By Jenny Ding
Food, as we all know, is the best thing in the world. While everyone has consumed this precious piece of heaven on earth, not everyone has explored the creation process.
Kim Mulder, an excellent Collingwood teacher who has written a wonderful cookbook along with her partner, is undoubtedly an outstanding culinary artist. Ms. Mulder lives in East Vancouver with her partner Kennedy, where they wrote their cookbook, “This East Van Kitchen”. Kennedy is a furniture designer and also a great cook. They have painted their house entirely green, which they find makes their guests feel very calm. Speaking of guests, Ms. Mulder and her partner love throwing dinner parties and serving friends their newly created recipes.
Ms. Mulder’s favourite recipe is the Tortilla Soup recipe from her cookbook, which she describes: “It's very simple, hearty, and everyone gets to dress their own bowls of soup with avocado, yoghurt, cheese, and tortilla chips. Everybody's happy!” Yum!
Besides practicing culinary arts, Ms. Mulder loves to garden, reads books obsessively, and spends most of her weekend with newspaper crosswords. Furthermore, Ms. Mulder’s passion and creativity for arts does not end here, as she quotes, “In my next life, I'd like to be a fashion designer.”
Food, as we all know, is the best thing in the world. While everyone has consumed this precious piece of heaven on earth, not everyone has explored the creation process.
Kim Mulder, an excellent Collingwood teacher who has written a wonderful cookbook along with her partner, is undoubtedly an outstanding culinary artist. Ms. Mulder lives in East Vancouver with her partner Kennedy, where they wrote their cookbook, “This East Van Kitchen”. Kennedy is a furniture designer and also a great cook. They have painted their house entirely green, which they find makes their guests feel very calm. Speaking of guests, Ms. Mulder and her partner love throwing dinner parties and serving friends their newly created recipes.
Ms. Mulder’s favourite recipe is the Tortilla Soup recipe from her cookbook, which she describes: “It's very simple, hearty, and everyone gets to dress their own bowls of soup with avocado, yoghurt, cheese, and tortilla chips. Everybody's happy!” Yum!
Besides practicing culinary arts, Ms. Mulder loves to garden, reads books obsessively, and spends most of her weekend with newspaper crosswords. Furthermore, Ms. Mulder’s passion and creativity for arts does not end here, as she quotes, “In my next life, I'd like to be a fashion designer.”
When there is so much talent on display, the question of “how did you first get into culinary art?” naturally arises. Not surprisingly, she had a very interesting story to tell on how she first started. “I became a vegetarian in high school, and my mom said, ‘Now you cook for yourself!’ Soon, though, my folks came around to the idea, and pretty much became vegetarian too. Later, as a student and a tree planter, I realized that way of eating just wasn't working for me, my brain or my energy levels. So, I learned how to create a lifestyle for myself that suited me physically, ethically, and financially….” She said. It seems like she must have had a lot of motivation to learn to cook especially because her own diet was on the line.
Of course, she has many individuals that inspired her on her journey to become a cooking art master. When asked “Who are your favourite culinary artists?” she responded, “Kennedy makes a beautiful Hot and Sour Soup, my best buddy Emilie makes gorgeous Indonesian food, and there's a great chef in Toronto called Bonnie Stern, who runs a cooking school and has created what is seriously the BEST spaghetti sauce recipe in the world. The women who run Rebar restaurant in Victoria are definitely culinary heroes, too- they've proved how rich and exciting vegetarian cooking can actually be! Also, Massimo Bottura is a chef in Italy who is trying to save the world.” Perhaps it is not far before another person from across the world says Ms. Mulder’s name as their favourite culinary artists.
When asked on her favourite quote, Ms. Mulder gave the credits to the famous artist Pablo Picasso: "Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist." I have to say that this quote perfectly matches her outgoing and creative personality. Great words to live by if you’re an artist!
Make sure to check out her wonderful website that has all the recipes you’ll need!
www.eastvankitchen.com
We would be seeing more of Ms. Mulder’s delicious recipes as she hopes to have her own food truck in the near future!