Have You Seen The Price of Coriander?

A letter from Chef James Noble

Well, that’s it folks. I’m over the hill and far, far, away now. 50. The bullseye is on me — “stay out the black and in the red, you get nothing in the game for 2 in a bed” or do you?

Thank you all for your kind messages and well wishes. It means a lot to us to know that I have made a difference in my years and people appreciate what I’m trying to do and appreciate who I am and where I am in my journey by treading lightly.

You may have read the news about the weather forecast. I wouldn’t be English if I didn’t talk about the weather and the turmoil which Chiang Mai is in. I nearly had to pull up the floorboards and dust off the hammer and straighten the bent secondhand nails and commence the ark!

September was wet and October started wetter and the lady Ping bust her banks and the city in many areas was (some still) underwater.

Keep calm and carry on, water is devastating when it arrives and then with what it leaves behind when it recedes. We haven’t been heavily affected, but Nancy is on river watch and gives hourly reports, so all is well.

So, the bad weather affects the market and its products and of course the price! Have you seen the price of coriander! 250 THB per kilo and more in some places. The tomatoes aren’t ripe, and the lettuces are sad the leaves are poor quality—having been flooded— and the ground veg is rotting.

The eggs are getting fewer as chickens’ slow down In the rain - the price of pork is up!

So What Do We Do As Chefs?

We change the menu to work with nature, we use things that survive the climate change and things that are stable in price to keep the menu affordable and creative.

We are very excited about this as it challenges us and makes us more creative and in sync with earth’s mother. We reach into our pickling and fermentation cabinet for inspiration and enjoy making items that are new for the menu.

This week we have an amazing Japanese inspired seared Duck poached in mirin, sake and soy Komu rosu - finished with pickled ginger - spring onions and a poaching liquor dipping sauce. The lemon labneh rolled in local nuts, comfit figs and sundried tomatoes is also proving a hit with the thinned-out crowd.

So, with the menu tweaked we battle on doing what we do best and hope the weather breaks and more people come. It’s been a mixed month of feelings in September as we said farewell to k Low and as we prepare for our star player to leave at the end of the month. I had a moment of weakness and wanted to throw in the towel, but K Pla as always rallied me, and we and we went on the hunt to find new team members.

Ladies and gentlemen welcome K Yo, a young man who was about to give up his dream of being a chef as no one would give him a go due to little experience and K Ed who’s on a try out, with a name like Ed it must be a sign, and I couldn’t resist as well as his resume of course. The stoic members like K Sar and Sai have pledged allegiance and we head forth into a hopefully busy high season and battle on with our belief.

So, hopefully now we have settled the team, and we can go forward with the new concepts.

The Past Knife is getting its own website here. We are expanding to ship globally.

Next up are Rocket Coffee and So sushi by Ikigai. I’ll elaborate next month. Stay tuned.

So, we are remaining positive and pushing on. Some days big steps—some days backward steps—but mostly small progressive steps.

Here’s the October Menu at The Home of Ikigai. We hope you enjoy seeing what we are cooking up and the recipe today is a great roasted tandoori broccoli with pudina and pumpkin dhal. Dish of the week, so I’ve been told.

So, how’s your Ikigai ? What have you done to make your life worth it?

I did an interview on YouTube and became  a “YouTuber” to set a few things straight!

What have you achieved this week to make your life worthwhile this month ?

Did you follow a passion , show a skill or indeed bring joy-fullness to you and others ?

What did you cook? Did you visit a blue zone or two?

Did you take a few days and indulge in the world of plant-based cuisine?

Balancing your life and taking time to eat correctly and to only 80% is the key for your body to work at its optimum output.

This, I find the hardest. I have an appetite of a Labrador and the willpower of a child in a sweet shop. Trust me, leave a little space for your body to push it around.

Show me yours and I’ll show you mine !! love to see your work!

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