| | Sushi Workshop at Adriance Public Library in Poughkeepsie
When the inquiry came about 4 month ago I wasn't sure what to do in order to make it a successful program. The idea, however, came from Atsuko-san, our head chef, bits by bits and eventually I knew we'd do three kinds of sushi; Maki-roll, Temaki (hand-roll) and Nigiri, naming the program "Make-your-own Sushi" workshop.
The room was rather too small to comfortably fit 20 guests and our 16 volunteers. I was, however, not worried that much about the space as I thought most of the guests may be small kids. However, it turned out to be there were 6 or 7 kids not small but big, like basketball player-size-big boys, who were the first ones showed up much earlier than anybody else, patiently waiting for the workshop to start. They physically dominated the room while our staff who were nearly half a size in height and could be their parents or grandparent's age squeezed in among them. But it was a wonderful scene that there was seriousness in their faces while watching our head chef's demonstration of how to prepare right sushi-rice as well as to make futo-maki and listening to our staff's instruction very carefully, not typically expected from teenage boys. There weren't many girls in spite of my initial expectation. Someone said many of the famous chefs are men, and I guess we might have witnessed the truth of it...
There was a boy attended with his dad, both tried Maki-roll. I thought a professional Sushi Chef would have loved to see the boy in his restaurant as a customer because he looked like as if there were nothing on the earth better than the sushi he was eating... There was this tall man with a little girl came in later. Her dad tried to put the plastic glove which looked like about 10 times bigger than her hand so there was a struggle between his huge hand, big plastic glove and her mini hand. It was such a beautiful and lovely moment in the way her daddy was very gentle but trying hard which was obviously unsuccessful attempt as the girl's entire hand seemed slipping into one of the glove fingers... Check, next time we'll bring plastic gloves for little kids, too.
After the workshop we all sat down and shared the sushi Junko-san made for sample and the ones made by instructors during the workshop. Many of our staff haven't made sushi for years and it was a welcome opportunity for them to refresh their memory. I found the last minute that two actually never made sushi before who had "pretended" so well that I guess no one had noticed it was their first time. I must admit they deserve a praise for their guts and skill.
It was an extremely successful event after all. We are very thankful to Nicole Guenkel, the Head of Youth Services, and Poughkeepsie Public Library to give us the opportunity to be a part of this great and special event providing to the kids and their families in the Poughkeepsie community. Since our staff had learned very much along with the guests, I am very confident that the next time we received another call for sushi, we are all ready to go!
Midori Shinye
Project Leader | | 2月7日寿司ﾜｰｸｼｮｯﾌﾟ:
約4ヶ月前にこのイベントの依頼が来た時はどの様に企画をしたら良いか全く予測がつきませんでしたが、幸いなことにﾍｯﾄﾞｼｪﾌの篤子さんが少しづつアイデアをくれたので最終的に｢自分で作ろう寿司｣ﾜｰｸｼｮｯﾌﾟと題して3種類の寿司(巻き、手巻きとにぎり)をやることにしました。
部屋はあまり広くないので予約ｹﾞｽﾄの20名と16名のﾎﾞﾗﾝﾃｨｱ全員がゆったりと入れないかもしれないと予測をしたものの、当日近くになって来れないｽﾀｯﾌも出てくることも考えて念のためにそのまま企画を進めました。ただし元々ﾗｲﾌﾞﾗﾘｰ担当者から小さい子供達も参加するだろうということで特に広さは心配はしていませんでしたが、実際最初に来た6～7名は何と小さいどころかﾊﾞｽｹｯﾄﾎﾞｰﾙのﾁｰﾑになれそうな大きな男の子達で、早々と他のｹﾞｽﾄが来る前からおとなしく待っていました。その子達の半分位の背丈で親か祖父母位の年齢の我々のｽﾀｯﾌが間に入って狭苦しくﾜｰｸｼｮｯﾌﾟが進行する中、真剣な顔でﾍｯﾄﾞｼｪﾌの篤子さんの寿司飯と太巻きの作り方を見たりｲﾝｽﾄﾗｸﾀｰの説明を一生懸命聞いている姿は、10代の男の子達からは普通予期出来ないことなので大変すばらしい光景でした。予測したより女の子が少なかったことに誰かが有名なシェフには男性が多いと言ったのもこれが証拠かもしれません。
男の子がお父さんといっしょに巻きに挑戦していました。世の中にはこれ以上美味しい物がないみたいにむしゃむしゃ食べている姿を見て、ﾚｽﾄﾗﾝの寿司ｼｪﾌが見たらおそらく店客にその子がいたらさぞや喜ぶに違いないと思ったものです。後になって訪れた親子で、大きなお父さんが一生懸命小さい娘さんの手にﾌﾟﾗｽﾃｨｯｸ手袋をはめようとしますが、何しろ手袋がその子の手の10倍くらい大きさなのでなかなかうまくいきません。手袋の指の中に手が入ってしまいそうなので間違いなくもう無理だと分かっていてもお父さんの大きな手で辛抱強くやさしく娘の手に手袋をはめてあげようとしている姿はとても美しいものでした。次回は忘れないで小さい子供用の手袋を用意しましょう。
ﾌﾟﾛｸﾞﾗﾑが終わった後ｽﾀｯﾌ全員で順子さんがｻﾝﾌﾟﾙで用意した太巻きとｲﾝｽﾄﾗｸﾀｰがﾜｰｸｼｮｯﾌﾟ中に作った寿司を分けて食べました。殆どが長い間寿司を作ったことがなかったので思い出すのに良いきっかけになったようです。2名のｽﾀｯﾌは何と今まで一度もやったことがないというのをうまくばれない様にしたようです。その度胸と腕前は大したものです。
PoughkeepsieﾊﾟﾌﾞﾘｯｸﾗｲﾌﾞﾗﾘｰとYouth Services担当者のﾆｺｰﾙ・ｹﾞﾝｹﾙさんにこのようなすばらしいｲﾍﾞﾝﾄに参加させて頂けたことを心から感謝致します。今回はｹﾞｽﾄといっしょにうちのｽﾀｯﾌもしっかり学びましたから、間違いなく次回寿司ﾜｰｸｼｮｯﾌﾟのリクエストがあったらいつでも飛んで行けると確証しました。
ﾌﾟﾛｼﾞｪｸﾄﾘｰﾀﾞｰ
新江 緑 | |
