A Pasta Party – May 3, 2015

Private home in East Honolulu 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. 

pasta out of the pasta machine

Join us for a Slow Food O’ahu “pasta party” where we make, cook, and eat our own freshly made pasta.

With four KitchenAid machines, all participants will be busy getting their hands in the dough and running it through the machines to achieve just the right consistency for linguine. Delicioso! Come prepared for action. Aprons might be a good idea.

We’ve tried recipes, different flours, and different flour combinations-Italian kitchen god Mario Batali uses ’00’ flour-and we’ve come up with our own favorite, best suited to the Hawai`i climate.

We will provide all the ingredients for pasta-making, three sauces to complement the fresh goodness of home-made pasta, a refreshing salad, and our kitchen-tested recipe. You bring enthusiasm, your choice of beverage, and anything else that you wish to share.

The cost for members is $20 and $30 for non-members. The event is limited to 12 participants. The address will be provided to attendees after signing up. Please arrive on time (1:00 p.m.). Please sign up at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/slow-food-oahu-pasta-party-tickets-16605344031 or go to  http://bit.ly/sfoevents which lists all our Slow Food events.

A Buddhist Feast (Vegan) – April 29, 2015

Buddhist temple in Makiki, 1708 Nu’uanu Ave., 6:30 p.m.

Slow Food O’ahu invites you to join us for a unique and delicious Buddhist dinner by chef Megumi Odin. Megumi will create and serve a beautiful vegan Buddhist food at the Soto Mission in Nu’uanu. She will put together a special menu for Slow Food of Indian flavors which will include the following:  Rainbow swiss chard, Dahl soup, corn chickpea beet green pakorawith kale arugula salad, flavorful rice, Chapati bread, cashew tomato cardamon curry, spicy Indian okura brussell sprouts stir fry

The Soto Mission, where this event will be held, does not allow alcoholic beverages, so please do not bring any BYOB for this event.

The cost for this event is $27 for Slow Food members; $32.50 for the general public. Please sign up at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/slow-food-buddhist-vegan-dinner-tickets-16490928812 or go to http://bit.ly/sfoevents which lists all our Slow Food events.

About the chef… Megumi Odin left Peace Cafe, the much-beloved restaurant she started almost five years ago, to follow her creative inspiration to the next level.  In September, the chef began the first vegan restaurant in Honolulu, Satori Hawaii, a “pop-up” in the Soto Mission of Hawaii serving Contemporary Shojin Ryori (Buddhist Cuisine) meals that are vegan and gluten-free.  Satori uses local and organic produce, brown rice, and no cane sugar.  Instead, Megumi uses maple syrup or coconut sugar, sparingly.  The ingredients exclude garlic and onion, which Megumi abstains from for spiritual reasons. Satori’s menu is often Japanese, but also includes Western, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Indian and other Asian influences, to convey the experience of visiting a particular country through food.

With Satori, Megumi wanted to create a warm and intimate atmosphere, like eating at her grandmother’s home in Tokyo, the place where Megumi learned mindful, healthy cooking and eating. Megumi even wears a kimono she received from her grandmother, who is 96 years old.

“Ikitoshi ikerumono subete ni ai to kansha wo. Itadakimasu”-To eat with respect and appreciation for all living things, is a traditional Buddhist saying her grandmother used that Megumi still holds dear. Guests of Satori feel those sentiments in the simplest of ingredients prepared with loving consideration.

Gnocchi and Friends – May 9, 2015

10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Private home in Maunawili (Windward side)

Gnocchi is a delicious little Italian dumpling usually made from potatoes, flour, egg and water. As you can imagine, there are many varieties of gnocchi from the different regions of Italy and can be eaten in several preparations.

Several years ago, Dirce, a longtime friend of Slow Food O’ahu, taught members how to make these delicate dumplings, from mixing the dough to forming the shape and cooking them (- we learned how to eat them all by ourselves). Since then, some of us have practiced this skill with a local Hawaiian flare – we use kalo (taro) and kabocha squash in place of potatoes. Come experience variations on gnocchi from the diversity of your own home.

In this demonstration, Michelle Wilhelm, one of Slow Food O’ahu’s esteemed members, kalo farmer and past Terra Madre delegate will make her fabulous kalo gnocchi and Nina Bermudez will use kabocha squash in her interpretation of gnocchi. Be prepared to get your hands dirty (or floury) to help shape the dumplings using just the average fork. A brown butter sage sauce and a few other sauces will be provided. You are encouraged to bring an appropriate accompaniment and wine, if desired, to the meal and an apron.

You will never order this dish again in a restaurant so indifferently.

This event is limited to eight (8) Slow Food members at $20 per person.  We will open it up at the end of April to non-members if space is available.   For members, register athttp://www.eventbrite.com/e/slow-food-oahu-gnocchi-with-friends-tickets-16291633715 or go tohttp://bit.ly/sfoevents which lists all our Slow Food events