Culinary Communion: Class Photos

	The kitchen is the room that nurtures our souls and our bodies. It's the hearth of the 21st-century house, and everybody naturally congregates there.
—Regina Leeds, author of The Zen of Organizing

Series Classes Individual Classes Wine Education Class Photos

Cuisine of Asia Series 1, September 2002

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The Cuisine of Asia Series I contained two classes on Japanese cuisine. The first covered some traditional Japanese dishes which we hope students will want to make at home, and the second focused solely on sushi.

In this first class on the cuisine of Japan, we made a number of delicious traditional dishes. Students commented on how healthy and low-fat the foods were. With the exception of the tempura vegetables and fried shrimp balls, all of the dishes were nearly or entirely fat-free. We enjoyed Cold Soba Noodles; a delicious and simple Cold Spinach Salad; Matsutake Gohan (mushroom rice); Fried Shrimp Balls; Miso Soup; Tempura Vegetables; and Teriyaki Salmon.

Chef Gabriel offers pointers to a student as he slices fresh vegetables.

These carrots will be soaked in cold water and then used as garnish on the platters.

Students are given 3x5 recipe cards for each dish we prepare in class; they work together, in teams, or individually to prepare each menu item. Here the matsutake mushrooms are ready to be prepared for the rice dish we made.

The table is laden with food at the end of class. Miso soup is in the foreground, along with a multitude of little dipping dishes for our many sauces. The cold spinach salad has been formed into rounds and topped with sesame seeds, and behind that is the teriyaki salmon on a bed of vegetables. Behind the salmon are the shrimp balls, the soba noodles next to the sake, and the matsutake rice.

A student puts wasabi into a small dish at each place for eating with the soba noodles. Slurping the noodles was highly encouraged as traditional Japanese practice, although it was hard to make ourselves do it!

Presenting all of the different dishes, and their corresponding garnishes, sauces, etc., was fun.

Before we eat, everyone poses for one last picture.

previous class in series Japan I next class in series