Caroline Ishii
A reflection on mothers, mothering, and the food that holds us. Mother’s Day can be beautiful. It can also be complicated. This morning, I was in my local supermarket, and almost every grocery cart seemed to have a bouquet of flowers in it. All around me were buckets of blooms sitting in water, ready to be chosen. It’s Mother’s Day, I thought, with a mix of emotions. It’s sweet how people buy…
This morning, I walked by the lake while the last colours of sunrise were still stretched across the sky. The pictures I took didn’t do it justice. They never do. Some beauty is kirei sugi (too beautiful), as the Japanese often say when they see the sakura in full bloom. The water was sparkling. The blue sky was vivid. The colours were like a painting, soft pastels of orange, red, purple, and…
I was walking past the University of Toronto campus when I saw clusters of people gathered under blooming sakura trees. There was a buzz in the air. People were taking photos, filming videos, looking up, lingering longer than usual, instead of rushing past. And I felt it too. That gentle pull to stop, notice, and be in its beauty. In a world of constant distraction, whether our phones, our…
Lately, I’ve been noticing the patterns of nature on my daily walk in the forest and by the water. I’m fascinated by how nature holds both order and randomness at once and is always changing. Branches reach in every direction yet somehow form a whole. Sometimes steady, sometimes bending, or even breaking, in strong winds. Water flows with its own rhythm. At times, calm on the surface, and at…
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” — Rumi I’m back from my walk with Bounty on a grey, cool, rainy day. At first, I didn’t want to go. When I stepped outside, I was underdressed and felt chilled. On the walk, we saw many people I didn’t know but recognized through our dogs playing. There were also those small, random meetings that happen when you’re out in the…
What makes something feel comforting and memorable? I was recently on CBC Radio talking about tamago sando, the Japanese egg salad sandwich that has quietly become a global obsession. With 7-Eleven announcing it will soon bring the iconic sandwich to Canadian stores, many are asking: What makes it so special? At first glance, it’s simple. Creamy egg salad made with Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise,…