grandma

(click the images to view close up — slideshow)

obon has begun! obon is a buddhist festival held august 13-15, when our ancestors come back to visit us from the afterlife. obon is said to have begun in 606AD as a practice in the imperial court. it is only during the edo period that it spread through the rest of japanese society. during obon, everyone travels back to their family’s home to welcome their ancestors and to return their kindnesses. the night of the thirteenth, we light lanterns in front of the family altar or the gate to the house so that our ancestors won’t have trouble finding us.

we set up an additional table in front of the altar to offer food. the food offering varies from region to region. usually we offer seasonal flowers, vegetables, fruits and the ancestors’ favorite foods. but every family’s offering must include an eggplant and a cucumber. we make them into little animals, by inserting little wooden sticks for legs. the eggplant becomes a cow, and the cucumber becomes a horse. the idea is that our ancestors will ride the horse on their way to come see us and the cow when they go back home. so they come to see us as fast as they can and leave as slow as they can.

i was looking for italian eggplants that are similar in size to japanese ones (thin and short), but i couldn’t find any. so i bought chinese eggplants instead. so my cow is very fit and has 8 legs. petit cucumbers were available at superstore. so my horse looks damn cute.

of course, now we’re living in the 21st century. which means we are living in the future. i don’t think our cutting-edge ancestors will be happy just riding horses and cows. so i made a UFO out of a red onion to accomodate our future ancestors from space.

obon is a time for families to get together and have fun. we thank our ancestors for giving us our lives and the world today. we serve the same meals we eat as if we all eat together.

when i was little, i remember my grandma being very happy because my grandpa would come see us and hang out for a while. he died in his sixties (before my older brother was born), and my grandma never remarried. she would say, “i’m happy because he’s here with us.” she would talk to the buddhist tablet as if it were him about how well our family was doing and ask him to protect us. she was happy, so i was happy. i couldn’t see him but i knew he was there with us.

now my grandma has passed away. i’m happy that she will come see me and paul. i hope she can find us in canada. my obon dana (shelf) is missing a lot of buddhist items, but i don’t think she’d mind as long as we are all together.

i got some fresh rosemary from the farmers market last saturday. i remembered seeing a guy make a milky rosemary panna cotta on the food network one night. so i made my own last night, after midnight. that’s right, midnight cooking!

i was making obento for paul at the same time. usually people make obento in the morning, but i don’t like to rush (or get up early). i make a couple of small dishes so it takes some time.

cooking several things at once always makes me want to grow a couple of extra arms (like in this drawing). that way i could tackle multiple tasks at the same time. i could grow extra arms on my sides, but having extra arms on my back would be more helpful, because then i’d be able to cook up tamago-yaki on the stove while using my back arms to cut vegetables on the opposite counter. yes, my kitchen is that narrow.

speaking of extra arms, there are buddhist statues called senjyu-kan’non. “senjyu” means thousand hands. with some exceptions, usually senju-kan’non statues don’t have 1000 hands. they have 42 hands. the two hands praying are the true hands. the other 40 hands save 25 sufferings each, which makes 1000 hands. they’re beautiful. hands are special.

when i was little, a monk would come to my house to pray for my family’s ancestors. he was a very big old man with enormous earlobes and of course, a shaved head. he was a nice monk, but to me, at that time, he looked very strict and scary. for one thing, he was probably 6 feet tall and i was only 4 foot. my parents were both working, so usually my grandma and i were the only ones home. after prayers, my grandma would serve him a cup of tea. he’d bring some sweets and books to read for me. he would tell us some wise stories as well as a story about his son who was an american football player, a quarterback. he told us sadly that his son got severely injured during a game and was paralyzed. when he left, he would always pat my head with his big hand and give me cinnamon candies, which i hate. but i couldn’t say no.

rosemary panna cotta recipe

(for 4 small ramekins)

• 2 cups low-fat milk (or any milk or cream you like)
• one package gelatin (please follow the directions on the package)
• one stalk fresh rosemary
• 3 tsp sugar
• a dash of vanilla essence
• honey

warm 1 3/4 cups of milk in a milk pan. when it’s heated, add the rosemary and the sugar. in a different bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the remaining 1/4c of milk. add the dissolved gelatin to the warm milk. stir well and strain. pour into small dishes (ramekins) and chill. serve with honey.  enjoy ;)