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Smoke & Vapour
A work in progress and basked of ideas for the flow and menu of Smoke & Vapour http://fo.am/smoke_vapour
Arrival and descent
Aperitif: Effervescent and crispy
Drink
- Sparkling non-alcoholic drinks: eg. Sparkling Jasmine Tea
- Sparkling lightly alcoholic drinks: eg. lightly fermented flower juice, sparkling sake
- Sparkling cocktails?
Food
- Smoked potato skin crisps
- Smoked nut & seed leather
- Cold smoked raw vegetables (carrot, beetroot…)
- Charred peppers
- Toasted buckwheat/spelt/rye cracker-skins
- …
Sounds (pre-recorded, served on the same trays as the food)
- sound of the food
- bubbling
- evaporating
- crunching
- cracking
- …
Place: entrance, in front of the green glass
Posture: standing, walking
Actions: Hand washing and drying, sipping a drink, tasting bite-sized amuses, mingling
Props needed:
- water infused with herbs/oils (which ones?), a few bowls, long cloth and table for hand washing & drying.
- coat hanger
- 2-4 trays with food, drinks and speakers
- …
Solitary immersion
Isolation Ward: synaesthetic and meditative
Drink
- small glass of vapour distilled electrolyte water (add a bit of salt, pinch of sugar & lemon/lime), served before the food
- woody essential oil infused in hot salty water, evaporated over a hot stone (drinking through nose & skin)
Food
- a cold steamed seaweed/samphire starter
- a warm smoked mushroom soup
Sounds (pre-recorded and abstracted, from speakers under or next to individual chairs, perhaps small, barely audible, invisible live interventions)
- sounds from the source
- forest
- coast
- sea
Place: under the high roof, in front of the metal panel
Posture: sitting on a chair, alone
Actions: Slowing down, listening, tasting, breathing
Props needed:
- 12 chairs
- 12 small speakers & cabling
- 5-6 large hot stones
- 5-6 flasks with hot infusions
- 12 small water glasses
- 12 containers (or a skewers?) for cold starter
- 12 earthen bowls for soup
- hand sanitiser for after the starter (just a few drops)
- …
Silent convivium
Tavern: dynamic and absorbing
Drink
- (depending on food, probably at least 1 glass of wine/beer)
- water
Food (we need to make something the serving and eating of this quite light/etherial, even though ingredients might be stodgy)
- upon arrival 1 smoked mussel or scallop (with something steamed)?
- steam: a garden in the middle: (a selection of) steamed dumpling(s) on edible plates/rocks/wood. e.g. dampfnudeln, and/or semmelknoedel, and/or their asian alternatives (see dumplings from around the world in maja's library). a large plate shared in the middle of the table, with a selection of seasonal sauces with smoked/distilled/steamed ingredients. to decide what, how, when & where…
- smoke: a hearty dish with seasonal or dried vegetables, nuts… (arriving under a glass jar filled with smoke? some possibilities:
- roasted (in salt crust?) smoked beetroot and/or other root vegetables (jerusalem artichoke, celeriac, potato…)
- smoked sundried tomatoes & smoked almonds with dried porcini risotto (made with steamed rice)
- sauerkraut with smoked paprika & smoked tofu/seitan mince
- smoked chestnut puree
- forest mushrooms smoked in wood-wrapped parcels
- …
Sounds (pre-recorded and abstracted, from speakers under or next to individual chairs, perhaps small, barely audible, invisible live interventions)
- sounds of transformation
- smoking
- steaming
- cooking/frying
- live improvisation (Stevie)
Place: under low roof, 'screening room
Posture: sitting on chairs in groups of 4 people
Actions: Sharing, listening, tasting, gesturing
Props needed:
- 12 chairs
- 3 islands of 2 tree & leaf tables (6 tables in total)
- 4 surround sound speakers & cabling
- (? theatre drapes to close off the room?)
- containers (spoons) for shellfish
- edible plates or other non-porcelain containers (rocks, wood…)
- plates and cuttlery for the 'hearty dish'
- 2 sets of 12 glasses (depending on the drinks)
- 12 serviettes
- 12 water glasses
- …
Sweet emergence
Kitchen table: light, social, colourful
Drink (all depending on the food served)
- japanese green tea (as .jp green teas are first steamed before being rolled, making them more green) - sencha, sencha with yuzu or gyokuro tea - or green tea ice-cream?
- steamed coffee (from mokka coffee cookers or find steamed coffee beans
- hot chocolate with smoked milk/cream
- some distilled digestive (depending on foods served…) with smoked ice cubes
- Whiskey and cigars cocktail?
Food
- Smoked cheese platter (obvious but delicious!)
- Smoked garlic and Laphroaig tiramisu
- Pears steamed over a sweet red wine and orange peel (until it becomes a reduction)
- Steamed sweet dumplings
- Steamed green tea cake
- Steamed custard
- Steamed rice flour desserts (http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/steamed-desserts/|e.g. thai style)
- Popping sugar: a few simple recipes
- Smoked chocolates
- …
Sound (pre-recorded, played and spoken live)
- sound of the kitchen
- pots & pans
- mechanical noises (cutting, slicing, shredding…)
- cook's stories (smoking, steaming, ingredients)
- describing the sounds of steaming & smoking
- at the end, from 'formal stories' towards
Place: kitchen table, on our prep and plating table, that is covered with notes, instructions, drawings and stains
Posture: standing around the table
Actions: Observing, reading, tasting, listening (to the inner and outer environment), at the end beginning to chat
Props needed:
- big prep table covered in a writing material (paper of some kind), posca markers
- several small speakers on the prep table, cabling
- desserts in different containers (depending on what we decide)
- 12 cups for tea/coffee
- 12 glasses for water
- 12 shot and/or cocktail glasses
- …