cibi: touch the heart - tasting night & workshop

A few weeks ago I meandered along to Cibi's website and made the serendipitous discovery of a free and upcoming exhibition-slash-event that I would otherwise never had known about. It was a tasting night, incorporating a workshop, called "Touch the heart: Eat & learn at Cibi".

"Greetings from CIBI.

We hope you are well and enjoying the autumn chill which is great for driving us into the kitchen with lovely autumn/winter produce, to create heart-warming food.

In a change from past exhibitions, this time we want to introduce and showcase our "fresh approach to simplicity" in the kitchen, which is the heart of our CIBI food philosophy.

It promises to be a tasty and fun experience, with wide range of dishes, introducing over 30 different ingredients and vegetables.

Please join us to enjoy a relaxing and interesting evening with our friends at CIBI.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Best regards

CIBI team"

Lured by the promise of free food and education, Simon and I breezed in right on time, ready for our little evening adventure. The following pictures are courtesy of Simon and his DSLR camera. (I really should enlist his services and/or his camera more often...)

Shelves upon shelves of seasonal ingredients greeted us cheerily as we walked in... a beautifully rustic sight to behold.

seasonal fruits and vegetables galore at cibi's "touch the heart" event.

We were each given a plate with specific instructions on how to navigate the buffet. This is not an eat-all-you-can circus! All the dishes were already arranged on the tables in individual portions to be lifted into our plates, in specifically designated spots, to be treasured and savoured.

We started off with a scoop of chestnut rice, and then we each got to pick a main, which consisted of either a small piece of miso fish, a ginger chicken meatball or a teriyaki tofu round. Once that was done, we moved on to the sides. We helped ourselves to a portion each of the pickled daikon and purple carrot, the eggplant and chickpea stew, and the mushroom, persimmon and chrysanthemum leaf salad. There were also cups of root vegetable soup, as well as tea (I believe it was of the hojicha variety).

I really enjoyed the food - light and gentle, they had a soul-soothing quality to them, as well as a balanced sense of care and thoughtfulness. I felt - somehow - intrinsically nourished.

a petite but well-balanced meal at cibi's "touch the heart" tasting night.

I also participated in the onigiri workshop, where we basically had to try to emulate what the lady at the booth was doing to create triangle rice balls. No prizes for guessing who's who in the picture!

onigiri workshop at cibi's "touch the heart" event.

My finished product was an appropriate representation of my fumbling efforts. I clearly won't be quitting my day job anytime soon to be an onigiri master. Nor a hand model, for that matter. (P.S. The specks on my fingers are the delicious remnants of bonito flakes that I failed to incorporate fully into my onigiri.)

eating, learning, and making onigiri (the latter with limited success)...

To finish, we had desserts. It was a beguiling selection. Kinako (roasted soybean flour) cookies and matcha (green tea) cookies, earthy and crumbly. Adzuki bean chocolate ganache pieces, rich yet delicate - a delightful revelation.

an assortment of desserts to cap off cibi's "touch the heart" event.

I walked away that night with renewed inspiration, Cibi's philosophies lingering in my mind. I vowed that I would continue to try my best to celebrate the diversity of different ingredients, to stay true to them, and to combine them with holistic sensitivity. To chew slowly, to linger upon the tastes and textures. To enrich myself, and the environment, through the food I choose to eat.

To create meals that touch the heart.