I remember seeing the trailer of this film in San Francisco. I missed the screening of this film and it was not available on dvd then. I happened to pick it up from my library.

It is a cooking class with Zen priest and chef. This is a film about Zen chef Edward Espe Brown who has penned many Tassajara cookbooks. It is quite a fun film that talks about food as a way of life. There is a bit of zen advice too. He talks about how long it took him to finally understand the Buddhist ritual of offering food to Buddha, when you know for sure it is not going to be consumed. You make your effort and then you offer it. You say this is my offering and then you leave.

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Cooking with a good knife is an act of yoga. Be here and now. If not, just make do with a lot less digits. I have a wusthof knife. It makes cutting and cooking so much more fun. It is also extremely dangerous. A minor distraction can turn disastrous on the cutting board. I must gather all my thoughts and energies to cut or chop the vegetables. Multitasking is best left to the processors and machines. Humans are not very good at this. The new knife has inspired me to pick up a cookbook by Mark Bittman from my library. How to cook everything Vegetarian. The book includes a lot of advice to care for the knife and other utensils.

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Thanksgiving in Canada comes way earlier than in the US of A.  It is a better time to give thanks. The trees are putting on a beautiful display of colors.  Food prepared to give thanks, looks similar to the country south below. It is definitely more mellow than the thanksgiving in the US, a lot of shops are open.  According to this article, thanks giving is mainly a celebration of survival through difficult times.

Here’s my new love. Move over larabar and the dark chocolates. Chikki, glorious chikki has taken their place. Made of roasted peanuts, jaggery and cardamom. Piece of heaven!

This is a power snack, especially after some power or powerless yoga. Chikkis are crunchy and yummy. Sold in almost all grocery stores in Bangalore. But, all are not made equal, there are some good brands and some bad ones which are not branded. They are sold in Indian stores in the US too, but they are not the same that you get in India. The ones sold in the US are the stale, musty, rancid ones which don’t have any expiry date. I guess the leftovers that don’t get sold here are shipped to the US.

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