From izumi glass studio

～Red Beets and Pink Plate Japanese Tableware

Now that both the graduation and ceremony have concluded, my family’s life has begun to settle down.  I spent some time searching for glass art inspiration.  I began scanning through images on my smartphone, and I came across an image of red beets on a piece of pink tableware glass art that I created a few years ago.  The photo of the one of my works together with ingredients largely locally sourced sparked a memory.  I recalled that most of the food on the plate, specifically the beets were a thoughtful gift given to me by the Echizenhama elementary school janitor, a gift I received during the summer of last year.

It’s this sort of thoughtful gesture that functions at the heart of my lovely countryside community of Echizenhama.  So many of the community members are happy to share and interact with each other, that it’s no wonder that this community is the only one in all of Niigata that is showing a growth in population.  The janitor has been helping me since I became a community education coordinator for my son’s elementary school.  The janitor, his educators, and I are all working together to help my son grow and eventually join the community as an adult by expressing the link between academics, society, and the community.  We all enjoy watching him grow and learn.  For personal reasons, the janitor was unable to attend the graduation ceremony, but we were happy that he had spent so many other events together with him, and I started thinking about other times that we had conversation and exchanged gifts.

It was a beautiful sunny day when we cooked the beets the janitor presented to my family, and I clearly recall the preparations and cooking the delicious beets like it was yesterday.  The beets are a kind of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) from the Amaranthaceae family, which is native to the Mediterranean region.  The beet has a similar aspect to turnips and radishes, but it is the same family as spinach.  In Japanese, it is sometimes referred to as Kaensai (火焔菜).  I did some research on the recommended cooking methods, but I thought the best way was a simple wrap in aluminum foil and baking them.  Leaving nothing to waste, I sautéed the stems and leaves of the beets and added mushrooms using olive oil completing the dish you see in the photo.  I was happy to be able to combine caring my son, my community, and Japanese glass art.  Another memory that I will treasure forever.