Feast Menus

Pure Scripture

To Quote the Buddha, in Pure Sustenance of Food:

“Whoever seeks merit for the future should apportion the meritorious food offerings properly, hygienically, and respectfully. They should wash their hands thoroughly, cover all the warm dishes such as vegetables and the like, handle them carefully, and not taste them beforehand. Doing so will be meritorious and please all the gods and gain the favor of all one’s companions. This will bring about the protection and blessings of all the gods. This is a statement of fact.”

Comparison of Shopping Lists in the Public & Private

Typically progressive shopping list for a vegetarian tsog at a 501(c)(3) incorporated Dharma retreat center:

1. organic fresh fruits
2. organic nuts (no salt, and we should remember that a portion of the proceeds are going to be offered to the wild so we shouldn't buy anything that could harm whatever creature finds and eats our tsog)
3. Newman O's
4. crackers (gluten free)
5. organic juice (individual servings)
6. fresh cut flowers (and better yet, orchids)

The actual shopping list for Achi Chokyi Dronma's final tsog in a cave:

1. one human corpse (died of natural causes)

Shambhala Retreat Feast

• Spears and Cheers (3 aparagus tied with scallion blanch)
• Mukpo Potato (Dauphin's new name, after the Tibetan Clan of Mukpo)
• Five Meats Beef (five tantric meats in a single clod)
• Panna Cotta Warriors (great with thematic cutouts and molds)
• First Date Nut (natural sweet vegan dessert options, always)
• Rays of Reggianito (rhymes with Reginald Ray)
• Great Eastern Gouda (our local sun)
• Tonify Qi & Xuè (goji berry beverage)
• Warming the Spirit (simple ginger tonic)

Mr. and Mrs. Hughes' Wedding Day Feast

Hors d'Oevres

Make a Splash

• Fruit Platter: watermelon, canteloupe, and grapes

Marry Me

• Cheeses and Charcuteries

Dude & Dudette Baguette

• "You be the butter and I'll be the bread."

A Dip and a Dollop Elope

• Olives, artichoke hearts and toasted almond with lemon zest and garlic tapenade

Salad & Appetizers

Spears and Cheers

• Tomato, mozzarella and basil on a skewer with balsamic vinaigrette

Woven Destinies on a Skewer

• Blanched zucchini woven around melon balls and prosciutto with aged balsamic vinegar

Love Rockets to the Moon

• Arugula, apple, pine nuts and parmigiano-reggiano salad with strawberry vinaigrette

Entrees

Fresh in our Hearts and Minds

• Pasta primavera: fusilli, zucchini, green onion, turnip greens and cocktail tomatos with roasted garlic lemon butter sauce and shaved pamigiano-reggiano stravecchio

Patties on the Back

• Herbed brown rice and quinoa patties topped with local heirloom tomato and chives

Our True Local Colors

• Roasted  yellow squash and spring red onion
• Roasted rainbow carrots with turnips garnished with parsley and local edible flowers

Umami Mia!

• Herbed chicken thigh with mushroom onion sauce

Jasmine and Kyle's Wedding Day Feast

Amuse Bouche

Okie Dokie Poke

• wild Alaskan salmon poke on Asian spoon

Salad & Appetizers

Seaweed Please Say "Yes"

• Cucumber and wakame sunomono with yuzu ponzu sauce

Rolls in the Haystack 

• Seasonal medley spring rolls with spicy sweet and sour fish sauce, or vegan sweet and sour

Seven Spice Me Up

• edamame and cabbage toss with shichimi togarashi

Entrees

Sticking Together like White on Rice

• Jasmine rice with black and white toast sesame seeds

Root Vows

• Sautee lotus and turnip roots

How 'bout a Twirl?

• Stir fry soba noodles with ginger lime sauce, toasted almond

Pineapple Tofu (It's Platonic)

• Roasted pineapple teriyaki tofu

Umami & Papa Beef

• Roast local beef with shiitake mushroom sauce

Silent Group Retreat Thank You Note

OṂ!

Venerable Hai Tao,

We monthlong silent group retreatants are most overjoyed to have received your generous gift of nutritious and delicious foods and snacks, these are such a wonderful compliment to our needlessly self-imposed austerities!

We wonder if, after about three weeks in retreat with no such sweets, tasting the classically glazed doughnuts preserved on the shelf could be anything like the Bodhisattva just tasting the milk that Sujata offered him after three years of his own self-imposed austerities?

In any case, though we have not formally met (these many grocery bags of treats seemed to have magically appeared!) we do believe you make wonderful new and lasting Dharma Friends. Please bless our fortunes to feast in the Pure Land together wherever we may go!

SVĀHĀ!