Don't Waste Time With Anger

In the past two weeks, I received news about deaths from two different friends in the Bay Area.  The first was about our friend Eric's mother.  The second was a high school classmate and former coworker, Lisa.  Both lost their lives to cancer, pancreatic and ovarian, respectively.

In a world in which hundreds and thousands of deaths occur each day and in which each news cycle contains gruesome stories of murder, war, starvation and and natural disaster, I paused to reflect on the lives of these two women.  As some of you know, I write letters to my nieces, now ages three and six, which are sealed and kept in a box for them to open when they turn eighteen.  I'd like to share with you an excerpt of what I wrote to my younger niece, Ava:

Dear Ava,

I received news of the loss of two people, one the mother of a friend and the other a former classmate and coworker.  Both died younger than they should have, which is sometimes the way of the world.  Both of them left behind many people who cared for them and cared about them deeply.  And their loss reminds me of an important lesson, one I hope you'll learn at the earliest possible age.

Life is precious and short and all too often we lose those we love unexpectedly and earlier than we want to.  And even when our loved ones do live a long and full life, we are still destined to lose them.  Because of that, each moment we have them in our lives is a valuable one, much too valuable to spend with a heart filled with anger or hatred or scorn.  Instead, fill those moments with love and kindness and forgiveness, because one day we will no longer have the opportunity to tell the people we love, "I'm sorry; I love you."

...

I hope both Mrs. K's family and Lisa's family are comforted by the memories they have of these special ladies and that their tears of sorrow are interspersed with laughter as they think of the good times they enjoyed. 

I hope that each of us can learn and relearn the lesson brought by their family's loss because it is a loss all of us have, or will, experience.  Don't waste time with anger; fill each moment with love.

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Could Credit Card Squeeze Help Consumers?

News reports of tough times in the financial industry tell of credit card customers getting the squeeze in advance of the start next February of the new credit card protection act,  Whether through higher interest rates, lowered credit limits or increased fees, credit card companies seem determined to do their damnedest to bleed consumers dry before some restrictions are placed on them.

I wonder, though, if this might be a good thing?  Several people I've spoken to muse that they hope the recession that we're now mucking through will be enough to change people's high-spending ways and consumerist habits.  I've been skeptical that the lessons will be learned or, at the very least, will last very long once the economy begins to rebound.

However, if credit cards companies keep tightening the screws, it might become so unpleasant and so painful to pay by credit card that many consumers may once again learn the habit of paying cash and only buying what they have the money to pay for.  It seems to me that that, more than anything, would help us turn the corner on our instant gratification, buy-cheap-crap-now-so-we-can-throw-it-away-later, IKEA/Wal-Mart mentality towards life.

Thoughts?

Finally Success with Buttermilk Parmesan Biscuits

After a few attempts at making Buttermilk Parmesan Biscuits to serve as little brunch sandwiches, I finally arrived at a recipe I like.  May I share it with you?  The original attempts, based on a recipe shared with me by W, resulted in very soft, somewhat oily spoon-drop biscuits, shown below.

For subsequent attempts, I reverted to using my favorite buttermilk biscuit recipe as a starting point, based on a recipe my mother gave to me.  Finally, I got the recipe to a point I'm happy with for a brunch this past weekend.  I made little round scrambled eggs with some fried pancetta on top, added some spinach leaves and made a biscuit sandwich out of them.

I bought a pair of non-stick steel rings to form the eggs.  A few chopped green onions and some cream cheese mixed in with the eggs make them nice and tasty.  The pancetta was from the market, sliced thin to order and then fried for just a few minutes to crisp it up.

The end result were these lovely, flaky sandwiches.  The only thing I forgot was to add some chopped green onions to the biscuits themselves.  Here is the recipe for the biscuits.  I'll let you figure out the sandwich part on your own.  You can also use smoked salmon as a filling instead of pancetta.

Buttermilk Parmesan Biscuits
Makes 10 biscuits (more or less, depending on cutter size)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable shortening, chilled
2 Tbsp butter, chilled
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp minced green onions (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and thoroughly mix.  Cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients, forming pea-size crumbs.

Combine the shredded Parmesan cheese into the mixture, ensure that it is evenly distributed.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the buttermilk.  Mix with a fork until combined.  Be careful not to over-mix; the goal is to make sure the ingredients are just combined.  If desired, mix in the minced green onions.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and fold the dough over on itself five or six times, forming layers.  Pat the dough to an even thickness of about 3/4 inch (you can make it thinner or thicker depending on how thick you want your biscuits to be) and use a biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits.  When you cut the biscuits, don't twist the cutter.  This seals the edges of the biscuits and retards their rise in the oven.  Better to just cut by pressing straight down.

Place biscuits on a baking sheet (no need to oil it although you can use parchment paper if you like) and bake immediately in a 425 F over for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from oven and serve while still hot.

Notes:

You can substitute 1/2 cup of the unbleached flour with whole wheat flour for a healthier, whole grain biscuit.  They won't puff up quite as much so row them a little thicker than you otherwise would. 

If you don't have buttermilk available, you can substitute regular milk.  Before you make the biscuits, take 3/4 c of milk less one tablespoon, and mix in one tablespoon of white vinegar.  Let sit for ten minutes and then stir.  The milk will have thickened a bit, producing a similar texture and taste to buttermilk.

Enjoy!  Feedback always welcome.

Italian Almond Cake

After a few attempts at baking macarons, my refrigerator still holds a good supply of almond flour.  How to use it?  How about some Italian almond cake?  This rich, dense cake uses ground almonds instead of flour, making it gluten-free.  The seven eggs make it even richer.

Unfortunately, the recipe calls for a 9-10 inch springform pan.  I didn't realize that my springform pan is only 8 inches.  This caused an unanticipated problem.  The cake was supposed to finish baking in about 30-40 minutes.  After 50 minutes, a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake was still coming out with uncooked dough attached.

The cake was so deep that it wasn't cooking through!

I finally gave up and pulled the cake out of the oven at an hour and ten minutes.  After letting it cool, I sliced it open and, sure enough, the center was still very dense and not entirely cooked.  The outside edge was a bit overdone.

Serving it up with some fresh mango, the cake was still tasty, but I had to eat around the undercooked part.  I'll have to try an alternate recipe, maybe one that makes use of a little flour.  I'll also have to either not fill the pan so high or will need to buy a larger springform pan.

Terminal 21 - Under Construction

Walking back to the Skytrain station with my Thai tutor Thursday afternoon, I was commenting (in Thai, of course) about how much the area around the intersection of Sukhumvit Road and Soi 21 has changed in the four years since I moved here.  There are a few new buildings and another large development called Terminal 21 is now rising next to the Asoke Skytrain station.

The site as it currently appears, looking to the northeast from the east-bound Skytrain platform.

Artist's interpretation of Terminal 21's design.  This is looking roughly west.  The above picture of the construction site would have been taken from the end of the Skytrain platform, which appears to the left of the face billboard in this representation of the building.

Built on the site of a former Ford and Volvo dealership, this very large property is one of the best-located in the city.  Described on its website as an "airport terminal" design (whatever that means), it will feature a 9-storey mall including an SF Cinema and a supermarket, a 20-storey serviced apartment complex, 145,000 square meters of office space, and 40,000 square meters of retail space.

Each floor of the mall will be themed on a different city or region of the world.  The bottom floor will be the Caribbean and then we will proceed through Rome, Paris, Tokyo, London, Istanbul, San Francisco (which occupies two floors) and Los Angeles. 

San Francisco floor, left, and Istanbul floor, right.

Each floor will focus on a particular type of shop - fashion brand names on the Paris floor, food and restaurants on the San Francisco floors and the cinema will be on the Los Angeles floor.  Istanbul's floor will have fashion accessories and leather goods.

Yes, I know what you are thinking.  Do we really need another mall in this city?  The answer is, definitely not.  I think we need more mixed income housing located right next to transit.  But that isn't going to happen anytime soon.  In the meantime, I'll enjoy the fact that this is a great location - very transit-friendly as it is located at the intersection of the Skytrain and subway lines - and developments adjacent to transit are generally good for the city.  Plus, alternatives to having to go all the way down to Siam Square and Paragon are always welcome.

As the cranes are being installed, they are right at eye level with the Skytrain station's platform.  Nice views.

Nighttime shot of the construction taken on Monday, November 2nd.  This is the night of Loi Krathong.  Can you spot the full moon?

Here it is!

Stay tuned for more updates as I follow the construction of Terminal 21.