Baby Portobello Mushrooms

We go to the crisper drawer in the refrigerator and take out a brown paper sack. Opening it, we spill the contents onto plate, and small objects with variations in shape and size, colour and texture pop into sight. They are round and brown, smooth and soft. They smell earthy and are cold to the touch.  Sensory data is being perceived and recognized by the mind in the present moment. We see an object, form a concept, and retrieve a name from mind's memory...baby Portobello mushrooms...so plump and tasty...or so our story goes. Yet the mushrooms simply present themselves, as themselves, in the present moment. In Zen-cuisine, we interpenetrate this reality. Entering directly into the moment, we experience a sense of connection with experience itself. Opening all the sense doors, we take a conscious breath and bring our body-mind together in this present moment. We simply are one with what is arising as it arises. This wide-hearted embrace encompasses all that is, and enfolds everything into Awareness itself. As it is wisely said, awareness is not what we do within each moment, but awareness is what holds each moment within its boundless Presence.  All that exists arises within the present moment.  Nothing can ever be outside the Now, for the present moment is the only place life can occur. In Zen-cuisine, our experience in the kitchen simply presents itself as experience itself. And, Zen-cuisine is rooted in an Awareness that confirms every moment is perfectly complete just as it is.