Blue Apron Goodness in a Box

Original post date on 5/26/15 on Sunday Supper Chronicles Blog

GS: For my birthday, my brother sent this box from Blue Apron. We weren't familiar with the company, but were impressed from the minute we opened it.

You get seasonal recipes created by their culinary team & renowned guest chefs and the recipes never repeat during the same year. Every meal is within 350-700 calories and take only 35 minutes to prepare - if you follow the instructions to a tee!

Every ingredient is individually packaged and labeled and also perfectly pre-measured so there’s no waste. The recipes are easy to read, easy to do and delicious! The first box was a gift from my brother but we were so sold with the first box, we joined the service and we have really enjoyed making the dishes.

There are some minor cons to Blue Apron. The biggest one being that once you've joined, you have to be diligent about going online to your account to cancel meals you don't want, otherwise they'll send you a box each week. They also only give you a month's worth of recipes to review, which is great but you can't cancel any further than that. The plan we signed up for, which is three meals made for a couple costs $60. When you do the math, it's $10 a person per meal. Meh, not bad for a monthly treat to ourselves. It's certainly cheaper than going out to eat! Since we can't afford this luxury every week I have to remind myself to jump online and cancel. I forgot to do that this week, which was fine because as far as timing was concerned, it did save me a trip to the grocery store and the first meal we cooked from this most recent box was delicious!

After initially receiving two boxes of great meals, I became very concerned with the sheer amount of waste involved with the packaging. There's the box itself and all the individual plastic bags and bottles that every ingredient comes in, which I knew were recyclable. It was, however, the large ice packs that I wondered about. I wondered if there was a service that allowed us to return the large ice packs back to Blue Apron. I jumped online and found out, much to our surprise, that packs are filled with a non-toxic gel. To recycle them completely we have to cut them open and dispose of the gel, then recycle the exterior packaging. After reading this info, I felt so much better about the whole process.

DOUBLE CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE MORE FOOD PHOTOS

Majority of the meals are fantastic and we have repeated the one pictured to the left already, in fact it was the first recipe we tried with Blue Apron (It's crispy catfish and cracked freekeh with kumquat, thai basil an chile glaze) and there's definitely others too that we will also cook up again.

And then there's some that won't be repeats - not because they weren't good, but it's more a preferential thing. For instance, I'm not a fan of plantains, so smooshing them up and serving them like mashed potatoes reminded me of baby food with every bite. We have also worked with ingredients we wouldn't have typically bought on our own. For instance, I've seen and eaten watermelon radish before, but I have never personally used it to cook ourselves. I was in love after my first knife cut into this vegetable, it was so stunningly beautiful! The red rice salad served with the chile-blackened cod was so nutty and crunchy, it was delicious that I can't wait to buy red rice on my own. Thanks to Blue Apron, I forgot how good snap peas are and am now growing them in my garden. I also love how the dishes we are making are from all over the world; the Middle East, Africa, France, Asia, and so on.

I think Blue Apron meals make a great gift and I can't wait to gift this to other people like my brother did for me. Don't you think this would be a great idea to send to someone on a stay-cation, or gift to a foodie couple on their honeymoon locale that has a kitchen? One of their tag lines is: Give the Gift of Home Cooking. Indeed!

Oscar Worthy

Original Post date 2/25/15 on Sunday Supper Chronicles Blog

GS: One birthday during my teens, I decided to be adventurous and order a waiter's recommendation of the evening's special - rack of lamb. I remember feeling so extravagant to be ordering the special and being so proud of myself for trying something new. I also remember hating it. Per the recommendation of the waiter I was to eat it with the side of mint jelly. The combination was disgusting and from that point on, I decided I hated lamb. It must be really foul if it needs to be paired with a spread that tasted like chewing gum. After that incident I also became a tremendous creature of habit, fearful of ordering something new and being disappointed.

Fast forward to now and learning that with age comes some wisdom. Still very much a creature of habit on certain things, I have managed to broaden my horizons and I do actually like lamb, so why not try to cook it?

When Sunday rolled around and it happened to be the night of the Oscars, it seemed like a nice tie-in and a good excuse to up the ante and challenge myself with dishes that I found intimidating. So I decided to make a Classic Rack of Lamb. Since that one bad lamb experience, I actually never encountered another piece of lamb that was served with mint so I was hardly going to serve mine with one either.

Amazingly enough, cooking lamb wasn't much of a challenge after all because you can buy the rack of lamb pre "Frenched," meaning it's already been cleaned to expose the bone. The hardest part was making sure I took the already marinating lamb out of the refrigerator at least two hours before I had planned to cook it so it could come to room temperature. I forgot to do that so we actually didn't end up eating two hours later than I had anticipated. The second hardest part was making sure I didn't overcook the lamb, which was also not difficult with a meat thermometer. Fortunately because the lamb took so long, it gave me time to cook my sides.

I've always wanted to make risotto, so I challenged myself with a Mushroom Risotto. Turns out making risotto was a lot harder than cooking the lamb. I don't eat enough of it to know how what the texture is and I know people have very strong beliefs about whether it should be runny, or hold its own. All I know is that mine required much more attention than I was willing to spare and even after 7 cups of chicken broth, it probably could have used more broth. In the future, I think I much rather buy the pre-made frozen version from Trader Joe's. I also decided to use the bounty of fresh chard from my garden and make Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan Cheese. Even this large bunch of chard wilted down to what was barely enough for a decent photo, fortunately it tasted a lot better than it looked. PC who doesn't like chard, actually liked this recipe. Was this meal Oscar worthy? I'd actually say so.

PC: Dessert! Not my forte, but then again I have no true forte. Not wanting to repeat anything I had done prior but knew it had to be Academy Award worthy.. something rich and decadent. So in scavenging through the monthly cookbook, aka Food & Wine & Bon Appetit Magazines, I came across BILLIONAIRE SHORTBREAD. If that doesn't say rich I don't know what does. A three-tier bar that screams cavities and more layers to your waist, or if you are diabetic this dessert may kill you. This is broken down to three preparations: shortbread, caramel, & chocolate ganache.

Upon seeing the finished product, I had to admit it was pretty damn close to the picture.. minus the salt flakes which I substituted with cracked sea salt. The salt added a nice contrast to the sweet richness of the chocolate. The chocolate would work its way on to the palette and suddenly you would be hit with what I called the warmth of the salt. Pat on the back and a fist in the air.. SUCCESS! Where is my damn Oscar?!

My recommendations: MORE CARAMEL...LESS CHOCOLATE! A food processor would probably help keep the shortbread dough more even. I like cutting the bars into long pieces like scones for those who just want to pick it up with their grubby fingers!

What's in the Fridge?

Original Post date 2/17/15 on Sunday Supper Chronicles Blog

PC: Where to go for a recipe…the internet, books, or the pile of Food & Wine magazines that is waiting to be thrown out after GS has given them a thorough once over and yanked out whatever recipe catches her eye?

Rummaging through those magazines with somewhat of an idea of what is in the refrigerator, I settle upon Coq au Riesling by Christopher Israel. It’s one of those meat dishes that has sauce, which ultimately requires some starch, pasta or perhaps rice to sop up the meaty juices.

First obstacle, dammit there isn’t a Riesling in the house. Not that I dislike Rieslings, but we prefer Sauvignon Blancs and Chards. So…Coq au Riesling became Coq au Chardonnay, which also saved me a trip of going to the market. This called for mixed mushrooms; obviously some more less common mushrooms would have been more interesting than the bella and white mushroom combo I used but I’m sticking to what I have and avoiding a trip to the market.

Overall it was tasty, not a difficult dish although it did require some straining and pushing juices through a sieve. I cooked up some penne pasta to go along with this dish to absorb some of the juices and round out the meal. Didn’t use tarragon, but didn’t think anyone missed it either.

GS: Under the same "constraints," ahem, laziness as PC, I didn't want to step out of the house to buy ingredients. Fortunately and to my surprise, flans require very few ingredients (but I'm sure consist of a crapload of calories) and are extremely easy to make. The harder part is making it look good, which mine did not.

I used a Jose Andres Flan recipe from an article in Bon Appetit magazine that talks about how Chef Andres doesn't mind eating gross-looking flans, he just won't make one. Well, I guess then he'd eat mine, because under his perfectionist thumb, mine would probably qualify!

My first issue was that I didn't caramelize the syrup to the golden brown it needed to be. I was using an organic sugar that was already brown so I couldn't tell when it was carmelizing in the pan! I had already exceeded the time limit to caramelize so I figured it was ok. Wrong. I knew as soon as I began to pour it into the ramekin. That stuff hardens quickly so it was either move on, or start over. Remember, lazy day, so I moved on.

To avoid bubbles, you're supposed to run it through a sieve, which I did, but apparently my sieve was not fine enough because I got bubbles all along the sides. Chef Andres would be disappointed.

To remove the flan from the ramekin, you run a knife along the sides, put a plate on top of the ramekin and flip. Surprisingly, it came out really easy. I served the nicer-looking flans to my guests and left the not-so-great looking one to myself and didn't remember to take a picture of the better-looking ones before serving so I have this poor photo of mine. All I can say is, it tasted better than it looked and warrants another try - when I'm willing to eat that amount of calories again.

Dinner on a Sheet Pan

Original Post date 1/12/15 on Sunday Supper Chronicles Blog

GS: Dinner on a Sheet Pan, a Bon Appetit article I've been saving since March 2012 said, "Fast, easy, fresh. Take a hands-off approach on weeknights and let your oven do the work." I'm in.

I only do recipes with photos because I want to know what the finished results are supposed to look like and this one looked tasty. There's a few recipes to this BA article, but I thought I'd start with Parmesan Chicken with Ceasar Roasted Romaine. As usual I did do certain things differently - I used chicken thigh meat as opposed to breasts for fear that I would dry out the chicken. I didn't use one type of cheese, I used a mixture of all the recommended cheeses - Parmesan, Pecorino and Asiago. I also didn't add the olive oil into the panko mix, I drizzled it on top instead and because I had a box of mushrooms I threw that onto the baking sheet to roast as well. End result? This really was fast and easy! I got a tasty, crunchy topping on moist chicken (that got cold super quick on a cold plate). Verdict, however, on the romaine was not as great. I'm just not a fan of wilted lettuce no matter how much texture or salt (anchovy) you put on it.

The following weekend I wanted to try another twist on a recipe in the same article, a wasabi salmon with bok choy, but I didn't read through the recipe until the day of cooking and was sorely disappointed with it. I bake salmon all the time and this recipe was almost no different from how I would typically make mine. The "wasabi" was just a blend of wasabi and mayo and was meant to be used as a dipping sauce on the side. How is this a challenge? This was no similar to a meal we would make on a weekday. Annoyed, I made my salmon, but instead spread a siracha mayo sauce on top of the salmon and baked it with the bok choy and shiitake mushrooms as they had instructed.

For dessert, PC literally whipped a blackberry souffle just as quickly as I made dinner.

PC: Strolling through the 99 cent store I came upon some blackberries. Automatically I'm thinking souffle so with two packages in tow that was to be dessert. I can't remember the exact recipe, but I ended up cutting down on the volume of sugar. I imagine someone can substitute some other sweetener, but I opted for some granular sugar and ground it down with the hand blender to get it to a more fine state. One boo boo, which would have made this dessert better was if I used a fine strainer to push the blackberry puree through in order to eliminate the seeds, pesky seeds. Souffle rose as it should, could have probably gone slightly longer to firm it up but live and learn, right? Overall not bad.. I give myself a B+.

New Year, New Outlook in 2015

This blog entry was originally posted on Sunday Supper Chronicles in January 2015. We have since moved all posts from that point on to our personal blog since they no longer included the rest of the group

GS:The last Sunday Supper blog posting was in March 2014 and although we had three Sunday Suppers after (Secret Ingredient: Chocolate, Microwave, and Sweet Tooth), the write-ups were incomplete, which meant no posts. Sunday Supper dinner with the four of us came to a complete halt by late spring of 2014.

For PC and I, we missed challenging ourselves in the kitchen so we decided to continue them on our own. No more Sunday Supper Chronicle blog posts, I've now transferred them to here.

My motivation came around the holidays when my stepmother made handmade, knife-cut noodles for my father to celebrate his 80th birthday. In the Chinese culture, noodle dishes are a staple for birthdays and Chinese New Year because they signify a long life for whoever is eating them -- as long as the noodles are not cut short. The longer they are, the better. I was so fascinated that I asked her to teach me and was surprised at how easy it was. My knife skills were slow and my noodles didn't come out nearly as good as hers, but it was enough to inspire us.

Our first challenge together was to finally break out the pasta machine purchased a year ago and make fresh pasta.

PC: With a new year brings new culinary challenges, some more so than others. My first endeavor back into the Sunday Supper Challenges may not sound very difficult and for the most part it wasn't. The hard part was actually done by GS - making pasta dough. Why was it hard? Well it came down to getting the right consistency. Something I'm sure seasoned chefs know like the back of their hand. My part was just making the sauce.

I remember an episode of No Reservation where Anthony Bourdain and his chef buddies cooked some basic dishes. One of them being your basic tomato sauce from scratch. Off to the market I went and rounded up some roma tomatoes. Here is where my issues began. Well what does a fresh tomato look like, smell like, feel like, and taste like? Still trying to figure this one out. I peeled the skin off the tomatoes, the peeler worked ok and then i just opted to just use my big knife and slice the skin off, thankfully the knife was still sharp otherwise this was going to get extremely messy. A sharp peeling knife is probably best. After removing the seeds as diligently as I could, I slow cooked those tomatoes. I totally underestimated the number of tomatoes I needed. I can see them breaking down but I definitely needed more. I opted to add some tomato sauce. Yes it was "cheating" but the key to remember is that this is a learning process and at the end of the day, this dish has to be edible. I added enough to give it volume. However the key to giving the sauce flavor is adding olive oil infused with basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and some pepper flakes. I'm sure you can throw in some other herbs in there but this is basic.

We finally put the pasta machine to use. Nope this isn't one of those attachments to a Kitchen Aid mixer, it's the old school cranker. The one perk I give to the Kitchen Aid unit, it gives you both hands free. Since I didn't have an extra hand of my own I borrowed my wife's. Together we rolled out some beautiful spaghetti and fettuccine. It was fun to see a glob of dough become fine strands, which a week later we were still finding in areas of the kitchen. Water boiling and salted, in went the pasta. Time to cook was also another new experience since this wasn't dried pasta and just like some Asian noodles is ready in a jiffy. Well I still used the grab a strand and taste while attempting to minimize burning my fingers and face. When it was nearly done cooking in my novice opinion, out it came and into the sauce. The starch in the pasta helps the sauce adhere to the pasta. Swirl, swirl and swirl and while trying to keep the pasta from flinging against the wall, onto the plate it went. A little basil garnish and voila, fini.

The take away from cooking this are: 1) get fresh tomatoes OR there are some perfectly good canned tomatoes that can be used as well when tomatoes are out of season OR when you are just being damn lazy.. I mean efficient. This is a good opportunity thouhg to visit a farmers market and the the 411 on what is a good tomato and have them slice up one and give you a taste. Supposedly it should have some sweetness but everyone's palette is different. 2)Use one of those baskets to cook your pasta. Its much easier to wrangle the pasta unless you prefer playing go fish for strands which can make a pasta go from al dente to al mushy. Ultimately this is a simple dish but being a simple dish there is no reason to go messing it up and there is plenty of opportunity to do that. Did I say this is a simple dish. I retract that. Its a dish that is a labor of love and that always requires work.

Sunday Supper: Asian Beef Stew with Caramelized Kimchi

This recipe donned the cover of Food & Wine Magazine February 2013 with the headline "Winter Cooking at its Best." It looked delish and seemed perfect on so many levels. It definitely sounded like the hearty meal I wanted to serve to compliment the chilly weather we've been having and it also suited the Asian flair I was looking for to pay tribute to Chinese New Year. This recipe is apparently a riff on the French version of Pot au Feu and well, since we are leaving for France this week, why not?

Of course, the finished result didn't quite look like the photo. Instead of radishes, because I don't like radishes, I used bean sprouts as a garnish to add that crunch. So I lack that punch of red color the cover had.

Would I make this again? Probably not. It was a lot of work with just ok results and 6 lbs. of beef short ribs ain't cheap. What I noticed about these recipes is that they never create enough marinade to cover all of the meat. I doubled the marinade recipe and I let it marinate for two days. I can't imagine allowing it to only marinate for 30 minutes/or overnight as the recipe suggested. Over the past two days, I rotated the meat so it had a chance to soak in the marinade. There's no way the original marinade recipe would have been enough. The marinade called for an Asian pear shredded. I bought one, but forgot to put it in. I honestly don't think it would have made a difference.

I also added only added half of the water that they requested. If I had added the full amount, I think it would have severely watered down the taste of the broth. Which again consisted of a double recipe of the marinade. I also used regular soy sauce and not low sodium soy sauce.

The end result? I did love the subtle kick that the caramelized kimchi added, but overall this recipe could have used more in-depth flavor and seasoning.

Sunday Suppers

If memory serves me right, almost five years ago, we started an informal dinner at our house on Sundays. It involved having my brother-in-law and my husband's best friend over for dinner just prior to watching the CBS show, Amazing Race. Even after the show would end for the season, we continued the tradition of meeting up at our place for dinners on Sunday. At some point, the burden of providing dinner on Sundays started to get heavy not only financially but also the desire to do it. So we proposed that we shared this "task" so it was not so much a burden, but an opportunity for all of us to stretch our culinary prowess, widen our palates and hone our kitchen skills. Surprisingly, everyone was game. Between the four of us, we each rotated Sundays to prepare a meal, hence the tradition of "Sunday Supper."

Sometimes that meal had special guests like someone's "date," or perhaps family or friends that were in town on a Sunday (see photo above). All in all, whether I'm sampling someone else's cooking or doing the cooking myself, it's something to look forward to. If you weren't cooking, you need only provide a bottle of wine and an empty stomach.

At first, my meals were based on whatever was already in the kitchen. Never anything fancy, just something to put on the table that wouldn't kill anyone. But then last year, I decided to challenge myself and take it up a notch. My husband has been subscribing to Food & Wine magazine and Bon Appetit magazine for years. And for years, they would accumulate in stacks until I couldn't stand it anymore and I would throw them out. Why subscribe if we are never going to partake? So last year, I started going through the magazines, bending down corners or sticking post-its to certain recipes.

In order for me to consider cooking a recipe from one of these magazines, here's what I learned about myself:
-- If there was no photo, I was not inclined to cook the meal. I wanted to know what the finished result was supposed to look like and I had to be interested in eating it. Hence, I needed pictures.
-- I never gravitate towards recipes that had seafood. Just was never interested.
-- Most of the recipes I tried came from Bon Appetit magazine.
-- Most of those recipe were because the ingredients didn't sound too far fetched and I never wanted to buy a spice or item that I'd only use once.

If the recipe was successful and I'd consider making it again, I'd tear the recipe out, grease stains and all, and put it in a binder. So far, those recipes include: Dried Fruit Compote with Ginger Syrup, Best-Ever Barbecued Ribs (and truly they are the best ever), Braised Chicken with Capers and Parsley, Wild Mushroom and Blue Cheese Quiche, Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Here's what I learned from cooking those recipes:
-- While knowing that the photographs were probably always pushed for color, etc. and tweaked by a food stylist, the pictures still always looked better than the finished results.
-- Sometimes the picture didn't even MATCH the finished results. I cooked a meat dish once and the cut of the meat was completely different from what was listed as an ingredient.
-- The final recipe is consistently under-seasoned. You really should taste as you go so you can adjust.

So a full year out of upping the ante with "professional" recipes, and my first turn in 2013 rolled around this past Sunday. It was also when I realized, why am I not documenting this experience? So here we go!

Our trip to Eastern Canada

We're back...and it's good to be back!

We have mixed emotions about this trip. We were so looking forward to being aboard the highly-touted, much-awarded, Crystal Cruise Line because it is all-inclusive - meaning ALL the food (including the food in their restaurants and cafes) and ALL the alcohol was included. Having racked up a fairly high bar bill on past cruises, Pon and I couldn't have been more excited...except Pon and I both got sick.

We have never been sick together at the same time and to such a degree. Pon was first hit with the stomach flu and I came down with what I thought was initially allergies, which blossomed into a cold that I generously gave to Pon.

On the defense, I think we set ourselves up to get sick. Prior to leaving on vacation, Pon was totally stressed out about work and I was also trying to get as much work done before we left. We didn't sleep well the week prior and then on the day we traveled we probably only managed about two hours of really bad sleep on the plane.

Being sick on this trip has a lot to do with the lackluster feelings we have about this vacation. Here's photos from our trip. Enjoy!

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A Means to a...New Beginning

It's been three weeks since I left my non-profit job of 8 years and already it has been an amazing journey. People asked if I planned to take time off or if I would sleep in my first week, and the answer was no.

I literally, with no intention of doing so, hit the ground running the very next day after my last day at ICA. That Saturday I began touring pet shops with my friend and now new boss. With a different pair of eyes towards our new business venture, I was looking at product placement, packaging, etc. We checked out national establishments and independent shops as well.

On Sunday, Two friends who have been thinking about creating an art exhibition, asked me to meet up with them. I came away from that meeting as their project manager. My task was to keep them on schedule and handle all logistics for not just one show, but now potentially three shows if not an ongoing series. I suddenly had a new project to keep me busy.

On Monday, my boss said I need to come up with my own business name so that I can properly invoice his company for my work. So that night, without too much pondering I came up with a buisness name. We bought the domain name and created email addresses to go with it so that Tuesday I could walk into my boss' current place of business and sign in with confidence that I was representing a consulting firm that was there to assist with their online marketing sales.

On Thursday, one of the independent pet store companies that we visited on Saturday requested a meeting with my boss and I. They said they wanted to start selling pet products online and wanted advice. My boss essentially told them we could do it and that I would be the main point of contact. I nodded and smiled. Do I have any idea what I'm doing? No, not yet But I had my first legitable and billable client.

On Friday, I went to register my fictious business name with the county to make it legit and opened a small business account at my bank. The following week I built a very generic web site just so I had something for my "client(s)" to view should they want to find out more from my email address.

While trying to quickly come up with a company name that fateful Monday night, my husband suggested, with a straight face and a deadpan delivery, "Scrotum International."

So, why Cloud 8? while my web site explains most of the thinking behind the name, I left out the main inspiration. My name in Chinese actually means perfect cloud. While I'm not so perfect, I was also born on the 8th, which made 8 my lucky number growing up. The number 8 is also extremely lucky in Chinese. My web site goes on to explain that 8 is the common symbol for infinity and I believe that there are infinite possibilites to my new company. While cloud 9 refers to someone who has their head in the clouds because their euphoric and happy, I tout that I'm happy, but I've got one foot on the ground of reality. Hence, Cloud 8.

Why consulting? Meh, because it's vague enough to mean I can help with anything and that's what I'm doing. I'm doing a little bit of this and that.

Week three I ended up meeting with a couple of co-workers on two seperate occasions and I will now be helping them with their side businesses. I've got a meeting this week with another co-worker to assist her in her side business as well. And this week my boss and I will be concentrating the main reason he brought me on - to launch our own big pet product business. Stay tuned!!!

Hi. I'm a business owner. Look at me, look at me! Wow. Amazing.

The Trials and Tribulations of Turnip Cake

Turnip cake, also known as Law Bak Go in Chinese, is one of many favorite dim sum dishes. I've never had a desire to learn how to make it until my sister-in-law's mother served it almost daily for breakfast over the Xmas holidays in 2011.

How is that even possible? Isn't the novelty of going to dim sum is because you can't whip up those dishes yourself in a timely manner? Turns out Mrs. Chen actually makes the turnip cakes herself and claimed it was very easy. At some point my mom got into the mix and there was a bit of a turnip cake throwdown. Mind you, my mom does not really cook.

My mom steams hers, Mrs. Chen bakes hers, my mom adds ingredients that Mrs. Chen doesn't, my mom reuses the mushroom water for flavor, Mrs. Chen doesn't. To be honest, both are good. So I took what I learned from both of their recipes to come up with mine, which I sucessfully created on January 23, Chinese New Year's Day 2012. I opted to bake mine because I just don't have a steamer of that size. The hardest part of this whole recipe was waiting for the mixture to turn to paste! I was convinced I was doing something wrong, but, here it is. I bring you the Young/Chen Lao Bak Go recipe:

-- One average size daikon (12 inches in length), peeled and shredded
*use a Cuisnart! Saves time and energy
-- One cup dried Shitake mushrooms rehydrated and diced
*save the mushroom water
-- 6 cups of water in total (with mushroom water)
-- 4-5 chinese sausage sliced
-- 1/4 dried shrimp, diced
-- 1 bag of rice flour (1 lb.)

In a large skillet stir fry mushrooms, sausage and dried shrimp until sausage is slightly brown. Then add shredded daikon. Season to taste. Stir until diakon softens.

Using the leftover mushroom water, measure out three cups of mushroom water and regular water and add to skillet.

In separate bowl, add 3 cups of cold water to rice flour and stir until smooth.

Add rice flour mixture to skillet. Keep stirring on low to medium low heat to prevent bottom from burning. Mix until pastelike (approx 20 mins.). Spread mixture into 13 x 9 casserole dish.

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Making sure the top is not browned. Let rest. When ready to serve, Cut out slices to brown sides in a pan.

Enjoy!

My Last Week at ICA

During my last week at ICA (January 9-13) I was fortunate to have someone take me out to lunch every day, which was really nice.

On Wednesday, instead of our regular managers meeting, the managers surprised me with flowers and cake. There was no agenda for that meeting other than to share stories about me and my 8.5 years of work at ICA. Needless to say, there was a lot of crying going on from everyone, but it was really nice and touching.

The rest of the week flew by quickly.

On Friday, my last day, my office door had been decorated and at the end of the day, my co-workers threw me a small get-together at the restaurant bar down the street. They reserved a long table and decorated it with balloons and streamers.

Shortly upon arriving, a party horn was blown and there was a presentation I was not anticipating. The ceramic instructors made these beautiful plates with a map of ICA's campus on it. Each staff member signed their name where their office or studio was. Words cannot describe how completely touched I was. I immediately started to cry and couldn't stop crying pretty much for the rest of the night.

Susie gifted me with a framed 3 Musketeers candy wrapper. We, my two closest friends and former work colleagues Susie and Karin, used to call ourselves the 3 Musketeers - One for all, and all for one. I believe we were the core of the development department and we worked well as a team.

Karin also presented me with a pin of pilot wings. She actually spent her birthday day (that Friday) driving all over L.A. looking for this gift. When we used to have to sit back-to-back in our first "office" space, our big leather office chairs made us look like two pilots in the cockpit of an airplane when we were both facing the same direction. So we dubbed each other co-pilots and that's also how we often worked. It took the both of us to fly some big events and land that thing perfectly.

I also received my very own clipboard that everyone signed. At events, you rarely saw me without one. Now I have my very own. My favorite saying was written by Jennifer Carroll. It says, "No one f@#ks with a woman with a clipboard!" Especially this one! ;)

I cried a lot that night and initially people thought it was because I was sad, but that was not the case. I was crying because I felt so loved. I didn't know what to expect, and I was more than taken aback by everyone's effort and generousity. I will miss them greatly, but I'm also excited for my new journey in life.

Chapter 5: Be Serious About Play

Let me first start this blog entry by saying that being happy is hard work. I may have said that before, but upon returning from vacation, work got crazy and being happy is truly a job within itself. While I didn't keep up all of the "projects," I'm proud to say that at the very least I have continued to tamper down the morning grunt at my husband and express notable interest during conversations instead of coming up with a snarky retort. Making that effort made me realize how uncomfortable I get recognizing when I do fall into those two bad habits. Boo on me.

This chapter's projects: Find More Fun. Here's one observation I do want to mention about the book's author -- I appreciate the fact that she so eloquently expresses things that I often feel. It's like she put it into print so I could cut and paste it for my own purposes. Rubin first shares that studies have proven that the absence of feeling bad isn’t enough to make you happy; you must strive to find sources of feeling good. One way to feel good is to make time for play. Researchers define "fun" as an activity that’s very satisfying, has no economic significance, doesn’t create social harm, and doesn’t necessarily lead to praise or recognition. Research shows that regularly having fun is a key factor in having a happy life; people who have fun are twenty times as likely to feel happy. But then Rubin said something startling that smacked so true for me: "just because something was fun for someone else didn’t mean it was fun for me—and vice versa. There are many things that other people enjoy that I don’t."

Rubin said she loved the "idea" of playing chess, doing crossword puzzles, or having season tickets to the opera. She understood why other people enjoyed those activities, but those weren't necessarily her ideas of fun. My husband and I have friends who can go out every weeknight to events, cocktail parties, etc. While that idea sounds great and glamorous and we wished that we did have it in us to rally like that every night, the reality is -- we are homebodies. Coming home after a day of work sinking into the sofa and watching our favorite shows with our dog by our feet is our idea of heavenly. We were once given tickets to a performance at the SF Opera from my brother and sister-in-law who were season-ticket holders. I marveled at how cultured they were and gosh, ok, we'll go! Within minutes, we were bored to tears and struggled to stay awake through the first act, but vowed at intermission to try an appreciate this amazing art form. Ten minutes into the show, I look over at my husband and he's fast asleep and I only looked at him because I was dozing off myself! We rudely "pardon me, excuse me" bumbled our way out of our seats and left. Oh, the sense of relief! We stumbled across a restaurant next door called Jardinere and enjoyed the most incredible meal instead. Now, THAT was fun. Turns out the restaurant was owned by the very famous, now celebrity chef, Traci De Jardins.

According to Rubin, studies show that common interests between people boosts the chances of a lasting relationship and also brings about a 2-percent increase in life satisfaction. My husband and I have a lot in common and I marvel at it often. I appreciate that we enjoy many of the same things. So, finding more fun, is not a problem. Sure, we like to be home, but we also are two very competitive people. Not having children was almost incentive to make sure that our life was not held back. This year alone we've done some amazing things -- dog sledding, skeet shooting, and mud races just to name a few.

For Rubin, thinking about what fun meant to her and accepting her likes and dislikes made her also realize that you can DO ANYTHING you want, but you can’t DO EVERYTHING you want...and it made her sad. I've had that moment of realization myself. For me, age had always been just a number and time was infinite. As a teen-ager, my bucket list included sky diving. I have tried to do it twice and both times the weather was not in my favor. As years passed I realized that I may be trying to accomplish this only because I put it on a silly bucket list, but did I actually want to do it anymore? The answer was no. Another epiphany moment was when I was looking at beautiful dining table in a store. All my life I envisioned a dining table similar to that one in my future house. Wait. I do have a house. Wait. I already have a dining room table. Wait. I will never have that dining table because I will never have the house that would actually fit this type of table. Not in this lifetime. It was like someone shook me into reality that age is no longer a number and time is not infinite in a person's lifetime. So what must you do? Enjoy every moment that you do have, be happy with what you do have.

Take Time to Be Silly. A happy atmosphere isn’t created merely by the absence of nagging and yelling but also by jokes, games, and tomfoolery. Studies show that in a phenomenon called “emotional contagion,” we unconsciously catch emotions from other people—whether good moods or bad ones. Taking the time to be silly means that we’re infecting one another with good cheer, and people who enjoy silliness are one third more likely to be happy. The way my brother and I were brought up, there was no silliness, no joking around, no pranks. I think that was to our detriment because I don't take kidding around well, especially if the joke is on me. I think the lack of that in our childhood has made me overly sensitive, I don't recover well when the joke is on me and I tend to over-analyze why the joke was played on me and I actually hate that about myself. I can only hope that my brother makes an effort with his kids to bring the silliness to them. To me, I think being silly is a life-learning lesson. It could potentially teach you to let something roll of your back and not take it personally is a struggle, and also to work on being able to come back with a witty retort, etc.

Most recently, I've noticed that when I am with kids, the silliness comes out. The same goes for my husband. I know parents can be silly with their kids, but I think it surprised me how silly we could get with other people's kids. I've played hide and seek behind baby car seats, I've had water-gun shooting contests and my husband has done his share of play wrestling, video game playing, horsey rides, etc. So the good news is, we've got it in us to be silly.

Go off the path. And this is where the author loses me and the doubt about her to starts to creep in. Rubin says the reasoning for this "off the path" project was meant to push me to encounter the unexpected thoughts, unfamiliar scenes, new people, and unconventional juxtapositions that are key sources of creative energy—and happiness. Instead of always worrying about being efficient, I wanted to spend time on exploration, experimentation, digression, and failed attempts that didn’t always look productive. I get what Rubin is getting at, but I don't get her methodology. Her way of doing this was buying magazines she typically wouldn't and read them cover to cover. She admitted that she dreaded those days and it felt like work but in the end she was glad she did because she learned something new. I hate this example. Why would I waste my time doing something I don't want to do? If I'm interested in something then I'll try it, but I won't do it if there's no interest behind it. And that's what Rubin's effort sounded like. She initially starts off this particular project paragraph about how she admires her mother's adventurous spirit who travels to new places for new experiences. To me, her mother does that because she likes to do that! If traveling falls along the "go off the path" category, then I believe my husband and I succeed regularly. But doing something you aren't interested in doing, like forcing yourself to read a magazine about horses, paper crafts and Christianity, to me was just plain silly. To me, Rubin has her projects switched on this one! Irritating.

Start a collection.You can't be serious. The irritation continues with this project, or also follows under the "silly" project title. A collection provides a mission, a reason to visit new places, the excitement of the chase, a field of expertise (no matter how trivial), and, often, a bond with other people. Rubin decided to collect bluebirds. Then she posed the question to her readers and asked them what they liked to collect. Replies came back with people who collected books, hearts, etc. I could only relate to one reader who wrote: As for collections, too much “stuff” displayed around the house makes me feel suffocated...On the note of collections, I’m sure they’re fun for others, but I simply don’t want to store, clean, and maintain more things. I’d rather spend my time reading, decorating my house, or trying new recipes. Amen to that. If there's a gun to my head, then I will say that I like to collect happy memories through my photos. That's happy clutter. How's that?

Chapter 4: Lighten Up

Having recently gone on vacation, I'm a few chapters behind on the Happiness Project. Sure, I could have brought the book with me, but that just seemed like homework so... I left my homework at home and enjoyed my vacation instead. Upon returning, I delayed my homework and was quick to recognize that all of those things involved in The Happiness Project like; act the way you want to feel, enjoy now, or work smart, promptly got ditched and was replaced with the chores of returning from a vacation - laundry, cleaning the house, buying groceries, catching up on work and emails, and downloading photos. So it's kind of interesting that the first chapter I return to is one that encourages me to lighten up.

This chapter's projects are: Sing in the morning. I don't even sing at karaoke. Of course Rubin's point is not to be taken literally, although singing in the morning works for her, the point I believe is about lightening up even if means singing in the morning to get there. She also mentions something very early on in the chapter that I suffer from. It's called "Fog Happiness." Fog happiness is the kind of happiness you get from activities that, closely examined, don’t really seem to bring much happiness at all — yet somehow they do. Fog surrounds you and transforms the atmosphere, but when you try to examine it, it vanishes. She states throwing a party as a perfect example. The minutia of what it takes to put on a party can cause dread, anxiety, nervousness, annoyance, and irritation, so that when you're in it, it's not fun, but when you step back and think about it, these activities undoubtedly do make you happy. I'd say I suffer from fog happiness regularly. Maybe because part of my job involves event planning. The end results, however, I'm almost always proud of, which makes me happy. So I think singing in the morning, really means enjoying even those details that get you to the end results that way I'm not experiencing the dread, anxiety, stress, etc. but that I make an effort to enjoy the whole process along the way, not just the end result.

Acknowledge the reality of people’s feelings. In other words, don’t deny feelings such as anger, irritation, fear, or reluctance; instead, articulate the feeling and the other person’s point of view. Rubin came up with her own strategy to tackle this project with her children. What's important to remember is that what may be effective to children can also be equally effective for adults so I've gleaned for myself the following -- Studies show that 85 percent of adult messages to children are negative—“no,” “stop,” “don’t”—so it’s worth trying to keep that to a minimum. Studies show that people tend to persevere longer with problems they’ve been told are difficult as opposed to easy. I loved Rubin's example: “It’s not tough to pull off your socks, just give it a try.” I switched to saying things such as “Socks can be tough to get off. Sometimes it helps to push down the back part over your ankle, instead of pulling on the toe.” Experts say that denying bad feelings intensifies them; acknowledging bad feelings allows good feelings to return. This all makes good sense.

Be a treasure house of happy memories. Studies show that recalling happy times helps boost happiness in the present. When people reminisce, they focus on positive memories, with the result that recalling the past amplifies the positive and minimizes the negative. However, because people remember events better when they fit with their present mood, happy people remember happy events better, and depressed people remember sad events better. Depressed people have as many nice experiences as other people—they just don’t recall them as well.

Family traditions make occasions feel special and exciting. They mark the passage of time in a happy way. They provide a sense of anticipation, security, and continuity. Studies show that family traditions support children’s social development and strengthen family cohesiveness. They provide connection and predictability, which people —especially children— crave.

My husband and I love taking photographs on our trips. I take it upon myself to put those photos in an album. One day, he left our room to go get something. He went missing from our room for quite a long time. When he returned and I asked him what took him so long, he said that when he was at our book shelf he pulled one of our old photo albums down and he ended up flipping through it and recalling the good time that we had. It made him happy and it made me happy that the effort to put those at-the-time-burdensome albums together was well worth it.

When we were growing up, my brother and I never enjoyed Christmas. Hearing holiday music would actually cause me to twitch. Christmas was filled with bad childhood memories of forced time with relatives we didn't want to be around, eating really bad, bad food and sometimes knock-down, drag-out fights between our parents. Probably the only time I distinctly remembering singing Christmas carols at the top of my lungs with my brother was when our godmother Auntie Nancy initiated the singing in hopes that it would distract us from our parents' yelling. Even at that young age, I knew what Auntie Nancy was trying to do. At some point while growing up, my brother and I vowed that when we were old enough we would make our own holiday memories. Now, Xmas has taken on a better meaning for us. It means good food, good company, and happy memories. I'm still working on enjoying holiday music though.

Chapter 3: Aim Higher

This chapter's projects:

Launch a Blog. Done. Well, not specifically for this project, but I have one. Well, my husband and I have one. Well wait, I am the one that contributes to the blog the most so I guess it's mine.

As much as I've tried to get my husband to post, he really hasn't... even though it was his idea! Thanks to the Happiness Project though, I know that I can't change him, or nag him. See, I'm learning! What the Happiness Project has helped me do is make it OK for me, and just me, to write in this blog. I've always loved writing and I like to think that I'm good at it. I'm opinionated and I love to express it. Writing is a great outlet to do so. So I dump here and not on my husband, how's that? Heck, you should read my Yelp! reviews. Ha. My husband is an amazing writer. He spun amazing love letters, er, emails to me when we were first dating that I still have today, but you can't make someone do something that they don't want to do, right? Right. And so... I write. And I have found a reason to do so again.

Enjoy the Fun of Failure. Rubin says in order to have more success, she needed to be willing to accept more failure, then quoted Robert Browning -- “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” - Robert Browning All I can say is, OK. I'll try.

Ask for Help. See answer above.

Work Smart. See answer above.

Enjoy Now. I couldn't agree more. And it's definitely something I do need to learn how to do better. I truly believe in what Rubin's research found about the "arrival fallacy" - when you anticipate great happiness in arrival and when you arrive it rarely makes you as happy as you anticipate.

Rubin says it's because your arrival brings more work and responsibility, like having a baby, getting a promotion or buying a house. I can site many of those milestones in life that disappointed. My prom, for instance. All that hype and I came away feeling gyped. What happened to that fuzzy, glowy, magical, fairytale-like effect you see on TV? Another poignant moment that was a let down was when I bought my first car. I remember driving it off the lot and I wasn't the least bit elated, I felt incredible burden, fear, and responsibility. What if I got into a car accident as soon as I got on the freeway? I have to make monthly car payments for the next five years? College graduation in real life is also not as it is on TV. Literally no pomp and circumstance AND the announcer pronounced my name wrong. Bitch. kidding.

With such early milestones that have been a letdown in my life, I faced other big lifetime moments with apprehension. My strategy has never to expect too much so you won't be disappointed. That way of thinking is a defense mechanism that applies to not just lifetime milestones, but to every day things like work. I used to be a wedding planner as a side gig. I absolutely loved the end result, which was a happy couple on their special day.They're happy, I'm happy. But since doing events for a living, it's been a burden. As Rubin says in her book, there is too much concern about whether she was getting praise or blame, too much anticipatory anxiety about what people would say -- all those fears spoiled Rubin and also my ability to just enjoy the now. I can think of only one work-related event that I organized that I literally jumped up for joy because it was a success and that was planning Bob Bates' 70th Surprise Birthday Party. Once again, I saw the happy results in the end.

Not ever lifetime milestone in my life failed in its delivery. I was definitely afraid that THE one lifetime milestone that almost every girl dreams about would also not live up to the hype...but it did. My wedding. It was exactly all that. It was the happiest day of my life.

Here's to many more of those moments by enjoying now.

Chapter 2: Remember Love

SHE BLOGGED: This may just be the hardest chapter of projects. Is that bad that I'm saying that already and I'm only on chapter 2?

This chapter's projects are to quit nagging, don't expect praise or appreciation, fight right, no dumping, and give proofs of love.

Rubin says that she learned one critical fact about her happiness project: She couldn't change anyone else. As tempting as it was to try, she couldn't lighten the atmosphere of her marriage by bullying her husband into changing his ways. She could only work on herself.

Rubin loves to quote other people and I actually like to read them. Sometimes it takes someone else to say what you can't put into words.

"It is easy to be heavy: hard to to be light."

"There is no love; only proofs of love."

"What you do every day matters more than what you do once in awhile."

Here's what I know. As far as this chapter's projects were concerned and after reading the chapter, I know that my husband is a better partner than I am in many ways. It's not that I didn't know that, it's just the first time I'm acknowledging it, out loud I guess.

This chapter focused on the fact that you can't change anyone but yourself, but also a reminder to be more observant and appreciative of all the things that your partner does do, not the ones you want him or her to do, but doesn't. And so began the exercise of reflection.

I'm not a morning person, no matter how much sleep I try to get. I wouldn't say my husband is a morning person, but he always greets me with a cheery "good morning" while I in turn manage a grunt back.

Before he leaves somewhere, he always kisses me goodbye. When I leave the house, it's a "see ya!" over my shoulder and I'm out.

When I come home he greets me with a kiss and the first thing that typicallly pops out of my mouth is something like "Did you take out the garbage yet?" He never calls me on it even though he has absolutely every right to. If the tables were turned, I'd lay in on him. And yet he never does. Meanwhile my dog will scamper over to greet me and I immediately drop down to pet her, my voice raises in octave and I coo at her no matter what kind of mood I am in. Yikes. I suck.

So this past weekend, I took on a mantra that hearkens back to chapter one's suggestion of "act the way you want to feel" and it worked. When I would typically point out certain things out to my husband that I thought that he should or could do better, I bit my tongue. Why ruin a good day? I had the foresight to see it might lead to me or him being grumpy afterward.

This was/is tough work, but part of Rubin's commandments is also "letting go." If my husband still doesn't clean up as he cooks like I do, then I need to let it go. It will get done eventually -- and that is OK. That's me letting go and only trying to change myself.

Chapter 1: The Happiness Project

SHE BLOGGED: So what's the Happiness Project book all about? It's about a woman named Gretchen Rubin who decides to dedicate a year to being happier.

Here's me. I'm going to chronicle this reading project and I'm taking you with me (and my husband because he has no choice).

Think of this as the cliff note version of her book. I'll highlight the parts that resonated with me. Let's begin.

Rubin sets about explaining to her husband what she hopes to achieve with the “project,” he initially interprets the news that she's unhappy.

"I am happy -- but I'm not as happy as I should be. I have such a good life, I want to appreciate it more - and live up to it better."

True dat. Ok. I'm with you girl.

Rubin: Contemporary research shows that happy people are more altruistic, more productive, more helpful, more likable, more creative, more resilient, more interested in others, friendlier, and healthier. Happy people make better friends, colleagues, and citizens. I want to be one of those people.

Working on my happiness wouldn't just make me happier; it would boost the happiness of the people around me.

Makes sense, I’m in. So Rubin sets about creating projects for herself for the month of January -- Go to sleep earlier. Exercise better. Toss, restore, organize. Tackle a nagging task. Act more energetic. All seems doable, right?

Go to sleep earlier. This may actually be one of the harder ones for me to do. My body and brain is trained to hit the sack after midnight. Time to untrain…in baby steps, and so far so good. I’ve been in bed before 11 pm for the past two nights, which has allowed me to feel more rested in the morning because I’m actually getting 8 hours of sleep. Unheard of. I still hit the snooze button a couple of times, but I don’t hate life when I get up.

Exercise better. My husband I are pretty active so I don’t envision me changing this too much, but I will say that because I am sleeping earlier and getting up feeling more rested, I feel like I have more energy (I say that now). So in other words, my brain is on faster and it’s taking me less time to gather my thoughts and do my morning chores (figure out what to wear, get dressed, pack lunch, make coffee, feed dog). I’m usually so late that there’s never time to walk the dog. Guess who got a walk this morning?

Toss, restore, organize. Please. If you know me, you know that I don’t need prompting to do this. However, it made me reevaluate rooms and closets that I have tackled before and consider tackling them again. Look out!

Tackle a nagging task. Same thing. Not my style. Because it’s a nagging task, I usually try to get it done as soon as possible. At least I can’t or don't want to think of anything that's been left undone. Perhaps my husband can chime in here. Probably one of the things that I procrastinate on the most is making my dentist appointments. I solved that at my last visit by making the receptionist just book my next cleaning in advance so it’s not left up to me to call them!

Act more energetic. Probably the hardest thing on the project list. To me it means, acting happier. Rubin says, “Act the way I want to feel.” Oy.

I am inclined to believe that Asian people are brought up to be miserable, to not be happy for fear of being disappointed. I can find many other Asian friends of my age who would agree.

Stand by, if there was any project listed that I need working on, this last one is it.

The Happiness Project Book Club

SHE BLOGGED: I've never been in a book club.

I've never been asked to be in one, nor have I had the desire to be in one.

My interpretation of a book club is literally only what I've seen on TV. Oprah's Book Club comes across as typically consisting of feel good books that I have zero interest in. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to read. It's one of my favorite past times, but my kind of book has storylines of murder, mystery and suspense (and for some reason, and I think because they need to keep the storyline going, it involves serial killers).

When I think book club, I also have visions of the scenes from the movie "Jerry McQuire" with Renee Zellwegger's character and her gossipy friends and family getting all up in her personal business. Ack, spare me.

So when my co-worker sent an email asking anyone interested in joining and creating a book club around the latest book called "The Happiness Project," I had mixed reactions.

I wanted to support my friend Karin, but I hated the idea of spending an extra hour or two after work with co-workers that I already see more than I see my own husband in a day, and yet I am the first to admit I could use a bit more happiness in my life. So I plunked down my $8 on her desk and tried to be, really tried to be, happy about it.

When Karin asked if the book club should meet somewhere other than work like a restaurant, I had to be honest - if I have to drive somewhere else other than home, I would probably continue to just drive home, nor was I excited to meet somewhere that I would have to spend some money to be there even if it's on just a cup of coffee. So it was decided to meet immediately after work at work. Our assignment? To read the first chapter before the day of our first book club meeting.

A Letter from my Congressman

Thank you for contacting me concerning conflicts in the Middle East. I appreciate you taking time to share your views with me.

Like you, I believe our country must engage in an international dialogue with other countries to achieve greater global security and stability, democracy, encourage nonproliferation, and protect human rights.

While there is little public consensus on the best approach, I hope we can agree that despite controversy, we must press on to seek solutions that promote security in the region and strengthen efforts toward a lasting peace. Congress has an oversight role in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy, and we must keep our commitments to the region. Certainly, I will continue to closely monitor the Middle East and will stay involved in Congressional efforts to address situations in any way possible.

Please know that I have consistently supported legislative efforts that seek to foster harmony among countries by working multilateral channels and employing diplomacy to achieve global peace and stability.

If you have a moment, please visit my Web site (http://becerra.house.gov/) and click on "Sign Me Up" if you are interested in receiving periodic e-updates and my e-newsletter, The Becerra Bulletin.

Sincerely,


XAVIER BECERRA
Member of Congress

A Letter to Your Local Congressman

Dear Congressman Xavier Becerra,

Concerned for the safety of my very pregnant friend who lives in Cairo, I asked her how I could help, she replied, "Reach out to your local congressman.” It wasn’t the reply I was expecting. To avoid the possibility of the protests in Egypt escalating into something further, I anticipated helping her book a flight back to the United States, perhaps wiring money over, or even sending a care package if mail delivery would allow. Certainly her request would be the easier of the things to do than what I had envisioned and yet her request gave me pause.

I have never written to my local congressman and yet I do so now, understanding how much more this could mean for her, for me, for her country and for mine.

We are witnessing a revolution in Egypt - The Egyptian people are demanding President Mubarak to step down.

Over a million Egyptians intend to remain in Tahrir Square until the regime accepts their demands for a new and democratic government. The demonstrators have shown to the world that they did not come to destroy, but to build their country.

We must also show our support, but not in millions of dollars in military aid to the Middle East as the U.S. has done in the past; instead, I ask that we do so by sending food, water and supplies. The country is desperately poor, more than 40 percent of Egypt’s 84 million citizens survive on less than two dollars a day and ongoing demonstrations against Mubarak has halted businesses and created household shortages of supplies like bread and rice.

And once Mubarak is removed, our support should again continue not in the way of massive military budgets, but by assisting the Egyptians in this transition. Our assistance to Egypt should reflect our support by guiding them to build democratic institutions. Help them stand on their own two feet, make available our expertise for a more just and accountable government. As quoted by another congressman, "the people of Egypt are fighting for their rights as our nation once fought a revolution to obtain."

Thank you for your time.

Here's to starting 2011 on the right foot with a 1920s poem written by Max Ehrmann. May it inspire, rejuvenate and remind us all to pay it forward.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.