On food: Chef José Andrés knows the importance of talking to his ingredients; they will always tell him a story

Following an evening of enjoyable shopping at the Holiday Market one recent Friday, we happened upon the very lively and fascinating China Chilcano (418 7th Street NW), one of José Andrés’ signature Washington, D.C., restaurants that defines the culinary spectrum of Peru.

“Food is about making an interaction with ingredients,” says Andrés, the celebrity chef and restauranteur – and Nobel Peace Prize nominee – who is a national hero in a city full of political enemies. “If you talk to them, they will always tell you a story.”

What a brilliant story chef Andrés shares night after night. He’s engaging his diners to indulge in a wide range of culinary delights that juxtaposes traditional Peruvian cuisine with Chinese Chifa and Japanese Nikkei – and I’m happy to say that it works. It’s an exciting journey. If you’re lucky, like my wife and I were on the night we dined at China Chilcano, you might even have a chance to say “hi” to chef Andrés and thank him yourself for a wonderful meal.

Why Peru, China and Japan together? According to the menu, the story goes like this: “In the late 19th century, Chinese and Japanese settlers traveled to Peru and made it their home, bringing with them time-honored cooking traditions that sparked the beginning of the rich, multicultural offering that is Peruvian cuisine.”

Our menu selections, which included Chifles Chiferos con Salsa (crispy plantain and taro root chips served with a sweet potato-rocoto sauce and Chinese five spice), Chupe de Camarón (Pacific wild shrimp soup with fresh cheese, chocolate, rice, potato and poached egg), and Chicharrón (a fried pork belly with sweet potato, salsa criollo, and hot sauce sandwich), were bold and flavorful – and all simply superb. We saved room for dessert and ordered the Ponderaciones de Kiwicha (a crispy fried spiral cookie, Fortunato No. 4 chocolate cream, banana, and Algarrobina ice cream). I learned that the Fortunato No. 4 chocolate is made from Pure Nacional Cacao. The name honors the Peruvian farmer, Fortunato, and the mother tree of the rare Pure Nacional Cacao trees that grow in his Marañón Canyon farm.

Recently, chef Andrés and World Central Kitchen, his non-profit organization, have established themselves as a reliable source for feeding the hungry. In the past year, they’ve been to a number of different natural disaster areas such as Houston, Florida, and California as well as to Guatemala and Puerto Rico to provide food and emergency relief. More recently, they’ve fed the hungry and contributed humanitarian relief along the Mexican border town of Tijuana in response to the Trump administration’s hard-line stance on immigration.

In a recent interview with the Washington Post, chef Andrés said showing up in Tijuana was the right thing to do. “In the end, it’s very simple. Our motto comes from John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’” he said. Then, quoting from the author’s Depression-era novel, “Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people may eat, I will be there.”

A Spanish native who became a naturalized U.S. citizen five years ago, chef Andrés continued: “If you are a person of faith, you will argue this is the right thing to do. If you are a person of love and compassion, this is the right thing to do. If you are a person that believes that pain in the world should go away, this is the right thing to do.”

Earlier this year, chef Andrés, who has become the face of American natural disaster relief, co-wrote a book, ‘We Fed an Island,’ with veteran British journalist Richard Wolffe, following the Hurricane Maria disaster that struck Puerto Rico. It served as a manifesto that asks governments and nonprofit groups to rethink the way in which they feed people after a natural disaster has struck.

If chef Andrés can feed just one person, he is happy. The bottom line according to him is simple: “We don’t need to be politicizing the suffering of others. What we need to be doing is having more compassion.”

Indeed, putting humanity forward is the right thing to do – especially during the holiday season.

Credits: Photo – Google images. Video – PBS NewsHour/YouTube.

The time for advise and consent is now, Mr. President

Last night, while many of us throughout America were either sitting down to Thursday dinner or enjoying an evening of "must-watch" prime-time television, the U.S. made a direct attack of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria (where it was already early Friday morning) in retaliation for the gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians by the Assad regime.

The attack represented the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and President Donald Trump's "most dramatic military order since becoming president."

The airfield strikes denoted a very big change in U.S. policy – and it was done without the President seeking congressional approval. "Assad's vicious brutality demands a response," said Congressman Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) on his Facebook page. "But this country doesn't fight wars without giving the American people a say." Many others in Congress conveyed the same thoughts as Kennedy.

There's a lot to digest here and both American and international media are weighing in on this story of world consequences. It's front-page "real" news across this country and the video images have been splashed all over various American cable TV news networks almost continuously since last evening.

There's one little thing that I am just a little troubled by. Perhaps, you are, too. The President said during his speech to the nation Thursday, delivered from a makeshift podium inside Mar-a-Lago, where earlier he had been hosting a dinner for the Chinese President: "No child of God should suffer such horror." Hmm. ... So,  he sees them now as children of God, but not when they are trying to escape the danger of civil war and chemical weapons?

Air strike or not, Mr. President, we must welcome Syrian refugees into our country like our good neighbors to the north, Canada, have been doing with dignity and humanity for some time. The time to act, sir, is now.

Remembering Mabida: He was a universal symbol of tolerance and hope

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." — Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013.

We were all saddened by the news of the passing of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president and an icon of peaceful resistance.

Mr. Mandela died at his home in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton on Thursday night at age 95. News of his death spread quickly around the world through cable news networks like CNN, in social media such as Facebook and via the internet, and in the days since, there's been no shortage or tumult of remembrances. Mr. Mandela has been memorialized as an icon, a radical, a leader and a luminary.

Beloved by all, Mr. Mandela was a universal symbol of tolerance and hope, a man of great heart and compassion. Following his release prison after 27 years of incarceration, Mr. Mandela led South Africa through emancipation from white minority rule and he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

"Mr. Mandela's quest for freedom took him from the court of tribal royalty to the liberation underground to a prison rock quarry to the presidential suite of Africa's richest country," wrote The New York Times. "And then, when his first term of office was up, unlike so many of the successful revolutionaries he regarded as kindred spirits, he declined a second term and cheerfully handed over power to an elected successor, the country still gnawed by crime, poverty, corruption and disease but a democracy, respected in the word and remarkably at peace."

In announcing Mr. Mandela's death to an entire nation, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa said: "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. His humility, his compassion and his humanity earned him their love." 

Regardless of our race, nationality or country of residence, Mr. Mandela will be remembered by many as the "world's kindly white-haired grandfather." His last public appearance was in 2010, when South Africa hosted football's World Cup.

World leaders across several continents were united in their praise of Mr. Mandela and their tributes were filled with superlatives.

• "A giant among men has passed away. This is as much India's loss as South Africa's." — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India.

• "A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time." — Prime Minister David Cameron, Britain.

• "All of Canada mourns with the family of Nelson Mandela and the citizens of South Africa. The world has lost one of its great moral leaders." — Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

• "Today we say goodbye to a man who brought hope, a true hero who will continue to inspire us." — Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, Belgium.

Here in the U.S., President Barack Obama reflected on Mr. Mandela's life by praising him as a man of courage and compassion. "Let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson Mandela lived — a man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice."

And, former U.S. President Bill Clinton noted that history will remember Mr. Mandela as a champion for human dignity and freedom, for peace and reconciliation. "All of us are living in a better world because of the life Madiba lived. He proved that there is a freedom in forgiving, that a big heart is better than a closed mind, and that life's real victories must be shared."

To have an understanding of Mr. Mandela's religious, spiritual and humanist worldview, one need only look to his 1994 autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, which profiled his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years in prison.

"The story told by Mandela's life is not one of infallible human beings and inevitable triumph. It is the story of a man who was willing to risk his own life for what he believed in, and who worked hard to lead the kind of life that would make the world a better place," said Mr. Obama.

Mr. Mandela was also praised by leaders of the religious community, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who like Mr. Mandela was a Nobel laureate and a towering figure in South Africa's struggle against apartheid. He said that Mr. Mandela "embodied our hopes and dreams, symbolized our enormous potential."

At the Vatican, Pope Francis praised "the steadfast commitment shown by Nelson Mandela in promoting the human dignity of all the nation's citizens."

In San Francisco, the Very Rev. Dr. Jane Shaw, Dean of Grace Cathedral, said that "it is appropriate to take a moment to thank God for his example and the profound influence for peace he life has had. ... We celebrate his life and will continue in his example to fight against institutionalized racism, poverty and inequality."

Praise also came from the streets from fellow South African citizens like Shadrack Motau, who accompanied Mr. Mandela on a tour of his Soweto neighborhood after his release from prison. He told The New York Times: "The man had so much humility. He treated everyone with respect and dignity, from statesmen to children."

By all accounts, Mr. Mandela loved being in the company of children. He spoke often of the importance that education played with shaping the world's youth. "Young people must take it upon themselves to ensure that they receive the highest education possible so that they can represent us well in the future as future leaders."

Those old enough to remember the struggle against apartheid have flocked for days to Mr. Mandela's home to pay tribute to South Africa's departed leader through means of joyful noise. 

"We should, while mourning, also sing at the top of our voices, dance and do whatever we want to do, to celebrate the life of this outstanding revolutionary who kept the spirit of freedom alive and led us to a new society," South African president Zuma said in a statement over the weekend. "As South Africans, we sing when we are happy, and we also sing when we are sad to make ourselves feel better. 

"Let us celebrate Madiba in this way, which we know best," Mr. Zuma added, referring to Mr. Mandela by his widely used clan name. "Let us sing for Madiba."

On Tuesday, in rain-soaked Soweto township, President Obama, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and some of Mandela's grandchildren were among those who spoke during a four-hour memorial service honoring Mr. Mandela, held in the 95,000-capacity FNB Stadium (built for the 2010 World Cup) and attended by more than 100 heads of state and other dignitaries and celebrities. 

"It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well; to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth," Mr. Obama said in a stirring eulogy. "He changed laws, but he also changed hearts."

Worth reading for its comprehensive look at the life of Mr. Mandela is the 6,500-word obit which appeared in The New York Times on Friday. It was written by the paper's former executive editor Bill Keller, who in the 1990s was its Johannesburg bureau chief. The obit was eight years in the making and it included comments from a 2007 interview Keller conducted with Mr. Mandela.

Across a wide spectrum, many have shared their thoughts about Mr. Mandela's passing. Here are a few worth sharing:

• The Rev. Al Sharpton shared the sentiment of many, not only in my country but throughout the world, when he commented on MSNBC in the first hour after the announcement of Mr. Mandela's death: "We've lost one of the world's great citizens." 

• Muhammad Ali, generally considered among the greatest heavyweight boxers in the world — a sport which Mr. Mandela participated in his youth — said in a statement: "He taught us forgiveness on a grand scale. His was a spirit born free, destined to soar above the rainbows. Today his spirit is soaring through the heavens. He is now forever free."

• The American poet Maya Angelou, who unveiled a tribute poem to Mr. Mandela, shared her thoughts about his impact on the world with CBS News, saying: "He showed us how liberating it is to forgive."

• CNN's Christiane Amanpour, who is no stranger to reporting about world leaders, put things into perspective when she said: "Nelson Mandela was the towering moral giant of the 20th and 21st centuries. We will not see the likes of Madiba again for a long, long time."

• Finally, Kofi Annan, who is the chair of The Elders and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation and from 1997-2006 served as the secretary-general of the United Nations, wrote in a Financial Times commentary: "Almost 20 years ago, Mandela said South Africa had come as far as it had on the path to peace and democracy only because the world had set his country 'a moral example which we had dared to follow.' As we mourn his passing and honour his memory, the task for leaders and citizens alike is to dare to follow his example — in every corner of Africa and across the world."

Photograph of Nelson Mandela courtesy of Google Images, 2013.

A sacred space for the 21st century is upon us: Its name is the Cathedral of Christ the Light.

Drawing upon the tradition of light as a
sacred phenomenon.

Imagine a 21st century sacred space built with modest materials ~ primarily wood, glass and concrete ~ that draws on the tradition of light as a sacred phenomenon, and during daytime hours is lit entirely by natural daylight. There is such a sacred space.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, Calif. It is the seat of the Bishop of Oakland and it is also a pivotal point of worship for Catholics throughout the city of Oakland as well as Alameda County.

The cathedral's name is a departure from the Catholic tradition of naming cathedrals after Mary the Mother of God or a patron saint.

Cathedral of Christ the Light /
Reflections of a city and of its cathedral.

Built in 2008 and bordering the city's Lake Merritt, the Cathedral of Christ the Light replaced the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales, which was irreparably damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 that shook the Bay Area.

"It is a spiritual font that inspires and unites our richly diverse diocese in its mission to sanctify, educate and serve," says Reverend Raymond Sacca, rector of The Cathedral of Christ the Light, on its website http://www.ctlcathedral.org/. "Whenever I enter the cathedral, I find myself drawn beyond the worries and distractions of the day into the majestic, yet serene, presence of Christ whose compassion and peace lift up my spirit."

An amazing structure with a wooden /
glass skin that creates an interior
full of light.

It is inviting to experience Mass in this sacred, light-infused Modernist space. It is also a welcoming space for listening to a concert of uplifting music or sitting quietly for a few minutes in a pew simply to enjoy and admire the sanctuary.

The architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP designed the sacred space that is The Cathedral of Christ the Light, calling it "an amazing structure with a wooden/glass skin that creates an interior full of light." Ground was broken on May 21, 2005 and was consecrated and dedicated on September 25, 2008. It was built on a site of 2.5 acres and the cathedral structure itself consumes 20,996 square meters. The exterior of the sanctuary is 118-feet high and has seating for 1,350 people.

The main Cathedral superstructure, which is located at the busy Oakland intersection of Grand Avenue and Harrison Street, across from Lake Merritt, is unlike any I have ever seen. I've driven by the cathedral hundreds of times and its beauty never ceases to amaze me. 

According to the architect, the superstructure consists of a "hybrid structural system of reinforced concrete, pre-fabricated glued laminated wood timber members, high-strength structural steel rods paired with glued laminated wood compression struts, and a steel friction-pendulum seismic base isolation system. The superstructure is supported atop an eighteen-foot-high mausoleum substructure of reinforced concrete extending to a reinforced concrete mat foundation."

21st century thinking / The lightest ecological
 footprint was always a core design objective. 

"As its name suggests, the Cathedral draws on the tradition of light as a sacred phenomenon," says the architectural website Archdaily.com ~ http://www.archdaily.com. "Through its poetic introduction, indirect daylight ennobles modest materials ~ primarily wood, glass, and concrete. With the exception of evening activities, the Cathedral is lit entirely by daylight to create an extraordinary level of luminosity."

What is impressive to the casual observer is learning that the lightest ecological footprint was always a core design objective. Also, it is encouraging to find out that through a highly innovative use of renewable materials, the building minimizes the use of energy and natural resources.

Indeed, the Cathedral of Christ the Light is a sacred space with a 21st century sensibility.

To read more about The Cathedral of Christ the Light, please see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_Light

To view a colorful pictorial of The Cathedral of Christ the Light, please see:

http://www.archdaily.com/13276/the-cathedral-of-christ-the-light-som/

To read an article from Architectural Record about the cathedral, please see:

http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0901cathedral-1.asp

All photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

Japan's powerful earthquake and tsunami

We are just guests in Mother Nature's home, wrote a friend. /
 Tonight, the ocean is dry.

"You can't control nature, but when something like this happens, you really realize the power of nature."
~ Hideki Okajima, Boston Red Sox pitcher

Each year, natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, hurricanes and tsunamis strike.  No part of the world, it seems, is immune from the wrath of Mother Nature.

In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami that befell Sumatra, Indonesia resulted in over 200,000 deaths.  It's a very humbling statistic.

"We are just guests in Mother Nature's home," wrote one of my Facebook friends on Friday evening. "May Japan recover quickly."

It's a sincere, heartfelt sentiment that I'm sure many of my friends share in the wake of Friday's devastating and deadly natural disaster that jolted Japan at 2:46 p.m. local time.

Unfortunately, Japan's geographic location in the Asia/Pacific Rim is very seismically active.  So, Friday's 8.9 catastrophic earthquake off the northeastern coast of Japan, coupled with the unleashing of a deadly, 10 meter-high tsunami that tore away buildings from their foundations and washed away cars stretching over a 100-mile swatch, should not come as a total surprise.  It was Japan's worst earthquake in its recorded history, which rocked buildings 235 miles away in Tokyo.

Right now, there's a struggle to reach survivors.  The epicenter occurred near the Northeast city of Sendai. While the loss of life and property is considerable ~ estimates suggest that the death toll will eventually exceed 1,000 ~ fortunately, it appears that strict building codes and disaster preparedness prevented a greater loss of life in lieu of the vast destruction, which has included deadly fires and a fear of some small radiation leaks in at least two of Japan's nuclear power plants.

From a humanistic viewpoint, it hurts to see Japan, a very proud, rich and high-tech nation, suffer such a heartbreaking natural disaster.  For that matter, it hurts to see any country endure any kind of natural disaster.  I can't imagine the pain that the good citizens of Christchurch, New Zealand suffered earlier this year with their earthquake let alone fathom the tragedy that has struck Japan.  The road to recovery facing both countries is staggering.  It will take much time and money ~ and a lot of patience.  Thoughts and prayers, I'm sure, are also a welcome resource.

Watching the incredible ~ albeit very sad and heartbreaking ~ video footage coming out of Japan throughout the day on CNN brought the maddening destruction into my living room.  It reinforced a grim reminder that I shared Friday morning with my Facebook friends:  Do not turn your back to the ocean.

Those of us who live in the San Francisco Bay Area woke up Friday morning feeling a little nervous as the tsunami wave thundered across the Pacific Ocean.  Precautions were taken, and a major northern California coastal highway was closed to traffic from San Francisco to Santa Cruz throughout the morning and into the early afternoon.  Fortunately, the worst damage to the Bay Area occurred in some area marinas and harbors, where some boats and pleasure craft were roughed up by choppy water.

As my American friends, who reside along the southern Gulf Coast and up and down the eastern Atlantic seaboard ~ whose lives often have been affected by the threat of or damage from hurricanes ~ can attest: Do not underestimate the power of water.

"Dear Almighty Father," wrote another of my Facebook friends. "Please help these victims as I pray for all who are enduring loss of their family members and their loved ones.  Help the children and adults to overcome this horrible tragedy in the days, weeks and months to follow."  Kind and heartfelt words, indeed.

For all the criticism thrown at social media outlets like Facebook, make no mistake:  It's given us a forum to convey our feelings and share our thoughts with our friends, both close to home as well as across oceans.

Today, it's been very comforting to share e-mails via Facebook in the hours following the world's latest natural disaster. From an old high school friend, who has endured several Gulf Coast hurricanes in Mississippi, to a new friend I made just a few days ago, who works in the fine arts in the United Kingdom, who asked about damage to my area and wanted to wish me a peaceful weekend.

Finally, I feel extremely fortunate to know that a longtime friend of mine, retired from the U.S. Navy, who resides near Yokosuka, Japan is alive and well, having endured by his estimate 140 aftershocks ~ and simply asks for our thoughts and prayers in the hours and days ahead.

"All is well with family and co-workers," he wrote in an e-mail I received Friday afternoon, about 24 hours after the earthquake-tsunami tandem. "Wish I could say the same for the rest of the country."

The American statesman, poet and inventor Ben Franklin once said : "When the well is dry, we know the worth of water."

Tonight, the ocean is dry, and a very proud nation is badly stricken, searching for help and compassion from its friends and neighbors, near and far, in the lonely days ahead.

Calla lily photo by Michael Dickens (copyright 2010).  All rights reserved.