ReSEARCH

Travel is great for the palette. There are tastes from the Caribbean, Dubai and Kenya that have found their way to my plate and in my food memory bank. For those times when travel is not possible in the moment, research is the next best thing. Whenever food is beginning to become "stale", we pick a country, a technique, a food memory, or regional food/dish and hop in the truck and go on a food field trip as I like to call them. Yes, its true, they are not the same as having the authenticity that one may receive from say being in the region, with the atmosphere and people. These opportunities however allow me to have what I choose and still have the open experiences of the chef/restaurant offering up their interpretation of home and what that means to them. I almost exclusively stick to family restaurants, no chains, no fast food joints. When I can, I talk with the Chef, get to know them and if the vibe offers, ask to be taught what I love on their menu. In turn my food experience becomes richer, therefore hopefully ensuring that what I am then able to share is that much more rich and varied.  I am able to share (hopefully) the best parts of my enrichment. The excitement, the textures and colors that stood out, the tastes..oh yeah...the tastes. I can offer my own variation of it all in a way that is familiar and intimate to me. Just last month alone I believe we tried over 60 different dishes and techniques based on our research. In as much as I do this, I live this. And that essentially is my training, a training that only grows. These 2 weeks our "research" has included Southern Indian, Ethiopian, Chinese and Trinidadian. Fun times behind, even more fun times ahead. Love.



My Kitchen Sounds Like: "Around the World In A Day" by Prince                                     

Yummy Bites/Gursha

Recently I have been exploring food culture and rituals with our children. Connecting ideas of unity, consideration, sharing, community and respect for the importance of the moment. Through personal experience and study, I am constantly reacquainted with the Ethiopian ritual of Gursha. Gursha which translates as "mouthful" is the act of hand feeding another. With a heightened sense of awareness this act of Gursha conveys much more than the seemingly simple act of sharing food. Within this ritual lies principles of trust, thoughtfulness and interconnectedness. What a perfect lesson and experience to teach young children. It is my understanding that the traditional practice of Gursha is a means of expressing openness. In our interactions we are essentially "ingesting", sharing and/or being exposed to one anther's presence, essence, aura, personality, words, etc. In each exchange there is potential for trust, indeed, vulnerability. On one hand, receiving Gursha is to be vulnerable and trusting of the hands and the person that is serving. In exchange, to be the giver expresses trustworthiness, tenderness, selflessness and consideration. The physical manifestation of Gursha is a bridge to connect the subtleties of spirit and senses. Now..how to explain that to 2-5 year olds.

Children are, (at least mine are) very aware of what they like. So we start there. Find the yummiest bite on your plate. Make it up, just the way you like it. How you want to see it. What you want it to taste and feel like. Make it the best bite ever. Now before you place it in your mouth, find someone at the table you enjoy sharing with. Now give them your yummy bite. Yeah..give it...its OK. Now, how did that make each of you feel?

These rituals we hold onto and carry forward with the hope that the experiences, the lessons can transcend beyond the dinner table and extend to and influence how we relate to one another in life. Cheers to yummy bites and the sharing thereof. Love


My Kitchen Sounds Like: "Perdido" by Duke Ellington

Grow Where You Are

Grow Where You Are! Both a challenge and a call to a higher standard of being. In the 2nd edition of the aptly titled reader by Eugene Cooke, we find a manual for not only gardening, but for a way of life intent on expressing itself to its fullest capacity. Mother Nature, well she is the vessel of receptivity and nurturing. Grow Where You Are the reader is creativity, imagination and practicality, stretched out on a canvas. Digestible for any and everyone. More than an how to guide of Urban Farming, it is a shared experience of a man intimate with the Earth.

Filled with images, ideas and experiences from Eugene's 20+ years journey in Farming, it's one in the same, art, poetry and a glimpse into Eugene's expertise. More importantly, (at least to me) we get a view of Nature's playground through the eyes of an artist who finds his home in the soil.

A work that one can return to again and again. Grow Where You Are is fun, it's engaging, it's a stimulus. Get one, Read it and Grow.

website: www.gebsite.com
Facebook: Grow Where You Are
Twitter: @Gebsite



My Kitchen Sounds like: "Harvest for the World" by The Isley Brothers

The Palette of Family

Our grandparent and parents had the formula. Intrinsic in each culture, and instilled through habit is the knowledge of using foods to heal and console. It was the hot soup or strong toddy when a cold was coming on. Aloe Vera and pumpkin seeds to expel intestinal worms. Oatmeal and milk baths for rashes. Its found in the precise science of Native American Earth medicine to facilitate outdoor living. Let your medicine be your food and your food be your medicine, was a phrase coined by Master Teacher and Physician Imhotep. In that spirit we reclaim the power to heal ourselves. We reinitiate the Creator given birth-right to self sustenance. In this we put the power of nurturer and healer back in our hands.

The herbs around your home will feed and nourish you. They know you and will provide what you need. In turn with your nurturing touch and attention they will receive the essential communication and environmental interaction to receive what they need. This symbiotic relationship, this familial connection nourishes and protects all.

There is an idea, a prevailing thought that the herbs surrounding our immediate environments are clues into the places that we could be in need of healing. What grows around your home? Are you familiar with the resources of food and medicine that flourish in your most intimate space? What heals us should be close and hands on.

The plants and herbs around us give us clear instructions on their functions and uses. Take Cuban Oregano for example. How the shape, texture and design indicate its ability to clean and clear out. How it resembles (to me at least) the lungs. There's no wonder it's used in instances of cough and congestion, among a number of other things.

We are constantly reminded of the abundance of nature in the face of all conditions. How she shows up in our most immediate spaces to serve and assist us, serve as a reminder that we as a part of her family are set to inherit this abundance. We in fact are integral parts of this abundance. Begin to know what thrives and flourishes around you. begin to know the family you draw to yourself. Love

.......

As we move more and more into self sustenance and our intrinsic sense of abundant consciousness as a family, we've taken to creating our own herbal tea blends (among other things) utilizing herbs and flowers that have been grown on the farm. Our favorite recently is a special blend of Sorrel and Holy Basil, which I've dubbed Holy Sorrel. Rounded out with a few other spices and herbs and packed full of vitamin C, it is a well balanced tea which will find a permanent place in our repertoire. Experiment with the herbs in your environment. See what you can come up with. Indulge your creativity and senses. You'll be surprised at what you discover.

My Kitchen Sounds Like: "Eastern Sounds" by Yusef Lateef

Keep It Close...Self Preservation

I can recall with a smile, the shuffle towards preparing food that we grew. The consumer mindset is often not an easy one to shake, even when we are surrounded overwhelmingly by everything we need. Hence, the shuffle. My mate, an extraordinarily talented farmer and artist would come home in half-shock, with a basket full of freshly harvested food, and find me in the kitchen preparing the same foods, only store-bought. Not only was there the reality that I had spent money on food, but that I purchased and was now preparing for our family a "substance" of lower quality, less flavor, and lacking in the the essential personal relationship that comes with growing your own food.

Now we have stepped into the Future, standing firm on practices championed in the past...

This month of October finds me in self-preservation mode. Preserving the foods of Summer's bounty to sustain and and preserve our bodies for the Winter's rest. Whether it's our Coconut and Squash based Habanero sauce, our Serrano chili paste, or our countless flower and herb combinations dried and blended specific to our family's needs and tastes. We are manufacturing our own "products" and controlling and flowing within our own sustenance. The food is fresh and it's familiar. It's intimate, CLOSE. A relationship that was established from seed....Love

We received an abundant amount and variety of peppers this month. So I offer up a Chili paste recipe. The recipe below is from the Know Thyself Family, featured in their quarterly newsletter. There are some slight variations in my final recipe but this place is a great starting point and comes close.

Easy Chili Garlic Sauce

1/2 pound fresh hot chilies
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar or other sweetener (optional)
2 tablespoons vinegar, or lemon or lime juice

Remove the stems from the chilies and discard. Cut the chilies into big pieces. The seeds can be left in (for a hotter version) or taken out (for a milder version). Puree the chilies with the rest of the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Use in small amounts on bean and rice dishes, tacos, soups, or even in salad dressings.
 
My Kitchen Sounds Like "Transfiguration" by Alice Coltrane

Maitu

Practical application trumps theory with her. There is little to be gained with the questions. Her growth, her harmony, continuously and abundantly support the truth that the lesson, the knowing is in the doing and the witnessing. She only asks for your attentiveness and she will flourish.

And what becomes apparent is not her's but OUR need to be acknowledged, recognized. For indeed there is no separation. Her consideration gives way to our nourishment. Realizing that she is the only tabernacle, and to understand devotion through her service is to worship at the feet of our own Earth-made altars.

Weed her of entanglements and fruit blossoms. Remember to offer her water and air and she will expand. Sunlight draws out her smile and she dances in the rays. The moonlight is her unveiling and the mysteries of her soil are summoned forward to heal, to relieve and replenish.

She and I. Her and Us. He and She alike are one in the same. The more we come to The Earth, the more we come to ourselves. Grateful to learn, to heal and grow at the feet of the Mother. Love.

Eros

I wake up early in the morning for it. Greet it like a sacred ritual. Wash and clean my physical body. Purify my thoughts and give thanks and reverence as I approach it. I come to it like a prayer. Every single time is new and yet, I know this. I dance in the meeting of the two. Familiar and New. I am aroused by the scent of it, its tastes, its sounds. We even touch, hand to mouth. I prefer it that way. Mediums are not always necessary.

This love making is ABUNDANT. So there's enough to share. When its ready, I plate, package and serve it up. So that you may get a glimpse of what this reverence, this type of love feels like. Perhaps it can be a catalyst for your own expression. Be nourished by it. Imaginative. Explorative. Come Eat.