Imperfection

Appetizer- Crushed Garlic Bread w/ Hummus

Main Dish- Homemade Soup with meatballs, baby bok choy, oyster mushrooms, carrots, noodles, ginger, cilantro and scallion (courtesy of Eva)

Featured Novel - "Faith and Doubt," by John Ortberg (2008)

Spoonful Rating - 4 spoons

Dessert - Strawberry Cheesecake w/ Bananas & Fudge

Beverage - Pineapple Spritzer

Life is a gift, not a privilege. Oftentimes we seldom realize the deposits we make in our lives and the lives of others. Far too often, it is assumed that we care for a person, love someone, and cherish the time we have. On the surface, we can mask genuine understanding and compassion in the guise of being friendly; but, the real challenge is share what we know and feel for others.

In "Faith & Doubt," the author pulls on various sports and family examples to exhibit this point --- take the time to share what you know and tell those you care for them the truth. While it seems ease to portray one cares for, and about, others; it is life lesson to show not tell. In journalism, I learned the hard way in painful interviews and many re-writes that I, as the author, need to illustrate the message poignantly NOT tell the reader. In this case, I have stolen the very essence of the message in the story --- don't give it away so easily!

If you have Faith, then compel yourself to push farther than you normally would go; and, if you Doubt, then recount the many opportunities given and A-HA moments, to fully understand there is a gift in life --- faith & doubt. To this end, the faith to believe in the impossible is possible, and the doubt that tomorrow will be different if one does not make a change today. Two different but essential gifts we are given in this life, and the choice is always which one will you choose.

"There are no guarantees for the perfection of [our] choices. In fact, to the contrary, there is the guarantee of imperfection...If I refuse to sing a word or play a note until I'm certain of perfection, there will never be music.. If you don't want to go to the grave with all your music in you, you'll have to take a shot. --- Faith & Doubt, John Ortberg, 2008

At the expense of gaining, you must first loose yourself! The greatness within you cannot come forth until one is challenged --- until broken (in many cases). Do not wait 'til the last mile or second on the clock ticks for you to share what you know and for those you love. There are no guarantees for success, but I am confident you can achieve more by giving up yourself, first.

The bad medicine of perfection can cripple one from ever realizing the genuine truth and blessings that lie within. One sure measure of your life are the imperfections --- choose to make soup with the ingredients handed to you!

Go ahead, take a shot!

Bon Appetit!

Homemade "Imperfection" Soup w/ Chinese Cabbage, Meatballs, Mushrooms & Ginger

10 oz. minced pork(preferred meat)
3 scallions, finely chopped
6 oz. Chinese cabbage
1.5 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine
7- 8 oyster mushrooms
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
2 cups of baby bok choy
1 tablespoon of shredded ginger
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 tsp sesame oil
fresh noodles
1/4 cup of cilantro

Heat the oils together and saute the ginger and garlic, until the garlic begins to turn brown. Set aside.

Shred the cabbage and boil for 2 minutes. Drain and squeeze the remaining water out of it. Pat dry with a towel.

In a bowl, combine the pork, scallions, cornstarch, rice wine, cabbage and cilantro. Put in the fridge and chill for one hour. Then shape into 22 meatballs, using about 1 tablespoon of the mixture for each one.

In the meantime, boil water and then put the fresh noodles in for 1 minute until soft. Drain.

Saute the baby bok choy, oyster mushrooms and carrots together in 2 tsp. of sesame oil.

Heat 6 cups of chicken stock infused with several slices of ginger and 3 scallions. Bring to a boil. Add the meatballs, cover and cook over low-medium heat until they rise to the top and are cooked.

Put noodles in each bowl. Add a spoonful of the bok choy/carrots/mushrooms, a few meatballs and chicken stock. Garnish with chopped scallion and chopped cilantro.

Enjoy!!

Brevity

Appetizer - Stuffed Mushrooms

Main Dish - Chicken Avocado Salad

Featured Book - Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse

Spoonful Rating - 5 spoons

Dessert - Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Beverage - Pomegranate & Cranberry Cocktail

I am reminded of a conversation I recently held with my 10-year-old daughter, Jordan, where she quotes her mother saying, "A book does not have to be long to be powerful." How true!

Sharing the experience of reading together with my daughter has given me two (2) wonderful lessons thus far --- 1) re-igniting the passion to read and read (especially together w/ a companion); and, 2) the shear joy of knowing we share a special bond that I pray will last forever --- the love of reading and sharing our experiences of a book, time, memory or just thoughts together. This is the case for the novel, "Out of the Dust."

Reading Out of the Dust reminds one to treasure the small, precious moments in life. Taking placing during the Great Depression, the era of poverty but hope, brings out the humane and decent desires in life --- food, shelter, family, love, and self-worth. When the reader is challenged to choose, the question arises, "what will yield more value, and can one deal with the unknown circumstances that surround the ultimate decision?"

"Often our lives are so crowded, we need to hold to what is essential and weed out what is not...historical fiction [gives] us a safe place in which we can grow, transform, transcend. It helps us understand that sometimes the questions are too hard, that sometimes there are no answers, that sometimes there is only forgiveness." --- Out of the Dust

If you are 14-years-old, the answer bears great sacrifice despite the limited life lessons experienced. But, the reader cannot help but grow attached to the character's desire to empower herself and bridge the gap between the generations that separate her world from the loneliness she becomes accustomed to living in the mid-west during the 1920s. If you are 14 going on 29, does it matter that love takes on the form in the least expected way, or you pull towards family strain you, causing you to make drastic changes.

"The way I see it, hard times aren't only about money, or drought, or dust. Hard times are about losing spirit, and hope, and what happens when dreams dry up." --- excerpt from Out of the Dust, 1997

Well, as my daughter cautioned me in our follow up discussion, "Mom, you give too much of the book away!", so I will learn this lesson and encourage you to share the tug-a-war of emotions from the eyes of a 14-year-old heroine, who has hope for breakfast and a destiny unfulfilled for lunch and dinner daily. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and plunge forward, and reading the Newberry Award Winning novel, "Out of the Dust" captivates the inner desire to want more even with less.

Bon Appetit!

Chicken Avocado Salad
4-6 oz. of chicken breast
1 head of red leaf lettuce
1 ripe vine tomato
1/2 red onion (sliced)
1/2 cucumber (diced)
1-2 oz. red/green grapes
3-4 sm. sweet peppers (orange/red/yellow)
1 bunch carrots (julienne)
1 hard boiled egg (sliced)
1 -2 avocado(s)
feta cheese
handful of cranberries

Prepare salad as listed. Combine ingredients in order and top with your favorite honey mustard vinaigrette dressing. Serve chilled.

Change..

Appetizer - Hope is everything, IT is EVERYTHING....

Main Dish - "Tough Choices" by Carly Fiorina
Southern B-Que Quarters w/ Cabbage & Grilled Vegetables

Spoonful Rating - 5 spoons

Dessert - Double-Deluxe Chocolate Brownies

Desired Beverage - Mint Iced Tea

"Change always takes great effort...in many real ways, change is an unnatural act and so requires a sustained disruption of sufficient force," says Carly Fiorina. Change, indeed requires continues acts, and perhaps the best medicine in preparation for change is, "a sustained disruption" of responses that requires one to do something he/she would not ordinarily do.

Today, we are witnessing vast changes in people -- the way in which individuals address, clothe, speak out about, and stand-up for themselves. In many ways, the new attitude of expression rest on yesterday's emotion of self --- that is, happy one moment, sad and depress the next, and eventually joy, at some point in the process (one hopes). Through each phase a series of disruptions mandates one to respond to a given situation. In most cases, the ability to actively respond and be aware denotes one is plugged into the environment. However, when change requires a sustainable response, a sense of uncertainty arises and, it is the insecurity in the unknown, that makes change difficult.

In Tough Choices, the once-law-student drop-out and later HP CEO, Carly Fiorina chronicles the life and times as an aspiring business women. The multiple drawbacks and set-ups she orchestrated in the course of 5-plus decades serves as the back drop of hope --- that is, the hope to dream bigger than herself, the belief that she will make a difference, and the opportunity to risk it all, if success was to be achieved --- made all the difference in the world.

In fact, she dispelled this notion of maintaining the status quo to succeed, and preferred the least expected route where she admits she "learned over and over, many people prefer even a deeply problematic known to the risks of the unknown...don't change horses in the middle of the stream are all cautions about the risks of uncertainty and the consequences of imprudent action."

Change requires more than a sustained disruption of sufficient force, it connotes risks, consequences, and it also champions hope, success, and unattainable desires.

Accepting change does not mean one relinquishes the necessary faculties of reason or logic, it simply puts courage, faith, belief, and self-worth on stage amid the unknown acts or responses that follow a change. Change challenges the individual's core value --- who are and what makes you different? As the MBA course taunt, what is the differentiable factor that separates one from another?

In many ways, the response and sustainable actions of one in the midst of change speaks volumes about the individual. In Tough Choices, the title says it best, in life there are tough choices, and I would advocate that one not run from the risks and unknown acts; instead, embrace and challenge the changes that emerge. Fiorina models this behavior on and off the stage of business, and one cannot help but wonder can you say the same.

If your book title was released today, what would your title speak of you?

Bon Appetit !

Southern B-Que Quarters w/ Cabbage & Grilled Vegetables


1 pk of Chicken Quarters (slice and/or section parts)
1 celery stalk
1 red onion
1 or 2 small red potatoes
1 bunch of green onions
1 handful of cilantro & rosemary herbs (diced and sprinkled on meat)
1/4 melted non-salt butter
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp Italian spices
1/2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tbsp allspice
1 jar sweet honey glazed barbecue sauce
Dash salt/pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Prepare ingredients as listed.

Separate chicken parts or sliced meat to the side. Combine chopped red onion, red potatoes, green onions and herbs together in medium bowl. Sprinkled 2 handfuls of H2O on seasonings. Add melted butter with paprika, cinnamon, Italian spices, cumin and allspice to mixture. Stir for 10 beats, and spread b-que sauce on chicken quarters. Heat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 60 minutes.

Dice cabbage and vegetables in large saute pan. Melt non-salt butter, dash of salt/pepper and add cabbage. Cook until tender adding sm. amounts of H2O to avoid burning pan. Stir continuously for 15-minutes. Spray grill with olive oil and add vegetables. Turn over frequently until crisp and sultry.