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Hana, Hana, Hana (flower, flower, flower)
As the spring rain falls, flowers bloom. Kan zakura (winter cherry
blossoms) in my yard are at their peak right now. Yoshino sakura
also is blooming. It is still below freezing at night in Seattle,
but the sunny days are quite warm and the Crocus are beautiful
as well. Rare trees in the neighborhood have started to show their
lovely flowers, which contrast against the blue sky.
In March, I held Chakaiseki class for Momo no Sekku
(the girls festival), something I always have wanted to try. At
the class, I used lacquered Japanese sake cups, which are the
same cups as Shofukuro Honten in Youkaichi uses. These amazing
lightweight sake cups with their Kiri bori (wood carving)
process are very hard to make. True Wajima Nuri is made
by carving the wood extremely thin, so that you almost can see
through it. Wajima Nuri technicians are required to be trained
in this carving skill, and as a result, skilled craftsmens are
scarce. In addition to those cups, I used custom-made Wajima Nuri
bowls. In Feburary, I asked Shokodo in Wajima to add a little
more gold to the parts of Makie. The bowls and cups made
our Chakaiseki dishes very special. The head instructor
of Urasenke Seattle and the Omotesenke teacher who participated
in the class, both enjoyed it very much.
When I have free time, I would like to do Sakura no Chakaiseki
using my tall cherry lacquer ware sake cups repaired by Shokodo,
a Wajima Nuri manufacturer. 
International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Conference
will be held in Seattle at the end of this month. Closed to 2,000
culinary professionals will gather from all over the world to
learn about new trend in food and study culinary issues. I will
have visitors from Provence, Paris, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway,
New York, Toronto, and Santa Barbara. My house will be like a
shore that was hit by a Tsunami! Some of my guests might be lucky
enough to taste my Chakaiseki food with the special cherry
sake cups!
At the IACP conference, I co-presented the workshop "Cooking with
Leaves, Asian Style", with my Chinese-Canadian friend, Nathan
Fong, a food stylist who received the "IACP Award of Excellence"
some years ago, and an Indian friend, Raghavan
lyer from Minnesota, who was awarded "Cooking Teacher of the
year."
IACP accepts only one tenth of the proposals submitted by members
of consideration for presentation at the anual gathering. My part
of this presentation is to introduce the many way of cooking with
leaves used in Japanese cuisine, and a cooking demo that results
in serving Sakuramochi to 180 workshop attendees. That
number may sound like a lot, but many people do catering for1,000
to 2,000, so I think that 180 is not too bad!
Over a month ago, I made mini Sakuramochi which were really
petite in size. If sandwiched with two Camellia leaves, they become
Tsubakimochi. It would have been a lot of work if I had
make An (sweetened Azuki beans) from scratch, but
the owner of Suetomi, a Japanese confectionary in Kyoto recommended
ready made Mifuji An and this made the whole process easier.
I just needed to make an outside Mochi with Domyozi-ko
and wrap with brined cherry leaves. I have three volunteers from
my cooking school, and IACP providing me with enough culinary
students to help us. We will have fun making this festive Sakuramochi.
Japanese traditional sweets are really elegant.
Recently, my classmate from a Japanese tea ceremony class started
teaching how to make Japanese sweets. I was influenced by her
and made a couple of my own sweets. My favorite was Rikyuu
Manjyuu. By making this specialty sweet, I feel reassured.
Now that I can confidently make seasonal Chakaiseki and
Japanese sweets, I need to work hard to perfect my skills with
the tea ceremony. Someday, I would like to be a natural Chajin
and host Chaji more often and more comfortably. I like
Wabi-cha in the fall, but I also enjoy this wonderful spring
season as well. Put on your kimono, and let's do a hand made Chakai
in the U.S. and be happy!
March, 2006
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