Courage, Hope, Love & Success

Merry Christmas from our home to yours.

We send you warm wishes on a cold and wet Oregon morning.  It's that time of year when we feel rushed and joyous all at the same time -as we spin in circles preparing for the wonderful memories that we will share with our family and friends.

Which made me want to share some food for thought...

Yesterday I was reminded by Darren Hardy (publisher of Success magazine) That all gifts don't come wrapped with a bow.

He said; Think about the things you want more of in life... then GIVE those things.

He made it perfectly clear that he's not talking about an Xbox or George Foreman grill.

He went on to say...

Want Courage? Encourage.

Want Hope? Give Hope.

Want Love? Give Love.

Want Success? Help someone else become successful.

and he ended with... You will be surprised at how the giving process initiates the receiving.

He stated so simply what we all seem to complicate.

  

We send you Courage, Hope, Love and Success this holiday season and look forward to sharing these gifts in 2015.

Korean Drama's

#1...
Lie to Me was my very first Korean Drama that I watched and am now HOOKED!  Lie to me is a Cinderella story that toys with your emotions and draws you in with the simple concept of forbidden love.

Synopsis (16 episodes)
Gong Ah Jung, a level 5 Ministry of Culture official, gets entangled in a web of lies when she mistakenly lies that she's married to Hyun Ki Joon, a hotel manager from an affluent family. Their relationship is further complicated when Ki Joon's ex-fiancée and a close friend of his brother's, Oh Yoon Joo, reappears in his life.

#2...
Secret Garden is a Romantic comedy that includes a knock off of action scene and a freaky friday switch up. 

Synopsis (20 episodes)

The drama tells the story of Kim Joo Won (Hyun Bin), an arrogant and eccentric CEO who maintains the image of seeming perfection, and Gil Ra Im (Ha Ji Won), a poor and humble stuntwoman whose beauty and body are the object of envy amongst top actresses. Their accidental meeting, when Joo Won mistakes Ra Im for actress Park Chae Rin, marks the beginning of a tense, bickering relationship, through which Joo Won tries to hide a growing attraction to Ra Im that both confuses and disturbs him. To complicate matters further, a strange sequence of events results in them swapping bodies.

#3...

Autumn in my Heart aka Autumn Tale is a Romantic love story.  This drama took me by surprise pulling at my heart strings, so much so that I found myself with tears pouring down my face.

Synopsis (16 episodes)

Yoon Joon-suh (Song Seung Heon) and Yoon Eun-suh (Song Hye Gyo) always thought they were siblings. Eun-suh is in fact from a different family because she was switched at birth, but no one knows about this fact until one day, when Eun-suh is in a car accident. Her blood is tested only to discover that her blood type is completely different from her brother's proving that they are not related at all.

#4...

Shining Inheritance is a story of a young girl who hits rock bottom but stays positive.

Synopsis (28 episodes)

This will be focusing on the love and trials of the 20 year old generation. Go Eun Sung's life is similar to Cinderella's. After her father died, her step-mother, Baek Sung Hee, took away all of her assets and her younger brother, Eun Woo, suddenly disappears without a trace. Eun Sung preservers and works really hard to become a chef at a food company. The grandson of the food company, Sun Woo Hwan, notices Eun Sung and falls in love with her.

#5...

Le Grand Chef 2:Kimchi Battle 

Synopsis (1 episode, 2h 3min)

To settle a dispute about the origins of kimchi, a delicious and traditionally Korean dish of fermented vegetables, the president of Korea sponsors a nationwide contest that attracts a pair of competitive stepsiblings.

#6...
Pasta Strong cast. I loved and hated this throughout the series and in the end fell back in love.  This chef is so mean.  He is the Korean version of Gordon Ramsay!

Synopsis (20 episodes)

"Pasta" covers the dreams and success of a young woman who aspires to become an elite chef at La Sfera restaurant.

Seo Yoo Kyung started her career as a kitchen assistant at La Sfera restaurant. She eventually works her way up to become a chef.

Choi Hyun Wook is the top chef at La Sfera restaurant. He studied the culinary arts in Italy and started out as a chef assistant at a hotel in Sicily. Hyun Wook eventually worked his way up to become the most widely recognized Italian chef in Korea.

THINKING OUT LOUD, DEEPLY…

Emptiness lives in the hollows of our soul.

Everything seems to strut along as if there is no void.

But, all of a sudden a jolt or circumstance generates a cloud, a miff of what was or could be and that’s when everything clashes.

When do we wake up and realize that everything that we desire is right in front of us?

How do we grasp that treasure?  What allows us to define our personal existence and make it meaningful?  Those are the questions that I ask myself daily.

Is it possible to find true happiness when the world around me seems to be spinning out of control?

I would like to think so.

Yet, not everyone is on the same page which makes the journey difficult.

Life seems eternal until you are touched with death.

At that time, age tames your compassion. 

When does it all fade away as if it never existed?

I don’t have that answer, but wish I did.

My best analogy is to state that if we don’t make a mark, a difference as to why we exist, then all is lost.

My children have moments that hurt and heal.  As their parent I assess the role as anchor.  I am the one whom carries the burden, but never gets close enough to the boat to truly make a mark.  Yet, I am always the one whom is asked to be rooted, so that they can waiver.

Where is the beginning, middle and the end?  There truly is no time line to answer this question.  This I have discovered, by way of life, questioning each day as if it is the last.  I’m not trying to be morbid as much as realistic.  As we grow though our lives we think that we are indestructible, then reality hits and it all changes.

Bloggers Block

It’s been over a year since I posted to this blog.  The last post was February 26^th, 2010 which happens to coincide with the first recipe that I posted on my new blog, appropriately called “Cook with Susan”.  So I guess you could say that I have been a bit neglectful to my Food Family and Friends (the name of this bolg).  But, I look forward to bringing life back to this blog, starting right now!

Over the past year I have been cooking my heart out testing new recipes and old.  And to date I have blogged my way through over 200 of them.  Being born and raised in Hawaii influences my cooking methods and style.  Along with having the privilege of traveling to fun and exciting places which has allowed me to branch out.  It has been a wonderful journey seeing, feeling and tasting the flavors of different cultures in their birthplace allowing me to truly experience each dish as it was intended.  This is what I have attempted to bring into my kitchen and share with those who are interested. 

I have learned a lot during this time.  Not only about cooking, but also photography and computer mumbo jumbo that never made any sense to me.  I have a lot more to learn and will continue to post to my food blog.  Only God knows how many recipes I will accumulate when I am done.  But there is one thing that I am sure of, and that is that there always has been and always will be something cooking in my kitchen.

I started this project as a way to organize my recipes and create a live cookbook that my children would have access to anytime, wherever they were.  One recipe at a time is how it all started and that first recipe was quite exciting, the second even more and the rest is history.  

My daughter Cecily who lives so terribly far away from me in NYC would say to me, when she would visit my blog; "It’s as if I’m home sharing a meal with you”.  That little comment motivated me to keep at it.  

I now find myself experiencing bloggers block or maybe just food bloggers block.  The inability to get the same flowing thoughts on to paper or shall I say on to the computer screen as I did when I first started this journey.  So I have returned to my original blog in hopes of waking up the sleeping giant that lives in my imagination.  Allowing me to pull random thoughts out of my head and elaborate.  I can’t wait to get started!

If you have gotten this far down this post you may as well stop by my other blog “Cook with Susan” to pick up a couple of recipes along with some random thoughts.

Roasted Cauliflower

If you are always wondering what to do with a cauliflower besides steaming or stir frying here is a little trick that I used the other night for a side dish.

I think this may be the simplest and tasty-est way I have ever made cauliflower.

I cut a head of cauliflower into bite size floret’s and placed them in a shallow oven proof casserole dish.

Then I melted ¼ cup (1/2 stick) of butter with ¼ cup of olive oil on low heat and placed 2 garlic cloves in it to flavor the oil. Don’t let the garlic brown.

I then mixed about ¼ cup of seasoned bread crumbs with ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese.

Then I sprinkled the breadcrumb and cheese mixture over the cauliflower and drizzled the garlic oil over that. Seasoned with salt and pepper and baked it uncovered in a 400 degree oven for 25 – 30 min.

It was perfectly cooked with a nice balance of flavor and a big hit at my house. I think you could change up the flavors like adding lemon or thyme to make it your own. I kept it simple so I could use the leftovers in another dish. I will surely share that recipe with you if you like the orriginal recipe.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT?

Isn’t it funny, if you are a woman, that your period explains your bad sporadic behavior three weeks out of every month? We are either about to, have it or just finished. That makes for only 5 – 7 positive days in a month. Something to think about…

I have been experiencing crazy mood swings. They pop up out of nowhere and leave as soon as I am done freaking out. There is not specific timing with my monthly cycle yet I reach for that excuse each and every time. Could this be premenopuse?

Cook With Susan

Check out COOK WITH SUSAN @
http://susan-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.com/
for recipe ideas.

My Cookbook?

To my family and friends,
I think that I may finally assemble my cookbook this year.
If you have any request or suggestions.
Pass them on at susan.howzit@gmail.com

Blurry Vision

This one is for my B.F.F.

Its time to get back that 20/20 vision!!!

Life is so short, that there is no time to waste. Live it up and live it REAL.

You are the most genuine person I have ever met in my life.

I wish I was your mirror so you could see what I see. You are so lovely inside and out. You naturally shine with a light that is yours and yours alone.

It always amazes me how true you are to everyone but yourself. I need you to be as true to yourself as you are to me and everyone else in your life.

I want you to see yourself as I feel others see you. Not just me.

Your qualities are unmatched. Your heart is so full of love that there is no room for hate. I have never met anyone who has mastered this quality the way you have. This makes you vulnerable to being taken advantage of and unable at times to speak out loud and say what you really feel.

I encourage you to SHOUT (in your soft and gentle manner) to the world that nice people should be appreciated not taken advantage of.

I love how you have a natural way about you that makes others comfortable. You unconsciously move through a room and assure that each and every person in your presence is acknowledged and accepted so that they won’t feel out of place. I think it’s the GRANDMA syndrome. And I like that you’re my grandma.

You have become my standard of how REAL people should behave.

I needed to jot this down in black and white so you might have the opportunity to see your reflection as I do.

Written with love from your B.F.F.

I'm not you, Please let me be me

This one is for R.F…

The cycle of life is pretty simple. It comes in three stages. Birth…..LIFE…..Death.

The beginning and the end are fairly easy to understand., it’s the middle that gets complicated.

What we choose to do with our life is what determines self satisfaction that morphs into emotions experienced when in a state of well-being. Otherwise known as Happiness. It’s a child like phrase that to often gets the shaft, from very serious and driven people who find it impossible to be satisfied. Money is important and can buy comfort, but it can’t buy happiness.

I have always told my children to choose well when deciding what to do to earn a living. For one simple reason, they will have to wake up everyday either happy about their choice or hating life.

It appears that your dad is a very unhappy man because his life didn’t turn out the way he expected. This is probably true for at least 90% of the population, possibly even more. How we handle this disappointment determines the emptiness or fullness of our lives.

As he attempts to relive his life through you, he fails and you fail alongside him. The confusion lies in a simple misunderstanding. Just because you are from his loin does not make you a carbon copy of him. So it’s literally impossible for you to satisfy him. Unless he can one day see you as an individual with your own path. Only then will he be able to appreciate you for who you are.

One of my favorite sayings is, No one is better at being you than you, so don’t waste your time trying to be someone else.

Start today and be who you are and go get the life that you want and live it as yourself. Make sure that your choices allow you to obtain self satisfaction which will equate into that simple child like phrase “Happiness”. This action will surely result in success. Be confident, and remember you may fail, but you are not a failure. Pick yourself up and keep moving forward.

As you walk through life and LIVE and LEARN. You will become exactly who you should be, a truly independent individual. There will be a cost for independence. As you know all too well, there is a cost for the alternative also. Nothing in life is free. Choose well.

Remember you are you, not your dad. So practice mature ADULT behavior. No more arguing or yelling. He wants you to react to his actions, grow thicker skin and stop being a sponge and gain super powers that will allow your fathers words to bounce off your chest and back at him without a single word out of you as defense. It takes two to argue, unless you are in a mental asylum. Then you can argue with yourself and probably with great success.

I realize that your dad will think that what I have written is just a bunch of crap. But that’s ok, I have super powers.

Your journey through life is about to begin. You only get one chance, so make the best of it.

The Bag Lady

Its 1990 and my oldest daughter was 3 years old. We call her the bag lady. She loved to take her little basket and walk around the house and fill it with miscellaneous items. Then she would draw bar codes on the things that she could. Like books, just lines in a square. Then I would hear her voice saying beep, beep, beep. I would find her at a small table in the living room scanning her items then placing them in the plastic bags we got from the grocery store. These bags would pile up and the household items would simply vanish. I should have known then that she would be a shopper when she grew up. I can say with confidence that at 21 she is a professional shopper.

The Cook and the Lounge Singer

We all have something that we are good at and enjoy at the same time. For me its cooking and for my youngest daughter its music. We do what we do purely for pleasure, yet, occasional recognition is always appreciated.

It happens everyday unnoticed. I get home from work and start cooking dinner. Shortly after, my youngest daughter will show up without being prompted and begin singing beautifully while she plays the piano.

I keep chopping and stirring while she belts out yet another wonderful song. We comfortably do this with a bit of simple conversation mixed in. Do you have any homework? What do you want for lunch tomorrow? She answers my mundane questions often times in the middle of her song while adding in the events of her day. This interaction is going on while everyone else who is at home at the time just go about their business including having full conversations with me and each other as if there is nothing going on. No talent in the kitchen or on the piano.

Then one day I say to her, Its as if I'm the cook and you’re the lounge singer at a dark smoky bar with very few customers.

She says to me, yah, it would be the same. They would be talking over my singing and not really caring who was cooking their food. What a pair we make. Shows are nightly in our kitchen at our home sweet home.

Meet My Mom

I'm with my mom at a restaurant and she sees Won Ton Noodle Soup on the menu. And says to me, do you think this comes with noodles. I reply, yes, it says that it comes with noodles. She says, well I had better ask just to be safe. When the waitress comes to take our order she asks if the Won Ton Noodle Soup comes with noodles. The waitress says yes. But it doesn’t end there. My mom now wants to know what kind of noodles they are and if they are Saimin (Japanese style, served in Hawaii) noodles. The waitress doesn’t know but says she will ask. She comes back to the table to inform us that they are Won Ton Noodles not Saimin. Ok, my mom says, and proceeds to order. She says to the waitress, ok, I'll have the Saimin.

My Virgin Run

This is my very first time blogging so I appropriately named it my virgin run. The most important things in life for me are FOOD-FAMILY and FRIENDS.
The abundance of good food & spirits are the greatest ice breaker in any situation. It's a comforting feeling that allows even strangers to put down their guard and relax. Which brings me back to FOOD-FAMILY and FRIENDS.

I plan to put up a recipe once in a while (scroll down to the bottom). I know you all have this one. Thanks Bonnie, it has been a family favorite from the day you brought it over to share.

To those who know me well. Send me suggestions on what to write and join in at any time.