This weeks artist asks us all to return to the pure beauty of little things. She calls for us to pull out a piece of paper and trace that ant line. Then find a friend and whisper a dream we had last night in their ear. Or maybe you could find it absolutely fascinating to cut a grapefruit in half and observe how each portion is so intricately made by nature. Then, could you make a play about it? Then, could you tear up the play, sprinkle it on the earth, and see what grows? Yoko Ono says YES.
Yes to the bizarre and impossible! To making music and art as a radical act of peace. To returning to connection among people. To the glorious simplicity of everything in this world.
And her palette of course, reflected that:
“I don’t eat quantity...just a little bowl of rice and kimchi will do for my lunch. Kimchi is my favorite thing...I feel the best when I am just eating good, fresh vegetables.” - Yoko Ono
In her honor, here is my own recipe for Kimchi (adapted from this one). Kimchi is a Korean culinary staple, and very healthy, and my wish is that this will be an adequate tribute to her favorite lunch:
Kimchi
Ingredients:
3 lbs Napa or green cabbage
1 lb Korean or daikon radish
2 quarts filtered water
6 Tbsp fine sea salt or kosher salt
5 organic green onions
4-5 cloves organic garlic
1 piece organic ginger root
¼ to ½ cup dried kochukaru pepper powder
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
Instructions:
Soak the chopped cabbage and radish in water with the salt for two hours until it wilts.
Combine the rest of the ingredients until they make a smooth paste.
Immerse the cabbage/radish in the paste until thoroughly covered.
Let sit in a dark place for five days.
Eat with a small bowl of jasmine rice and a glass of orange juice with grated ginger!
“When I come home from a long trip abroad, I drink orange juice with grated ginger and garlic mixed. That just revives you.” - YOKO ONO