Teahouse event

A report from member Mae Isonaga:
Members and friends gathered for a delightful bento-style luncheon at the Natsunoya Teahouse on November 9. The bento featured a wide assortment of favorites, including miso soup, sashimi, nigiri sushi, shrimp and vegetable tempura, agedashi tofu, and kinpira. Member Michelle Phillips prepared a lovely fresh vegetable platter with miso dip, and her guest Deb Christensen prepared a delicious seared ahi on shiso leaf, which were enjoyed as pupu. The group tasted a Japanese beer made from barley and rice, Koshihikari, that had a clean, fresh flavor. Kikusui junmai ginjo sake made from rice grown in the same region as the Koshihikari was passed around for all to enjoy.
Nan Geller set the stage for our gathering with her colorful description of Japanese teahouses and their place in Japanese society. We learned about teahouse etiquette, and even a little about kabuki! Larry Geller contributed his mana’o on teahouse architecture, and the style and symbolism of different components of the teahouse.
Guava sorbetto from member Chris Murai’s A Latta Gelata capped off a most convivial gathering of SFO members and friends.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events from Rachael Edinger:

• November 9th - 11:00 to 1:30 Slow Food O'ahu is hosting a Japanese teahouse cuisine event at the Natsunoya Teahouse. Nanette and Larry Geller, SFO members who lived in Japan and visited a variety of teahouses, will share their knowledge of this fascinating cuisine. If so inspired, bring a Japanese pupu or beverage to share!
  Cost: $25 members, $30 nonmembers. Send checks to Mae Isonaga, at 46-270 Nahewai St. Kaneohe 96744 (Make checks out to Mae Isonaga) Natsunoya Teahouse is in Alewa Heights, 1935 Makanani Drive. Ph: 595-4488
  If you have questions, please email Mae directly.
• November 17th from 5-7pm - coffee cupping conducted by Shawn Steiman, a recent PhD graduate from UH's College of Tropical Ag. The cost is $15 per person for members, $20 for nonmembers.We are limited to about ten people. More details will follow in early November.
• December 6 - we will once again conduct the Culinary Swapmeet at the Church of the Crossroads. Karen Miyano and I will be scheduling pickups at KCC and Kailua Farmers Markets for those of you who have culinary donations to make. Now's a good time to clean out your kitchen cupboards--we're looking for cookbooks, utensils, linens, juicers, pots and pans, extra mugs and glasses.

Slow Food Nation Coverage

In the Honolulu Weekly:

Digesting Slow Food Nation
Declaration for healthy food and agriculture

Fish Auction

Our president Laurie reports:
"We had a fish auction visit with Brooks Takenaka at United Fishery Agency on September 27th at 6am. Brooks went over local fishing practices and talk about the state of sustainable fishing in Hawaii."

Testing the fat...

our other fish auction guide, Dr. John Kaneko

Opah or moonfish's beautiful patterns.

One of our guides, Brooks of United Fishery.

Yellow Fin Tuna

Mahi

the SF tour group

Auction whiteboard notes on poundage

Ahi

Read A visit to Honolulu’s Fish Auction by Debbie Drickersen Cortez

Photos from Slow Food Nation

Slow Food Oahu member Martha Cheng sent a link to some photos she took at Slow Food Nation, click through to see them.

Heritage Foods: Turkey

On May 19th 2008, Slow Food O'ahu had an event, working with Heritage Foods USA, to showcase rare breeds of turkey, pork, and lamb. Chefs Glenn Chu of Indigo, Savas of the Olive Tree, and Ed Kenney of Town and Downtown prepared these unusual breeds for a tasting at Downtown restaurant.

Saving endangered species by eating them: Strange as it may sound, we can save endangered livestock varieties by putting them back on the menu. As with so much of the food available to us, our choices are increasingly restricted to a handful of genetic varieties because of industrial farming practices. Where there were once dozens of varieties (if not hundreds, in the case of potatoes) of corn, potatoes, turkeys and pork, there are now just a handful of types in our markets... Slow Food USA saw an opportunity and told the story of these heritage birds and the farmers that grew them. For the first time in years, these varieties of turkeys were marketed and made available throughout the country. Now enough people are buying and eating these birds (instead of the ubiquitous Butterball) so that farmers are able to make a living.

Little Kitchens on June 13

He'eia Fishpond March 16th

Good news,

Our rescheduled visit to He'eia Fishpond is on course for March 16th. We will meet at 8:30am at the Windward mall parking lot (makai, north shore corner of the lot), so that we can carpool to the pond. Again the cost is $10 for members, $15 for nonmembers. A number of you sent in your checks before we had to postpone this event. Please reconfirm your interest in attending by March 9th. We will have lunch at noon--please bring a pupu to supplement our poi and moi. For lots more information, see the Paepae o He'eia website.

Also, please let me know asap if you are interested in joining us for a cultural and gastronomic experience on the Windward side.

Laurie

Annual Meeting / Fishpond postponed

Aloha Slow Foodies,
We are postponing our annual meeting and the He'eia Fishpond excursion because of the less than perfect weather we have been experiencing this week. We are also going to "de-couple" the two events.
Karen has tentatively lined up the fishpond for Sunday, March 16, we should get confirmation on that very soon. We are checking around for an indoor venue for the annual membership potluck and meeting. There are several possibilities in town. We're looking for something available on Sunday, March 2nd.
Sorry for the delay,
Laurie

Slow Food Oahu annual meeting at He'eia Fishpond

New Year's greetings, Slow Food O'ahuans,
Karen Miyano has lined up an exciting windward excursion to the He'eia Fishpond for our annual meeting. [...event postponed]

Green Christmas Market, Culinary Swapmeet

Slow Food Oahu was well represented at the Green Christmas Market that was put on by The Green House and Kokua Hawaii Foundation.

The idea, originally conceived by our friends at Slow Food Hawaii (the big island convivium), was to collect kitchen equipment and other food related items for a Culinary Swap meet. Many members and non-members alike donated slightly used and new kitchenware, classic cookbooks, juicers, fiesta ware, and lots of fascinating gadgets (like the apple peeler/parer) and gizmos.

The booth also featured Slow Food literature and membership information. We chatted up customers and explained the SF mission.

We were very pleased with how things went--it was most satisfying to see goods get recycled into the hands of happy cooks and eaters. We managed to raise over $700 and we'd like to make this an annual event. We think there's a lot more great stuff out there--tucked away in kitchen cupboards and crannies. Thanks to Julie Rogers, Karen Miyano, Rike, Pamela Farris, Dirce Carmi, Stu and Max Robson, Rachael Edinger, Chuck Giuli for all their kokua in hauling, collecting, displaying and making this a real success.

Rachael Edinger, Our trusty secretary, at the Culinary Swapmeet

Many of these great platters were donated by Richard Shimizu--thanks, Richard for the wonderful donation.

Green House was one of the major sponsors of the Green Market.

Stu and Max Robson hawked our wares and chatted up customers.

The Green House gave demonstrations and advice on green cleansers and options.