Opsss… I did it again!

The first time was about 5 months ago. And yesterday look what pop up on my google reader

so I appeared in the Businessweek and the guy called me “A new name” I love this nickname. If you follow the link, you’ll find the article that I and two BIG economists wrote, a must read essay according to Tom Keene ,  about a paper we published recently.

I couldn’t stop smiling the WHOLE DAY!!! It’s like a Big confidence boost… something I really need at the moment. All the stress that I’ve been having lately, the morale down-hill experience, I almost forgot what I am capable of.  When I complain to Star, he wisely told me: You’re wonderful, you just need to find the right spot to SHINE! He’s soooo right, isn’t he? We’re ALL WONDERFUL!!! Don’t let anyone or anything make you doubt about that!!!

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Breakfast was enjoyed reading news and watching the man working

The usual suspects: peach, homemade bread, avocado + LC and “poached” egg

I’m trying a new method of making poached egg… so far no success… but I keep trying That’s the attitude, right?

Work can’t be done without tea and nuts. My recent favorite nut is pistacho! It’s not the nut itself that I’m interested, but the action of peeling it is de-stressing

I got my first shipment of baker’s must-have from King Arthur. There was a free shipping deal so I order more flour, unsweetened coconut meat

and sourdough starter

I can’t wait to make more breads!!!

Lunch was leftover pizza

and some steamed broccoli with marinara sauce for extra veggie

I wanted sweet dessert, so I dig  into my candy pot

and found these two japanese candy. They’re sooo cute

More work but not very productive. I had cramps (yes, that kind) and couldn’t focus. So I remember a traditional chinese medicine recipe for that: ginger + brown sugar.

cut peeled ginger in small pieces, add 1 cup of water and bring it to boil for 5 min

I didn’t have brown sugar, so I used normal sugar. Heat 1/2 cup of black rice & lotus seed milk

“medicine” can be tasty too

I was debating between going for a run or rest at home because of the cramps when I got an email from a friend to go for an happy hour. It was an easy decision (maybe not very wise), I went

Two hours chatting and two glasses of red wine in (hoping that it will facilitate blood circulation and ease the cramp), I start feeling dizzy. By the time we finish dinner at Vapiano, I was exhausted. I came home, washed my face and went to bed. People says red wine helps with sleep. Yes, just fall into sleep, but not keep you for long.  I guess… I’d better keep away from alcohol.

Q: Do you drink alcohol beverage? How does it affect your body?

Deal Alert:

I just order 12 2 oz. pack Sahale Nuts for $15.66 following this instruction. Fall is approaching, it’s time to load on NUTS!!

Saying NO!

I’ve never had problem before saying NO to people/request and I didn’t understand people who has problem with that. Well… until recently, until I saw myself struggling, stressed out simply because I was afraid to say NO and to put a limit to abusive people around me. Why it’s hard to say no? Because we’re afraid of what others might think about us, we’re afraid of the consequences if we say no to them, because we want to feel useful. But you know what? NONE of these is more important than our SPIRIT, our MORALE. If they can’t accept it, it’s their problem, not ours. We need to put ourselves in FIRST priority.

I’ve been having this problem lately and it has been hard. Yesterday I finally made the decision and declined the request. It was liberating!!!

Variations of How to Say no (source)

Plain No: All you do is say no and move on. This is the least effective of the various techniques.

Mirroring No: This variation involves sympathy where you communicate an understanding of the person’s situation and follow it up with your declining statement. Your child’s sports coach asks you to be the team manager. You could respond with a mirroring no by saying, “I understand your after a team manager. It must be tough trying to organize the team… but I won’t be the team manager this season.”

Reason-why No: Many studies have proven that if a person provides a reason for carrying out an action then the action is more likely to be accepted. If a charity worker asks for a donation you can say, “No I won’t donate because I’ve donated to another organization last week” or “No I won’t donate because I don’t want to.” The second example’s reason for not donating seems stupid but even though no new information was provided the reason adds persuasive power.

Delayed No: Just say “You’ll get back to them at a later time.” In the mean time, the person may find someone else to do the job or the problem may have been solved.

Conditional No: You state the conditions that you would accept the person’s request and if these conditions aren’t met you will decline their request. Only use this technique if you are willing to accept the request. The person may end up adjusting the initial request for you under your listed conditions which will put the burden on you to follow the adjusted request. Your child’s sports coach again asks you to be the team manager and you respond with, “I will be the team manager if you can guarantee that it requires no more than 2 hours of work a week. If not, I’ll have to say ‘no’.”

Painful No: This variation of saying no involves stating the future pain the person would receive if you declined their request at a later time. Your boss asks you to take on an extra assignment and you reply with, “For both our sake I’m going to say no. The quality of my work declines when I’m not focused on one assignment and I don’t want to give you bad work, hurt my position here at the company, and as a result make you get someone else to redo the assignment at a later date.”

Respectful No: Firstly, use one of the above variations. If the person persists with their request then use the respectful no variation. What you say communicates your wishes for the person to respect your decision. An example is “Please don’t make the same request again. I’ve said ‘no’ so can you please accept that?” Do this with “soft” body language so you don’t come across as aggressive.

These are useful tips, I wish I’ve read them earlier

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First oatmeal this summer (or end of it): blueberries + AB + flax meal + blueberries, topped with cottage cheese

mmmmm……it was good but I still prefer some bread now

Throw together salad continued: lettuce, tomato, steamed broccoli, mozzarella, 3 tbsp olive + 1 tbsp balsamic.

and steamed corn. Enjoyed watching TV at home! Working at home is good! .

I know some lady likes sweet dessert… but I don’t have sweet tooth, so I had edamame instead  ;)

Took a powerful 30 min nap and back to work! Working at home is good x 2

I didn’t feel like snacking anything solid, so I made a black rice and lotus seed drink

look how many drinks I had in my desk

I went to the gym for 40 min ET while watched the night news (fancy gyms are good! ) and a power yoga class. It’s indeed a gym yoga class, a lot of flow and core work at the end, and lady gaga music as background. Yeah~ picture it… doing yoga with lady Gaga’s song.

Dinner time!!! FIRST HOMEMADE PIZZA!!!

okay.I’ve made unconventional pizza but I didn’t make the crust. So, crust was on the project.

I made the dough few days ago and freeze it. It was easy and convenient to make a big batch and save it for later.

I like thin crust pizza so I rolled it well

as topping, I shredded a large zucchini, put it in a milknut bag

squeeze it well to drain the extra liquid

ricotta cheese + nutritional yeast + S&P

base was simply tomato paste

top with dry and fresh basil

bake at 400F for 20-25 min. Meanwhile… I snacked some more edamame and roasted kabocha

homemade PIZZA!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

the crust is perfect, thin, chewy and crunchy!!!

Side dish was black fungus and shiitake mushroom salad.

A fusion dinner right?

Q1: Do you find hard to say no?

Q2: What’s your favorite type of pizza crust? thin, thick?

Pizza, new pan and self-discipline

Let’s do the reverse order of the title

Self-discipline. All people who know me well and I consider myself a highly disciplined person. I’ve been that way for many many years and I think it is a key factor that helped me to achieve what I’ve achieved. I’m proud of it. But there is a fine line between being self-discipline and over-achieving.  If a self-disciplined person becomes an over-achiever… it can be dangerous. I’ve been there once and I wasn’t happy.

Last weekend I talked to a friend who I respect a lot. For many, he is a successful man. He has a Ph.D in chemistry engineering. He is working at an international firm with a great career prospect. I wouldn’t doubt that he is enjoying his life. But unfortunately he is not. He thinks he still have a lot to achieve. He knows that phDs are not good at human relations, we spend too much time alone doing research, so he thinks he has to push himself to be good at it. I thought he studied chemistry because he liked it or he was good at it. No, chemistry was the only course he didn’t get As, so he chose chemistry to be his career. The idea of putting oneself into uncomfortable place all the time, trying to master what one is not good at is SHOCKING to me. Really? Is good to “harm” or push oneself this way? Am I the only one who thinks that we should enjoy what we have and do what we are good at?

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I got a new skillet from the CSN store with their gift card.

Calphalon One Infused Anodized 9″ Chef’s Skillet with Lid

• Diameter: 9″
• Material of skillet: heavy-gauge infused anodized aluminum
• Material of lid: brushed stainless steel
• Material of handle: cast stainless steel
• Oven safe

It’s smaller that I expected but it’s large enough for one person’s serving. Here I made a stir-fry of lotus root, onion and mushrooms in olive preserve.

The only cons about this pan is that it’s not nonstick, even I put more oil than usual, it sticks a little.

Thanks CSN people for letting me do the review

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As I said last time, I found the best unconventional pizza combo and I had to make it again

Udi’s gluten free pizza crust with tomato paste, “cheese”

shredded zucchini and broccoli

be generous with basil

20 min at 450 F, ready to EAT!

INCREDIBLY TASTY!!!

It’s DC restaurant week, I’m going to Cafe Milano with new friends for a 3 course meal tonight!! I’m excited! It’s going to be my first experience in restaurant week in the US.