Bio for Annette Adams aka Zen-Lite
The waiter asked if I was done “working” on my dinner.Years ago I found an eyebrow in my omlette at The Hogs Breath Inn in Carmel. In India cooks are not required to wash their hands. In Sikkim the cook stood 5 feet away from me while he let his bladder find comfort. There was mouse poop in the rice in Chang Mai. Ask anyone who knows me and they will verify that I normally find hair in my restaurant food. My sister once found a small frog in her salad. Keeping that in mind you will understand that I prefer to cook it myself. Name 3 items and I can write you an organic, vegetarian recipe.
Thirty years ago I went to Green Gulch Zen Center for a two month retreat and stayed for six. I have returned annually for a two month Zen tune-up. I have been in Tibetan monasteries in Asia volunteering. I became vegetarian when I managed The Santa Fe College of Natural Medicine. It was at Green Gulch that I learned how to cook vegetarian-style, each year I spend my 2-3 months of retreat in the kitchen of the Zen Center and organic farms where rainbow chard is picked and brought to the kitchen within hours or mint is just a stroll away and the wok is super-sized. It is here the integrity of food was introduced to me. Each cut to be exact and each piece to be the same size. My love for perfectly created food and solitude Buddhist practice began.
My mother gave birth to nine daughters and cooked three meals for dinner including; a simple caserole for the younger girls, an experimental stir fry or fondue for the older and steak and potatoes for my dad. My father brought the first Mazda dealership to America and taught any of his nine daughter’s, who would listen, about cars starting with the Ford and ending with The Wankel Engine and its three moving parts. It is no wonder I had a lowrider car show at my Really Chile Festival in Santa Fe. I haven’t owned a car in over a decade and have one of the cleanest carbon footprints in the world. I no longer use a cell phone but am at my laptop all day. I walk everywhere.
When I was 8 years old I made a Betty Crocker boxed Cherry Cake. I did not follow the recipe…I added more egg whites. I don’t know why I did but the cake rose to 11 inches so I haven’t followed a recipe since (except for some baking, which is actually a science.
I have been anorexic and have been on every diet including the shot diet which was made of pregnant cow urine (found that out years later when the doctor was sent to prison). The best diet of all is the prison austerity diet which is the same as the break up diet aka the starvation diet.
Foodie, bon vivant, bon viveur, connoisseur, gastronome, glutton, gourmand, gourmet, hedonist, sensualist
Oriyoki: The Zen monastic eating practice of oryoki is simple and precise (the word oryoki means "just enough" and 3 bowl) - Each set includes 3 nesting bowls, cloths and utensils.
125 Things you don't need to know about me and were afraid to ask
1 comment:
Hysterical! I LOVE it!
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