Another Fantastic Review of Mama’s Fire

Hello all here is another fantastic review for Mama’s Fire Gourmet Sauce. I am coping it all for you, but here is the link so see it in its proper form at Precious Metal a very hip Buddhist Blog.

Food Review: Mama’s Fire Tibetan Hot Sauce & BBQ Sauce

October 17, 2011

tags: Mama’s Fire Tibetan Hot Sauce and BBQ Sauce

by Nate DeMontigny

Mama’s Fire Tibetan Hot Sauce and BBQ Sauce
Brought to you by The Sacred Works Project

A while back, after a teaching by Lama Migmar, I drove him back to Boston from the Cape. We hadn’t eaten yet, and when we got to his brother’s house he invited me in for dinner. We had a traditional Tibetan Soup with a light salad. He asked me if I wanted to try some Tibetan sauce (it was more of a paste) and warned me it was hot. I LOVE spicy stuff so I was down. Not only was it great, and a little burny (yeah it’s not a word, I just made it up) but I had to have more.

For months afterward I was trying to find anything that was similar and until I opened the mailbox one day and saw some Mama’s Fire Tibetan Hot Sauce in there, nothing stacked up.

MFTHS (it’s easier to abbreviate this one, lots of typing with this name) is not dead on to what I had with Lama Migmar, but it is comparable in it’s own way. It is very unique in the fact ginger seems to be one of the main ingredients, and while it does not add heat, it most definitely adds some bite. I’ve put it on just about any sort of dish I use hot sauce with. My favorite it is to use it on turkey tacos, the ground turkey absorbs a lot of the flavor and still leaves the heat. When I can, I use this stuff in every dish that calls for hot sauce.

Along with the Tibetan Hot Sauce came a bottle of BBQ Sauce. The first opportunity I had, I marinated some chicken in this stuff, grilled it up and wow, it was fantastic. Some BBQ sauces out there have to much honey, to much smoke and they just lack a good flavor. Mama’s Fire BBQ has a clean, tangy flavor without the smoky aftertaste of a lot of the store bought sauces.

My wife got a skirt steak a few weeks back and let it sit in a crock pot for 8 hours. It melted into a pulled beef heaven. But, I’m not here writing about my wife’s skill at cooking, we’re here to talk about this sauce. I’ve been huge on eating lots of proteins and stuff like that, so one day I took some of the left over skirt steak, microwaved it with some of Mama’s Fire BBQ and poured it over some brown rice. When I was finished a small tear came to my eye, because I realized there was none left. Not only was the beef gone, but so was the BBQ sauce.  :(

I am a big fan of both of these sauces as you can tell, and I think you ought to give them a try. I still have a bit of the hot sauce left, so I haven’t started shaking from the Mama’s Fire dt’s yet.

Jesse here again, good review I thought, I would love to hear your thoughts of course.

We have come up with an idea to help motivate folks to send us recipes.  It is simple and direct, a bit like myself, my wife calls me the bull in the china shop.  If you send us a recipe, either by facebook or though our web page, we will send you a free bottle of the sauce you used in your creation.  We are putting together a Mama’s Fire Cook Book and would love to include you recipe, so that it might be shared with all.  Thank you again for your support.

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

Mama’s Fire makes some Thukpa (Tibetan soup)

I had the great fortune recently of be given a new recipe for a Tibetan soup called Thukpa, which actually has  Tibetan hot sauce as a traditional ingredient.   As I did a bit of looking around on the web.  I found that there is a great deal of good information about this soup.  So, I thought I would do my best today to share what I found along with our family recipe.

My sister came up from California, she is the one in the family who has done most of the travel.  While in India she learned how to make this wonderful soup called Thukpa.  Thukpa a fantastic blend of meat (can be made vegetarian of course) veggies and noodles.  The spices include ginger, onions, salt, pepper and of course Tibetan hot sauce!  Here is our family recipe and then I will share some others I found while writing this entry.

Thukpa

It tastes even better then it looks!

Stew beef or Lamb 1 lb

Onion 1 sweet onion

Garlic 5-6 cloves

Ginger 1/2 cup grated or cut finley

1 small package of egg noodles (the youtube teaches you how to make your own if you would like.)

Collard greens or spinach as much as you want, I like a lot of greens,  I would say we put in one full bag of the prepped greens you get at the store.

Salt and pepper the meat.  Cut onion into bit size pieces.  Grade the ginger.  Rinse garlic and cut finely.  Sate the onion, garlic and ginger with the meat, at a high heat searing the meat to keep in the juices of the meat in a large stew pot. Fill your pot with water and let these ingredients simmer covered for four hours.  While the meat, garlic, onion and ginger simmer you can prep the rest of vegetables.  Wash and cut greens into large bite size pieces to be added later with the noodles.  Once the simmering is done add the noodles and greens cook until done.  Serve with Tibetan hot sauce and enjoy!

Here is a youtube from Gate Way to Tibet which will show you how to make the soup, they add other ingredients which made me curious to try it there way.  My sister did say that for a “fancy” Thukpa, other vegetables can be added.  My thought is that whatever you would enjoy would be alright.

Here is another fun blog called In Love With Food, which gives another fun recipe for the soup.

Much love to you all.

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

Sacred Works Done By Mama’s Fire Sauce

Devotion in action

I was asked to write a short article about the relic tour for a magazine out here in Portland and so, I thought I would share it with my loyal blog readers.

There is an opportunity for all and it is presently touring the world.  This opportunity is to be in the presence of the Buddha and 37 of the great Buddhist Masters throughout history.  The Maitreya Heart Shrine Relic Tour has made this possible.  They are touring with the relics, the remains of such masters as the Buddha Shakayamuni, Nargajuna, Shariputra, Marpa, Milarepa, Padmasambhava, Yeshe Tsogyal, three of the incarnations of His Holiness the Karmapa and many other great Buddhist masters, some who have only passed away just a few short years ago.  The relics are touring with the intention of raising money to build a 500 foot bronze statue of Maitreya in Kushinagar, in India.  This statue will also include a school, a hospital and create many thousands of jobs for the region.  I am writing to share about this experience as it just came to Salem, Oregon and touched those that live here including my own family. The Sacred Works Project and Mama’s Fire Gourmet Sauces sponsored the tour along with local meditation groups, local restaurants and devoted individuals.  I cannot say enough in thanks for them doing so, as I and my family were deeply moved by the experience.

Thank you Mama's Fire!

I must explain to all who are reading what a relic is, as it is a hard thing to understand and even harder to grasp why we would want to be in their presence.  When a Buddhist Master is cremated – traditionally called their Paranirvana  (their transition into Nirvana) they leave relics within their ashes which hold the quality of their realization.  These relics are called ringsel, they are small crystals or bone pearls found in the ashes after the cremation is complete.  My six year old son calls them, “the eggs that will never hatch”.

It is challenging to describe the relics presence using the words that English has to offer but I will try.  The air changes when the relics arrive.  It becomes kind and sweet like it has just been imbued with the protection of love.  It is as though these small pearl eggs hold the vibration of the master’s experience and they are giving it to the viewer, blessing them just by being near.  In the course of the weekend I watched as five hundred people came to see the relics from every walk of life.  Each time they came in hard, toughened by the normal expectations of the world but within just the few minutes they spent with the relics of these masters they were, put simply, changed.  I can only explain it by saying they came out more open, alive and interconnected with their environment.  Their faces were wide open, they shared their happiness and deep gratitude at having had the experience.  This did not just happen once, it happened over and over again.  Many of them returned the next day and stayed for hours just sitting in the presence of the relics.

I had the opportunity to talk with the coordinators of the tour and they shared that our experience in Salem was not at all uncommon.  Cristian who has been with the tour for two and a half years shared his experience in Mexico City where 37,000 people came to view the relics many with no connection to Buddhism at all.  Cristian himself is the embodiment of kindness and generosity.  He understood the power of the relics and humbly believes it is his honor and duty to share their blessings with everyone he comes into contact.  He stated that it was very good that the relics had come to a place they had never been before as not only did they bless the people they also blessed the land itself.

To view the relics one can find their schedule online at www.maitreyaproject.org.   To learn more about the Sacred Works Project and Mama’s Fire you can go to www.sacredworksproject.org or www.mamasfire.com.

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

By this merit may all obtain enlightenment

Mama’s Fire and the relics

Sacred Works Project brought the Heart Shrine Relic Tour to Salem, Oregon.

This is a wild story.  I was looking on the internet and found the tour. I had heard about it from one of the Mama’s of Mama’s Fire, Cathy.   I wrote them and asked if the relics had ever come to Salem, Oregon? The response surprised me a bit.  The Maitreya Project wrote me back with, “No would you like to host us?”.  I had no idea what that meant, not the faintest clue how I would pull it off, and I responded, “Absolutely”.  My first thought, I want my family to experience this, to have the memories of hanging out with the relics of the Buddha and so many other great saints, Marpa, Milarepa, Shariputra and did I mention the Buddha himself (I was really excited as Cathy had said it was an extraordinary experience for her).

This is what happened last weekend.  All with the help of the lineage, there is no other way that it could have been done.

Here are some pictures.

Our alter

Cristian was so kind he actually put a bottle of Mama’s Fire Tibetan hot sauce on the alter.  It was my gift to him and Louisa I do hope they enjoy it.

This was the blessing area were we were actually blessed with the relics of the Gautama Buddha.

Our blessing line

I was blessed here five times this weekend.  My Father in law, wife, daughter and dog, Cali were all blessed here.  My son did not want a blessing but he loved the baby Buddha shrine were we poured water on the baby Buddha to purify ourselves.  It was amazing watching him guard the relics with his grandpa.   My sister and brother in law George and my Nephew were all blessed here as well.  It was exactly what I had asked for, my family and many of my friends were being blessed by the relics.

Here are the relics of the Buddha.

The Relics of Gautama Buddha

And here are some other relics I loved this weekend. Check this out in the up left (Stage left) corner you can see the relics of Yeshe Tsogyal and Padmasambhava together again.  Together was also Marpa and Milarepa.  This case also has the first Karmapa, 15th Karmapa and the 16th Karmapa sitting next to each other.  It was an incredible weekend.

They all feel happy together

I have to honor and thank Dino and Tyler at Venti’s they gave eight meals and helped out with our printing costs.  I got some pictures of the cook who came out to receive our thanks.

You can try Mama’s Fire at both Venti’s downtown and Tap House. And as of last week, the oldest drive though coffee shop in Salem, Espresso Road, the ladies there are fantastic and they will put the sauce on your egg sandwich if you ask.  You can buy it at Life Source, all locations can be found in Salem.

Here are those pictures.

The dedication of Merit.

You can see his shirt "I love Venti's"

Here we are giving our thanks, we were sorry Dino and Tyler weren’t there but I heard that Tyler worked 157 hours in the last two weeks opening their new Venti’s Tap House in South Salem, so we certainly understand.

Venti's receiving the pendants and gold Bodhi Leaf

It was an incredible weekend.  One that I will be loving for a long time.  If you can, I mean this sincerely, check out the relic tours next stop in Seattle, August 19-21.  You will be happy you did.

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

Mama’s Fire for Breakfast

I wanted to share with you all a fantastic dish that I have been eating for breakfast.  This comes from my days of living at a Buddhist retreat center called Karme Choling in Vermont. Here is a picture of their beautiful shrine room.  I spent many hours there watching my mind.  That is another story altogether.

This retreat center is were I was first introduced to Tibetan hot sauce.  Back then I used brown rice to prepare my breakfast.  But I am less picky these days.  It may not be a breakfast dish for everyone but I love it.  I have been cooking up a batch of rice on the weekend using my rice cooker, so that the meal is quick and easy to prepare before I head in for work.  So here it is, one bowl full of rice enough to fill you up, with a teaspoon of Mama’s Fire Tibetan hot sauce, soy sauce to taste (I use about 2 tablespoons soy sauce) and enough butter do that it will stir in and cover each grain of rice.  I have heard stories of Tibetan Lama’s who are doing many many full body prostrations, who will actually eat a full stick of butter in their morning meal.  This of course is only if you are doing 10,000 prostrations in a session.  For the rest of us, a half tablespoon of butter should do the trick.  I use a microwave in the morning, but for those who don’t want to use this device, try cooking it all up in a pan until hot.  Stir it all together and enjoy!

For my readers in Portland and Eugene Oregon who would like to try the sauce we are out sampling again.  We will be doing samplings in the Eugene stores of Market of Choice on 7/23/11. This time we’ll be set up at the Delta Oaks store from 11 til 2.  Then, from 3 til 6 we’ll be set up at the Willakenzie Market of Choice handing out samples of our hot sauce & the BBQ sauce.  The following day, Sunday the 24th, we’ll be handing out samples up in the Portland area at the Hillsdale Food Front store. 11 til 2.  Then later on Sunday 3 til 6 Josh will cart our little table over to the Thurman Food Front and hand out even more samples.

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

I just found this – I Actually Googled Myself.

Just googled myself -this is something I found.  A really kind review from an old friend of mine from High School.

A spicy Boulder success story

Posted on May 17, 2011 by boulderiteabroad

I’d like to take a moment to brag about Jesse Thompson, an old friend, a BHS alumni and author of The Dharma Brats: Growing Up Buddhist in America.

First, a small disclaimer.  I haven’t seen or talked to Jesse since, if memory serves, 1992.

I remember Jesse as one of the calmest, happiest people I’ve ever met.  My strongest memory was that he was always wearing a big, genuine smile.

The fact that it is nearly 20 years later and I still want to boast about Jesse’s accomplishments should give you an idea of how much respect and admiration I have for the guy.

Mama’s Fire – a traditional Tibetan hot sauce

Jesse is the founder of Mama’s Fire, a traditional Tibetan hot sauce, which is drawing rave reviews.  The coolest thing about Mama’s Fire (pun intended) is that it is a Sacred Works Project, a non-profit, non-denominational business whose mission is to support projects of a sacred nature.

I am not a spiritual person and I struggle to tolerate most religion and religious rhetoric.  Despite my natural state of scepticism, I find the simplicity of the Project’s mission statement to be inspirational.

“We trust that humans seek their own goodness or truth. Although we cannot know what each person’s journey will look like, we want to support them in their search for truth.”

Jesse Thompson – I think this was in NYC circa 1992

Congrats Jesse on your dedication to an excellent concept and a great product.  I hope we can sit down some day, eat a meal (smothered in Mama’s Fire) and reconnect.

I believe we should reconnect my friend.  I would love to share some red chicken with you and yours.  Thank you for letting me share this with all my friends.

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

Gluten Free!!!

Mama's Fire Gourmet Sauce is gluten free!

I have some truly fantastic news.  We have gone through the process of having our sauces checked out by the research and development scientist at our cannery and he has come back with the incredibly good news that Mama’s Fire Gourmet Sauces are gluten free.  It turns out that this is a big deal as many people are suffering from what is called celiac or wheat allergies.  The symptoms are many, as the Gluten Free Goddess points out there are 300 symptoms, which is why it is so hard to diagnose.  As I began to understand what this news meant, through a great deal of research, I began to realize how many people are suffering.  So the knowledge that we are making sauces that taste good and do not trigger this allergy and its symptoms became quite a big deal.

The Gluten Free Girl, in her articule Symptoms of Celiac and Gluten Sensitivity, blew me away with this statistic:  “1 out of 133 Americans has celiac disease. Officially, only 5% of those have been diagnosed. Of course, there are clearly plenty of folks out there who diagnosed themselves.”  I made Mama’s Fire Tibetan hot sauce and BBQ sauce with the intention of making a healthy and easy to use sauce.  This was confirmation that my intentions have become a reality.

If you are in the Ashland, Oregon area this weekend July 2, 2011 come out and try our sauces.  We are sampling at the Ashland Market of Choice.  We will be there from 12-4pm, then we are heading over to the Ashland Food Cooperative and will sampling Mama’s Fire Gourmet Sauces from 5-7pm.

Share the word, we are gluten free!

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

A Tibetan’s Sampling Tale

A beautiful Tibetan sunset

Here is a tale worth telling and so tonight I write.  My kung fu sensie has become the man in charge of doing demonstrations samplings in the stores.  This is fantastic as he is fearless in every way.  He shared with me a story which took place as he sampled the sauce this weekend at the oldest Whole Foods in Portland, the Laurelhurst store.  While giving out samples of red chicken, we found out that a Tibetan National worked in the store.  He came up to the table and expressed what Josh reported as irritation and anger towards him and Mama’s Fire.  He opened the conversation by stating that Tibetans do not BBQ.  He went on to state that there was no such thing as a traditional Tibetan BBQ sauce.

The Laurelhurst Store

This made me smile as of course I know it to be true, I have always stated, when this has come up, that traditions have to be started somehow and we at Mama’s Fire Gourmet Sauces have started the tradition of the Tibetan BBQ sauce.  Josh, however took a different approach with this fine gentleman.  One which I must say gives me great faith in his abilities not only as a demonstrator but also as a martial artist.   He simply shared that he knew that it was not a tradition but that we called it traditional Tibetan BBQ sauce as we use the Tibetan hot sauce as a base ingredient and that is how it got its name.

Now an interesting side note, and we don’t know why, the store was not carrying our Tibetan hot sauce.  I have yet to look into this factor but it enriches the tale, because Josh had some on hand.  He offered the Tibetan hot sauce to this man who had grown up in Tibet.  At first he was hesitant Josh reported, he didn’t want to try the sauce.  Josh was great, he did not try to push him in any way, he has often said with his instruction of kung fu that his students must want what he has to offer on their terms not his, and this is how he proceeded with this Whole Foods employee. He let him take the cup and sniff it.  Then Josh shared with joy in his eyes, how a Tibetan national tasted our sauce and fell in love with it in front of him.  Josh stated that he asked for another sample, and then another.  Then said that he wanted to buy a bottle on the spot, so he could put in on his lunch.  Josh finished his tale by letting me know that he ended up giving this man from Tibet a bottle of our sauce.  If he is reading this blog, I do hope he writes in to share his experiences from this last Saturday, as I can only share what I heard second hand.  But what a wonderful account and a fantastic complement.

To close this evenings story, something both wonderful and silly for my many readers to enjoy – some mama love from Mama’s Fire Mama #1

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

My very first samplings at Whole Foods

Saturday, I had a life experience worth sharing with you all.  I sampled Mama’s Fire Gourmet Sauces at two Whole Foods Markets in Portland, Oregon.  This may not seem like a big deal but for a boy who grew up in Boulder, Colorado, eating health food all my life this was huge.  The sauce that I had been making only a few years ago in a little restaurant called the Off Center Cafe in Salem Oregon was now on the shelf of Whole Foods Market.  I was going to let the health food lovers in Portland taste my sauce.  The true test of the sauce took place last Saturday.  I believe I pasted the test.

Here is the story, I served a variety of samples for each sauce.  For the BBQ sauce I made turkey meatballs and poured the sauce over them and for the vegetarian offering the Boca ground crumble.  The Tibetan Hot sauce offering was also a feast, I made turkey taco meat served with a corn chip and for the vegetarian offering steamed and baked beats.

I must share a side story about the vegetarian offering. It is a fantastic recipe crafted by our executive chef, Happy Max, who is presently working with myself and other chefs to create a Tibetan Hot sauce cookbook.  Max took steamed beats, stirred in Mama’s Fire Tibetan hot sauce and some ginger and then baked them.  I would never have tried cooking beats with the sauce, but truly it was a hit with the Whole Foods clientele and will now be a trademark for Mama’s Fire samplings.

Our first store sampling was at the Hollywood Whole Foods Market.  This picture below shows just about were we were set up to do our samplings.  Being by the meat section seemed like a good place for us to be sure.

Here was were we were in the store.

It was amazing how accepted we felt, I was joined by my kung fu sensie, Josh, who has shown great devotion and belief in the Sacred Works Project.  Each customer who tried our sauce commented on it sharing, a bit surprised at how good it made the food taste.  Many took two samples to confirm that what they had just tasted was true.  I give a great shout out of joy to the Hollywood district as so many of them actually picked up a bottle of my sauce and took it to the register.

Our next stop was the Fremont Whole Foods, I felt a bit like a bull in a china shop at this sampling, I must admit I was a bit wild, my yogi ways came out.  I stole a trash can from behind the desk (we needed one for sample cups) but I should have asked.  I laughed and joked with the customers.  They were great!  It was just extraordinary to watch as they tasted the sauce and joy lite up their faces.  What a gift to make a sauce that does that for others. I got to buy a bottle of my own sauce from the shelf of Whole Foods, another first.    But, the most wonderful thing of all was the children who tried the BBQ sauce.  Over and over again they came back for seconds.  It made me smile and think of my son enjoying his red chicken.

Here was our view from our sampling table at the Fremont Store.  You can see how tight it was and how as a big guy, I might have been bumping into things now and again.

Well, thank you Portland really wonderful to get the opportunity to connect with you all through Mama’s Fire.  We are coming back up to three more Whole Foods this weekend.  The stores we will be at this Saturday, June 11th, are the  Bridgeport Whole Foods in Tigard, OR, from 1-3pm and the Laurelhurst Store in Portland, OR, from 4-7pm.  Them we will be back on Sunday, June 12th, at the Pearl Whole Foods from 11-3pm.

Thank you all and come on out and try the sauce if you are in the area.

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

Why Sacred Works?

I have to admit I have been shy about this question.  This is my wild yogi side (my father’s influence).  I love the experience of bodhicitta and so I decided like a mad man to make a non profit organization whose mission it would be to support this kind of loving kindness.  For those who might enjoy it, here is my first blog explaining my thoughts, not always well organized I might add, to answer the question why sacred works, Tibetan hot sauce blog #1.

In short, wanted to create a business entity to be able to pay people to do sacred projects.  I figured if people could pay there bills doing something sacred they would do it.  I define sacred as any project or endeavor which brings loving kindness into the world.

Here is our most recent Sacred Works Project to come into being.  All  kinds of donations are welcome and needed to make it happen.  Please feel free to contact me through the Sacred Works Project site if you wish to help.  By the way, buying the sauce becomes a direct donation and you get the sauce.  More of my mad yogi ways.

The project is called the Maitreya Project Relic tour and it is coming to Salem, Oregon August 5,6,7  2011 at the Universalist Unitarian Church on Center street.

I can't wait to be in their presence

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste