To Loving Well

we-don-t-learn-to-love-each-other-well-inMy sharp edges are being rounded off, like a carpenter’s chamfer
Softening, weathered by wisdom of the ages, being still, accepting
Knowing there is nothing to lose anymore
Other than my body, back to the earth

Whom might I think to identify myself as, the words describing personality, career, my existence
Any attachment to understand myself, matters not
Only how I can give from the depths of my heart back to myself and to others, because
Love knows no limits or boundaries created by the mind

I need nothing in return from my offerings, only a remembrance,
That any voice of inadequacy, needing or wanting
Comes from a place of contraction inside my small self, hopefully temporarily,
Only to be removed by the hearts longing
To transmit the love that’s meant to travel through, as me.

The quiet solitude of lands lightly traveled
Brings delight to all of my senses
Realizing and knowing I am blessed to be moving and exploring the earth
Grateful for the gifts the mother has to offer and to be a fortunate participant .

The sounds of silence brings my mind into stillness
Reminding me of how insignificant any thought I may have
The dramatic change of seasons and tides are constant reminders of
The ebb and flow of the life I want to be comfortable living… never stagnant, forever changing

The tears well up in my eyes full of realizations and gratitude for a well lived life
Making and appreciating the time for self-reflection
Along with the beauty of connection to the land, others and the spirit within
And dreaming in the possibilities of fulfilling the next desire

Blessed to have people reveal themselves to me in my life, as a reminder
To graciously receive the love I strive to so generously give and
Continuing to open myself, wider, even wider to find deeper and even more
Depths to the unending love that I have to give.

Within the mother, the earth, Gaia, I can always have faith in her gifts
Emerging, once again, birth and death, and repeating the process, continuously,
Becoming one with her and with myself, again and again
Bringing me back in connection with the laws of nature, my true self, realizing the best self I can be.
Never having to imagine there is a possibility that I can get even better.

My day to day life requires the time to pause, to breathe to stop
To stop the thinking mind who thinks it knows better than the heart
Not allowing the self to travel with the minds thoughts
Because the mind is for creativity and realizing the truths of the heart
The mind and its thoughts aren’t the truths
Only the language of the heart knows the truth

forgivemeI yearn to be met in the place of the truth of the heart
Beating heart to beating heart, nothing else is really acceptable
Mistakes and errors will be made, and I need to give myself the permission for that to be OK
To allow errors to be corrected and forgiven, corrected and forgiven, … any perfection is unattainable

Perfection means to make room for forgiveness and the making of space for the correction of errors
The practice of forgiving myself, ourselves… and therefore… extending forgiveness to others
Being human means imperfection
And the willingness to come back to love

Time after time, any negative self-thought I have of myself or
My ego’s contraction that takes me out of love
Needs to be only ever so briefly engaged, realized and curiously looked at
Would a hawk ever lose patience waiting for the next meal?
Coming back to the present form, knowing… knowing only love is the truth

Even those temporary attacks on myself in judgment of being too much or not enough
Helps my realization of how I am a creature of judgement because
I carry inside of myself a hidden and protected place of past hurts that only want to be released
To heal them and not be dragged around by those memories

Seeing any of my minds critical and judgmental attacks, within or without,
Are only a disguise of asking for help
A reaching out for help, for directions, to find my way back home… back to love
Because sometimes, we all need reminders of how to get back to home
To the place of the practice, of what it means and looks like to be…

Loving Well.

 

Chef’s sabbatical: An analysis of chef’s gastronomic research through culinary tourism

qualifiedeaterIn my search of the internet to see if there was anyone else that had done some degree of food tourism around culinary arts, gastronomy and food innovation research like I am doing, I came across this. I look forward to bring back my knowledge of Indian and Thailand food products and cooking techniques and see where I can incorporate them in my work.

This article should appeal to my scientist and academia friends and teachers. My friends Linda and Nayab in Kerala, India who I have been working with to develop a culinary tourism program I think will be most interested.

 

youdontbecomechef  agequote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

 

International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science –  Author: Watson Baldwin

Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, 12F South Block, 133 Shing Tai Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong

Chefs have long looked to various aspects of food, culinary trends, restaurants and their peers for inspiration. So
much that they take time away from the line to go deep into culinary cultures across the globe as spectators,
diners, tourists and even as line cooks to find the inspiration behind their new dishes or menu items. The premise
of a chef’s sabbatical is not a new theory or trend, but rather a new explanation of a rite of passage in the culinary
world via culinary tourism. At the start of a chef’s career, they are encouraged to work and gather experience
from a number of restaurants before becoming an Executive Chef. However, when they do become an Executive
Chef, it is difficult to take on multiple tasks or work at different restaurants to further their knowledge outside
the kitchen. This is where the chef’s sabbatical premise is put forward.

This is the full article in pdf file – Click here to read article in full …
Chef’s sabbatical: An analysis of chef’s gastronomic research through culinary tourism

 

The Duality of Human Nature and The Search for Universality – Thailand, February 4, 2019

loveandforgivenessJust below our rational façade of humanity lies a turbulent darkness that is kept in check by the good that happens in life’s everyday existence and excitement. When examining the duality of human nature, it seems to fall under two different categories, good versus evil in the struggle of light and dark, or the thinking mind versus our animalistic biological impulses that are programmed beyond the mind’s thinking. When human’s animal nature is investigated, it is typically around how a person can decline into darkness. When someone is under extreme stress, under the grips of insanity, or throwing inhibitions aside, what was once a rational human being is left turned into a rageful psychopath unfit for normal society.

Before we came on this long journey through duality we came from a state of oneness spiritually and physically. This is what actually caused the world of duality to come into existence and why it is important to see the part we play in it to understand where we are ultimately trying to go. We came from a place of unity, physical oneness and connected through love and gratitude. After a time, we wanted to experience more on our own. This is where the separation happened both physically as we left the mother and spiritually when we separated from god.

EarthLoveUnityAs a result of experiencing the duality in this physical/spiritual separation, we eventually become longing for home and the state of unity that was once created by love. We realize that all of us are connected on the same journey of experiencing duality through the human condition and continually trying to remember and be reminded where it was we came from. Once we remember where it is we came from and who we are as divine creatures, we are then able to create something better than from where we came from. This is the birth of compassion.

We have created both love and hate and we have also discovered ways we can confront and welcome hatred with acceptance and kindness. This is the transformation of fear into love and gratefulness with compassion. We are currently in the process of being able to transform any situation into one which can hold higher levels of love and gratitude.

– – – – – –yinyang– – – – – – 

unity-of-loveAs my 60-day visa is about to expire and my time in Thailand comes to an and I get to experience the duality of human nature. The joyful feelings of being blessed to have made friends and having the depths of conversation and connection, to the feelings of sadness and grief of not wanting the beauty of these connections to all come to an end. I can feel the pull inside of my heart as we share another meal together and converse about other topics that bring us closer to unity and oneness inside of ourselves and to each other.

There is no doubt that the bonds of friendship that have been created with people I have met along my journey are unbreakable and some might even say eternal. At the same time, my mind wants to protect myself and my heart from the sadness, grief and heartbreak I am experiencing from the physical separation.  I can hear the voice inside of me telling me how I shouldn’t open myself up to receiving the generosity and goodness of people because the pain of separation and loss is too great. It’s sometimes hard to believe the truth that the friendships I have created are never ending through the pain in my heart. This is the duality I am describing above.

LoveUnityI am in the process of creating that bridge of loving the pain in my sadness and grief because it comes from a higher vibration of love that seems to be out of my reach at the moment. I ask myself, if I could choose to do things differently, would I? Would I trade in any of the special times I have spent with Reeta, Moo, Jilly, Thupten, Heather, Min, Kay, Lauri, Gupta, Moosa, Linda, Thomas, Nayab, Melissa, Pratima, Nirmala… and others I have shared deeper connections with? Absolutely not… the feelings of separation, loss and grief are worth experiencing as those feelings get transformed into the unity of god’s love right before my eyes as I sit with the duality of being human. It’s through experiencing everything being in this human body that I get to experience the unity of life and god’s love.

yinyang

Don’t love me until the sky doesn’t have to find sweet words. As you said Is still deep.

* I only love one word
Means this alone
I want to hear again that she loved me

** Do not love the sky, but I love the original, do not have more, but love does not diminish
Do not love until eternally as long as I’m still breathing, like. old Let’s keep the same

Don’t have to force yourself because of me
Don’t have to dream of being like anyone.
Before being like, it is like the old, the same love that has ever been given, how much love is not important, saying that still love each other Want this

   yinyang

Gastro-battical 2018-2019 – Thailand – February 3, 2019

chefshumorI know some of you are probably tired of listening to my rants of spirituality and love and Buddhist dharma. So I thought I’d take a break from that, if only temporarily, so I can send you some of my latest cooking fun.

I have spent about the last 3 weeks immersed into Thailand culture, cooking and eating together with the family. It has been a rich and incredible experience that I could have never imagined nor planned ahead of time. It’s amazing what happens when you let go and not try to steer the ship all the time. Even though I fulfilled my sabbatical obligation to the college I work for by living in India for two months and learning about their cultural cuisine, I decided to take that intention into Thailand and onward into my further travel as well. This adventure has been so fulfilling for me, its hard to put into words sometimes.

As the date of expiration of my 60-day Thailand visa get s closer, I am observing the full range of emotions and feelings inside of me as it’s time to move along to Cambodia and Vietnam before I head to Indonesia in the spring. I have developed beautiful caring, loving friendships that it’s sad to leave them. It’s hard to believe I’ve been away from home since September 2018 and it just turned February. I am going to write about this and I just wanted to mention it here briefly.

In the meantime, I want to share a couple of my favorite dishes and their recipes for you, as I did when I was in India. One of my favorite Thai dishes in Pad-Thai. I can’t tell you how may times I ate those noodles from street vendors. Some were definitely better than others. And then I made them with Kay… and those were the best I ever had. I’m giving you the recipes. I hope you enjoy!

Pad Thai – Thai Fried Noodles

140 grams medium rice noodles – be aware if they are completely dry or have water in them.
If a little wet, do not soak.

¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup (40 grams) bean curd, diced
2 tablespoons pickled radish, chopped
2 teaspoons garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon shallot, chopped
4 (60 grams) fresh shrimps, shelled and de-veined – Can use dried shrimps instead.

2 eggs

Seasoning Mixture Ingredients
3T fish sauce
3T Palm Sugar
3T Tamarind juice

Garnish
2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, pound
2 teaspoons chilies powder
1 cup bean sprouts
¼ cup
(1) chives cut
Banana blossom, lime, green leaf or Asiatic penny wort, chives as needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Soak medium rice noodles in the water. Lift onto a sieve until drain.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix seasoning mixture ingredients until dissolved.

3. Heat vegetable oil in a wok. Fry diced bean curd until golden. Add shallot, garlic, pickled radish and shrimp until cooked

4. Add medium rice noodles and fry until soften. Add seasoning mixture ingredients. Add egg until cooked. Put aside. Wrap noodles with flat egg sheet.

5. When served, spoon onto a serving plate. Serve with fresh bean sprout, chives, green leaf or Asiatic penny-wort, peanuts, chili powder and lime

 

 

 

 

The next dish I had was absolutely incredible. It has all the palate sensations that I talk about in my classes. Sweet, sour, salty, spicy, crunchy and chewy. I didn’t make this myself, but I watched it be put together at the end. Kay is an incredibly talented cook with a well-developed sense of taste and I hope everyone gets the chance to learn from her in the kitchen and listen to her spiritual wisdom.

Mee Krob Chao Wang – Royal Crispy Vermicelli

Ingredients:

garlic chopped
fermented black beans – ground
shallots finely chopped

eggs – for the nest

sugar cane or palm
lime juice
fish sauce

bitter orange zest or lime

prawns – cut into small cubes
pork and chicken ground
or fried tofu for vegetarian

raw bean sprouts
garlic chives
cayenne pepper

royalcrispyvirmacelli

https://youtu.be/cieDZT_t8t0

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the sauce
On medium heat
Oil – garlic & shallots – brown until pungentAdd black beansAdd fish sauce, lime juice and sugar to taste
Stir and reduce to thick syrup

 

Rice Vermicelli – 1pack

Separate it a bit when dry
Quick soak for a few seconds and shake dry
Only 30 or so seconds before you fry it in HOT oil until little golden brown – HOT OIL is a crucial part of this technique

Fry the pork until its dehydrated and crispy – golden brown.
Fry the prawns separately – used as garnish so not dry.
Tofu would need to be crispy too… or else the noodles will get soggy

Everything needs to be dry if to be stored for a while

Whisk eggs – they need to be crispy strings
Using a sieve to get into the hot oil.

Pour the sauce over the crispy noodles in wok
The pan needs to be low-med heat and mix to coat the noodles

Fold gently or else the noodles will be mushy
Mix until evenly coated

Add Orange zest

Put in bowl, turn upside down on a dish
Put eggs on top of noodles

Garnish with fresh mung bean sprouts
Garlic chives
Prawns
Coriander leaf

 

 

There are so many egg dishes here in Thailand using chicken, duck and quail eggs. And I’m not talking omelets, though the Thai style omelet is pretty incredible. Since Kay is of Chinese descent, I wanted to share this one with you.

Moo Palo Recipe, Eggs and Pork Fragrant Stew –

สูตรทำไข่พะโล้หมูสามชั้นเห็ดหอม ; khai phalo muu saam chan het haawm- Serves: 8

An all-time classic and a favorite Thai stew, this easy-to-prepare, tasty and fragrant dish was introduced into Thai cuisine by Chinese immigrants.

moopaloIngredients:
400gr pork belly (sliced bacon), cut into 3cm (1.5″) cubes
300gr pork shoulder or tenderloin, cut into 3cm (1.5″) cubes
7 large eggs
300gr firm bean curd, cut into 2cm (1″) cubes
Neutral taste cooking oil for deep frying
10-20 (25gr) dry shiitake mushrooms
1/3 cup (125gr) palm sugar
3 star anise fruits
3 pieces of cassia tree bark, 5cm (2″) each
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder (phalo powder)
1/4 cup fish sauce
8 cups water
2 tablespoons dark sweet sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

Garlic coriander paste:
3 medium coriander roots (about 10gr), scraped, washed and finely chopped
5 large cloves garlic (about 20gr), finely chopped
2 teaspoons black peppercorns (about 5gr)
1 teaspoon salt

Method:

  1. Soak the shiitake mushrooms in 1 cup of boiling water for about 15 minutes.
  2. When re-hydrated, strain. Save both the water and the mushrooms and set aside. Remove and discard the hard stalks.
  3. Gently place the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to prevent the eggs from cracking. Bring to boil, and let it boil for one minute on medium heat. Then turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let rest for 15 minutes. Transfer the eggs to a cold water bath, and let them cool down. Peel and dry. Set aside.
  4. Cut the bean curd into 2cm (1″) cubes
  5. Deep fry the bean curd on medium-low heat until the cubes are golden.
  6. Remove the bean curd from the oil. Soak the cubes in 1 cup of boiling water for about 15 minutes, then strain and set aside.
  7. Thoroughly clean the skin side of the pork belly, and cut into 3cm (1.5″) cubes. Cut the pork tenderloin into cubes of the same size.
  8. In a hot wok, without oil, roast the pork belly pieces. The heat will render out the fat.
  9. When the pork starts to brown, and there is liquid fat in the wok, then add the pork tenderloin cubes. Sear together until the meat is browned from all sides.
  10. Set aside.
  11. In a mortar and pestle, pound the coriander roots, the garlic and the peppercorns with a teaspoon of salt as an abrasive. The paste does not need to be very fine. Set aside.
  12. In a wok on a low heat, melt the palm sugar. Slowly caramelize it to a deep amber color, being careful not to burn it! You may add a tablespoon of water here and there, to control the rate of caramelization. Now the sugar is nice and brown.
  13. Add the garlic-coriander paste, the cinnamon sticks, star anise and the Chinese five-spice powder. Mix well
  14. Add the garlic-coriander paste, the cinnamon sticks, star anise and the Chinese five-spice powder. Mix well
  15. Add the pork and eggs to the sugar sauce. Mix well.
  16. Transfer the pork and eggs to a pot, and cover with a lid.
  17. Add the re-hydrated mushrooms and their water.
  18. Add fried bean curd.
  19. Fill the pot with 4 cups of water.
  20. Add the sweet black soy sauce, the fish sauce, the light soy sauce and the oyster sauce
  21. Cover, and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour until the pork is soft and the eggs are a nice deep brown color. Skim any oil that floats to the top.
  22. Serve hot, garnished with fresh coriander leaves.
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