A Kindly Tongue Is The Lodestone Of The Hearts Of Men.

…It is the bread of the spirit, it clotheth the words with meaning, it is the fountain of the light of wisdom and understanding… ~Bahá’u’lláh
Ham, cheese, and slaw buns with steamed corn, corn chips, and cookies for a picnic at beautiful Ashley Gorge – can’t believe I’d never been here before. So so beautiful. Definitely taking oosh. 
“When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love.” ~’Abdu’l-Bahá


Some of the tutors, participants, and wannabe chefs.


The day I made nachos, I got a lot of moans and groans on first glance from the boys for it being vegetarian. However, once they’d tasted it, they kept coming back for more (yay!).Really super weird handling raw chicken but I think I did good. Oven curry (is that a thing? Or am I just super clever?) with chicken drumsticks (duh), carrot, kumara, and red potato.



Beautiful NZ.

E N G L I S H C A M P

A picture story.

“Know That You Can Start Late…

…look different, be uncertain and still succeed.” -Misty Copeland

This city makes me feel I can do anything!

Notice: spicy vegetarian curry at CAMP and the unfortunate sign in the local train of how *some* Japanese view non-Japanese.

An Unexpected Friend Part Two

Remember my friend Yasu? Last night, her and I went to our pottery sensei’s house to shape our creations. This is the final part before our pottery gets cooked in an oven. For dinner, Naho sensei served us the most delicious Japanese curry with chicken, carrot, eggplant, potato, onion and radish in the most loveliest handmade bowls (after dinner we had Japanese matcha). I especially LOVED her boat-shaped bowl. I thought it incredibly charming. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. A simple compliment on it in my broken broken horrible Japanese and it was mine. An unexpected friend, numero dos. This morning I served home-made muesli in it for myself. This afternoon, I will visit Naho sensei with a bag of oats. I am going to teach her how to make the same muesli for own.

A Celebration Post

Savvy Tokyo has given me the amazing opportunity to be a part of their team! Can you believe it? Finally a chance to do what I love most outside of my blog. Please please with a cherry on top (literally) take a look at  THIS link and share it with all of your friends so that my bosses will be super happy to have me! <3

To celebrate, I ordered takeaway curry for sweet Ashleigh and me.

Seize The Moment. Remember All Those Women On The ‘Titanic’ Who Waved Off The Dessert Cart.

On the second last day of Christmas, I mean ‘The Parents Visit’ we ate. My healthy waffles (recipe HERE), my vegan thai curry (recipe HERE) and lastly, at Hokkaido (the name of the sushi train) in Tottori.

I Was Summoned To Make Dal

I’d swore I’d never do it. I’d swore I’d never post 10 pictures of the same damn thing from different angles like all of the other food bloggers but today is an exception. I was summoned to make Indian daal, dal, dahl or dhal, however you spell it. Here are the pictorials, followed by the cooking instructions. Oishikata (it was delicious).

2 cups yellow split peas
1 cup orange lentils
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 cinnamon stick

(In a large pot, bring the above with 2-3 cups of water to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour or until soft and mushy – you will need to stir and top up the water every now and then)

1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 medium onion, chopped small
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped small
1/2 knob of ginger, chopped small
1 tbsp vegetarian indian curry paste (optional)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped small
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp sea salt
1 can coconut cream

In a frying pan, warm 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds, cover the pan and wait briefly until the mustard seeds begin to pop. Then add onion, garlic, ginger and curry paste. Fry until translucent. Add remaining ingredients: tomatoes, pepper, coriander powder and sea salt and cook for 10 minutes or so or until the flavours have melded.

Now add the lentil mixture to the onion/tomato mixture or vice versa and stir.

Turn the heat down and bit by bit add the coconut cream depending on your desired consistency. To state the obvious, the more coconut milk, the runnier the curry.

fresh coriander
2-3 tbsp coconut cream
squeeze of lemon

Serve topped with fresh coriander, a splash of coconut cream and a squeeze of lemon.

 

One Love One Heart

I have only ever fasted in two different environments. One, at home, with mum, dad and my sister where maman would always always prepare a feast of our most favorite Persian dishes: ghormesabzi, beef kebabs, salad olivieh and to finish, orange and saffron syrup cake. We would be gathered around the dinner table with my sister and I’s eyes glued on the wall clock’s face eagerly awaiting the sunset when suddenly, my dad would start chanting a really long prayer that always finished too late! I’d be so mad at him! Making me fast for an extra 5 minutes! Ha, can’t help but laugh at those times today.

And two, in Haifa, Israel where I volunteered at the Bahai World Center. There, 99% of the staff fasted, so as my family home, we all broke the fast, together, in a joyful and vibrant fashion. In Japan, where I live alone in a village with literally no one my age, things are different. I spent the first days of the fast eating dinner by myself which is fine and all and solidarity is important etc etc but compared to the previous years, it was less exciting come sunset. Though last night, Kaori invited me over for Indian! She said, she and her husband, Taka had traveled through the Middle East during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan so she knew how breaking a fast was often celebrated as a social and joyous occasion.

Both Emma and I (see below picture) patiently waited until the sun set with our eyes glued not on the clock but on the rice cooker and ended up eating too much food as always.

We ate 2 different kinds of vegan curry with purple rice, homemade papadum and coleslaw with raisins and cumin. For dessert, we had vegan, gluten and sugar-free chocolate cake. This cake was so freakishly delicious that I’m going to recreate it tonight to take to Akiko and Lifa’s place (Yes! Another family dinner). In other words, the recipe and pictures will feature Saturday.

“We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” -Gwendolyn Brooks

What I Think of the Japanese School Lunch System

Personally, I don’t agree with the Japanese school lunch system because I think it’s unhealthy and processed. For example, nothing raw ever features on it. This is, I was told by one of the teachers because someone once got sick from fresh cucumber. Which is why everything is pickled, fried and lathered in perservativey sauces. Also, last week they ate whale and that really fucked me off.

Alas, like all things, there are two sides to the system. One of the good things about school-lunch is that everyone starts eating together. Which is a really sweet sight, to see ravenous kids politely waiting to commence demolition with their pals.

The other positive about school lunch is their attempt at internationalizing the dishes. I say attempt because some of the things that show up are plain ridiculous. “hot dogs”, “hamburgers” and “gratin” which are nothing like you’d expect. Today, school lunch was “Indian” curry served with naan bread which brought so much excitement to everyone’s faces that two teachers even took photos of it (yeah yeah, I know, it’s Asia, everyone photographs their meals but no, not school lunch guys, that’s one thing that’s not worth the click. Sorry lunch chefs :/). So yeah, I think that aspect of school lunch is a positive, especially for these inaka (countryside) kids. Cos God forbid they turn out like my Kiwi high-school math teacher and try Chinese food for the first time at 55!

If you are blessed enough to have an abundance of food choices, you should totes venture out. Food is culture, guys!

Image stolen from HERE. Hope you don’t mind, Miss.

Step By Step Vegan Curry Cashew Cabbage

Cabbage is like tahini, once you’ve used it for hummus, it sits in your fridge forever. Seriously though, how many of you have had to let a half, or a quarter head of cabbage rot after you’ve made your coleslaw or whatever? Living in the countryside has been difficult but it’s also had its perks. For one, I am constantly gifted vegetables. And not just any vegetables but ones grown with much love and care. Any-who, what to do with all these cabbage heads? Pinterest! Where I got the idea for this simple curry cashew cabbage thingamajig that I slightly adapted (since that one used butter and much ginger). Enjoy!

STEP ONE: gather your ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup raw unsalted cashews
1/2 smallish cabbage head
1 tsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste
STEP TWO: melt coconut oil in a pan (med heat), add cashews and cumin and stir until both are fragrant and golden.

STEP THREE: add cabbage, add turmeric, stir. 

STEP FOUR: tis not really a step but just keep stirring for a further 5 or so minutes then nomnomnom away!