in his back pack. He headed for the exit. I hope to see him again while we are at Mitsuwa.
Soba event at Breadbar Century City
| Posted on January 16, 2012 at 9:30 AM |
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She slurped it all!
One of the main reasons why I got involved in the Common Grains project was to share my love for food and make new friends. The Common Grains soba event at Breadbar is doing just that. Every evening I am meeting new people and they all seem pretty happy with the soba. We have another week to go at Breadbar and then we move to the next event.
Some found out about us on the web.
This couple stopped by for soba on their way to the movies.
It was their first soba experience and love it!
She is eating the grilled onigiri.
Very happy slurpers.
Kanpai with sake!
This baby is getting a headstart with soba
The Bruin slurpers. Anne's part of the Common Grains
creative team.
Karumude and her friend.
Onigiri - JANM onigiri contest
| Posted on January 9, 2012 at 1:00 AM |
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I woke up 430 am this morning to cook 75 lbs of rice for the onigiri contest. We made about 300 onigiri with it. We sold out in 2 hours. 80 people entered the contest. This one was a runner up and not a winner, but I thought it a was fun and original onigiri.
Onigiri Contest - JANM
| Posted on January 7, 2012 at 11:30 PM |
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Tomorrow is the kick off of Common Grains. We will start with the Onigiri Contest.
My son Sakae made these onigiris while I was visiting him in Seattle. Binah, his finace, took these pictures.
Drying the Soba Seeds
| Posted on January 7, 2012 at 9:45 PM |
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50 lbs Kitawase Washington State Buckwheat seeds, washed and sun bathing, to get ready for the Common Grains Debut.
We washed 50 lbs of soba seeds, which will be used for making fresh buckwheat flour. Lili is checking to see if there are any stones or seeds. She said the buckwheat was clean.
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