Fantastic Japanese Leaf Plates

J gave me a set of great leaf plates by the Japanese ceramic artist Tsujimura Yui as an early Valentine's Day gift. I was inspired to use them at a small dinner party to present an earthy salad of arugula, pumpkin seeds, sliced radishes, sprouts and parmesan shavings with pumpkin seed oil and sherry vinegar dressing. I learned this salad at Grüner in Portland, Oregon, where shaved mushrooms are also added to great effect (I was already using a lot of mushrooms in the meal so went without).

Tsujimura Yui plat with arugula, pumpkin seed, radish, sprouts and parmesan

Tsujimura Yui leaf plates with salad

The salad was good, but I think the plates really enhanced the experience.

Bobby Jay