When
March 22, 2025 6 PM – 9 PM
Where
Cost
$32 per person in advance
$35 per person at the door
7 and under are free
Join us for a traditional Japanese Dinner!
You know it’s cold out there this time of year, so come on in for some hot food!
The annual Mizutaki dinner at Chamberlain Studios is a fun evening, typically scheduled when a special guest is at the dojo or following an important event.
What to Bring
- Cushion to sit on (if you are unable to sit on a cushion on the floor we have some picnic tables at the front with regular height seating, just let us know your needs.
We provide a dinner of chicken, tofu and vegetables, but bring anything extra you would like in your pot (in the past people have brought fish, lobster, shrimp, kobe beef and other mixed seafood, etc.
BYOB. Beer, wine, sake, etc… - 10-12 inch, lidded cook pot, to go on gas burner
- Rice cooker (call first, we may have enough)
The Dinner
The dinner routine is roughly as follows:
The dojo is prepared with many low lying 8 foot tables (bring a cushion) and picnic benches, each seating six to eight people. On each table are set two gas burners (one at each end for a group of 3-4) with a cooking pot on each. To get started, each pot is filled with a prepared Konbu & chicken stock and heated. Into this is added the par boiled chicken which is then cooked. When the chicken is almost done, you add in the pre-cut vegetables and simmer until ready. Put the veggies in by thickness, the thicker they are the longer they take to cook!
You can fill your rice bowl to about half or two thirds and then onto this you place some items out of the cooking pot. Just pull out a few pieces of chicken and some of the vegetables and place them on your rice. Remember this isn’t soup…You are just using the stock to cook in. On the table next to your bowl, you will have a small side dish with pickles in. These are usually salted/spiced cucumber, carrot or daikon radish, and help stimulate your appetite. When done with the pickles, use this plate for your soy sauce or Ponzu, this is a citrus soy mixture and is used as a dipping sauce for the meat and veggies.
Dining Etiquette
- It is considered bad etiquette to eat directly from the mizutaki cook pot…use the tongs to put the food in your bowl first and then eat from there. If you can’t find the tongs, it is okay to use the wide ends of your chopsticks to pull something out of the pot to put in your bowl.
- Place your chopsticks (hashi) on the chopstick rests (hashi oki) or on the side plate when you are not using them. Don’t stick your chopsticks in your rice bowl (this is done when a rice offering is made at a funeral).
- Pour beer or sake for your friends and table guests, not for yourself. It is considered polite to do this with two hands, as it is also considered polite to accept with two hands (one holding the cup/glass with the other supporting). Juniors pour for seniors, younger for older, etc. Pay attention to the needs of your friends around you or they will go thirsty and so will you! Think of it as a drinking game!
- Have fun cooking dinner! This is a slow process (slow-food at its best) and a perfect opportunity to visit with friends and see what they have in their cook pot!
Many people bring extra things to go in their cookpot. Past ingredients have included; lobster; mixed seafood; fish; kobe beef, etc.
Members of our Kids Leadership Program are invited to assist at the dinner and will be there to help make Mizutaki even more fun! They will be there to help with rice, water, sake, and clearing the tables as we go. Here is a picture of the helpers from a few years ago.
Helping Out
There is a lot of work that goes into these dinners… If you would like to help at the next one, we would appreciate it very much, let us know and we will get you going on a job, from flowers to table prep, vegetable chopping, shopping, table set up, tea making, rice cooking… and the list goes on!