Looking Ahead...

Next month's Dinner & a Movie will be a challenge as I'm off for a two-week vacation to the Grand Canyon on the 17th, and then to Las Vegas for Rene's annual caricature convention. So I have to squeeze my whole Dinner & a Movie project into the next two weeks. But I will be uploading my daily blogs as usual via laptop throughout the remainder of the month. No doubt I will have lots to report in addition to my adventures in Asian cuisine.

12:06 AM PST Permalink |

Seven Years in Tibet

After I complete my Dinner & a Movie event each month, I usually post my film review in this very spot. However, upon researching the adventures of Heinrich Harrer and the film Seven Years in Tibet, I decided upon a whim to read the book as well. I haven't done any 'fun' reading in quite a while and thought it might be a nice departure from my daily routine.

So...once I'm done, I will write a comparative review of both the film and the book and post it to the ThingsAsian website as a regular article rather than as a blog entry. So mark your calendar and check back here in a week or so for a link to my Seven Years in Tibet review.

Addendum March 10: As promised, here is a link to my review of Seven Years in Tibet.
11:50 PM PST Permalink |

Recipes & Photos for My 'Seven Years in Tibet' Dinner

For my 'Seven Years in Tibet' Dinner I served MoMo Dumplings filled with meat and herbs; Churu, a tomato-bleu cheese soup (because bleu cheese is the closest thing we have to fermented yak's milk); Then Thuk, lamb and bits of torn up pasta dough in a savory broth; Mar Jasha, a chicken dish in a mild curry cashew sauce. Although all the dishes turned out exactly as I'd expected, the MoMo dumplings and Then Thuk stew were by far the best dishes on the table.

Here is a link to all the Recipes and Photos.

10:51 AM PST Permalink |

All About My 'Seven Years in Tibet' Dinner...How Everything Turned Out

Last night's Tibetan Dinner & a Movie extravaganza was an interesting culinary adventure, although not my best or favorite. The rustic fare was a little disappointing, although there were two dishes that I absolutely loved:

Then Thuk, a lamb stew with onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, spinach, and bits of torn up pasta dough in a simmering broth, was delightful. The broth was savory and warming, the bits of lamb were melt-in-your-mouth-like-butter tender, and the bits of thinly rolled pasta were by far the best part. As I enjoyed each spoonful, I kept thinking, 'I should have put in more pasta'.

And...MoMo dumplings filled with ground beef, kale, garlic, ginger, and onion. I steamed them for half an hour and served them with a dipping sauce of soy, vinegar, chili paste and ginger. And omigod! ...they were by far the best dish on the table. I still have a batch of uncooked ones in the fridge to steam up for a tasty reprise of last night's dinner for a simple supper tonight.

Among the less-than-rave-worthy dishes were Churu, a tomato- bleu cheese soup that was tasty but not something I would make twice; and a sort of creamy, curried chicken dish called Mar Jasha, but I didn't love the influence of the garam masala in the spices; plus a green bean and potato medley called Tema that turned out so awful I didn't even bother serving it.

Nonetheless, on the balance of things, it was a fun and tasty evening, and the movie 'Seven Years in Tibet' was far more enjoyable the second time around, now that I'm informed on the subject of Tibetan history and the life of Heinrich Harrer.

12:28 AM PST Permalink |

The Cost of 'My Seven Years in Tibet Dinner' (in US$)

The cost of the ingredients for my 'Seven Years in Tibet' Dinner are listed below. Keep in mind that the prices are based on buying everything new rather than using ingredients that I already had in my pantry. Of course there were lots of things left over for future meals, so the actual cost of the dinner based on the quantities of the ingredients used to make the dishes will be much lower than the grand total of stocking a pantry from scratch for preparing Tibetan cuisine.

Specialty Ingredients:

Soy Sauce - 3.49
Curry Powder - .99
Chili Paste - 2.49
Sherry or Brandy - 4.99
Bleu Cheese - 3.49
Turmeric - .99
Sechuan Pepper - .99
Cashew Nuts - 3.50

Fresh Ingredients:

Chicken - 3.01
Lamb - 3.35
Ground Beef - 2.22
Kale - 1.50
Onion - 2.61
Garlic - .49
Ginger - 1.67
Potatoes - 2.49
Red Bell Pepper - 1.52
Yogurt- .50
Limes - .99
Tomatoes - 4.56
Daikon - .51
Spinach - 1.44
Green Beans - 1.87
Apples - 1.70
Cream - 1.49
Pinot Noir - 3.33

Basics:

Butter - 2.50
Flour - 1.99
Cornstarch - 1.49

Total - $62.16 (US$)
10:00 AM PST Permalink |

To Market, to Market...

Today was shopping day for my 'Seven Years in Tibet' Dinner. The weather was dreary with a steady drizzle all afternoon, and I'd much rather have stayed in, but I was nonetheless propelled out into the world by my excitement at preparing tomorrow's Tibetan menu.

I started my quest at one of our local thrift shops where I found an amusing assortment of rustic dishes for serving all the various courses I have planned. And while my son Will was at his Tae Kwon Do class, I went to the grocery store for all the fresh ingredients I will need. My shopping list was short and simple this time, so I was done just in time to pick up Will and ferry him down to his Dad's.

And since the Tibetan recipes appear to be so simple and straightforward, I didn't feel the need to do a lot of prep the night before. Instead, I'm just going to start around noon to give myself plenty of time to set the table and make all the dipping sauces, marinades and dough ahead of time.

With the winter holidays and my big move to a new house, it seems like forever since I made my Filipino dinner last month. So I'm definitely looking forward to rolling up my sleeves, donning my apron and getting busy in the kitchen tomorrow.

11:35 PM PST Permalink |

Revisiting the Tibetan Recipes

This afternoon, I delved into my 'ThingsAsian Dinner & a Movie' file and fished out all the pages with the Tibetan recipes I gathered a few weeks ago. Since none of my cookbooks had any Tibetan recipes, I had to rely on what I could find on the Internet, of which there were plenty. I've narrowed them down to the basics: MoMo Dumplings filled with meat and herbs, a tomato-bleu cheese soup called Churu, a lamb stew called Then Thuk, a buttery chicken dish called Mar Jasha, and a side dish of green beans and potatoes called Tema. I will also be making a simple flatbread called Balep Korkun, and for dessert, a Winter Apple and Prune Crisp served with Po Cha, Tibetan Butter Tea.

The ingredients for this dinner are remarkably simple and common, most of which are already in my pantry, so my shopping list is short and easy this time. After I get my shopping done, I'll be spending the remainder of the day tomorrow getting my kitchen organized to prepare and photograph a five-course Tibetan meal.

The weather here in the Napa Valley is almost Spring-like, while the rest of the country and much of the Northern Hemisphere is in deep freeze. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to all those savory, warming Tibetan dishes.

03:26 PM PST Permalink |

Dandelion Wine...In Grandmother's Kitchen

One of my favorite works of literature is Ray Bradbury's magical coming-of-age story, Dandelion Wine. First published in 1957, the story focuses on the life of a boy named Douglas Spaulding in the summer of 1928 in Green Town, Illinois. His world is filled with a cast of lively characters, including his younger brother Tom, his parents and grandparents, a pair of spinster sisters named Miss Fern and Miss Roberta who have a misadventure with a car nicknamed 'The Green Machine', a pipe-dreaming inventor named Mr. Jonas, and a dreadful phantom known only as 'The Lonely One' who lurks in the ravine.

Why, you may ask, would I mention Dandelion Wine in a weblog on Asian food and film? Well...my favorite chapter is the one that describes his Grandmother's kitchen. Having recently deconstructed my own kitchen for the move to our new home, amid the process of restoring order once again, I am fondly reminded of many passages from that chapter of Dandelion Wine.

In the first few paragraphs, Douglas muses, "Is this where the world began? For surely it had begun in no other than a place like this. The kitchen, without doubt, was the center of creation, all things revolved about it; it was the pediment that sustained the temple."

But pediment to the temple though it be, Grandmother's kitchen is the epitome of chaos; her failing eyesight is dubiously enhanced by a badly chipped and smudged pair of spectacles; and what's more, Grandmother Spaulding never uses a cookbook.

"In all the years not one single dish resembled another. Was this one from the deep green sea? Had that one been shot from blue summer air? Was it a swimming food or a flying food, had it pumped blood or chlorophyll, had it walked or leaned after the sun? No one knew. No one asked. No one cared.

...The food was self-explanatory, wasn't it? It was its own philosophy, it asked and answered its own questions. Wasn't it enough that your blood and your body asked no more than this moment of ritual and rare incense?"

Each evening, Grandmother laid a out a sumptuous banquet for the Spaulding family, a half-dozen boarders who rented the rooms upstairs, and Aunt Rose, who had come for an extended visit.

"Trailing veils of steam, Grandma came and went and came again with covered dishes from kitchen to table while the assembled company waited in silence. No one lifted the lids to peer in at the hidden victuals. At last Grandma sat down. Grandpa said grace, and immediately thereafter the silverware flew up like a plague of locusts on the air. When everyone's mouths were absolutely crammed full of miracles, Grandmother sat back and said, 'Well, how do you like it?'

And the relatives, including Aunt Rose, and the boarders, their teeth deliciously mortared together at this moment, faced a terrible dilemma. Speak and break the spell, or continue allowing this honey-syrup food of the gods to dissolve and melt away to glory in their mouths? They looked as if they might sit there forever, untouched by fire or earthquake, a shooting in the street, a massacre of innocents in the yard, overwhelmed with effluviums and promises of immortality. All villians were innocent in this moment of tender herbs, sweet celeries, luscious roots. The eye sped over a snow field where lay fricassees, salmagundis, gumbos, freshly invented succotashes, chowders, ragouts. The only sound was a primeval bubbling from the kitchen and the clocklike chiming of fork-on-plate announcing the seconds instead of the hours."

One afternoon, Aunt Rose made the well-meaning mistake of suggesting that she help Grandmother clean and organize her kitchen.

"Grandma," said Aunt Rose, down again. "Oh what a kitchen you keep. It's really a mess, now, you must admit. Bottles and dishes and boxes all over, the labels off most everything, so how do you tell what you're using? I'd feel guilty if you didn't let me help you set things to rights while I'm visiting here. Let me roll up my sleeves."

Aunt Rose would not be denied, and before it was all over, the kitchen had been overhauled and organized from top to bottom, including a larder of fresh groceries, new glasses and a hairdo for Grandmother, and...much to her horror...a cookbook! But despite Aunt Rose's best intentions, suppertime that evening was a joyless occasion.

"Smiling people stopped smiling. Douglas chewed one bit of food for three minutes, and then, pretending to wipe his mouth, lumped it in his napkin. He saw Tom and Dad do the same. People swashed the food together, making roads and patterns, drawing pictures in the gravy, forming castles of the potatoes, secretly passing meat chunks to the dog. Grandfather excused himself early. 'I'm full,' he said."

The following afternoon, Grandfather took up a collection from the boarders to buy a train ticket for Aunt Rose, and had Douglas distract her while they packed her bags. When they returned to find Aunt Rose's luggage on the steps of the front porch, Grandfather announced, 'Rose,' 'I have something to say to you...Goodbye.'

That evening, with Aunt Rose out of the picture, Douglas crept downstairs at midnight and restored Grandmother's kitchen to its original state of chaos.

"He took the baking powder out of its fine new tin and put it in an old flour sack the way it had always been. He dusted the white flour into an old cookie crock. He removed the sugar from the metal bin marked sugar and sifted it into a familiar series of smaller bins marked spices, cutlery, string. He put the cloves where they had lain for years, littering the bottom of a half a dozen drawers. He brought the dishes and the knives and forks and spoons back out on top of the tables.

He found Grandma's new eyeglasses on the parlor mantel and hid them in the cellar. He kindled a great fire in the old wood-burning stove, using pages from the new cookbook. By one o'clock in the still morning a huge husking roar shot up in the black stovepipe, such a wild roar that the house, if it had ever slept at all, awoke. He heard the rustle of Grandma's slippers down the hall stairs. She stood in the kitchen, blinking at the chaos. Douglas was hidden behind the pantry door.

At one-thirty in the deep dark summer morning, the cooking odors blew up through the windy corridors of the house. Down the stairs, one by one, came women in curlers, men in bathrobes, to tiptoe and peer into the kitchen -- lit only by fitful gusts of red fire from the hissing stove. And there in the black kitchen at two of a warm summer morning, Grandma floated like an apparition, amidst bangings and clatterings, half blind once more, her fingers groping instinctively in the dimness, shaking out spice clouds over bubbling pots and simmering kettles, her face in the firelight red, magical, and enchanted as she seized and stirred and poured the sublime foods.

Quiet, quiet, the boarders laid the best linens and gleaming silver and lit candles rather than switch on electric lights and snap the spell. Grandfather, arriving home from a late evening's work at the printing office, was startled to hear grace being said in the candlelit dining room.

As for the food? The meats were devilled, the sauces curried, the greens mounded with sweet butter, the biscuits splashed with jeweled honey; everything toothsome, luscious, and so miraculously refreshing that a gentle lowing broke out as from a pasturage of beasts gone wild in clover. One and all cried out their gratitude for their loose-fitting night clothes."

Of course, by the time I prepare my 'Seven Years in Tibet' dinner, I hope to have achieved a somewhat more orderly arrangement than Grandma Spaulding's in my new kitchen, which is still a work in progress. But even in the most orderly kitchen, I will always subscribe to her philosophy of food, asking no more than this moment of ritual and rare incense.

04:52 PM PST Permalink |

Cooking & Shopping While Hungry

Years ago, my mother told me 'Never go to the grocery store hungry'. Her theory was that a hungry shopper would be more inclined to make impulse purchases that would exceed the family budget. Which is all well and good for a thrifty householder, but when preparing a gourmet meal, I think it's better to have a keen appetite at the grocery store. I tend to be much more creative and visionary in my purchases when I'm hungry than when I shop on a full tummy.

I have a similar philosophy when it comes to cooking. I usually eat quite lightly in the early hours of the day, and save the larger meal for the evening, when I can relax afterwards. On those days when I'm preparing an elaborate meal, I rarely eat anything more than a few soda crackers and maybe a little fresh fruit or yogurt to appease my rumbling tummy while I cook. That way, I have a clear palate and plenty of room to sample all the dishes without spoiling my appetite for the actual dinner. And I always have a glass of Chardonnay close at hand to keep the chef happy and relaxed [wink].

12:17 AM PST Permalink |

Taking Photos of My 'Seven Years in Tibet' Dinner

I will be preparing my 'Seven Years in Tibet' dinner on a week night this time, so it will only be Rene and me in attendance. It's a school night for Will, so I will be relying on Rene to serve as my photographer again this time. However, I will be preparing my Tibetan dinner in my new kitchen, where there is much better light, and lots more room to set up all the dishes to be photographed before serving.

12:06 AM PST Permalink |

Deciding What to Wear

Although we had an unseasonably warm autumn, it's been chilly here in the Napa Valley all month, sometimes below freezing, although certainly not as cold as Tibet, or even Ottawa, where my older brother Steven lives. In an e-mail from him yesterday, he reported, "The overnight low was about -24 Fahrenheit. You should've seen me," he says. "I had on a fleece jacket under my winter coat (a snowboarding jacket), two ski caps with the hood up on my jacket, tights under my pants and ski pants over top, insulated gloves and snowmobile boots. All you could see was my eyes. And believe it or not, I passed people on the street with no hat on at all. The air is so cold you have to bite it off in chunks. You would not believe the colour of the sky just before dawn though. The air is cold, but clear beyond belief-- and the colours of blue in the sky remove any doubt that's where heaven is."

But I digress... My new home has very high ceilings and is somewhat drafty and hard to heat, so the attire for my 'Seven Years in Tibet' Dinner & a Movie will be wooly and snuggly warm, although I will probably have to shed a few layers once the kitchen gets fired up.

Traditional Tibetan Dress

The chupa is the traditional garment of Tibet for both men and women, and features an asymmetrical wrap front, wide neckband, and simply bound armholes, and the wrap-front attaches under the right arm with a special clasp. For women, the chupa is worn with a colored blouse that has a shawl collar showing at the neckline. Married women wear a pangden apron made of three strips of striped cloth, often embroidered with floral patterns. The chupa is often topped with a sleeveless vest, or worn with a zhen shawl made of colorful patchwork squares, which is draped to leave the right arm bare. Another version of the chupa, called the treche is worn by Tibetan monks. Tibetan garments are also worn with colorful, elaborate hats, and in the cold months are covered by an outer coat constructed of rectangular panels of homespun cloth.

Here is a link to a website that features an excellent collection of photographs of Traditional Tibetan Garments.

12:39 AM PST Permalink |

Special Cookware for a Tibetan Dinner

In my research of Tibetan food, I happened upon an illustration of a rustic Tibetan Stove. The drawing is rather small, so it's hard to tell exactly how it is designed. However, it appears as though it's smaller than a bread box, with a single burner on top, and either a drawer or a recessed scuttle at the bottom in which to burn the fuel. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to prepare a meal using one. But my guess is that the simple design is intended to accommodate 'one-pot' cooking of dishes such as stews, soups, curries and dumplings, which appear to be the mainstays of the Tibetan diet. In looking over the recipes I've chosen, I'm sure my gas range and everyday cookware will serve my purposes just fine.

01:53 AM PST Permalink |

Beverages to Go With My 'Seven Years in Tibet' Dinner

The most common Tibetan beverage is a warming brew called Po Cha (Butter Tea). This tea is an interesting presentation of the garden variety black tea that is consumed millions of times a day all over the world. It can even be made with the Lipton tea bags you probably already have on your pantry shelf.

In Tibet however, the process is somewhat more complicated, as the tea comes in compact bricks. To prepare the tea, a chunk of the brick is crumbled into a kettle of water and boiled for several hours until it forms a strong, bitter concentrate called Chaku. When it comes time to make Po Cha, a little of the Chaku is diluted in a pot of boiling water. Butter, milk and a little salt are added to season the tea, and then the mixture is churned to emulsify the ingredients, which keeps them from separating. In a modern kitchen, a blender works just as well.

Since it's so simple to make, I'm going to try a pot of it to go with dessert, but being a special dinner, I will also be serving a bottle of Napa Valley Pinot Noir, my favorite red wine.

03:11 AM PST Permalink |

Designing a Tibetan Table Setting

The humble dishes I have chosen for my 'Seven Years in Tibet' dinner hardly demand an elaborate table setting. So, in keeping with the style of the meal, I will also create a simple table using earthy colors, rustic tableware, seasonal winter greens and soft lighting.

01:38 PM PST Permalink |

About the Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth and present Dalai Lama, was born Lhamo Dhondrub on July 6th, 1935 in the village of Takster in Amdo near the monastery of Kumbum in northeastern Tibet to a peasant family. At the age of three, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Much mysticism surrounded the discovery of the new Dalai Lama. While the body of Thupten Gyatso still lay in state at the Potala, it is said that his face turned toward the northeast. Soon thereafter, a vision of the house where the next Dalai Lama would be found appeared to Reting Rinpoche, a Tibetan regent, as he gazed into Lake Lhamo Latso in southern Tibet. He saw the letters Ah, Ka, Ma, along with the image of a monastery with a jade green roof, and a humble house with a turquoise roof and unusual gutters.

For the letter Ah, a search party was sent to Amdo in the northeastern province of Tibet, and then to the Karma Rolpai Dorje monastery in Kumbum, with its turquoise roof, for the letters Ka and Ma. There they found the house with the unusual gutters. A search of the surrounding villages revealed a house with an ancient juniper bush on the roof, where they sought lodging for the night. There they found an infant boy named Lhamo among the members of the household. The leader of the search party, pretending to be an ordinary servant, played with the child, who took to him instantly and called him Sera Lama, for the name of the monastery where the lama had once been a disciple. A few days later, the party returned with a collection of personal artifacts that had belonged to Thupten Gyatso, the former Dalai Lama, including rosaries, drums and walking sticks. When presented to the child along with other items that had not belonged to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, the boy Lhamo claimed all the correct items as his own. Convinced that the child was the true reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, he was taken to Lhasa, but only after paying a substantial ransom to the Chinese provincial governor for his release.

Tenzin Gyatso was enthroned on February 22, 1940 in the Potala Palace at Lhasa at age four. His eighteen-year spiritual training began at the age of six, and was completed when he received his Ph.D. in Buddhist Philosophy at age 25. In October 1950 however, in the midst of his training, The People's Liberation Army of China invaded Tibet, and Tenzin Gyatso assumed full power as the Fourteenth Dalai Lama on November 17, at the age of fifteen. Political unrest continued to escalate, and by 1959, the Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet for India with nearly 80,000 followers. On March 17, 1959, the Dalai Lama escaped from the summer palace at Norbulinka with his family. For nearly five decades, from his headquarters at Dharamsala, India Tenzin Gyatso has worked relentlessly to restore the sovereignty of Tibet through peaceful, non-violent means, and to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of the Tibetan people. On December 10, 1989, Tenzin Gyatso was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

12:07 AM PST Permalink |