As I am still sick, this week’s reflection will be quite short. When it comes to food, I have always enjoyed serving others. However, this week with both of us sick and hosting a contagious virus, which attacks the vocal chords, eating or cooking has been the last thing on our mind. What we have most wanted to do is sleep. At the same time, we knew that in order to get healthy we must drink plenty of fluids and eat something, at least some soup, as well as get plenty of rest. Unfortunately, as some of you may understand when you feel sick nothing tastes good. For Zoe, not even her go to foods like potato chips or bagels and cream cheese tasted good. For me, not even my favorite soups tasted good. What I did like about soup was that it was warm and felt good going down my throat.
Read moreThird Agreement Soup
For those who follow the teachings of Toltec Wisdom as presented by Don Miguel Ruiz in The Four Agreements, you know that the third agreement is about not making assumptions and always seeking clarification. Growing up, my parents told me never to assume because when you do you make an ass out of you and me. As much as I know now to assume, so often I do.
My latest assumption had to do with a bowl of soup. Read moreAccessorizing the basic black dress or suit
A while back I talked about a basic vegetable stock and compared it to the basic black dress Tim Gunn said she be in every woman’s wardrobe, well at least for those who wear dresses. My friends have told me that the basic dark pants and jacket is the equivalent for men. This basic black dress, or dark suit, theory applies to food and our spiritual lives as well. Any thing one creates has its basic elements and then it is accessorized. The secret is to identify the essentials, then accessorize it.
So for example, one can take your classic grilled cheese sandwich. This is a dish that just about anyone, who has not grown up vegan, has experienced. With the development of vegan cheese products, even my vegan friends, can now experience grilled cheese. The basic grilled cheese sandwich has three essentials: bread, cheese, butter. Together, they are the basic black dress. At its most basic form, the grilled cheese sandwich is American cheese on white bread. There seem to be two different techniques for the butter. Some melt the butter in the pan and then put the sandwich in the butter to toast the bread; others spread the softened butter evenly on the bread and then put it in a hot pan.
Read moreThe Power of Yes and No
For those who have never had to fight in the battle of the bulge, been addicted to food, used it as a form of medication, or a coping mechanism, this blog may not speak to you, but maybe it will in your own way. I am not certain when I first forgot how to say no to food or when I first started using food as a way of being my friend, but I did. Over the last 56 years, I have tried just about every diet program there is and without success. That is not to say I had not lost the weight, it is to say that I was never able to keep it off.
Read moreThe Right Tools
The past few days I have been struggling with what to write about this week and frustrated with my lack of inspiration. It was not until my wife pointed out to me that I have been working so hard on other projects that I had not been taking my nightly time to watch the Food network. It was not more then 15 minutes after sitting down to watch a rerun of Worst Cooks in America that I found myself being inspired by the words of Bobby Flay and Anne Burrell as they were talking about how you need to have the right knife to do proper cooking. A few minutes later, Bobby Flay was sharing that advice again, only this time in a Kohl’s commercial for his cookware, “The right tools give you better control as you cook.”
Read moreQuesadillas: A Lesson in Patience
My wife loves quesadillas, not the fancy ones, just a plain cheese quesadilla. For the last 11 years, I have always been the one who has made them for her. Most of the time she tells me I have once again achieved the perfect state of crunchiness on both sides. Once sliced in half and sometimes served with sides of sour cream and salsa, she begins the experience of eating and savoring them, commenting on the crunch factor and the type of cheese used (cheddar is always better.
Read moreA Different Kind of Valentine's Day Story
I had planned on taking a sabbatical for a few months so I could spend some time working on my book, but after conversations with a few of my readers, I have decided to take something else off my plate so I could reflect her and work on my book. To put it in food terms, I figured out how to have my cake and eat it too.
Today is Valentine’s Day, so I should be reflecting on something chocolate or the spiritual qualities of chocolate (yes there are numerous), but my heart (no pun intended) is just not there today. I have been thinking about how food can bring you back in time to memories and moments that are unique, powerful, and filled with love and emotion. It seems as if ever since yesterday I have so wanted to ask Zoe to take me to the store to get some TempTee cream cheese and smoked salmon. What started this craving was a comment by Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli on Facebook the other day when she wrote, “What's better than a warm toasted bagel smeared with cream cheese so that it melts slightly into the crevices topped with paper thin slices of smoked salmon and a little red onion? On the side, a super thick slice of beefsteak tomato with sea salt and cracked black pepper....”
Read moreThe Zenful Kitchen is on Sabbatical
I am taking a sabbatical for a while so I can focus on working on a writing project. Periodically, as I feel inspired, I may post something here. However, I will not be posting here on a regular basis this year. Thank you for all the love and support as I have worked through the basics of what is a zenful kitchen.
Sharpening Knives
To those who have been reading this blog for a while, it should be no surprise that one of the sources for my Inspiration is the Food Network show Chopped. This week my inspiration began with the story of one chef, Nathaniel Zimet of Boucherie, who shared with the judges how he had been shot three times about ten months prior and his journey to recovery. While his story of recovery was inspiring, what was humbling was to hear him speak with such compassion about the man who shot him. His understanding that the man who shot him had to have been in extreme pain in order to shoot him as he did was a powerful illustration of compassion. It reminded me of a YouTube video of the father of one of the young girls who had been murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School recently and his compassion for all those who were grieving and for the family and friends of the man who had killed all these people. Having just blogged about compassion the other day, his attitude and story resonated with my soul.
Read moreThe F Words
If you are even thinking this is going to be about that word you are wrong, it is really about a few other F words – fear, food, and faith. There are a few lessons, which have shaped my perspective and understanding of fear. One lesson was that fear is an acronym, which stands for FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL. As I thought about it, most of the things I feared were based on evidence that did not exist or had been constructed in my head. Another lesson I learned came from sociologist Allan Johnson,[1] who wrote about how our fears are based on what we think we know, whether they are true or not. Then there is what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said during his first inaugural address, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”[2] That is not to say that we do not ever experience fear, even the most enlightened of spiritual leaders experience fear. It is not whether or not we experience it, but what we do with it.
Read moreIt’s a legacy
Sometimes writing about what is in my heart is difficult as there are times when there are not words to capture what I am thinking or feeling. Every occasionally, when I am cooking, whether it be a dish or a season, something will transport me back into my mother’s kitchen where the aromas and tastes of century old traditions were being recreated. As my mother and I would make rugelach or noodle kugel she would talk about how she learned how to do this from her mother, who learned how to do it from her mother, and so forth and so on. Sadly, my mother’s cookbook lived in her head. Nothing was written down. Periodically, I could get her to write these things down for me and so I have a few. However, the recipes were written in her heart and in her mind. When she began to lose her memory, they began to fade with her. When she died, most of them died with her. However, what I have been coming to realize is that some of those legacies somehow got written in my heart as well.
Read morePost Thanksgiving Reflection
It was about a week ago, that we hosted our largest open house thanksgiving potluck dinner. Over the course of the day, 24 people blessed us with their presence. To say that our table overflowed was the understatement. Three tables, thanks to a friend who bought folding tables as part of her contribution, overflowed with pastries and desserts of all kinds. We had an organic turkey, compliments of one of our clients, an extra turkey breast, a spiral sliced ham, two trays of macaroni and cheese (gluten free and regular), smashed potatoes, candied yams, sausage stuffing, Israeli salad, roasted vegetables of all kinds, cranberry sauce, salad, deviled eggs, spicy nuts, a basmati rice dressing, herbed corn, coconut milk eggnog, non-alcoholic wine, an assortment of sodas, and probably several other dishes that have faded from my memory.
Read moreThe Next Big Thing
This week my blog is slightly different then usual. L T Bentley invited me to be part of this blog hopping journey called The Next Big Thing. I think the purpose is to help us discover the next great book that we absolute have to read or an author whose works might just resonate with our spirits. I had never heard of her work before, but given that I am a Gemini, I am looking forward to reading something outside of the norm for me, her book Shattered Gemini, is a psychological murder mystery. Who knows her work might be the Next Big Thing, or perhaps mine is. Who knows?
I have never written fiction that is unless you think about my life as a piece of fiction, which is a work in process. In my life story, then I am the main character and everyone else in my life are the supporting cast of characters.
Read moreInnovative or Wacky
While my passion for Iron Chef America has waned over the last few years, I am for various reasons amazed by the Next Iron Chef American competition and glad that Alex Guarnaschelli is doing so well again this season (go Team Alex). What has inspired me this week were two things: the chairman’s challenge for this past week of innovation and my friend Warren Caterson’s post on Facebook about this being Wacky Wednesday. Personally, I think he created this day, but I can always use a “reason” to be wacky.
For those of you who did not watch this episode, there were three global street foods, tacos, falafel, and bahn mi’s. The chefs were assigned one of these three street foods and then told to be innovative and create a new approach to it. While Chef Faulkner’s bahn mi pasta did not appease the palettes of the judges, her idea reminded me of bruschetta pasta I had made once that was really quite good.
Read moreLessons from the non-existent cookbook
I have this fascination with cookbooks, not so much for the recipes, but for the information and wisdom in the explanations and the stories. Sometimes what makes me want to read a cookbook is listening to how a chef speaks about their food. Ever since I began watching the food network, one chef who has fascinated me is Alex Guarnaschelli. While I have never tasted her cooking, there has always been something mystical and spiritual for me about the way she talks about food. Then there is the look on her face and the way her whole body seems to be experiencing what the offering she is experiencing. I have long felt as if her cookbook would be one I could curl up in bed with and read and savor for the wisdom poured into the pages.
Read moreSomething’s are sacred
For those of you who know me, or have been reading my writing for a while, it is no secret that I admire the cooking and wisdom of Alex Guarnaschelli. In an interview, with Robert Stolank of the New York Times, she discussed her relationship with her husband Brandon Clark and told a story in only a way Alex could tell it. Stolank reported,
As they were closing up one evening he confided in her about a problem he had with a school assignment on potato-crusted black sea bass. He was galvanized by the private tutorial she gave him.
Read moreThe Offal Truth
By now, it should be no surprise to anyone that one of my favorite shows on television is Chopped. It used to be Iron Chef America, but it was replaced by Chopped for a number of reasons. One of the reasons I am addicted to this show is that I love the creativity of these chefs who are just everyday people like me who come with their stories about how food changed their lives, how it has crafted their souls, and how you can learn about them by how they honor or dishonor an ingredient. There have been so many shows, which have taught me profound lessons, not just about the ingredients but also about life itself.
Last night, October 23, 2012, was no exception. It was an interesting episode where the theme was head to tail.
Read moreThis must be why I crave pasta
Recently, someone told me they were surprised that I had a sense of humor. Hmm. I guess they have not been around me very much. There are times in my life I am quite serious and intellectual. Then there are times in my life I am just “downright stupid.” There have been those days when I wake up singing a children’s song like If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands or I love pumpernickel, pumpernickel bread. Those years of listening to Barney songs are embedded deep in my memory. When I laugh, I feel myself open up and it allows me a moment to get out of my head and to get creative.
Some of my most inspirational moments have happened when I just did not care or when I was not concerned about getting it right. Tonight was one of them. I had been having this kind of mental block and not feeling especially creative. The only thing I was craving was pasta. Hmm, perhaps that was in part because Tuesday was National Pasta Day.
Read moreBaked to perfection
Perhaps it was because I spent a good part of the day in the kitchen baking loaves of bread, that I began to think about why the process of bread making is so spiritual for me. With most of the breads that I bake, it always starts with a little yeast mixed with water and sugar. Water, in most spiritual traditions is life giving and spiritually cleansing. Conversely, it has been suggested that as people evolve spiritually, they have less craving and a lower tolerance for sugar. Perhaps, that is why when preparing the yeast mixture there is a significant amount of water and yeast, but very little sugar.
Read moreLower Lies, Higher Zen
As I have been thinking about my reflection for this week, I found myself wanting to go back to where I started almost two years ago, the whole notion that the kitchen and the process of preparing food can be a state of Zen. Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk, wrote this about Zen. He said it is “A special transmission outside the scriptures; No dependence on words and letters; Direct pointing to the mind of man; seeing into one's nature and attaining Buddhahood.” Being able to attain a zenful state is the ability to realize a state of enlightenment in one’s own time. “Zazen melts away the mind-forged distances that separate man from himself; leads one beyond himself as knower, to himself as known. In Zazen, there is no reality outside what exists here and now. (http://www.amacord.com/taste/essays/zen.html).”
Over the last two years I have listened to many people tell me why they do not cook, are scared to cook, do not have the knowledge to cook, and the list goes on.
Read more