{"id":3675,"date":"2016-03-11T20:27:55","date_gmt":"2016-03-12T01:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/?p=3675"},"modified":"2016-03-15T17:19:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T21:19:07","slug":"lisa-nakamura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/lisa-nakamura\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring APA Women in Food: The Chef, Lisa Nakamura"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My second post highlighting inspiring Asian Pacific American women features Lisa Nakamura, chef and owner of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gnocchibarseattle.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Gnocchi Bar<\/a>, a casual Italian restaurant in Seattle, WA. Gnocchi Bar is known for serving\u2014what else?\u2014 the ultimate Italian comfort food, gnocchi (potato dumplings), married with perfectly-sourced Northwest ingredients. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3676\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/lisa-nakamura\/headfirst-tiramisu\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3676\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3676\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3676\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/Headfirst-tiramisu.jpg\" alt=\"Lisa's life isn't boring, and as this photo captures, neither is she. (Photo credit: Jackie Donnelly)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/Headfirst-tiramisu.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/Headfirst-tiramisu-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/Headfirst-tiramisu-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/Headfirst-tiramisu-800x534.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3676\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lisa&#8217;s life isn&#8217;t boring, and as this photo captures, neither is she. (Photo credit: Jackie Donnelly)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Lisa\u2019s life has been\/is far from boring. After traveling the world for eight years as a flight attendant, she grounded herself (in more ways than one) and went to culinary school. Since then, Lisa has lived on both coasts of the U.S., in Europe, and in Korea. She\u2019s worked at Michelin-starred restaurants stateside (including Thomas Keller\u2019s The French Laundry) and across the Atlantic. Now, she calls Seattle home, the city where she discovered her culinary calling, met her husband, and birthed her restaurant.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I talked to Lisa about starting over, pursuing your dreams, taking chances, and surviving in a male-dominated environment.<\/p>\n<p>~~~<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: You grew up on Hawaii\u2019s Big Island. Describe your childhood for us.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Basically, I spent most of my life looking forward to getting off the rock; it was island fever. When you&#8217;re growing up in it you don&#8217;t realize how lucky you are. People think it\u2019s this magical place.<\/p>\n<p>Well, when you&#8217;re growing up you have nothing to compare it to so you think it&#8217;s just normal. I used to think that having large family get-togethers with lots and lots of food was just normal. That it was normal to get up and see the ocean. These are things you don\u2019t realize how special they are and how lucky you are until you step out of it. Now I think, \u201cOh wow, that was really cool!\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I grew up on a macadamia nut farm and there was a lot of physical labor involved. I had to work on the farm and my parents firmly believed that you should work. So a very strong work ethic was built in me pretty much as soon as I could walk. That&#8217;s served me well I think, I hope! And (now) physical labor doesn&#8217;t really scare me. Because that&#8217;s what you grow up doing. You have to weed, you have to water, you have to harvest \u2026 You have to do all these things and it&#8217;s just part of (life). For that I am very, very grateful for. Not many people can say that.<\/p>\n<p>I remember being forced to eat half a papaya every morning&#8211; my uncle was a papaya farmer&#8211;and I hated it, hated it! Now when I find papayas at the store, I\u2019ll think, \u201cThese are not as good as the ones from my childhood!\u201d Like I said, you don&#8217;t realize how lucky you are until you leave.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What was your dream job when you were a kid? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I wanted to be a pilot actually and I never thought that I was smart enough to be a pilot. I was told that you have to be good at math to be a pilot. And I kind of sucked at it, so that wasn\u2019t happening.<\/p>\n<p>It was different then&#8211;you know, I&#8217;m going to be 51&#8211;and opportunities for women were really different. Boy do I know how to make myself sound ancient! But it&#8217;s true. A lot of the barriers were not yet broken. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When I entered the cooking world (20 years ago), it was very, very rare to have women cooking in fine dining restaurants. I know that I was the first woman on the hot line at Thomas (Keller)\u2019s kitchen. I didn&#8217;t realize it at the time but someone told me after I had been doing it for awhile. I worked at The French Laundry from 1997 to 2000.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s recent, yet it\u2019s not. I see how quickly things have changed and that&#8217;s great. And yet in some ways, change can\u2019t happen fast.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3677\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/lisa-nakamura\/gnocchi-fork\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3677\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3677\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3677\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/gnocchi-fork.jpg\" alt=\"Each dumpling is handmade using fresh ingredients and perfectly sauced.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/gnocchi-fork.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/gnocchi-fork-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/gnocchi-fork-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/gnocchi-fork-800x534.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3677\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Each Gnocchi Bar dumpling is handmade using fresh ingredients (Photo credit: Jackie Donnelly).<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Q: So what led you on the path to becoming a chef? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, I got my degree in botany because I thought I wanted to become a botanist. When I was getting close to graduating, I decided that that wasn&#8217;t what I wanted to do. So I got a job as a flight attendant because I wanted to see the world. I got hired by Delta Airline and off I went.<\/p>\n<p>I think it was my eighth year of flying, and I just knew that if I didn&#8217;t leave now, I would never leave. I had to leave while I still had some guts to do it, for lack of a better term.<\/p>\n<p>I used to work only 12 days a month and during my off time I used to do a lot of cooking. Somehow, I ended up deciding that I wanted to be a chef and I took a three-year leave of absence. Here I am, twenty years later and I have no idea how that happened.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Why did you take a leave of absence instead of full out quit?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(I think) if you&#8217;re meant to be an in a restaurant, no matter what you try to do to avoid it, you cannot outrun it, it will claim you. I decided if I couldn\u2019t make it in three years I would go back. Three years was a fair shot, it was enough time. If I was not making it, and I just really sucked at it, it was like a fall-back.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Did your mom or grandmother have an influence on your career decision?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My grandmother was a big influence on me. Like the (<a href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/grandma-miyoshis-dango-jiru\/\">Grandma Miyoshi\u2019s Dango-Jiru<\/a>) recipe says, she would feel the dough, she didn\u2019t cook with a recipe. She cooked out of necessity. They were poor and she had to figure out how to feed a large family and how to make things taste good.<\/p>\n<p>I think she had that natural ability to cook. <em>I<\/em> think she was a good cook. So I would say that she was probably a really big influence on how and what I do now.<\/p>\n<p>One of my biggest accomplishments is to be able to make sushi that actually tastes like hers. I can do it, not consistently, but every now and then it gets pretty close. But it&#8217;s still not there. And I don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s how she really cooked it or if it\u2019s my memory of what she cooked. Anyway, whenever I cook something like that she\u2019s with me in the kitchen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3678\" style=\"width: 693px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/lisa-nakamura\/lisa-jump\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3678\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3678\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3678\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/Lisa-Jump.jpg\" alt=\"If you're wondering why Lisa is jumping for joy, it's because Gnocchi Bar celebrates its 1st anniversary in its current space this year. (Photo credit: Jackie Donnelly)\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/Lisa-Jump.jpg 683w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/Lisa-Jump-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3678\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">If you&#8217;re wondering why Lisa is jumping for joy, it&#8217;s because Gnocchi Bar celebrates its 1st anniversary in its current space this year. (Photo credit: Jackie Donnelly)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Q: Was it hard to make a career transition later in life?&nbsp; <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes, it was, because you&#8217;re more aware of what you&#8217;re giving up, more aware of the risks. And yet in some ways, it was a lot easier. I don&#8217;t know that I took college as seriously as I should have in my teens and twenty&#8217;s. But when you&#8217;re almost 30, you get serious, there\u2019s no time for screwing around, you know, you gotta go so you gotta go.<\/p>\n<p>I was a very determined individual, let\u2019s just put it that way. I was on a mission. I had a mission, I felt like I was running out of time and I wanted to get this (culinary school) done.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: You worked at The French Laundry in Yountville, CA. It\u2019s a Michelin 3-starred restaurant and every culinary grad probably dreams of working there. You left after three years, why?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I left because two to three years under that kind of pressure is a long time. (The pressure) was constant. When I left, I really thought I wanted to stop cooking. I was just burnt out. I don&#8217;t know what I wanted to do but I just I didn&#8217;t want to cook anymore. I was just tired of it, tired of the pressure.<\/p>\n<p>You get to a point where you lose vision. You lose sight of why you\u2019re doing what you\u2019re doing. It was just so intense. And you can only be that intense for so long, something&#8217;s got to give. For me, I needed to step away and figure out what it was that makes me happy.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m the kind of person that if I&#8217;m going to do something, I&#8217;m going to throw my whole body, everything I\u2019ve got, into it. It\u2019s one of the lessons I&#8217;ve learned as I\u2019ve gotten older, to moderate a little bit more.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: So what re-ignited your love for cooking? &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I took a little a job at a little cafe on the California coast doing nothing but making sandwiches and pasta. And then I went to work for (restaurateur) David Kinch. And there was just something about cooking at that level again that was so great. He already had a good reputation and he was just starting Manresa (a celebrated California Bay Area restaurant). And it was really exciting to see someone&#8217;s vision become a reality.<\/p>\n<p>Then one day, I got a call from someone looking for a chef in Europe. I always wanted to live overseas and I also wanted to live in Europe. And I just knew I had to go. That&#8217;s what started it again. Just getting back into the groove and seeing that there was life, just seeing what else is out there besides work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: At what I what point did you realize that you wanted to open your own restaurant instead of working for someone else? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My husband is to blame for that one! I would come home from work and I&#8217;d be all frustrated like, \u201cOh my god, you won&#8217;t believe blah blah blah \u2026\u201d It didn\u2019t matter where I worked, I was always forever complaining. And he finally said to me, \u201cYou know, you&#8217;re never going to be happy unless it\u2019s your own place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I think it might have been very much self-interest on his part, \u201cOh please, shut her up!\u201d That&#8217;s what started it. Every chef wants their own restaurant and then there&#8217;s the reality of it, like how do you actually make that happen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What\u2019s it like being a chef\/owner of a restaurant?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are days when I don&#8217;t even get to talk to my husband because he&#8217;s asleep when I get home. (In the morning) we say, \u201cGood morning\u201d and we go our separate ways. There are some really long days involved here, I work 15 to 17 hours a day. Well, it&#8217;s motherhood! Some women have babies and I have a restaurant.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3679\" style=\"width: 693px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/lisa-nakamura\/portabella\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3679\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3679\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3679\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/portabella.jpg\" alt=\"Gnocchi with locally-grown portobello mushrooms is one of Lisa's favorite dishes. (Photo credit: Jackie Donnelly).\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/portabella.jpg 683w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/03\/portabella-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3679\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gnocchi with locally-grown portobello mushrooms is one of Lisa&#8217;s favorite dishes. (Photo credit: Jackie Donnelly).<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Q: Does being a chef require creativity? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes and no. I think what I&#8217;m doing now is probably less creative than anything I&#8217;ve ever done, (it\u2019s) so much more pedestrian. What I&#8217;m trying to create is something that appeals to a greater audience. I&#8217;m not doing fine dining and not doing things that are more exclusive. I have a broader, a larger common denominator. So I keep things a lot simpler. In that respect, no.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, because of the volume that we do, how much we\u2019re producing and because of the changing nature of the ingredients, we\u2019ve had to get creative in how we handle the potatoes. (It\u2019s) being in touch with more of the nuances, what you need to do to get a consistent product that someone making gnocchi once a week wouldn\u2019t get. We just turned 400 pounds of potatoes into gnocchi three days.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just creative cooking any more, but being creative like, \u201cHow do I get people in?\u201d I\u2019ve also had to be creative about how we expand our reach, and part of it was going to retail. Every night, right here (in the restaurant), I\u2019m trying to figure out what works, what doesn&#8217;t work, how I stay in business, what formulas work. It changes so quickly so (I keep asking) how do you adapt?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Are people surprised that you\u2019re an Asian American woman making gnocchi?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All the time, all the time. Literally, I have watched people\u2019s heads almost explode when they look back into the kitchen and see me. I\u2019m like, \u201cReally I\u2019m the person behind it all.\u201d Yes, she happens to be an Asian American. And she happens to do this. It\u2019s hilarious. It&#8217;s frustrating. It&#8217;s subtle racism. But it&#8217;s just another step in our whole enlightened future.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Do you think you\u2019ve achieved your lifelong goals? Are you happy with where you are now?&nbsp; <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know that I&#8217;m happy. I don&#8217;t know because I don&#8217;t really know what that&#8217;s supposed to look like. I look at it more like, \u201cI&#8217;m really grateful that I&#8217;ve had this chance, that I&#8217;ve had the opportunity to do so many things, because not everyone gets that chance. And I realize that luck is 99 percent hard work. There&#8217;s a point where you make your own luck and there\u2019s a point when you\u2019re dependent on other people to help you along. I don\u2019t want to lose sight of that.<\/p>\n<p>So am I happy? I think happiness is a very temporal thing. It can come and go very quickly and if you based your life on whether or not you\u2019re happy, I don&#8217;t know that you\u2019ll ever really be happy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I want to base my life more on looking forward, looking back, and looking at where I am right now.&nbsp; And in spite of the good things and the bad things that are happening, realize that it&#8217;s temporary.&nbsp; It will always get better, it will always get worse. It doesn\u2019t really matter where you are right now, just be grateful for that moment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What are some life lessons you\u2019ve learned?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The older I get, the more aware I am how hard it is for a woman. And it&#8217;s something that I never really thought about when I was younger. I just did what needed to be done. But as we evolve as a society, evolve as a nation, as people, you realize it&#8217;s really still hard for women in all aspects.<\/p>\n<p>(For instance), because I work my crazy hours, someone might say, \u201cShe\u2019s so selfish!\u201d For a guy, people would be like, \u201cOh, he\u2019s such a hard worker.\u201d Somehow, if women are go-getters, people would think she was a bitch, right? I don\u2019t want to lose that humanness (there&#8217;s a certain amount that people just need to be kind) but I also want to make sure things get done all the same. I\u2019ve been fortunate that I encountered that very rarely. I\u2019m really lucky I married someone who seems to understand that it\u2019s what I need to do right now.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m becoming more aware of how we base success on different things. For me, I&#8217;m not trying to change the playing field. That&#8217;s not my goal. My goal is to be successful with the parameters that I have. Okay, so this is what it takes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to pursue their dream, no matter what stage of life they\u2019re in?&nbsp; <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you never ask the question, the answer always be, \u2018no.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I searched for over a year for the spot that we&#8217;re in now and I took it over a year ago today. I don&#8217;t know how many people said to me: \u201cNo, your idea won&#8217;t work.\u201d \u201cNo, it&#8217;s crazy.\u201d \u201cNo, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was getting very frustrated.<\/p>\n<p>Then I decided maybe someone would share a space with me. I had nothing to lose. So I emailed Marco (the previous owner of the space) out of the blue and I said, \u201cI don&#8217;t know who you are, you don&#8217;t know who I am, can I ask you something?\u201d The answer was not \u2018no,\u2019 and one thing led to another and here I am today.<\/p>\n<p>To make a long story short, if I hadn\u2019t asked the question, the answer would\u2019ve been \u2018no.\u2019 And you are going to hear a lot of &#8216;no&#8217;s&#8217;. You\u2019ll hear more &#8216;no\u2019s&#8217; than &#8216;yesses.&#8217; Someone told me you need to get 10 \u2018no\u2019s&#8217; before you get one \u2018yes.\u2019 That&#8217;s pretty dismal odds but it&#8217;s also reality.<\/p>\n<p>So maybe I am (crazy), maybe I&#8217;m not. I don&#8217;t really care, but the answer is \u2018no\u2019 so I\u2019m moving on. I\u2019m going to find someone who\u2019s going to say \u2018yes.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>~~~<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your wisdom!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>~~~<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Do check out all 3 &#8220;Inspiring APA Women in Food&#8221; posts:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/inspiring-apa-women\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Food Writer, Monica Bhide<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/lisa-nakamura\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Chef, Lisa Nakamura<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/inspiring-apa-women-food-home-cook-keo-choulaphan-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Home Cook, Keo Choulaphan<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My second post highlighting inspiring Asian Pacific American women features Lisa Nakamura, chef and owner of Gnocchi Bar, a casual Italian restaurant in Seattle, WA. Gnocchi Bar is known for serving\u2014what else?\u2014 the ultimate Italian comfort food, gnocchi (potato dumplings), married with perfectly-sourced Northwest ingredients&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[858],"tags":[863,864,868,869,866,867,865,860],"class_list":["post-3675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-profile","tag-imagineher","tag-museumday2016","tag-asian-american-chefs","tag-female-chefs","tag-gnocchi-bar","tag-inspiring-apa-women","tag-lisa-nakamura","tag-museum-day-live"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Inspiring APA Women in Food: The Chef, Lisa Nakamura - Pickles and Tea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/lisa-nakamura\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inspiring APA Women in Food: The Chef, Lisa Nakamura - Pickles and Tea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My second post highlighting inspiring Asian Pacific American women features Lisa Nakamura, chef and owner of Gnocchi Bar, a casual Italian restaurant in Seattle, WA. 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