 to the creative life from the American Creativity Association on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm your host, Phyllis Blyse, and our co-host today is Darlene Boyd. Today on the show, we will be discussing how to use your noodle with our guest Seattle's soba master chef, Soma Otsuko. And she has been the food and wine winner for Best New Chefs in 2019. And that has to do around the opening of her restaurant in Seattle that specializes in handmade soba noodles called Kavanagi. And she also has a sister establishment next door where she serves sake and she's a sake sommelier and that's called Hanyoto. And I'm sure I didn't get that right but I think Chef Sova will help us with that. Today we'll learn her approach to creative thinking in the food industry and in restaurants and why she won a major contest called Use Your Noodle for which she made ramen noodles and new recipes and won a $50,000 award. You can send your questions to Chef Soma and the show today through email at questionsatthinktecawaii.com. So Chef Soma, Arigato for joining us today. You can get a lot of English in Hawaiian but Arigato Aloha for joining us. And can you just explain a little bit about what soba noodles are and what makes your restaurant different and creative? So, soba noodle is basically made from buckwheat. Our recipe is 80% buckwheat, 20% wheat and about 50% of water. That's it. No salt, no egg, anything else. And our restaurant, every soba noodles, I make myself by scratch. That's me mixing by hand, rolling by hand, cutting by hand, which takes lots, lots, lots of time. I think that's one of the reasons our restaurant is popular. It's like everything from scratch, everything handmade and love. And not only soba noodle, we're focusing on unique appetizer like you never seen anywhere else. An example, our most popular appetizer, it's called hoagura tofu. It's a tofu dish, but not made from soybean. It's made from hoagura, but tastes like tofu. Well, we're going to see you chopping noodles here in just a minute. And so you said this buckwheat noodles, fresh, you make them every day, fresh that day for the cuisine. And how many restaurants in the United States can anyone go to and get fresh buckwheat noodles, soba noodles? In U.S., I think one in San Francisco, one in Texas, hosting, and one, no, three in New York. I think that's it. Okay. So for folks watching the show, you have to get to Seattle and taste this daily fresh handmade soba noodles made out of buckwheat. And tell us a little bit what got you into the business of making soba noodles. Is it a business or is it kind of a love of life for you? So when I was a child, I was growing up eating my grandmother's noodles. She makes like, when family gather, she makes like soba noodles from scratch, makes us a tempura, like all sorts of feast. And after I moved to the United States, I never seen handmade soba noodles. And dry noodles, soba noodles, it's like completely different things. So I moved back to Japan once and studied how to make soba noodles and practice. And I come back initially just for myself so I can eat it. Then I realized, oh, no one else is doing like, why don't I start business? That's how I started. Come on, I eat 2017. So we do talk and we're going to show, at some point in the show, the audience is going to be able to see you chopping your fresh noodles. And there are YouTube's that we want to tell everybody about that we didn't get the copyright to that shows her, in her kitchen, doing the flour and water together by hand and she's kneading it. She's rolling out the dough and she's chopping it. It really is a labor of love. And so first of all, from a creativity and innovation standpoint, when there are no buckwheat fresh soba noodles in the United States, you kind of followed the path of necessity being the mother of creation. So you made your own and you're making them for everyone here in the US. And I think that's one of the sparks and inspiration for being creative. And in the making of it, is this a, didn't you say that it's a very changing art that every day with temperature and conditions, you're having to change your recipes and what goes into it on a day to day basis because of weather? So it's not like changing recipe, more small adjustment, like rainy day, like moisture level is up. So I have to touchless noodles, sorry, touchless water or cold day dough gets tough. So you get more water, like need more, like atmosphere is not always same. So dough reacts every day difference. So I have to change the small difference to make adjustment. But it just sounds luscious. And Darlene, I know you have questions and we're going to shift to those that you have and tell the audience more about your creative style. So some of the last few days and since we've met you, I've been haunted trying to think of someone that I had heard that it's been said the creativity is one of the most important skills for a chef. And I knew that that I was somewhere and someone had said that. And it just came to me recently that it was Edward de Bono and it was after a meeting. And perhaps he was just trying to get a better dinner, but he was telling us all the strengths of chefs and that in his opinion, in his professional opinion, that chefs might be the most creative people that will ever cross our paths. So that being said, you, our guests come to us in many different ways, but you came to us through the press where we noted that you won a contest and the use your noodle contest which you won. Can you share with us the soba making process that you used in that contest and perhaps the recipes that you entered? Yeah, so technically, this is completely opposite things. Like I make soba noodle basically same process. It's like an origami, like, you know, you have to hold certain way certain certain way to make crane, right? This is completely opposite, like you like destroy everything then you make from scratch by using a component of ramen. Does that make sense? Yes. So this particular contest is is it similar to what we see on television and those cooking contests or did you have to go somewhere or did they come to your place? This is from Instagram. So we just like, okay, all right. So there was there's a creative productive thinking skill that we wanted to share with the audience today and it comes from many directions, but one of the books on creative thinking, this is a series of books by Dr. Joyce Juntun and it's a fun book and she brings to our attention five different creativity skills to make you more productive in your creativity and one of them is fluency. Another is flexibility. Another is originality and elaboration and evaluation. And I know you have a special way that you won this contest on using your noodle and the way we would describe it in the creativity world is you use fluency and fluency means this is by Dr. Joyce Juntun. It's thinking of many many many many ideas. Some people would call it brainstorming idea generation and I know you have many ways that you worked with your ramen noodles. It was at 50 and you did it over a month and let's have the engineers show us some of the many ways that you created new recipes to win the contest. So talk to us about that. Can you enlarge the image? That'll have to be sage. Sage, can you make it bigger? So like one you see the bottom, I made tonkatsu using noodle as a crust instead of panko. Top one is chamush using like a powder as a broth and made an extinct custard. Ice cream sandwich. It's like dipping chocolate. Sandwich with ice cream. That's so good. Other one is pizza. I made so many. So brainstorming is just inside of your head, right? So I try to make actually things happen. So like I can taste it. I can feel next step of brainstorming, but it's kind of brainstorming. If I make 50 different things, I can choose like top three. Okay, this is amazing. That's like how I create like make a lot then choose top things. When you said you tested, were you the only tester or did you have others on your staff taste and test or and clients taste and test or just you? This was during pandemic. So me and my staff like we tasted as a lunch. So now this, so what I was hearing you tell us the other day is you tried 50 different recipes over a month of something new and then you choose three and those three make it onto your menu out of the 50. Have there been other foods or types of cuisine that you did this process? I thought you said something about oysters and were there other examples where you do this regularly in your process of cooking? Yeah, I did once with oyster like 50 different ways to cook oyster, but I did it with sake peyote. So I select sake paired with that new oyster dish. Other things I did was hot sandwich maker challenge. Have you ever seen hot sandwich maker like when you use for like camping? Okay, so I cook it to a panini grill or? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. So I didn't cook sandwich inside of hot sandwich maker, but I cook something else like 50 different way like scotch egg or like sushi, okonomiyaki, gyoza, yeah, lots of different things. All right. Well, I think this is this Dr. Gentian also wrote another book. I didn't I don't have it with me, but it's called creativity thinking with foods. And maybe we'll have, you know, have another show with that. But this what we really wanted to let the audience know is I mean, it's very creative and fun to hear just about the food and the restaurant. And we also want to know what those skills are that we can all go and access ourselves to be more creative. And I think that you're doing you have a very big demand on your day. I mean, you probably work almost six or seven days a week long hours. You're the owner and the chef. Isn't that right? So this is keeping you very much on your feet. But also as you're doing so, you're not creating a routine where you do the same thing every day. You're doing many the same thing in many different ways. It sounds like every day. And it's what are you thinking, darling? It just sounds so innovative. It truly does. And also related to the innovation is you shared with us that you have a motto that you that you remind yourself. Can you share with us that motto? Yes. Don't think and just do it. Just explain it. You have to experiment. Try. It's just you know, you cannot brainstorming that you have to make product. Yeah, which which explains to us why chefs might be viewed as some of the most creative people because it seems to me with 50 recipes to put in there and 50 ways to play around, that it can't be just playing around because you could have quick failures on the spot. So there's a whole list of knowledge base and strong knowledge base and skills I would assume. Would you not? You mentioned that you had gone to Japan to study first before you went through this process. Yeah. You also told us a story about your grandmother. So the roots of your studying and playing around go pretty far or deep rooted, aren't they? Well, you remind me, Darlene, I wanted if we have time today to talk a little bit about your expertise with sake. And I don't know if everybody realizes there are sake sommeliers and you get the same kind of go through the same kind of certification processes that we do for wine and spirits. And you just keep pushing the doors wider open to more creative ways to show up with your food each day and in your restaurant. So tell us what it means first of all to be a sake sommelier and what sake means in Japan coming from a very Buddhist Zen background. How does that get brought into the culture in Japan? So my sakeba called hanyato means wisdom water. So hanyato is Buddhist word for wisdom water. It's like back then monk things like if you drink wisdom water make you think more, make you smart. So I want people to drink sake to, you know, you think better and be smarter and be more creative. I love that. Wisdom water. So what does that and it does that with sake doesn't mean that, right? What how would you say wisdom water in Japanese? Hanyato. Oh, that's the name of the restaurant. All right. I know we get a real clear phonetics and also understanding hanyato is wisdom water in Japanese and then you're serving sake for that. So there must be many different ways to I know I'm in a wine tasting and investment club. We had sake twice was what we what we did our wine tasting and I was so surprised to learn that some of the most expensive sake were served cold and growing and growing up sort of in Hawaii and spending many years there. I only got it served hot and little hot sake dishes. So could you tell us a little bit about the cold sake versus hot and you know how to add these to your meal or to your week? So some people think hot sake is bad or cheap sake or like more happier drink but that's not true. Sake is only beverage you can enjoy besides tea you can drink cold to hot and there's so many different type of sake. Some sake better showcase cold such a daiginjo type like daiginjo like more high-end like more fruit sword like clear sake but uh like kimoto style sake more old style sake taste better warm or hot taste more umami so it depends on like what's you like or what's your preference there was correct way to drink sake. So Soma are you part of a community of chefs and if so do you do you all gather in your sake bar and gain your wisdom? Yeah if you have other chefs that you can regularly discuss and bounce ideas. Interesting and um well I I wish we could do a sake tasting here and and have you take us through the delights and the variances of the different tastes. Do you pair your sake with different chosen soba noodle dishes or are they does it go with anything or the other dishes that you make from scratch at the restaurant? Most of the dish goes well with sake and also I have different type of sake at the restaurant and more here you know like some people think fish doesn't taste great with red wine right but fish or like any seafood is amazing with sake like example people like eat sushi with sake right just because sake doesn't have any iron so doesn't like fight like iron fish so I think any any any sake you choose from our bar or restaurant tend to go well with everything. Oh fascinating well you know one of the things I just got noticed from the engineers I think that I would like the audience to see you doing this homemade soba noodle buckwheat noodle making and there will be a silence when we're showing it but I think that would be absolutely appropriate have a sacred silence as we watch you doing the handmade noodle making so Max if you would bring it on we'll know that it'll be a silent few minutes watching this ancient art of soba noodle making. Thank you. That's a cutting board. I know that I wanted the longer video and we don't even see you but it still is something for viewers to see. Thank you. That's good. Oh a little bit of you awesome well there we are and we got a little bit of Chef Soma in the video and it's just been a delight to learn more about your creative processes. Darlene do you have anything? Yeah so what do you think or what what efforts do you go through to make your customers come back? I like changing menu often that's like number one like if people like my food like I make sure post it on Instagram so people see it people come back. So you do use social media and technology okay a little bit of that you're not your broad-based knowledge there. How did you find out about the contest? It was on Instagram was it posted on Instagram? Yeah so you found it through your following on Instagram interest and how long did it take you to prepare for the contest? So I made one thing a day so like about months but I do like one thing a day and difference. And so over the course of a month did you turn in these recipes to the contest producers like throughout the month you kept sending new recipes in or did you do it all at once? I just posted on Instagram every day. Oh I see posted it I see so it's an entirely electronic process I see and do you hold fairs or food days in anywhere around Seattle where you show up with the food truck and try to recipes out or is it they're always coming in just to the restaurant? Just to the restaurant. Okay so as an art you were talking about your daughter you were hoping that she would learn this art of soba noodle making. Tell us a little bit about that why is that what would how does that add would that add to her life and maybe our lives to to to do this kind of practice and art and food? It's you know family things like my grandma was always cooking for you know grandkids and go generation by generation and when my grandma died it's same day my daughter was born so like I felt like something like I should teach her soba noodle too so you know hopefully when she became mom or she became grandmother she can teach grandkids or kids how to make soba or at least like feed them soba. Thank you so much that was really touching and reminds us too that staying in that in this area of creativity and being innovative and and getting away from cookie cutter kind of life and and sharing the special unique gifts that we give when we're using our own creativity each time it's so different and if you made it seem very special in our American creativity world of creativity your touch of it. I would agree there's something beautiful in the discussion field especially as you describe it and and I think we often talk about the stages of creativity if if one ties into that there are such and and so you talked about brainstorming but but I think there's something more beautiful underlying here and it's it's not just using the tools but there's an ebb and a flow soma that you described and and I think you would agree Phyllis is as we're listening to this process it's not just step one step two step three there's the pulling back and then there's the beautiful flow and then we turn in and we add the wisdom water and so it's it's really a pleasure to listen to your dedication. Thank you. It certainly is and we're I'm going to have to close and talk about the next show is there anything that you wanted to say chef soma before we close the show out besides inviting people to the restaurants and coming to Seattle? Yeah come to come and eat and come drink wisdom water. That's beautiful and well on that note thank you darling we we will leave it here for today dear audience you have been watching The Creative Life on Think Tech Hawaii and today Darling Boyd and I have been discussing how to quote use your noodle to develop creative thinking skills such as fluency in your daily life we've been with soba master chef soma mutsuko and she wants us to remember don't think just do experiment and try so thank you very much for participating and I'm Phyllis Blesch your host and in two weeks we will be back with another edition of The Creative Life aloha