Cornellia Aihara

I was so very fortunate to have worked closely with Cornellia Aihara for eight years, managing the Vega Study Center kitchen, training staff, resident students and teaching cooking classes. Cornellia was a firm believer in making her own macrobiotic staples. We made Vega’s own miso, shoyu (natural soysauce), umeboshi, umeboshi vinegar, mochi, rice bran pickles, takuan, seitan and many other items. Sometimes students would question her,  ”Cornellia, why don’t you just buy these foods?” In her unique Japanese/American manner of speaking, she would say, “What if boat doesn’t come?” I reflected on those simple words when the tsunami disaster hit Japan. Only Cornellia and Mr. Muramoto taught students in America how to make their own shoyu. Especially, when students stayed for a while at Vega and ate these products, then they understood the value in terms of health and flavor.

Cornellia was always very proud of her accomplished shoyu, miso and pickles – wanting to share them with everyone. I savoured the flavors, but more importantly, the unique opportunity of learning the art of making these traditional foods. I knew of no American macrobiotic teachers who taught making these foods, so I happily engaged myself as a link between Cornellia, a first generation macrobiotic teacher, and future generations of students. Now, I’d like to share this knowlege with you.

For myself, I enjoy making these products. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment and even security. I know exactly the quality of the ingredients and how it is made. I can save money and still enjoy these wonderful and delicious products without breaking the bank. Some of these items, like miso, or mochi can be made in larger amounts with friends, extended family, groups or neighbors and shared. Producing our own food, as a community,  for well-being and sustainability is a special human experience most of us no longer know within today’s social structure. The modern hurry-up lifestyle removes us from  a deep connection to our food, leaving it to the chain of manufacturers-shippers-middlemen-marketers.

In my upcoming June 6-10 “Make Your Own Home Crafted Foods”course in Oroville, CA, you can learn to make many of your own special home-crafted foods, and then return home to establish a deeper sense of community  with family, friends, and local support groups. You simply can’t compare the quality and flavor of these homemade foods to anything that can be store-bought. They’re sustainable, economical, ecological, practical, fun and incomparably delicious!

Please come join me for this 5-day, hands-on cooking intensive and let me share with you what I learned from Cornellia. REGISTRATION & MORE INFORMATION

Clear the Way for Spring

By Cynthia Briscoe

As we begin to loosen from our cocoons of warm blankets and wool sweaters to venture out and enjoy the first stirrings of spring, it’s a good time to do the same internally with our blood quality.  As you clear last year’s debris from the garden, or perhaps take a spring walk through areas less traveled, pay attention to the vegetation that rears up from the cool moist soil.  Many of the so-called “weeds” are perfect foodstuff for aligning ourselves with nature’s tick tock.

Generally during the colder seasons we eat foods cooked in ways that make us feel warmer and hold more energy within our bodies.  Who doesn’t enjoy a thick bean soup, hearty stew or baked casserole during the winter?  We tend to cook our food longer and use more oil, both of which help us stay warm.  Then there is the holiday fare of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s when we often celebrate with special foods and tantalizing desserts.  All this is well and good, and very enjoyable.  However, about the time we box up the decorations, have you ever noticed that there is the inevitable mysterious flu virus that descends upon much of the population?  There is always the speculation of which foreign country originated the hated virus.  Perhaps we had best look in our own back yards for the source and well as the cure.

Actually, those who contract viruses at this time of year, might show a tiny bit of gratitude, because those pesky ‘bugs’ roll up their sleeves and get to work spring cleaning the excesses we have shoved into the ‘liver closet’, stored in the ‘intestinal garage’ or accumulated in the ‘lung attic’ over the past few months.  With the ”joy” of tissues in hand, or experiencing diarrhea, headaches or fever, our bodies’ response to those little buggers helps clear the pathway to springtime from sluggish blood quality, congested lungs and livers, and other ‘junk drawers’ within our bodies.

Some of the best things in life are free, and many common “weeds” fall into this category.  They are just there for the picking.  So before you yank, compost or mow take a closer look and see if you can identify some of these beneficial common weeds.  All of them are rich in chlorophyll, which is very nourishing for the liver.  They tenaciously draw up bio-available trace minerals from the subsoil, which strengthen our immune systems and alkalize our body fluids.

Because they are nutritionally rich and strong energetically, use common sense and don’t over-do it.  Forage wild greens from areas that have not been sprayed or the ground subjected to chemical pollutants.  Also choose areas that are not high automobile traffic areas or subjected to feedlot run-off.

Here are three of my favorite common and wayside “weeds”.

Dandelion – serrated leaves with the crown close and flat to the ground.  Flowers are golden yellow and produce a round ball of fluffy parachute type seeds.  Beneficial for the liver, building red blood cells and a general tonic.  Bitter flavor.

Wild fennel – Early in the spring, feathery shoots grow up from the base of last year’s plant.  Pick the tender shoots and add a small amount to stir-fried veggies or a pressed salad.  Has a mild, slightly sweet anise flavor.  Clears heat from the liver, beneficial to the stomach/spleen/pancreas.

Wild mustard – Pick smaller, younger leaves for greens and pinch off stems of yellow blossoms.  Blanch, pickle or add to pressed salads.  Spicy, pungent flavor.  Targets the liver and clears mucous from the lungs.

Wild Fennel Napa Cabbage Quick Saute

Our daughter invented this recipe when she was only 5!

4 cups napa cabbage cut into 1 inch squares
2-3 green onions
1 -2 sprigs of wild fennel, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon sesame oil or olive oil
Soy sauce to taste

1.  If the green onion roots are thick and fresh, finely mince the roots and discard the juncture between the roots and onions.

2.  Trim the tips of the green onion if they are damaged.  Slit the white portion of each onion in half length-wise.  Line up the green onions and cut into 1½  inch lengths.  Place the white portion separate from the green portion.

3.  Have the chopped vegetables arranged in sections on a plate, as the cooking goes very quickly.

4.  Warm the oil in a skillet.  Add the minced green onion roots and quickly sauté.

5.  Add the Napa cabbage and white portion of the onion and quickly sauté over a medium high heat, stirring.  This takes no longer than 30 seconds to one minute, just until the color starts to brighten.

6.  Add the green portion of the onion and the fennel.  Turn off the heat.

7.  Drizzle with soy sauce and cover with a lid for short time.

8.  Remove lid and serve.

Pressed Wild Mustard Greens

Dandelion Oily Miso

For the mildest flavor and most tender greens harvest dandelion plants before flowering.  The leaves may be picked and used for this recipe, or the entire plant may be dug and the roots used also.  Place the dandelion plants in the sink or a large basin of water.  Remove any debris and brown or yellow leaves.  Wash off any soil from the roots.  Lift the dandelion from the water and place in a colander.  Change the water and repeat until the water is clean and free of sand and soil.

4  cups dandelion greens chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
dandelion roots, finely minced
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon barley miso

       1.  Hold on to the root and chop the green part into small pieced starting from the tips
of the leaves, chopping toward the root. Set the roots aside.

       2.   Bundle the roots and mince into fine pieces.

3. Warm oil in a heavy skillet.

4. Add dandelion roots first, and sauté until golden.

5. Then add the chopped greens and sauté until the color turns bright green.

6. Add miso on top of dandelion green.  Stir with a spoon or chopstick, breaking up miso into smaller sections until it melts into the dandelion.

7. Shut off flame and place in a serving dish.

8. Use 1 to 2 teaspoons on grain as a condiment.

There are five steps we want to suggest as follows:

1. Study macrobiotic principles to see if they make sense to you and if they are something you want to use freely and creatively in your own life.

2. Supply your kitchen with macrobiotic food.

3. Prepare macrobiotic meals daily.

4. Eat your macrobiotic meals with appreciation while also practicing good chewing.

5. Live the life you want, creatively, adventurously, with gusto and without hesitation, using macrobiotic principles as your guide.

The above five are the foundation of a macrobiotic practice.

Green of the plants allows us to have oxygen. It makes food possible, too. If the plants aren’t green, you and I are sunk. Without the green chloroplast cells in the plants there would be no whole grains, vegetables or beans. No animal meat either for the carnivores among us. No sushi in Los Angeles. No caviar for a queen’s crackers. Animals have to eat plant food before someone can eat the animals.  And darn it, junk food requires green, too!

It’s funny, I grew up hating science, but now I thoroughly enjoy reading books about photosynthesis, the process by which the plants convert sunshine into stored energy, converting it into their own carbohydrates, protein and fat to feed themselves. They have no intention to feed us, we just wait around until they grow, and then we grab the plants and eat them. Thank you, plants, I happily accept my dependence on your efforts. What delicious sunshine you are! Actually, the photosynthesis books give me the feeling that I am reading something very spiritual. For what could be more life-giving than green and photosynthesis?

Now that spring is rearing its green, I’m reminded of a little poem I wrote when I was 18:

spring
like a faint green smoke
snakes through bare trees
in the distance

It was originally an attempt at haiku, but I was never disciplined enough to pull off haiku. I’ve always been a lazy writer. But one who loves green.

3 cups organic applesauce

1 cup organic apple juice

3 Tablespoons kuzu

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup currants

1/3 cup roasted and coarsely chopped almonds

1. Bring applesauce and sea salt to a boil, covered.  Take care when removing the lid as the thick, hot applesauce will “sputter” out of the pot.  Use the lid as shield to protect your face when opening the pot.

1. Dissolve kuzu in apple juice.  Stir into applesauce, cooking over low flame until kuzu turns clear.

1. Turn off heat and stir in lemon zest and vanilla.

1. Ladle into individual serving cups and garnish with currants and chopped roasted almonds.

A Definition of Macrobiotics by Herman Aihara

“Macrobiotics amounts to finding our physiological limitations and trying to live within them. This is the cultivation of humbleness. When we think that we can do anything we want, we become arrogant. This arrogance causes sickness.

When we are living within our physical limitations, then our spirituality is free. Macrobiotics seeks freedom in spirit. Freedom exists in our spirit – so we can think anything. But biologically, physiologically we are unfree. We can wish to eat anything we want, but we cannot do it and still live within our natural physiological limitations.

Disciplining physical unfreedom is the foundation of spiritual freedom. God didn’t give us unlimited biological freedom, but appreciating and taking into consideration our unfree physical condition leads us to greater freedom, both physically and spiritually.”

– Herman Aihara

author of Acid & Alkaline
Basic Macrobiotics
Learning from Salmon
and other books

On this my 61st birthday, I would like to give you the gift of sharing something of my parents with you. I am such a fortunate man to have had Vernon and Charlotte for my parents. Their example of how to live in the world, how to treat others, how to make one’s way through life’s challenges, and how to raise their children, my 2 bothers and 2 sisters, to become solid and decent human beings, remains to this day the firm ground beneath my feet. My father was a success through his own will and determination. Nothing was given to him to make his life easy. When he was 12 his father died, and my father started working hard at little fruit stand in Kansas City, Kansas to make money for himself and his mother. She ran a boarding house to make ends meet. My father remained with the little fruit stand for 60 years, as it decade by decade turned into a major supermarket chain in the Midwest. When he retired, he was a vice president. My father showed me that you could be successful without having to cut others down or betray them. He earned his success by very hard work, honest living, enduring great hardship, and through loyalty to his company and family. He was a fair and just man. In honor of his sense of justice, I named my first son Justin. My father passed away in 2008 at the age of 93. He still had his sharp mind, and his attitude of honor and respect for all people around him, from all walks of life, never faded.
My mother was the intellectual, artistic one. She gave her children a sense of  humanity. In her home, racial slurs or putting other religions and cultures down was never heard. She came from a poor Irish- American Catholic family. Her mother died when she was 1 year old, and she was raised by her paternal grandparents until her father remarried. When she was a little girl, other kids from nicer neighborhoods would spit on her as she walked to school because she was poor and Catholic.  This experience and other suffering as a child and young woman made her a deep, strong and kind mother. She loved literature and writing. When all of her 5 children were raised, my mother went back to school. She graduated from college when she was 70 years old. She passed away on her birthday, Christmas Eve 1990. She used to tell me when I was a little boy, “I’ll always be with you on Christmas Eve.” She has kept true to her word.
I am so very fortunate, so incredibly blessed that Vernon and Charlotte were my parents. On this, my birthday, September 22, 2010, I am happy to share something of them with you. I love my parents, and I understand now what they tried to show me by their example and guidance, which I often rejected in my youth, and I will do my best to live the rest of my life in honor of them. I miss them every day but their beautiful lesson of being true human beings is with me always. Peace to you, the reader of these words, on this day, my birthday, and every day of your life. – David Briscoe