Yui Aida @Taiwanfest #4

(Continued from #3: foraging local ingredients on Galiano Island)

To invite a chef over for lunch or dinner is mentally and spiritually challenging.

The trick is, start with excellent quality ingredients; less is more.

Thanks to my dear cousin Irene, who operates an organic aquaponic farm, I was able to assemble a variety of fresh local organic vegetables. I also brought a few seasonal fruits, lemon, lime, and miso, from Vancouver. We were lucky to find the rare fireweed honey in the island’s produce store, as well as locally produced eggs and milk.

Jonathan went out on the boat to drop the shrimp cages the day before. In the morning, he took the team and Yui out to pick kelp and retrieve the shrimp cages. However, there was no guarantee the cages would have caught something, or anything, just like life. There are no guarantees in life.

Judy and I started early too. Fruits were washed, cut, and plated. Vegetables were washed, cut, and placed on the board. Sea asparagus was boiled in hot water for 7 minutes to get rid of the bitterness but retain its nature salty taste, then mixed with fireweed honey. Beets were marinated and mixed in the salad. Then I made salad dressing with fireweed honey, miso, lemon juice and lime. Judy made the seaweed and enoki mushroom soup.

We finished the preparation and waited.

Then Jonathan called: “We got spot prawns!”

What a relief!

Although mushroom, bacon, and eggs would be delicious too.

Multiculturalism is also reflected on Canadians’ home cooking……

Amateur chef Jonathan then took over the kitchen.

Jonathan was very fond of South Asian style cuisine. So he used his own home made hot chili oil in the shrimp and seaweed appetizer, Vietnamese fish sauce in the stir fried flat beans, and garlic in stir fried chard. The spot prawns were cooked in sea water, and eaten as is.

We had a very long lunch. No body wanted to move after lunch.

I was pretty sure Yui and team members all enjoyed it. Here is her blog about the fusion style home cooking.

Multiculturalism is also reflected on some Canadian farms

A few days later, back in Vancouver, I took Yui to Irene’s organic farm in Langley. On top of the usual local vegetables, Irene grew a variety of Asian vegetables that are rarely seen in supermarkets, such as fresh Goji berry, “dragon’s whiskers” (young leaves of chayote), and amaranth.

Among all local ingredients, Yui seemed really taking interest in beets. I could see the sparks in her eyes. Irene gave her a bunch.

I could not wait to see what she is going to do with it.

The team also provided information for Yui to explore different ethnic markets, restaurants, farmers markets, and dessert shops. As a team, we hope we did our best to provide a fertile ground for her creativity.

A few weeks later, after a lovely conversation, Mr. Tojo, the inventor of the California roll, invited Yui to his kitchen to cook with him. How was it? Well, it is another story.

Next: #5: The Taste of Yui’s Imagination

Previous: #3: The Taste of The Ocean Beyond Its Contents

If you happen to be in Toronto August 25-27, or in Vancouver September 2-4, please come to Taiwanfest to check it out!

For all my Taiwanfest related articles and photos, please come to my garden.