sansai recipes published

This is my third center-page feature in the Japan Times ST, and the second in a series of four-course etegami recipes sharing the same seasonal ingredient. The theme of this set is spring sansai, which includes the young leaves, shoots, and buds of several edible wild plants. You may remember that I posted a photo of the actual etegami in my March 20 post.

The word-image balance of this set is an improvement over the first set, which featured lily bulbs and was published in January. But the hand-written text still takes up more space than I like, so my goal is to simplify future layouts even more. The summer menu is due by late June, and the ingredient I've chosen for that set of recipes is umeboshi (salt-pickled ume, which are often translated plum, but are actually a kind of apricot). I do so enjoy this kind of work! (happy sigh)

2015 illustrated recipes: set 2 (edible wild plants)

I've mentioned before that I was asked by the Japan Times ST to create 4 sets of illustrated recipes this year-- one for each season. For a while I was afraid I wasn't going to make the April 1 deadline for the spring set. But I find that-- for better or for worse-- deadlines hold a kind of magical power over me.

Somehow I was able to draw on hidden reserves of energy, and I managed to finish these with time to spare. I'm scared to examine them too closely lest I find new reasons to start all over from the beginning. (I do that a lot... A whole lot.)

Each recipe features what the Japanese call sansai --wild edible plants, especially those that signal the end of winter and the beginning of spring. In this case, the fiddlehead ferns, field horsetails, wild mint, butterbur, dandelions, wild mitsuba, mugwort, and even the leaves of the yaezakura cherry tree that grow in my very neglected back yard. They serve as my excuse when the neighbors wonder out loud if I ever plan to "do anything with that jungle."

The "jungle" is unclaimed by dogs or cats, untouched by either artificial fertilizer or week killer, partially-enclosed by a wall and not particularly close to heavily-trafficked roads. So it's quite safe to eat the edible weeds that grow there-- in moderation. Besides, it wouldn't be right to greet a Japanese spring without adding sansai to the menu. It just wouldn't.

where the wild things are

This is my tribute to Maurice Sendak (June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012), author and illustrator extraordinaire. Thank you, Maurice, for helping to awaken my love for language, and for inspiring so many delightful daydreams. All the wild plants in this recipe are found growing freely in my small, wildly neglected, and wildly alive backyard. To see my gallery of illustrated recipes, click here.