Kitchen with a view

This is my kitchen home and it's one of the most beautiful I've worked in. It's at Hollyhock centre on Cortes Island, BC. There are I'm sure better, greater and bigger kitchens with the latest equipment and gadgets, but does it have... an incredible view of the ocean and mountains, and windows so you can have the smell of the ocean waft in? a beautiful French-inspired organic garden/farm right outside the door where you can stroll for your produce and herbs? wooden counters, shelves and tables that remind you of an old country kitchen but with professional equipment and pantries stocked full of ingredients? cooks who have interesting hobbies like goat herding, book writing, playing music and cheese making in their spare time? people visiting who are coming to change themselves and the world? This is my world and I wanted to share a glimpse of it. Hollyhock (www.hollyhock.ca) is a non profit educational institute dedicated to personal, professional and organizational development that advances consciousness, connection and learning toward solutions for a better future. For over 30 years, it has been a special magical place, nestled between the forest and ocean on the south eastern tip of Cortes Island, BC, about 160 kms north of Vancouver. It is run by paid staff and a volunteer service program.

Caroline on Cortes

It is 3 pm and I just finished my day shift in the Hollyhock kitchen, which started at 5:30 am, with breakfast and then lunch service for 135 people.

I am sitting at the wooden table in the incredibly beautiful Hollyhock garden, filled with flowers, produce, and herbs. Any photos I take never seem to do it justice, the incredible beautiful of it all. It reminds me of the famous Tangled Garden by MacDonald, but prettier, and if we understand gardening we know that messy English gardens are actually well planned out gardens. This garden reminds me of people of Cortes and living here. There is structure but wildness at the same time. Like anywhere else, people have jobs, go to work daily like, they try to make ends meet, and they often take care of kids and extended families.

But at the same time, there is a sense of wildness and freedom to the people here and their lifestyles, and that's why they are attracted to here or perhaps the island was attracted to them and has held them captive. I often hear people coming here for a short time, but stay because of the incredible beauty of the scenery and nature. It's like a god or goddess, seducing you at every turn, enticing you to watch his or her movements and come play outside in its beauty. And because they are captured by its beauty, they will do whatever they can to stay on the island. So this love comes first, and what they do, secondary. They work to live on this island, and if the island gods or goddesses like you, they reward you, but that's another story.

I have several pantries from where I gather my ingredients and inspirations to cook from, but the garden is by far my favourite and the one I am most giddy about. I love meandering the garden seeing what is there and talking to the farmers about what is at its peak and needs to be used right away, what is coming up and what they grow all season. I love that it's not just a garden but the produce and herbs and interspersed among all the flowers, which are used to decorate the centre and rooms, and we can use in our food as well, which I adore doing. It's not exactly a farm, more like an edible garden. Because there are hundreds of flowers and many of them edible, I need to consult with the farmers for the size, taste and colours. There is actually list that is posted we can refer to. I've always loved using flowers to decorate with and be part of the food, so I am excited by this.

Farm-to-table cooking is one of the reasons I was attracted to Hollyhock. I've always loved the concept and we tried to do that at the restaurant, but to actually live and work in a place where the farm is right out the back door and works in sync with the kitchen is special to say the least. I get to see what is growing every day, and talk to the farmers about what I want harvested for the next meal and how much. When my delivery comes in just picked, with some remnants of the earth like dirt and ear wigs or worms, it feels like the stork bringing in a new delivery and I am excited. I had thoughts about what to do with it before, but actually seeing, feeling and tasting the produce inspires me often to do something different. For example, I asked for some rainbow chard, and when I saw it come in this morning, it was so incredibly beautiful I couldn't bring myself to change it by cooking it, so I decided that I would slice it thinly and keep it raw, and then I cut up the chard stems in a spiced hot oil mixture, which I put on the greens so that they deflated it slightly but kept it's character. It's really important for me to keep the character of produce in particular and I hate when it's over cooked or over touched so you can't recognize it or it loses it's original character and personality.

And because almost outside the kitchen door is the ocean, you could say there is ocean-to-table, or should I say ocean to people. Once a week, they bring the guests down to the beach by the ocean for a pre-dinner oyster reception. There are also loads of calms on the beach and we have a salmon dinner once a week for guests. Besides this, the kitchen is mainly vegetarian and mostly vegan and gluten-free when I cook :). Hollyhock's mission is to nourish, inspire and support people making change in the world. I love that my food is part of this equation.

I am the sky and everything else is the weather. Pema Chodron

Wheels up, I am off to the west coast for the summer!  What? Where to now is the usual reaction from my friends, more in excitement and curiosity than in disapproval or criticism, and that’s why they are  my friends.

One of the things I’ve learned along the way, and it seems simple but actually quite hard to do because it takes awhile to get to know the true nature of people, is that you need to surround yourself with positive people that will support you for who you are, and want the best for you. In short, good mirrors, because I’ve had my share of distorted mirrors.

I got back to Ottawa from my travels to Whistler- Japan-Hawaii, and got a  yummy offer to cook food at the Hollyhock retreat centre (www.hollyhock.ca) on Cortes Island in BC. Hollyhock is dedicated to inspire, nourish and support people making the world better, with a wide array of conferences and programs. 

As usual when I take a new direction, it’s easy to say “yes” to it at the time, but it may take a few steps. In my case, it’s two planes, two ferries, a few shuttles and car rides, and a big leap of faith.
 
I am nervous. What about you may wonder? Everything. It’s been hard to leave for me to leave my past behind, my reputation, my cred behind in the city where I gained them, and start afresh and recreate, even though I have yearned to go out west for awhile and am excited by it. 

I am heading to a place that seems far away and remote, and I don’t know much except that people say it is incredibly beautiful. I had signed up for a meditation retreat with Michael Stone at Hollyhock last summer but had to cancel, and I wondered when I would be able to return. Like many, I had heard about Hollyhock and wanted to go there one day. Well the one day is today!  

When I asked my friend who is working at Hollyhock what I should pack, she said to travel light, you have everything you'll need here but there is nothing much on the island. I didn't really get this but I packed rather lightly anyway because I knew it would be hard enough to get there, never mind carrying a lot of luggage. And I knew I would find out over time what she meant. 

I hope you’ll join me, virtually at least, on this journey. I can’t wait to share it with you!

Pause where it is blooming

Free yoga on Parliament Hill sponsored by Lululemon on Wednesdays!

I come back to Ottawa from my travels and it is in full bloom, and I love that. I love how the city comes alive in the summer, not only the weather and nature, but it seems that even the  people come alive as well from the deep freeze of winter.

 

With the arrival of summery weather, I feel a collective sigh of relief.  It's like we are children again, barefoot and running through the grass into the sunshine and laughing.

We just can't get enough it and we appreciate it so much. That's the thing that's great about living somewhere like here, the appreciation and gratitude we have when the weather is nice, and the summer comes. The thing is we know it won't last, that it is has a time limit, and it will disappear so quickly.

 

 

And because we understand this, we tend to make different choices from the winter. We might put off some paperwork to go out to a patio for drinks with friends, just because we know it won't be forever. We might take up a friend for an offer to go to the lake for a swim or to a cottage though we had some other plans. We might take a break from our chores and go outside for a walk before the sun sets.

I love strolling the streets, because that's what we do in Ottawa in the summer, stroll. I believe we have different steps or beats here for different temperatures. You might not get this if you're in one of those warmer climates all year around, but might find it interesting so hear me out.

I feel like it's best explained through music. It's like we walk in a staccato beat when it's very cold. Quick detached beats of short duration, we hold our breaths, go outside to grin and bear it.

But when the warm weather comes, it's like a whole note, the longest note, we breath out to let go of the stresses and stressors of our lives. We stroll. And this time has arrived. We're in whole note season!

I love all seasons and the nature and sports in them. Each season has it's own character and beat. We have four but the winter seems to grab an inordinate amount of our time and head space.  It feels like we spend a lot of energy here keeping warm, coming in from the cold, talking about the weather and how cold it is, buying clothes to keep us warmer, consuming food and drink that will warm us up, looking for partners to keep us warm.

I love the summer for how we as a city we relax and tumble into the grass. It seems as there is a collective awakening and there is an incredible amount of activities to do outdoors. It's like being at the carnival and wondering what ride you should go on next. At the end of the day, we might be a bit burnt from being out in the sun too long and tired from squeezing in as many rides and games as possible before we have to come inside. But it's a different exhaustion, because it's doing what you love.

We don't have a remote where can push the stop or pause button for the season to wait for us. It goes so quickly, like our lives. Let's not waste it doing things we don't want to do, or minimize the parts that we don't like.

At the end of the day, it's the small things that truly matter and makes our lives meaningful.

Like eating gelato that drips on you because you can't eat it fast enough as it's melting, watching the incredible array of colours of the sunset by the water and being grateful for being alive to watch it, taking your kids to the sprinkler water park and joining in and laughing because you haven't done that since you were their age, and walking barefoot in the grass because you can

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A duck out of water, but in water, so it's happy

Pause where it is blooming, wherever it may be.

Love, Caroline xo

Feeding the soul

Everytime I see one, it reminds me of my childhood and I have to try. It instantly makes me feel young and there is laughter from my belly. I love that, especially as I have been feeling a bit under the weather. Try it. Skip, jump, swing and slide, and if you are brave enough, you will do it with people watching. Why should things that are fun and free only be for kids?! Why is there a best before date on fun?! Our mind might think it's silly but our heart knows and is nourished by it. And that is how I feed my soul when it is hungry. Xo