Venus' Kitchen

white soups for a not-so-white christmas

2012-01-03T11:57:00.021-05:00

the iraqi market in the jerusalem souk

The markets in Jerusalem this time of year have the full spectrum of colours for a rainbow diet, a diet that contains all the micronutrients via the different colours of our natural foods. And with the glorious colours, writes Dr. Gabriel Cousens, we eat with our eyes and begin to imagine the taste before we put it in our mouths. Apparently, this anticipation is one of the best ways to pre-digest our food.

One of the colours we don't see much of in this region during the Christmas-Hannukah season is white ~ there is no sprinkling of snow over treetops and few references to winter as I know it. It is also a colour of food that is associated with the naughty things ~ white flour, white sugar, pastas and the tasty things that fill our guts with gluten, sugars and unfortunately, bloating and discomfort. To bring white back into food fashion, I have conveniently fallen in love with the nutty sweet white vegetables and am finding ways of bringing them to our table and stomach with panache!

So I have been making "white soups" because they are best made with seasonal celery root, cawliflower, jerusalem artichoke (or sunchokes). The other discovery is chestnuts which we find all over the markets in the East. Add them in to your soups and they make a super-creamy, toasty kind of creation.

This is an exceptional base for a series of delicious soup combinations because of the scrumptious and unique taste given by the peppery sweetness of tarragon!

creamy celery root and chestnut soup, with tarragon

2 leeks, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped small

1/2 c vegetable stock (and/or you can also use any leftover wine)

dash of dried thyme and 4 bay leaves

2 celery roots, chopped or 1 cawliflower, or the equivalent of jeru-artichoke (looks like ginger or galangal)

8 c vegetable stock, or water with herbamare salt!

handful of dried chestnuts (you can find at asian stores, or the health food store)

1 teaspoon lemon zest or lemon rind

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1-2 tablespoons of fresh or dried tarragon

2 tablespoons light miso (or whatever you have handy)

ground pepper and salt to taste

rice or soy milk to thin the soup

making the soup

cook the leeks, garlic, salt and sherry/veg broth til the leeks are tender and begin to caramelize. add in the thyme, bay, celery root, stock and chestnuts.

cover and simmer for 40 min then add in the lemon zest, nutmeg, tarragon, pepper, miso and salt. remove from heat and discard the bay leaves so you can blend the soup.

add rice milk to thin the soup if you want, and garnish with lemon zest and tarragon or thyme!

thank you to amazing vegan gourmet the millennium restaurant for the inspiration for this recipe, which invited the mighty tarragon into my life!

Apprenticing to the Earth – Conscious kitchen

2011-06-06T06:17:00.004-04:00

this blog post was written by Helen Titchen-Beech, who participated in Apprenticing to the Earth at Axladitsa in May and harvested, with gorgeous photos and words, her experience of the Conscious Kitchen.

Friday 27 May – It’s raining this morning. I’m in the kitchen with the breakfast team. Whenever we volunteer for kitchen duty we know we are stepping in to the sacred and intentional practice of Conscious Kitchen.

Conscious Kitchen is a beautifully grounding and flexible life practice. You can take it with you wherever you go, in the form of a set of principles and an attitude that I’d like to share with you here as a story of this day in the life of Axladitsa’s kitchen.

Fresh food - use what's there

Vanessa and Maria have been talking about supplies – what fruit and vegetables are left? What more do we need? Kiria Athina is chopping walnuts to add to the nut and seed mix for toasting. Now that the oatmeal is cooked (dried figs in it this morning), I have decided to withdraw from physical contribution in order to record my thoughts about the sublime collective practice of Conscious Kitchen.

Nici is cutting fruit, Athina has moved on to toasting the nuts, while Vanessa has concocted something ineffable with bananas, cocoa nibs, cinnamon, cloves, walnuts and orange peel (we’re experimenting with cutting and sun-drying citrus peel for use in the eco-loos (deodorising) and around the olive trees (bug repellent), rather than putting it in the compost where they burn the worms).

Quality of presence

Yesterday it was Claire’s birthday, so the kitchen team went into joyous overdrive. Before we even started, Vanessa Reid, the originator of the Conscious Kitchen concept, demonstrated two important principles of the practice by inviting us to look around and see who was in the kitchen, and then each to set an intention around a quality we wanted to bring to the making the meal – with the idea that the people eating the meal will consume those qualities and intentions. In other words: the intentions you put into the meal come into the food. If you’re hectic or frustrated, we’ll taste it. And so the quality of presence of those preparing the meal is transmitted to the food that we eat.

Colour and texture

Two more principles of Conscious Kitchen are use what’s there and left-overs are really ingredients for today’s meal. Janell had made a fabulous soup stock from the chicken and lamb bones of the previous day (her own birthday feast), into which we threw artichoke leaves discarded from the lunch preparations. The artichoke leaves were then recovered when the stock was strained, and made into an artichoke paste, destined to become a layer in the innovative Surprise Lasagna conjured by master chef Nici from left-over bread mixed with eggs and milk, topped with the artichoke paste, finished with a mix of carrots and tiny bits of lamb meticulously picked off the stock bones by Steve…

The story of this dish itself demonstrates a few more key principles: firstly, upcycle what you have into something new – the stock demonstrates a double upcycling, first from last night’s bones into stock, and then reclaiming the artichoke leaves, that had already instilled their flavour to the stock, as a layer in the lasagne. Secondly, cook collectively when you can, inspiring each other to branch out, experiment and innovate, offering our gifts and expertise – thus is lasagne born!

feral salad

Meanwhile, Penny, Claire and I went off foraging for salad greens, following the principle of seeing beyond your current scope –what else is there out there available to us that we never knew we could eat? Having Penny with us, as a nature sprite who talks to plants and knows them well, we came back with dandelions, mallow (leaves and flowers), wild garlic flowers, different leaves from the mint family, all bulked out with plantain and milk thistle, and made it into a feral salad with a sumptuous vinaigrette marrying cabernet balsamic and Axladitsa olive oil.

When we returned, we discovered there was also a rice pilaf with lovely toasted almond slivers, a divine salsa with onion caramelised in baslamic vinegar and red wine, courgette and apple and a crunchy living chutney made with sprouted mung beans, fresh lovage, olive oil, salt and lemon juice.

A decorated table creates beauty

The last remaining touch to complete our banquet preparation was creating beauty – decorating the table and the food in preparation for welcoming the guests of honour.

When the community gathered in the kitchen, Vanessa spoke to the gathering about what was in all the dishes, so that all present would understand where our food came from (another principle: know what you eat). Introducing the meal and sharing your experience of preparing it brings the guests into the space and creates awareness: the meal is alive, and the fruit of a story in producing it. When all the plates were full, we offered a moment of grace, the cooks sang a spontaneous (and funny) song of thanks to the earth.

Just before we tucked in, Vanessa chimed in one last time: “Notice your first bite – notice how it feels in your mouth, the taste, the texture: what ingredients can you discern?” We broke this bread together in joy and awe, knowing that we would never eat a meal like this again.

After dinner, we sang birthday songs from all the cultures present, old and new, and Nici whipped out a gorgeous carrot cake topped with a mix of greek yoghourt and lemon curd all the way from Leeds, UK.
In a nutshell (where else?) Conscious Kitchen is the practice of consciousness in daily living – it invites us to do what we always do and then that bit more: noticing what is present, bringing intention to life, offering the fruits of our labour as a gift of love.

to see more of helen's wonderful writing, visit: iyeshe
for more Apprenticing photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/i-yeshe/5764398752/in/set-72157626803445068#/

invisible networks of life

2011-02-13T04:15:00.000-05:00

i have been thinking a great deal about "fields" - and how we create energetic and magnetic fields that can shift or deeper our awareness or actions, how in coming together with a certain intention, we can create a field that can source or access a collective intelligence.

some call it resonance - or "collective resonance" which is described as "the "magic" that transforms individuals and whole groups through access to greater sources of wisdom." it is that sense that there is a deeper connection or weave between people and place and intelligence that is beyond what is visible, but it is strongly experienced. it is a practice of cultivating consciousness as something real, tangible, accessible. and basically, creating such fields helps us host the evolution of our humanity.

i do believe mushrooms know something about this.

author Paul Stamets who wrote Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World believes mycelium, which bear mushrooms as their fruit, have not just the ability to protect the environment but the intelligence to do so on purpose.

in this wonderful interview with Derrick Jensen in the Sun magazine called going underground , Stamets describes how the invisible and underground systems of fungi work to nourish the whole and how they transmit information across their huge networks. it intrigues me to think about this network of life that is so alive, that decided to do its work underground. the invisible work, at least it is invisible to us topsoil folks, that sustains life on the planet.

"Mycelia took an evolutionary path by going underground and forming a network of interwoven chains of cells, a vast food web upon which life flourished. These fungi paved the way for plants and animals. They munched rocks, producing enzymes and acids that could pull out calcium, magnesium, iron, and other minerals. In the process they converted rocks into usable foods for other species. And they still do this, of course.

Fungi are fundamental to life on earth. They are ancient, they are widespread, and they have formed partnerships with many other species."

what are the invisible networks working on our behalf, those that sustain us and those we humans create and sustain? Jungian psychology describes a collective unconscious that lives alongside and within us, it is available when we accept our whole selves through our shadows, our dreams, our inter-connectivity with our lineage, and the inter-generational transmission of consciousness. indigenous peoples and traditions work with the invisible in many ways, bringing in ancestors, plant-spirits, and the cycles of life and death such that all life and time is present at all times. this information is accessible to us, if we practice, if we invite it in and work with it, if we see it as real and tangible. access this, and more of life is available to us.

so what kind of partnerships can we form with the invisible networks of life? what are the "fieldwork" practices that bring in the multiple levels of intelligence that are just waiting to be invited to the party? how would our organizations, communities, institutions be different if we saw the wholeness of integrating the visible and the invisible?

ask a mushroom.

and come to the Immersion, May 6-15, 2011!

we will be working with the Living Wholeness pattern

which offers a framework for being
systemic at every level: with ourselves, our work and our communities,
and especially in relationship with all of life. with the Living Wholeness
pattern, we navigate the visible, invisible, individual and collective pathways
towards deeper alignment with all of Life.

photo by daniel seguin

apprenticing to the earth

2011-02-13T03:12:00.003-05:00

With great delight, we are/ I am inviting you to Apprenticing to the Earth, taking place from 25 May-1 June at Axladitsa-Avatakia, in South Pelion, Greece. It is one part of a longer learning month we are hosting in Greece.

We invite you to be part of a rich translocal community of learners, with a wonderfully diverse circle of hosts with visiting faculty, the wild land of Axladitsa, and its local community. It is less a workshop and more of an inquiry into what it means to truly learn with and from the Earth in order to become more resilient, to sustain people and the planet. We will be living and working with the a pattern we call Living Wholeness along with the practices of permaculture, mud building, poetry and reflection, conscious food, living systems, art of hosting, open space and a whole lot more...

Axladitsa Avatakia is an ancient Olive farm and haven of 24 acres on the Pelion peninsula, mainland Greece - is unspoiled, remote, rugged and beautiful. It is a teacher and learner, and one of our hosts. Axladitsa has inspired Maria, Sarah and myself to develop a pattern known as Living Wholeness that offers a framework for being systemic at every level: with ourselves, our work and our communities, and especially in relationship with all of life. With the Living Wholeness pattern, we navigate the visible, invisible, individual and collective pathways towards deeper alignment with all of Life.

Here you can download the elegant Apprenticing to the Earth invitation and the registration & fee form:

Apprenticing to the Earth Invite

Apprenticing to the Earth Registration Form

In the meantime, please join the Apprenticing community and indicate if you will be joining us in May, are still thinking about it…or simply want to part of the conversations and connected into the evolution.

And if you wish to join us earlier, from 6-15 May, we are offering the always much-anticipated Axladitsa Immersion (the Mystery, Mastery and Artistry of Living Wholeness). If you are interested in coming to both gatherings - coming for a month of Immersion learning in a wild place with excellent people - please join us for the Early Bird rates and register by 28 February. If you wish to register, or if you have any questions at all about payment, fees, scholarships or sponsorships, please contact Sarah Whiteley at sarahwhiteley.hara@virgin.net.

We look forward to seeing you this May!

Much love, Vanessa with Sarah Whiteley, Maria Scordialous, Janell Kapoor, Filiz Telek, Penny Livingstone and Axladitsa Avatakia

tasting the future

2010-12-09T12:14:00.004-05:00

i find myself part of some incredible work in the United Kingdom ~ an initiative called Tasting the Future is being called by some brave souls within the WWF-UK and is attracting all sorts of people to it. i say they are brave because in fact what they are calling in is a way of working on systemic and intractable issues that works with the real context in which humanity currently finds itself. in human systems dynamics, this context is called "dynamical" ~ it is characterized by high levels of complexity, inter-connectivity, non-linearity, emergence. this simply means that with the way things are working right now, we are on the edge of what we know and what we know how to do. it means we need to brave enough to not-know, and yet to step in and say yes, i am here, join me.

Tasting the Future is less a "project" and more like a movement because it is about collectively finding a new way of living with the planet and with each other, through the portal of our food. currently, the UK alone consumes as if it had 3 planets to feed itself from. factor in north america, europe, and the massive consumer cultures emerging in asia and it is almost too much to bear. so we are asking, what would a food system actually look like if we produced and consumed in a way that sustained, rather than depleted, people and the planet?

the answer is actually that nobody knows what our new systems can and will look like because we are currently in a world in transition. we have a sense of the new ways forward and we have a sense of the massiveness of our current systems' dysfunction. our damage to the planet and to our humanity has lead to unprecedented depletion of both our biosphere and ethnosphere, while our economic and governance systems show signs of stress and distress, irrelevance, and an incapacity to respond to the real needs of this time.

there are various pathways forward. we can adapt to the current context as we imagine and innovate our way into completely new ways of being a human ecology on this planet. we can consume better and create higher standards and regulations for our current industries. we can consume differently by creating entirely industries, like electric cars and up-cycled product lines. or we can consume less and in so doing, shift industries and behaviours radically: car-free cities and everything non-privatized open-source. this last way is a fundamental shift in our values, behaviours, artifacts, and assumptions about what ecology and economy and humanity are and can be...

what we are seeing in Tasting the Future is that these are happening all at once in the food sector. there is already so much innovation happening in local and regional ways, in civil society and in the market, all around the UK. they are, however, not connected, and they do not reach a critical mass of citizens. so the invitation with Tasting the Future is to convene these projects and people, illuminate the work that is happening, connect them in meaningful ways and from this, scale up the work and begin to co-create the new together. in other words, create an intentional learning ecology to support the catalysts, grow the impact, and together seed new innovations from what we learn collectively. it is time to innovate and prototype, but the trick is to do it collectively, and learn with each step as we tread - or tumble - towards a fundamental change.

it is to begin to BE the new system that we want to cultivate more widely.

the edge in this work is around calling out a new culture, one that learns and grows together through actually being in profound relationship with each other and with the earth. why is this edgy? because the norm is to work with cause and effect and to see the system as outside of ourselves: to see problems and find solutions, to bring together experts or power brokers and get them to create strategies that will be implemented by us, or to create lists of recommendations that others should follow. what we don't have as a sophisticated human capacity is to be learners together regardless of our status, to be the "us" that leads and the "them" that follows, learners who access a collective intelligence from the whole - from our diversity, differences and inter-connectivity, from what the Earth is asking of and teaching us, and from our wholeness as human beings, as opposed to from our "titles", positions, these fragmented aspects of our selves.

as margaret wheatley says, "whatever the problem, community is the answer" and "the leaders we need are already here." those that are showing up are "paradigm pioneers" who hold a sense of purpose so strongly that others gather around, bring their beauty, and live their way courageously into the unknown, yet tangible, future. we can already taste it...

we are risen, tangled

2010-10-27T15:27:00.012-04:00

it is a strange thing to ask...
but when you eat something fresh, something you picked or caught or

gathered with your very own hands
something that had its own life and has now become your sustenance
when that miracle touches the softcells of your mouth
and its particles become
scent
flavour
texture
when you let them wash into your body, through your systems,
and they become your blood, your energy, your life ~
do you think about your own death?

i thought about this when i read Mary Oliver's poem, the Fish... the miracle of the tangled life we lead with all that is around us, all that sustains us and the incredible amount of Life that goes so completely unoticed every day. ingested, yet not fully digested. but what happens when we notice how life leads into life, and notice those little deaths that offer us life each day? would we live differently, die differently? is the light somehow different, the taste that much sweeter? the mysteries more wondrous....

The Fish

The first fish

I ever caught

would not lie down

quiet in the pail

but flailed and sucked

at the burning

amazement of the air

and died

in the slow pouring off

of rainbows. Later

I opened his body and separated

the flesh from the bones

and ate him. Now the sea

is in me: I am the fish, the fish

glitters in me; we are

risen, tangled together, certain to fall

back to the sea. Out of pain,

and pain, and more pain

we feed this feverish plot, we are nourished

by the mystery.

~ by Mary Oliver

amuse-bouches (& the fire of transformation)

2010-06-08T02:38:00.042-04:00

.....an "amuse-bouche" is a whimsical appetizer offered before the meal, invented by the chefs to please, tease and invite the taste buds to a kind of ecstacy....

what new can we create from the seemingly useless? how can we utilize as much of our food sources as possible?

in the Conscious Kitchen, we work with creativity, resourcefulness and awareness in many different ways. this is a recipe for a once-in-a-lifetime “amuse bouche” called Jeanne D’Arc. the idea was hatched as a result of the sheer wonder evoked by very naked, vulnerable oranges whose skin had been "zested" and whose juice had been squeezed for other recipes and dishes already...coupled with our desire to create as little waste as possible. our "collective chefs" worked with sheer inspiration with the parts of the orange that are FULL of nutrients, yet often overlooked as a potential ingredient.

we transformed a seemingly useless skin into a fiery taste sensation.

"Jeanne D'Arc gave her life for something new to be born. There will be a fire of flavor exploding in your mouth"

in giving our recipes and dishes a unique name that captures the experience of creating the dish, we create a kind of wholeness, an invitation to remember not only the taste of the food, but its personality. it is a way of saying "i hear you!" since the name is inspired from the ingredients, the process, and the context in which we find ourselves cooking so consciously together.

the power of naming also brings to life a story. and this story is a way to introduce our eaters to the food that is offering itself to us, and the light of inspiration from which it was created. and that all of this - the food, the ingredients, the process, the love and inspiration - will be nourishing their bodies and souls....

food ingredients

2 oranges, using leftover peel
...naked, wounded, surrendering with unexpected shining beauty and softness...

zested orange and lemon peel,
....mixed with bit of freshly squeezed orange-juice and the leftover pulp from squeezing the orange

date-water
...the soak water from dried Axladitsa dates creates a sweet water that can be used as a sweetener...

greek honey

2 bananas, sliced

1 dark chocolate bar, cut into squares

wild fennel, freshly harvested from the walk on the wildside

....for extra-taste and decoration (a little Tree of Life on each island of fire)

preparation:

mash the orange peel and zests together. add some date water and honey, as needed and then roll them into balls. to arrange each amuse bouche, take a square of chocolate, add a slice of banana, the ball of orange and add a dash of wild fennel.

magic ingredients

the conditions for creating such amuses for our bouches is really about the kind of space we create together in order to be fully responsive to that which wants to be created. it certainly helps to have a beautiful, spacious, sunny, windy kitchen, with life blowing through, in all its forms…this kind of vitality and life shows up in the spirit of teamwork that evokes fun, joy, laughter, reciprocity and trust ~ in one's own creativity and giving trust to each other to create; spontaneity and improvisation that surprises oneself and others; wonder, details and beauty as essential ingredients; resourcefulness that leads to surprisingly new and refreshing things born out of what we think is rubbish/ left overs/ compost/the old skin....

....is really a kind of hosting Life in all its potential....

thank you to Katrin Kohlbecher for her generous harvest of this recipe and experience

and to Richard Moreham and Julie Arts for their gleeful photos

eating Light

2010-06-01T04:41:00.030-04:00

...it seems we've lost a sense of wonder in the food we eat. we have forgotten that our food is actually Light manifest. in the interplay of sun, earth, and elements is a magical alchemy creating the plants that give their bodies to us so we can receive energy. we are what we eat. Light. Energy. Life. it is pure potential - how do we process this Light? how do we give back with the energy we receive?...

in the joy of hosting a conscious kitchen as part of the Axladitsa Immersion, we really played with the idea of eating Light.

rather than thinking about "lite" diets or cutting down on foods, we invited in what it really means to eat Light. we consume the nourishment that Light provides in every fruit and vegetable that we eat. the vibration of Light is transformed into the uniqueness of carrot, a cabbage, thyme, aubergines... Light becomes manifest through complex and incredible processes of photosynthesis and creates, well, our food.

when we consume it, it becomes us....
so imagine with every bite, you are eating Light!

the first paragraph is a quote from an introduction i wrote for the "eating Light" section of ascent magazine's sustainability issue.

eating Light profiles 3 young people who are bringing their light to their lives and work with community. you might want to check them out ~ gayla trail cultivates rich soil for plants and relationships as a pioneering urban gardener, and founder of you grow girl. bryant terry is an eco-chef and author of Grub who feeds his african-american southern lineage through educating young people in healthy eating and preserving tradition. and jill boadway was the chef the radha yoga & eatery in vancouver's downtown eastside, and is the co-founder of the Conscious Table which shares a practice of conscious eating to cultivate gratitude and awareness.

to read the entire intro and article which profiles these 3 inspirational people & their projects, click here.

the whole process of collectively imagining and then manifesting the sustainability issue of ascent magazine deeply influenced the way i think about sustainability as the union of our inner light and outer action. when our editorial team first met to begin to think about the "core" of the issue, how we would approach sustainability in a way that was unique to ascent magazine and that offered a spiritual approach to this issue, we were inspired by the core teachings of swami radha, the founder of ascent, timeless books, and the yasodhara ashram. in particular, the mantra,

"i am created by divine light, i am sustained by divine light, i am protected by divine light, i am surrounded by divine light, i am ever growing into divine light."

to find out more about swami radha's work, her contribution to yoga in the west, and her teachings about Light (Light and Vibration and The Divine Light Invocation), visit the ashram's website at www.yasodhara.org.

her own story is incredible and inspiring, radha, a diary of a woman's search.

walk on the wild side into edible landscapes

2010-06-01T03:49:00.025-04:00

it's a evening of radical amazement....
and what if we practiced this everyday, and together? seeing and sensing the wonder of the world in every moment. what would our food taste like and offer us if we ingested that amazement, the miracle of light transmuted into form, which becomes our food?

well, we did a little experiment in that regard, with the Conscious Kitchen we we hosted on the 3rd evening of the Axladitsa Immersion. we visited the edible landscape to see what She would offer... edible flowers, wild herbs to inspire our menu, fresh lettuce from the garden and luscious conversations all the while. our little troupe came back filled with offerings of taste and beauty to make the food & space sparkle with wild welcome.

remarkable patterns of light in the food - the Tree of Life in the cabbage, the perfection of peas in a pod... and the scents and tastes of wild thyme inspired the Take Thyme Salad, wild fennel splashed on the Jeanne D'Arc orange-peel-banana-chocolate Amuses-bouches, the edible flowers on the Sunbeam Salad. and the look of sweet rapture on the faces of the radical chefs and eaters.

this little shift, this little invitation to eat Light and be amazed by the miracles that become of our food, inspired our blessings on the food. no words, just look, see, smell and taste with reverence, in silence.

then dig in!

photos by richard moreham and julie arts

jerusalem's first conscious kitchen

2010-04-19T08:51:00.018-04:00

the invitation to create a conscious kitchen in jerusalem grew quite naturally from a new learning triad in which i find myself. we are 3 women of 3 different generations who meet regularly to explore the complexity, paradoxes and possibilities of life.

on the menu was first of all, a good deal of fresh produce from the Yehuda market, magically transformed into a delectable seasonal meal cooked with the characteristics of Spring. Secondly, was a process of creating a conscious space in which to eat, share and open the space for new themes and insights to come forward and feed our learning cycle.

on the Food menu

cool cuke soup with spicy tomato chutney

fennel and orange salad with tangy dressing

fresh local veg stirfried with ginger, lemon zest & hijiki seaweed

spelt bread

stRAWberry cashew cream tarts (on pecan-date cookies)

lemon water with fresh mint

on the Who menu:

judy tal is a hungarian-born israeli, a mathematician by training who courageously stepped out of academia and into a new life of leading leaders in learning. a real expert, she is creating mathematical models of complexity and self-organizing. a grandmother and second-generation holocaust survivor, she exudes strength and vulnerability. "it is a miracle that i am alive!" a true artist in the truth she speaks about life. she is almost 60.

jill levenfeld is an LA-born israeli, a peace educator deeply committed to dialogue and co-existence with palestinian children and adults, religious, inter-faith, diverse communities. her full heart and soul are invested in a breath-taking depth of projects with palestinian friends and colleagues. contagious curiosity and boundless energy, jill is honest and generous beyond measure. she is a proud mother of four children, two of whom are in the army. she is almost 50.

i am the almost-40-year-old.

the What menu:

Check-in

to become present to each other, asking what is alive in our lives and hearts since the last time we met.

Framing in

the spirit, intention and practices of the Conscious Kitchen.

Preparation

in silence

in the spirit of Radical Amazement a la Schumacher College kitchen which is a way of entering a relationship with the food that is offering itself

(a term coined by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel)

Cooking

the spirit of the season ~ quick cooking, seasonal, local bright foods arranged in bouquets,

cooling foods

Blessings

from each of us, in our own way

on the food, and those who grew it, prepared it,

the land it came from and the miracle of its existence in the first place

Eating with gusto, appreciation and chewing!

Clean-up

the How menu:

this includes bringing awareness to the cooking & preparation, nutritional content, beauty and aesthetics, rhythms of the seasons, relationships with the food's producers, the vibrations and energetics in our food, our waste to the magic of silence and conversation, sharing our cultures and rituals of blessing and thanks...

Open space

for a rich conversation on complexity, self-organizing and the body,
if it is written in the body's dna code to self-organize towards purpose (a bone cell becomes a bone), then do human systems self-organize towards purpose ~ and what is the difference between purpose and self-interest?

fennel and orange salad, cook cuke soup with spicy tomato chutney,
fresh veg stir-fry with ginger and hijiki

stRAWberry cashew cream tarts

2010-04-09T09:33:00.015-04:00

this is a delicious desert idea that i discovered when i was a raw foodie - nut creams that make rich frostings combined with fresh fruit, on easy to make no-cook pie crusts!
in hebrew strawberries are called tutim, and they are grown in israel and not palestine; they're an imported crop, not indigenous to this land.

stRAWberry cashew cream tarts
on pecan-date cookies

cashew cream
1 c whole raw cashews
4 soft dates (no pits)
1 tablespoon maple syrup or agave nectar
1/2 cup strawberries or blueberries
1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut butter
1 tablespoon shredded beet
dash of vanilla extract
dash of lemon rind or zest

soak the cashews in fresh water for at least 30 minutes. soak the dates, too, for at least 10 minutes.
drain the water. (keep the date-water for liquid sweetener!)

to make the cashew cream, blend together the cashews, dates, maple syrup, the berries, olive oil, beet and vanilla til it's nice and smooth. add the date water sweetener if you want to make it smoother and creamier!

for the pecan-date cookies

take half a cup of pecans, put them in the blender to make a crumbly crumble. then take 4-6 soaked dates and blend them in with the pecans.

with your hands create whatever shape you'd like for your tarts (round, square, go nuts!). you can dehydrate them a bit in the sun, oven or dehydrator to make them harder.

assembly and prep:
on each pecan-date cookie, spread some cashew cream, then add your strawberries on top in a formation that looks sweet and delicious. you now have a completely RAW berry tart!

taim me'od!
(very delicious!)

cool cuke soup with spicy tomato chutney

2010-04-09T07:43:00.012-04:00

the spring in jerusalem is lush and vibrant, and the market is bursting with produce. our jerusalem conscious kitchen day was inspired to prepare our lunch according to the spring "vibration" of new growth, simplicity and lightness, meaning short cooking times, raw foods and local ingredients!

for the cool cuke soup:

3 fresh cucumbers, peeled
1/2 c freshly squeezed lemon juice
a dash of lemon zest
handful of pine nuts
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar
chopped fresh dill
chopped parsley
1/2 c water

blend together the cukes (called melafefon in hebrew!), pine nuts, tahini, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey til smooth.
add water gradually, and just as much as you need to make a rich (not runny) soup. then blend in the dill and parsley, add some salt to taste and chill the soup.

spicy tomato chutney

1/2 cup diced fresh tomotoes
1 tablespoon fresh hot peppers, or a dash of hot sauce or chili peppers
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoons of fresh minced ginger
1 teaspoon organic olive oil
pinch of salt

let the chutney sit for at least 15 minutes to let the flavours blend. we served our soup in little cups, with a spoonful of the chutney on top!

bete avon!
(bon appetit!)

conscious kitchens in the Holy Land

2009-12-21T04:40:00.020-05:00

'tis the Christmas season and i find myself in distinctly new territory: Jerusalem.

there are Hannukah lights gracing street lamps and windows, and inflatable Santas in the Old City, yet few other symbols of this season as i know it - the quiet of snow, the jingle-jingle of silver bells, green and red decorations and the familiar carols playing in stores, on the street, and at home.

for some this time of year is deeply nourishing, full of celebration, belongingness and the sensuous wafts of food as an expression of love, culture and communion. peace on earth. for others, it is a season that brings loneliness. isolation. hunger.

being here in the Holy Land offers rich soil to be in the multiple traditions around this season, and in the paradoxes of union and division. the soil that has birthed Judaism, Islam and Christianity as religions rich with story, traditions, song, prayer, culture and mysticism also holds a legacy of deep and unresolved conflict.

in Jerusalem's Old City, divisions are also thresholds. the jewish, christian, armenian and muslim quarters each have their different "Gates" of entrance and spaces for worship. a place of prayer, a shared Wall, is also a source of tension: the Western Wall is the last remaining structure from the destroyed Jewish Second Temple where the Blue and Gold Mosque now stands, built on its remnants. in its stones, a reminder of both war and peace.

yet, there are shared roots among these peoples and religions, not the least of which is the Land itself. a beautiful example of shared reverence for the land, its bounty and the ancient knowledge, is through the possibilities of peace that comes with mixing and sharing traditions of food.

Chef Moshe Basson is an Iraqi Jew who grew up in an immigrant transient camp in Jerusalem's Talpiyot neighbourhood. he founded Eucalyptus Restaurant and is a member of Chefs for Peace which together "are all about deconstructing harmful images of 'the other.' The restaurant and its dishes are meant to highlight the importance of togetherness. Many of its dishes have been cooked in family kitchens for generations. when members of different cultures sat together around food, they start to talk about their lives."*

Basson speaks about the tradition holders, the sharing of knowledge between generations and cultures, as a kind of divine passing down of collective wisdom:

"Later, when I was a chef, I would go to the Damascus Gate and talk to the Arab farmers and field workers who sold greens they found foraging and that were not found in the Jewish markets. Jews from Iraq come from a different climate..... Palestinians here on this ground were the keepers of our traditions."*

"When you go out into nature with your father and sisters and people with more experience, this is tradition. People pass on knowledge, but without schools, without lectures. I feel the tradition of herbs and medicine from nature is ultimately passed down from God. It is a common knowledge and you have to know how to soak up the knowledge. I know it might be in our mind, but for me it's there and maybe it's [in the] soul. You could also call it a collective wisdom."

soulfood in the holy land.

'tis the beginning of a path of discovery, as i sign up for my first ever Biblical Cooking course in January... more to come from the conscious kitchens of the world.

watch a youtube video of Chefs for Peace Video
* quoted from the Jerusalem Post article, 03.12.09 "Of Biblical Proportions".

summer som tam (thai salad)

2008-06-14T09:12:00.003-04:00

Som Tam with Cashew Dressing

This is a recipe I learned in Bangkok when I did a Vegetarian Cooking Course with May Kaidee and we experimented with Raw Thai Cuisine; it can be made in any country!

Grate carrot in long noodles,

Do the same with beets

Chop up zucchini or make noodles

Slice a Red onion

Add coconut and grated Ginger

for the dressing:
Soak Cashews and crush them, add in nama shoyu (tamari or soy sauce), lime juice, sweetener like agave nectar, chopped hot pepper, water or oil and blend together to make a creamy sauce.

Garnish with mint and/or cilantro

You can serve this as a salad or put this combination in a nori or lettuce and make a roll.

Marinated Pear and Garden Spinach Salad with Crushed Walnuts

2008-01-07T08:27:00.009-05:00

with fresh spinach harvested from Axladitsa’s organic garden

preparation and presentation

slice pears lengthwise

place them in a marinade of
olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and a tiny bit of soy sauce for as little as 15 minutes or up to 3 hours.

the pears with soak up the flavour and become sweet.
you can also add sliced red onions or shallots to the marinade for some colour and zest!

wash the spinach and place in salad bowl

right before serving, pour the pears and the marinade over the spinach;
the marinade becomes the dressing

crush walnuts and sprinkle on top

sliced fresh or dried figs also made a beautiful topping and add some sweet to the salad

emergence of a new organizing pattern

2007-12-25T14:56:00.007-05:00

november 2008

i write from volos, a small waterfront city in greece on the way to thessoloniki where tomorrow i will catch my plane home. i am with nora who is czech and slovakian, and apprenticing with axalditsa and rowan from denmark who is their first intern. we are having some separation anxiety after having spent so much rich and quality time together, so maria and sarah dropped us off here, on their way to athens, and we are all internet-ting together before i get the bus.

the november harvest at axladitsa

we have spent the last 2 weeks together with others from belgium, turkey, denmark and canada harvesting olives with panayoti, a wonderful local friend and farmer, and making olive oil. maria and sarah's olives produced the best grade olive oil yet this year at the local olive press. it was amazing to see the vats of olives, churning and turning into the biggest tapenade i've ever seen, then coming out in a tinted green oil that we've been using everyday in our meals. i have a 1.5 litre in my bag right now that i hope will grace my kitchen in montreal, and not the clothes in my bag. the prize bottle is wrapped in many many protective layers. believe, me this olive oil is worth the risk.

but we also created the Conscious Kitchen together as part of the overall gathering we were hosting. it was my first time really integrating these ideas into a living place and system and it was really amazing.

we learned a lot about how to integrate this not only as a programme here, but simply into the operating system of how axladitsa hosts gatherings. beyond cooking together, and hosting each other through food, is collectively being conscious of where the food is from, what choices we made and make everyday to plant, pick, buy, and compost our food and be conscious of where we create waste. so we have ideas for how to further integrate this into further gatherings with the vision of axladitsa becoming self-sufficient.

the other europeans there were really interested in co-creating their conscious kitchens with them. in fact, there is a whole emerging network out there for whom the conscious kitchen would provide a deepening of their practice and new avenues in to their work. we've already booked a week long conscious kitchen workshop for next november to co-incide with the olive harvest.

emerging the art of hosting meaningful spaces

our purpose for being together at Axladitsa was to deepen our understanding and practice of hosting, or of holding space for emergence to occur.

we saw the evolution of hosting spaces for meaningful conversations because the people who gathered here are developing a next level of this practice through hosting meaningful spaces. this means living this practice by integrating it into our daily lives.

that our work is in creating our own living spaces as learning spaces.
so 5 of the people gathered are actually integrating their living and work spaces and hosting what we called a "living learning centre". this is quite different than consulting or training and bringing a practice to a place or organization and then leaving. or creating workshops or retreats over a period of time. rather, it is to integrate it and live it at every level every day with family, work, neighbours, the land, and offer this living example to others to participate by inviting them into the rhythm of this living system/home/learning space.

what is so exciting for me, is that this is how i have been re-imagining my work and my life.

that at every level it is a practice, and it is integrating and aligned with other parts of my life - this idea of living wholeness. that is what the conscious kitchen is for me, too - a constant inquiry into how all these choices in how we eat or nourish or consume are connected not just to my own body, but to all my relationships: with people, places, practices and the planet.

i feel this is what has been emerging for me these last few years, this deeper integration and consciousness around the personal, collective and natural. and so it is important for me to be part of an emerging collective, a group and network of people who are living and working this way, who are constantly working to be aware of the emergence of new patterns for organizing their lives, their work, and our collective work in the world. i have been feeling - and now i am witnessing - something happening that has to do with a paradigm shift around how we live, work, relate, communicate, convene, reflect, be still, and move into purposeful and wise action.

the art of olive harvesting at axladitsa

2007-11-01T11:29:00.002-04:00

i leave for Greece for three weeks to work with the beautiful land and stewards of Axladitsa. it is the olive harvest and we are working with the Art of Hosting network who are coming to "harvest" their work and see what comes next for them ~
this delicious combination becomes a new kind of art of harvesting.... we are integrating people and practice by inviting the art of hosting to connect with the rhythm and stewardship of the land.
and we will do this the through the heart of axladitsa, its outdoor kitchen....

Axladitsa's Conscious Kitchen

We welcome you into the creation of Axladitsa's Conscious Kitchen experiment with open arms, hearts and bellies!

Living Wholeness is at the core of Axladitsa Avatakia; so all our actions are based on this core principle. Living a whole life requires one to be conscious and to pay attention to the fundamental aspects of living: and food is one of these fundamentals! What we take into our physical bodies holds the power to heal or hurt both our bodies as well as the earth. So at Axladitsa we would like to create a conscious kitchen in which food is prepared with consciousness and responsibility as part of a natural cycle that nourishes our bodies and our earth.

Together we will cultivate a conscious culture of nourishment during our time together. From seed to table, into our stomachs and back to the land, this cycle of nourishment is an intentional exploration of our relationship to what and how we eat and how we integrate conscious practice, "living wholeness" into every element of Axladitsa's operations. The Conscious Kitchen as a practice is at the heart of how we nourish each other, the land of Axladitsa, our neighbours and local community, the larger systems and influences, and our relationship to how we nourish our own selves. It is also about creating a healing relationship with our own bodies.

You will be joining us here during the olive harvest, which is a powerful metaphor for harvesting our own work and an opportunity to learn by doing! We will integrate and co-create practices around zero waste, silence and gratitude, karma yoga, journaling, sustainable food systems and choices, gardening, working with local farmers and neighbours, delicious cooking, cleaning and composting and of course the art of the olive harvest.

Our conscious kitchen invites you to prepare a little before you arrive:

to bring an offering from your own kitchen, home or land to our kitchen so that we might integrate all our gifts into Axlatditsa's pot (seeds, herbs, salts, a recipe, utensil, tea, a favorite ingredient, a grace or poem etc.)

if you are on a particular diet (vegan, kosher, macrobiotic, etc…) please bring any specific ingredient that we might not be able to get here, be prepared to advise us in the kitchen as well as sharing the basic principles of your diet with the group (should you choose to)

a personal journal for writing
a healing offering to the land which has been suffering deep burns

Here are some questions to explore before our collective conscious kitchen experiment:

Where does my food come from? How is it grown? How long does it travel before it comes to my kitchen? Who actually makes the most profit when I purchase a particular food? How much does the earth suffer by me consuming a particular food?
How do I prepare my food? Is the way I prepare my food and the way I consume it good for my body? What is good for my body? What is the real cost of my cooking to the nature?
How much waste do I create by consuming a particular food? How much waste do I generally create in the kitchen? Where does the waste go? Do I compost my organic waste? Can I minimize my waste in the kitchen? How can I practice zero-waste in the kitchen?
is the way i eat sustainable for my body and for the earth?

looking forward to delicious conversation,
Filiz, Vanessa, Maria and Sarah

for more information please see www.axladitsa.org

2007-10-26T08:42:00.002-04:00

Marinated Beet Greens and Arame on Zucchini Noodles
this is a favourite raw recipe that i keep playing with and elaborating the more i play... it is definitely in season right now, what with all that kale and chard coming in from the farms... i leave out the exact proportions so that you can experiment and make it to your taste. enjoy!

To make the Marinade:
Mix together olive oil, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, and a dash of nama shoyu (tamari)
Mince some ginger and garlic
Mix in some maple syrup or agave nectar

Noodles
Grate zucchini into long noodles (you can also grate some carrot and red and/or yellow beet to make a tri-colour noodle combo)
Put aside for now

Greens

Finely slice or grate beet greens (or any greens such as swiss chard, kale, collards)
Grate 1 carrot and 1 small beet
Slice a handful of onion such as green, red or sweet white onion
And combine these in the marinade for at least 30 minutes, but you can leave it for hours!

Soak arame and/or kombu seaweeds for 5 minutes, drain and add to the marinade

Serving it up:
Take a handful of zucchini noodles and cover with the greens from the marinade, as a main course or as a side dish.
Garnish with Hemp seeds or Sesame Seeds and freshly chopped coriander

Make sure you serve it with garnish that adds colour, so if you’ve not already got yellows from yellow beets or purples from the swiss chard, grate a bit of red or yellow beet or grate a bit more carrot on top.

Tips:
You can use any dark green such as kale, dinosaur kale as they are great when marinated
You can also marinate Portobello mushrooms for a delicious variation.
Can add red, yellow peppers to the marinade or as a topping
Fresh corn looks beautiful!

conscious kitchens

2007-10-11T13:18:00.002-04:00

the beauty and bounty of late September was a time of creating and cultivating conscious kitchens.

at our farm in the Gatineau hills in Quebec, affectionately known as The Barn, i joined 8 other women in a weekend-long harvest cooking spree hosted by our neighbour, vegetarian chef and healer, Tanya and her 2 daughters. feasting and festing, we created intentional practices around our food, its preparation and presentation, and consumption. conversation, meditation, silence, edible flowers infused our harvest weekend with such delices as .... salted herbs and herbed oils, soups and quiches, espresso chili and root veg stews, crumbles and cakes, picking and cooking wild mushrooms, salads and salsas, flower drinks and elixirs...
http://www.the-barn.ca/

that same weekend, i went down to the Kripalu yoga centre in Lennox, Mass for Conscious Kitchens: Feeding Ourselves, Sustaining the Planet to join food activists, authors, filmmakers, nutritionists, and chefs for five days of experiential inquiry into the personal and global implications of our food choices. .... conversation around healthy eating, whole foods, environmentally sound agricultural methods, and how our approach to food can change our lives and our world...

through cooking demonstrations, panel discussions, interactive workshops, and organic food tasting, we explored the healing effects of a whole-foods lifestyle, cultivating consciousness around food, and focused on aligning beliefs and actions.
Our days included lots of yoga and delicious macrobiotic meals as well as nourishment for mind and soul:
Keynote by mother-daughter team Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé who wrote Hopes's Edge: the new diet for a small planet

Viewing of The Future of Food with filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia
Cooking demonstration and talk by Bryant Terry, chef, food activist, and coauthor with Anna Lappé of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen
Out of the Kitchen, Into the Fire, a workshop with Anna Lappé about bringing awareness into our local communities
Viewing of the grassroots film The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Spiritual Alchemy, Food, and Health with Annemarie Colbin
Ideas for incorporating whole grains into your cooking routine, with Kripalu Executive Chef Deb Howard
From Plate to Farm with Dan Barber, chef and owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Sourdough and Wheat-Free Bread Baking workshop with Richard Bourdon
Harvesting Abundance and Planting New Seeds, with nutritional coach Danny Arguetty
Yoga in the Kitchen, a workshop on eating according to the seasons, with gourmet organic chef Leslie Cerier
An organic food tasting.

http://www.kripalu.org/article/408

we talked of the integrity of food and how its integrity feeds us; how technology and ancient wisdoms can work together and how Flavour can be the basis for sustainable and whole farming practices... i learned about the small actions in towns and cities in the US that are resonated across state lines, and how The Boston Food Project and B-Healthy work with young people who become advocates, farmers and chefs to inspire their families and communities to nourish themselves... stuff is cookin' both in the extreme conglomeration of multi-nationals owning life sources like seeds and genes and the proliferation of local actions building a web of systemic change~

integrity. eat it, have it!

Venus' Kitchen

white soups for a not-so-white christmas

Apprenticing to the Earth – Conscious kitchen

this blog post was written by Helen Titchen-Beech, who participated in Apprenticing to the Earth at Axladitsa in May and harvested, with gorgeous photos and words, her experience of the Conscious Kitchen.

invisible networks of life

apprenticing to the earth

Here you can download the elegant Apprenticing to the Earth invitation and the registration & fee form:

Apprenticing to the Earth Invite

Apprenticing to the Earth Registration Form

We look forward to seeing you this May!Much love, Vanessa with Sarah Whiteley, Maria Scordialous, Janell Kapoor, Filiz Telek, Penny Livingstone and Axladitsa Avatakia

tasting the future

we are risen, tangled

amuse-bouches (& the fire of transformation)

eating Light

walk on the wild side into edible landscapes

jerusalem's first conscious kitchen

stRAWberry cashew cream tarts

cool cuke soup with spicy tomato chutney

conscious kitchens in the Holy Land

summer som tam (thai salad)

Marinated Pear and Garden Spinach Salad with Crushed Walnuts

emergence of a new organizing pattern

the art of olive harvesting at axladitsa

conscious kitchens

We look forward to seeing you this May!

Much love, Vanessa with Sarah Whiteley, Maria Scordialous, Janell Kapoor, Filiz Telek, Penny Livingstone and Axladitsa Avatakia