Special guest contributor, Michele Kawamoto Perry, certified sommelier and Founder, The Forward Project, a Los Angeles-based leadership consultancy, shares her tips for choosing the perfect rosé wine for summer dining.
In the kitchen with…’ celebrates female founders and creators. This week M+K talks to Michele Kawamoto Perry, Founder, The Forward Project.
This week M+K sits across the table with Ati Farmani, food scientist, food coach, nutritionist and founder, Ati Nutrition. She talks with us about cooking, creativity and her current community projects.
My mother. She always cooked with an abundance of love and grace. She certainly taught me the importance of cooking using fresh and beautiful ingredients and how a home-made meal brings the family together. She always said “a house without the aroma of a home-made food has no life and light. It’s like a person without a soul.”
Slow-cooked chicken stew with ghee, onions and saffron.
Cooking is pure love that nourishes the soul, mind as well as the body. You need to be patient, loving and mindful of all the steps. One of my favourite quotes is “cooking is love made edible.”
I must connect to my heart and listen to my gut feeling in peace.
You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter by Dr. Joe Dispenza
Having breakfast and drinking my favourite teas in peace. Meditating, exercising, cooking and spending quality time with my husband.
All crises bring with them many hidden gems. During this pandemic, I learned how to truly practise mindfulness and take it to another level by practising different types of meditation and spending more time in nature. With all the challenges, I have learned to have more profound gratitude for many small things I am blessed with, for example, enjoying a walk in my neighbourhood like I never had before.
I absolutely love and cherish when people make an effort to connect with you and say hello regardless of how busy they are. I think one of the most valuable things in our lives is the gift of our relationships and taking the time to connect with our loved ones to express our love and kindness to each other, is priceless.
In light of recent events, I am more committed than ever to raise awareness about the importance of food, nutrition and lifestyle habits. I am holding myself accountable to take part, at a much larger scale, to contribute to the underprivileged African Americans as well as other minorities at a global level. Now, more than ever, I will be using my platform and efforts to support and empower a variety of communities in the world of health, nutrition, food and wellness. This is the time to observe, learn, reevaluate, support and take action.
My life and having the wisdom to see that all my challenges contributed to my transformation and growth. I am beyond grateful for having the most amazing and supportive husband. I am blessed to be introduced to Dr. Joe Dispenza’s teachings and meditations.
Ati Farmani is the founder of Ati Nutrition. From food safety instruction and wellness tune-ups to recipes and cooking methods plans geared toward specific health issues, Ati offers a wide range of wellness coaching options for individuals, groups, corporations as well as classroom services for 2-12 graders. Fascinated by food’s dynamic healing powers, Ati combines her advanced knowledge of how food is grown, what it’s made up of on a molecular level, and what its nutrient values are, with her personal experience of eating her way to wellness. Globally, Ati has helped countless people live better, happier and most importantly, healthier lives.
To connect visit:
https://www.atinutrition.com/
https://www.instagram.com/atinutrition/
https://www.facebook.com/Ati-Nutrition-1237537989598492/
https://twitter.com/atinfarmani
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ati-nazari-farmani-60892a2?authType=&authToken=&trk=
Pea and zucchini fritters make an easy weeknight dinner. The addition of crispy salmon fillets cooked in pink peppercorn and horseradish butter elevates this simple dish.
This dairy-free prawn and lobster pasta rings in Summer. It uses a sweet cherry tomato passata, farmed in high summer on the coastal plains near Siracusa in Southern Sicily.
The hummingbird cake is an Australian favourite. This recipe comes from my partner’s mother Lizzie and has been adapted from a recipe from The Welsh Lady in Brisbane, printed many moons ago. It is deliciously moist, packed with fresh bananas and crushed pineapple, and topped with a tart lemon cream cheese frosting. We made it recently, as we were craving a taste of home.
During difficult times, turning to well-worn recipes or a favourite meal can bring so much joy and comfort. Decide what that is for you, and make it this week.
New-season peaches herald the arrival of summer. The tartness pairs beautifully with lemon verbena, while the notes of caramel add depth and sweetness.
This is our favourite chicken and mushroom pie recipe. The comforting classic is perfect for weeknights or weekends. The chicken thigh stays succulent, while the gravy has a lovely velvety viscosity.
This week M+K sits across the table with Snehal Khanna, Mother, Coder + Artist. She talks with us about cooking, creativity and her current project, raising funds for UNICEF through donations and sales of her children’s book: When the Dinosaurs Stayed at Home. The book helps young children reflect on and cope with the challenges presented by the pandemic.
I love cooking simple wholesome meals from scratch using fresh ingredients. Growing up, I have seen the women in my family cook nourishing meals every single day – traditional recipes incorporating regional flavours. Living away from India, it’s a challenge to source many of the ingredients, so I try to create fusion meals that sometimes turn out great and sometimes just don’t cut it!
Every year on Diwali Day I cook a big traditional meal. It probably has about ten to fifteen dishes in it, all vegetarian, full of colour and flavour. We light lamps, burn incense, decorate the house with flowers and enjoy the time together as a family. This ritual is a gateway back into my childhood and reminds me of home in more ways than one.
Not to rush things. And to pay attention to every detail.
I alternate focusing on what I am trying to achieve and letting go of the ideas for a couple of days and letting them simmer on the back burner as I go about my daily life. Bit by bit the larger picture comes into focus. I also love discussing my ideas with other people and getting a fresh perspective.
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. I’ve read and re-read the book many times. I’m always moved by immigrant stories, the struggles of thriving in a new land having left loved ones and familiar places and rituals behind. This book especially resonated with me, given its Indian cultural references. I felt like I was reading my story and seeing it acknowledged was touching, to say the least.
I am a stickler for routine. I even try to have a routine on holiday, there’s just no winging it for me! A cup of tea on rising early, meditating, tidying up the home (even a hotel room or holiday villa) and cooking for my family structure my day and keep me grounded.
How to cut hair, self-publish a book and do a bit of fundraising. Also to take each day as it comes.
I love it when people take a few minutes to stop and say hello despite having super busy lives. Connecting with another person even briefly to ask about their life can be incredibly fulfilling.
Try to live green and volunteer my time and skills at my son’s school. Recently I spent some months teaching Maths to secondary school children who had fallen behind because of their socioeconomic background.
Many things. Not having to worry about basic necessities, health, a lovely home, family and lifelong friendships.
Snehal Khanna lives in London with her husband and two boys. She trained in computer science and worked in the field for many years developing business-critical software. She now spends her time taking care of her children, pursuing her interests in art and music and writing short stories and poems when inspiration strikes.
Snehal is currently raising funds for UNICEF through donations and sales of her book: When the Dinosaurs stayed at Home. It is a tale of resilience, community and hope, written to help young children understand the pandemic. It reflects on the challenges posed to each individual and society as a whole, applauds our key workers and celebrates our unity and resilience in overcoming the odds with grit and determination. The book aims to comfort young children by helping them to acknowledge their feelings and reassure them that days with friends, family and teachers will return.
To connect:
Visit: www.dinosaurchildren.com
Donate: https://justgiving.com/fundraising/dinosaur-story-fundraiser
Buy: https://www.dinosaurchildren.com/buy
Twitter: @snehal_khanna
In the kitchen with…’ celebrates female founders and creators. This week M+K talks to Claire Lettice, Co-Founder + CEO, &SISTERS.
If you are looking for a quick lunch fix, this tasty open tuna bagel will help to run down your pantry stocks. Tuna, horseradish and dill are always a perfect match. Enjoy on a fresh sesame seed bagel.
This week M+K sits across the table with Emma Leafe, Director, UME, a London-based producer of premium natural incense sticks and handmade incense burners. She talks with us about cooking and the power of scent.
Is Skye Gyngell for her seasonal Italian cooking. I also get inspired buying seasonal produce from farmers’ markets and at my local Zero-Waste shop and Pipoca in south west London. I am always exploring further ways of cutting down packaging in the kitchen, home and my business.
Natural ramen makes me feel at home in my body. But in terms of where I grew up, home … hmmmm … I have been a veggie since age 9, so I always ate unusual foods compared to my family and friends! A childhood memory would be something like roasted sweet carrots with fresh sprigs of rosemary and thyme, crisp new potatoes, a good spoonful of homemade horseradish sauce, alongside my childhood favourite Yorkshire puddings!
That food is a powerful way to explore the world and bond with people. So far I’ve travelled to South, Central & North America, Asia, Europe, the Levant and parts of Africa. During each trip, I found exploring local cuisine – or buying medicinal herbs from small stores, was such an important way of meeting people and learning about their culture. Exploring specific ways of eating too, like raw, organic food in California, introduced me to an incredible sub-culture, that I would never have discovered otherwise.
Go for a walk in the trees. I sit amongst the roots and re-energise. I turn off all my devices and stop checking social media. I get very still and inhabit a space in my physical world, that is more detached – so I can start to see the beauty around me and that I have already created with my energy. This allows me to become very present. I then create from that space of gratitude.
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu. I first encountered this book by ‘accident’ (like most things in my life). I randomly picked a large thin book from a tall shelf of art books, in a friend’s father’s art studio in Hampstead, where I was house sitting. I remember the morning light pouring in through a skylight; the stillness in the air … and the smell of turpentine. The words I absorbed like a sponge from the book were so profound, I must have stood there reading each page for quite some time, completely mesmerised. 11 years later, by another accident, I encountered the lost art of incense making. It’s curious how chance encounters gently show you the way.
Burning a stick of natural incense to re-energise. I tend to burn natural incense before guests arrive – usually something calming like sandalwood as I find it transforms the atmosphere in the room. I now also practice Qi-Gong when I wake up for 30 minutes. This gentle movement and vibration are exactly what my body needs to shift my energy.
That the herbs used in the first known incense (found in thousands of years old texts) were treated like medicines. They were called ‘scent medicines’ by the ancients in the Orient. For these people, everything was about keeping your body, your emotions, food, work-life and relationships in balance. For me also, balance is the key to health and longevity. As my father always told me ‘everything in moderation.’
Is being open and present with people. Opening up your energy is a beautiful thing and can really help people to feel less lonely! But it’s a practice, just noticing when you’ve closed up, not making eye contact or hurrying along being busy. We are all probably struggling with a similar few set of things … we just imagine we are alone with our problems, but most people are walking around with the same issues in a different form – so being slower, more open and present are my favourite acts of kindness to myself and my community.
Be myself, be authentic, and am open to listening. I aim to be generous with my time and give people the space they need to be themselves, without judgement.
My strength. It’s been a wonderful few years – yet also the hardest few years of my life. So many personal transitions both light and dark have unfolded. However, I’ve noticed that through eventually walking through the fire of my fears … after being burnt repeatedly as a result of not being able, willing or knowing how to progress, I feel stronger than ever.
UME was created in 2011 by Emma Leafe through her own healing experiences and after several influential journeys: exploring temples, exquisite tea houses and sacred power places across the globe. Drawn toward the sacred arts in each place – and being captivated by the raw scents which perfumed these explorations, she discovered the lost art of incense making and began to explore the deeper rituals that surround it. She lives in London, UK.
To connect visit:
www.ume-collection.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/umeincense/
