in shanghai

Having a drink on the 87th floor of Jingmao building!

Kitchen on Fire! cooking class

I started a 12-week cooking class at Kitchen on Fire in Berkeley.

The space is light-filled, and there are about 25 students in the class.  The teacher MikeC is hilarious!  At one point, he talked about how if you don't do the mis en place (preparation) properly, you will end up making a big mess in the kitchen. Then you will look around and say, "Who the hell did this?"

He paused significantly, and then said solemnly, "It was you!"

I laughed so much.

In our first class, I learned how to hold the knife properly, and how to chop vegetables into consistent thickness.  After the class, I went home and cut two potatoes for stir fry.  It actually went much faster.  I remember asking my friend to slice two potatoes during college, and it took 30 minutes.

We chopped all of these vegetables.  My next class will be Searing, Frying, and Confit.  Excited!!

If you feel inspired, the school regularly runs 12-week cooking classes. If you are my friend and also enjoy cooking, let's cook together sometime!

I'm deciding whether to also get the Kitchen on Fire book. I usually get all my recipes online, but this book also has a lot of step-by-step photos.

I'm looking forward to learning to make stews, quick breads, and roasting.  I already do these things, but not very expertly.

regular customers are good

Our QA Automation Engineer Tarum's favorite television show is the Kardashian reality program.

Tarum: "I want Kim Kardashian to shop on Minted."

JP: "She can be a regular shopper for our wedding items."

traveling pants

I just watched "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants".

 I got it from netflix weeks ago, but procrastinated watching it because I thought it would be a teen flick about the high school heartbreak of 17-year-olds. I didn't think I would identify at all with the characters. They'd probably be crying because they had the wrong color prom dress, and thank God for the pants to cheer them up from their first-world problems.
 

 I was so wrong. In the very first scene, one of the girls is 8 years old, and watches her dad move out of the house at night with suitcases. She calls her friend Lena, crying, and her friend comforts her, saying "It'll be okay. I'll come over first thing in the morning."

OMG! Why didn't I have friends like that when I was 8 years old!!!

The movie was about teenager heartbreak, yes. But it was the heartbreak of not seeing your dad often enough and not being able to tell this to him, because that would be unpleasant and he might pull away even more. Or the heartbreak of denying your sadness over the loss of a loved one because it would be overwhelming, and finally being forced to confront it.

Success = results - expectations, and this movie has greatly surpassed my expectations!

It does seem really unbelievable that the same jeans would fit Blake Lively and America Ferrara. One of them is 7 inches taller than the other!



Just ordered the sequel on netflix.