We pick up a vegetable, the orange Hokkaido Japanese, also called the uchiki kuri (bashful chestnut) squash. We hold its aliveness in our hands. As we wash the squash's brightly-colored body, we become aware of the hard sleekness of the exterior shell, the sharp crunch of the knife through its center, the slushy squish of the pulp, seeds, and stings pulling apart from its interior. Can we observe the process of our preparation of the vegetable and stay fully present at the same time? Can we hear the sounds of the kitchen as sounds without our minds taking off someplace else, or getting hooked into delusion and discursive thought? As we touch each new ingredient for our dish, we take a conscious breath, and pause. We stay present with the meal-making in the here and now. We begin to observe the process of seeing all the ways we get pulled away from the present into past or future by wandering mind. Mindfully, we observe the process of transforming the squash from a vegetable to an nourishing dish. Awareness, whole and complete, awakens our body-mind to the aliveness of our experience in the kitchen. Zen-cuisine expresses our heartfelt intention to enter directly into this moment as it is unfolding, now.