Dear Japanese language students, May 4th (Sat) 12-5 pm is Japanese chat time at the shop! This activity is part of the GenWell Project on Quinpool Road to promote face-to-face connections in our community!
Come to the shop and practice your Japanese conversation skills! We'll be running the shop as usual but we'll be chatting with you in Japanese if you greet us with "konnichiwa"! :-)
The Ross Creek Centre For The Arts is a not-for-profit organization with the noble mission to provide arts education to youth, nurturing the next generation artists through various programs in performing/visual arts, crafts, and even gardening/cooking! Many professional artists from all over also visit the Centre through their residency/retreat programs. This offers valuable opportunities for the youth to interact with established artists.
Last Sunday (Apr 7th, 2019), the Centre hosted a community event-- Exploring Japanese Culture. We were honoured to present an ikebana demonstration. The beautiful facility is tucked away in a small corner of the Annapolis Valley in Canning, NS, about 1.5 hrs drive from Halifax. For first-time visitors like us, the area felt remote. Would people really go there? Our concern was unfounded! The turnout was great and we found a very vibrant and involved community. The ikebana demonstration was well-received as was the chanoyu (tea ceremony) presentation after us.
Thank you Chris, Ken, Kathleen (wonderful food...and your Japanese cheesecake is to die for!) and the rest of the Ross Creek staff for your very warm welcome! We enjoyed ourselves immensely.
The Friendship: Ikebana Exhibition was held for 2 days (May 26-27, 2018) at the Halifax Central Library. Miyako and her students shared their ikebana to the Halifax public not only by showing their work but also by being there to talk about ikebana with the people who came by. We are very happy that many people visited to enjoy and learn about ikebana. The live demonstration was a quite a draw as well! Thank you to all who visited us!
Photo credit: Media C.
This exhibit is also part of the celebrations across Canada commemorating the 90th anniversary of Japan-Canada diplomatic relations. Incidentally, 10 years ago, Miyako held a solo ikebana exhibit to commemorate the 80th anniversary! (Click here to see the 2008 exhibit.)
We are extremely grateful to the Halifax Public Libraries who generously allowed us to use their beautiful space at the Central Branch. Special thanks to Hilary S-N, programming manager, who was very patient and helpful with our numerous little requests as we prepared for the exhibit. As well, our huge thanks to Joanne and Heather who were wonderful during the set-up and exhibit days. Everything went smoothly because of you!
Our sincere thanks to: Val S., Media C., Robert L., Odessa G., M.S., and Cody O. They worked hard for this exhibit: designing arrangements and staying on during the exhibit to help explain what ikebana is all about to our curious visitors. Your dedication and hard work in the study of ikebana has not gone unnoticed and seeing how people enjoyed and appreciated your work is great validation of your ikebana!
Joint Arrangement by Miyako and Val S.
Arrangements by Val S.
Arrangements by Media C.
Arrangement by Robert L.
Arrangement by Odessa G.
Arrangement by M.S.
Arrangement by Cody O.
Arrangement by Miyako
Thank you all for coming! We hope you enjoyed our little ikebana exhibition. We hope to do another one some time soon!
For Immediate Release - May 22nd, 2018
Friendship - Ikebana Exhibition will be held at the Halifax Central Library lobby this coming weekend (May 26-27).
Ikebana is the art of Japanese floral arrangement. Although ubiquitous in Japan, authentic ikebana is not often seen in Halifax. This exhibition offers a rare glimpse of what ikebana is like...and a glimpse of one facet of Japanese culture.
2018 is the 90th anniversary of Japan-Canada diplomatic relations. Across Canada, there are many events happening to commemorate this milestone. Through this exhibition, Halifax joins in the Canada-wide celebrations.
More information about the 90th anniversary here.
List of other events in our region here. (Note that NS is overseen by the Consulate General of Japan in Montreal.)
The exhibition will be presented by Miyako Ballesteros (Sogetsu School of Ikebana) and her students. Back in 2008, Miyako held her first solo exhibit in Halifax in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Japan-Canada diplomatic relations! From then on, she started teaching ikebana and now 10 years later, she and her students will share with Halifax their ikebana.
Admission is free.
Friendship - Ikebana Exhibition
May 26th (Sat) 12 - 6 p.m.
May 27th (Sun) 12 - 5 p.m.
(Short live demonstration on Sunday, 2 p.m.)
At the Halifax Central Library lobby. (5440 Spring Garden Rd., Halifax NS)
We hope to see you there.
Thank you very much to the Mahone Bay Garden Club for your warm welcome last night!
We were very happy for the opportunity to introduce ikebana to you. We loved your insightful questions and sharp observations! We hope you enjoyed our presentation!
Maybe we'll see some of you in our ikebana lessons one day!
Thank you to everyone who came to our Gyoza Cooking Workshop last Sunday, Apr 9th. We hope you enjoyed! ...and we hope you will now be able to make your own gyoza at home! :-)
Special thanks to Patti V. for sharing her photos with us!
(Image courtesy of Patti V.)
Hands-on with the gyoza wrapping!
Before cooking. (Image courtesy of Patti V.)
After cooking. (Image courtesy of Patti V.)
2nd Update 26-Mar-2017:
A second workshop will be held on the same day, Apr 9th (Sun), 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Please call or email if you are interested!
Update 26-Mar-2017:
Thank you very much for your great response! Currently, the 10:30-12:00 workshop is fully booked. If you are interested in this workshop, please let us know. If we get enough people, we may open another session later in the afternoon of the same day (tentatively 2:30-4:00 p.m.).
Gyoza (餃子）are Japanese style dumplings. Dumplings, of course, have existed in many shapes and cooking styles across Asia. We hope to introduce you to a typical Japanese way to prepare gyoza.
In the same way that French fries are a sidekick of the fast-food burger here in North America, gyoza normally accompany ramen in Japan. (But we won't be making ramen in this workshop!) Keep that in mind when planning your next ramen party! :-)
Image Source: Flickr
Workshop Details:
In this workshop, you will learn to prepare the stuffing, wrap and cook the gyoza in the Japanese style. Be ready to get your hands a little messy! Of course, you will eat what you make too! At the end, Ice cream and tea will follow.
Date: Apr 9th, 2017 (Sunday)
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon.
Venue: the ikebana shop, 6417 Quinpool Rd., Halifax NS
Cost: $15.00 plus HST (total 17.25) per person. All materials included.
Max 6 persons.
Advanced booking and payment required. First come, first served!
**New**
We will accept bookings by email or over the phone (902-407-0487) but the reservation will be confirmed after payment is made. Payment can be made in person at the shop, over the phone with your credit card, or online via Paypal (let us know and we'll send you an invoice.)
Our cancellation policy:
Cancel by Apr 6th (Thursday): 50% refund
Cancel after Apr 6th: No refund
Please inform us of any allergies when you sign up.
Note: The gyoza wrappers are not gluten-free. The gyoza stuffing contains pork.
Hope you can join us!
2nd Update 3-Feb-2017:
The 2nd session at 4:30-6:00 p.m. is also going to happen and it is now fully booked as well. Thank you all!
Update: 3-Feb-2017:
Thank you very much for your great response! Currently, the 10:30-12:00 workshop is fully booked. If you are interested in this workshop, please let us know. If we get enough people, we may open another session later in the afternoon of the same day (tentatively 4:30-6:00 p.m.).
A teishoku (定食）is a set meal. Typically, it will consist of rice, soup, a main dish and some side dishes. We are offering a workshop on how to make a typical Japanese meal. We thought we'd make it more interesting by creating a vegan meal of common Japanese food. All ingredients are readily found in Halifax!
In the workshop, we will show you how to prepare the food. Participants will be asked to help in some of the tasks. Then we all share the meal together.
Workshop Details:
Date: Feb 19th, 2017 (Sunday)
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon.
Venue: the ikebana shop, 6417 Quinpool Rd., Halifax NS
Cost: $19.50 (plus HST) per person. All materials included.
Max 5 persons. Advanced booking required. First come, first served!
Register by phone (902-407-0487) or email.
We are making....
Kenchin-jiru けんちん汁, Miso-based soup with many yummy stuff inside!
Hourenso no goma-ae ほうれん草の胡麻和え. Spinach with sesame seed.
Tofu steak 豆腐ステーキ.
Nasu no yakimono 茄子の焼き物 Grilled eggplant.
Served with rice, of course!
At the end, we'll throw in some soy-based ice cream with matcha for dessert!
itadakimasu!
About a month ago, we had the opportunity to present ikebana to a class in Japanese culture at St. Mary's University. A number of students were very interested to learn more and so a hands-on workshop was organized on Nov 15th, 2016.
The students learned about how to view branches and discern the front and back. They also practiced measuring and clipping to gain proper proportions in the arrangement. It was great to see how seriously they took to the task. Their attention to detail was commendable.
After the hard work, everyone was happy with their arrangements! It was indeed a pleasure to study ikebana with the students. Thank you for being wonderful participants in the workshop!
A big thank you to St. Mary's University President, Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, for his gracious support. And, special thanks to Dr. Alexandre Avdulov of the Department of Modern Languages for organizing everything!
Thank you to all who visited us at Hal-Con! Thank you to all Hal-Con organizers and volunteers for another great convention!
