Dining Etiquette Experience (Community)

Speaker Debbie Darling presenting Dining Etiquette

On Monday, December 5th, I had another volunteer opportunity for a local leadership club. This time I helped put the "Dining Etiquette" workshop together by properly setting up the fancy table. I carefully ensembled the china plates and soupbowls on top of the other; knives, big spoon, and small soup spoon on the right of the plate; big fork and little salad fork on the left of the plate; and champagne and water glass on the right diagonally from the china. With the display set up I was ready to call up the workshop audience to have a seat and settle down on the table. The presenter, Debbie Darling, immediately arrived to make her informative dining etiquette speech. First, she allowed me to make my announcements, which were about upcoming events such as the Spring Banquet committee meetings and Leadership Club T-shirt fundraiser. My announcement speeches enable me to develop my public speaking skills, so I am more comfortable talking in front of an audience. As I finished my speech, I sat down on my seat and participated in the workshop. I learned valuable lessons about dining etiquette. For example if given the opportunity to be interviewed in a dinner setting, it is recommended to eat a little before the interview This action prevents you from ravenously eating the meal instead of focusing on the interview. We learned about the presentation of the dinner set (be it wedding or interview settings). In addition, we learned what the utensils are used for such as little fork for eating salads and big fork to eat the main entree; little spoon to eat soup and big spoon to eat pasta; and tall glass is for champagne and short glass is for water. Overall, the workshop is a fun and wonderful class because you can learn about the unknown intricacies and mannerisms of dining etiquette(and test those out!).

Introduction to Leadership Workshop (Community Enlightenment)

Ms. Juanita Razo speaking about leadership

Today, I volunteered to help out a community leadership club by leading a workshop called "Introduction to Leadership" with speaker Juanita Razo. In this workshop, I learned many things that I never believed existed for the topic of leadership. At face value, the Introduction to Leadership Workshop may seem like a review class for many of us. Being exposed to knowing people like Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, and parents, we have general ideas of what leaders are about. However, this workshop sheds light to another definition of leadership: interdependence. Many of the participants believed that being a leader is about being the one to take the initiative and is the executive decision maker. This asset is true to an extent, but Razo said this is not the case. According to Razo, leadership’s true definition states that it is a process in which goal-driven individuals collaborate for the ultimate objective. Many of the participants were stunned by the unexpected, enlightening definition; they then understood and accept leadership at another angle. We then discovered that there was a fine line between the characteristics of a manager and those of a leader. As University of Southern California’s authors, Bennis and Nanus (1985), quoted: ‘Managers do things right and leaders do the right things.’ Many of the workshop students agreed that managers are the people who set the rules down, but the shocking thing is that they do not have to be leaders. Leaders, in contrast, are the ones who must have management skills and follow the rules in order for the group to be successful. One necessity that Razo wanted us to take from the workshop was gaining leadership is a lifelong process. She referred that 20% comes from you, 20% comes from SLI workshops 60% comes from trial and error scenarios. This process is the driving factor in discovering our own leadership potentials and philosophies.

Down-to-Earth Chinese Food

Northern China beef noodles

This afternoon, my family and I wanted to try some authentic Northern Chinese cuisine while we were visiting the La Puente area. We ended up in a spotting an interesting restaurant name called Earthen Restaurant (Northern Chinese restaurant). I walked into the restaurant, thinking I would find a lot of veggie dishes. I was wrong. Upon opening the door, I was greeted by a waitress holding a savory beef noodle soup covered in veggies. My mouth was watering upon seeing the delicious bowl of noodles, and I immediately ordered that when we got to the table. We waited for 15 minutes fot the bowl to arrive. As soon as the steaming noodle soup arrives. I automatically took a small bowl-full of noodles and beef and savoringly ate them. The noodles were sort of thick and soft in texture; the veggies were purely ripe, crispy, white, and green; and the beef was juicy, soft, and plumpy. Accompanied with a unsalty beef soup base, the combination of that meal was outstanding!


 

Homely Hot Pot

Table full of hot pot meats, veggies, and a stove

On Thanksgiving Eve, my family and I decided hold a hot pot dinner at our relative's house. It was the first annual hot pot dinner; therefore, we brought a feast full of raw shabu shabu foods to eat, as well as two hot pot stoves (there were 10 people, so we had to double the size of the dinner). For those who have not tried a hot pot dinner, here is the scope of it! Hot pot is an East Asian fondue dinner in which you simmer your raw foods in hot soup bases; they could be chicken base, beef base, or satay base. You put the foods into the hot pot and let them simmer until they float on top of the soup. For chicken and beef, you have to dip and hold them in the soup until they are fully cooked. Here are some examples of the hot pot foods:

Variety of fish balls(white fish balls have delicious meat filling)

Raw shrimps

Raw chicken

Taro

Japanese udon

Mushrooms and white radish

Crispy skin tofu

Bean sprout and cilantro

Once the foods are cooked and steamed, you are ready to pick them up delicately and enjoy your mouth-watering, juicy meats and vegetables. You can dip them soy sauce and satay sauce to add a little spice! A hot pot dinner is wonderful on a frosty, rainy, or stormy night. It is guaranteed to warm you up and fill up your belly throughout the whole night!

Miscellaneous Marvels at Marukai

It was a cold, rainy Sunday night of November 6, 2011. In that case, my family and I decided to go to Marukai for shabu shabu (hot pot dinner) shopping spree!

While we were at Marukai of West Covina, I went on a little adventure and explored all around the interesting Japanese cultured market. I found some fascinating marvels, such as the mini Japanese DVD store (which happened to be filled with Japanese romantic dramas). The prices of DVDs were equivalent to 5 U.S. dollars(or 386 Japanese yen).

In addition to unique stacks of Japanese DVDs, there were cute toys! These toys can be used as practical tools as well. One notable toy/tool is a Jack & Friends animal blanket. It is a blanket that could be a panda plush toy. Then it would transform into a cuddly baby blanket when you roll it out!

There were also many neat Japanese snacks, toys, and realistic food-like erasers on a convenient shelf, which is similar to a gum shelf at a check-out line.

Within a sea of beer bottles, there emerged two giant kegs of Japanese sake sailing on a boat!

A Feastful and Paranormal Halloween

Irvine's Giant Jack-O-Lantern hot air balloon (at a distance)

This Halloween weekend, I made a special trip to visit one of my good friend's house in the city of Santa Margarita for a Halloween Potluck! My group of 10 friends and I planned to arrive at 1:30 p.m., but everyone came late at 2 p.m. Unfortunately, 5 friends could not make it to the fun Halloween party due to uncontrollable circumstances/obligations (studying for midterms, family issues, and other parties). Despite the small number of people who showed up, we tried to make the party fun and enjoyable. The party will never be forgetful! My group and I brought a feast enough to fill the entire kingdom (5 mountainous platters of chow mein, egg rolls, chicken and potato enchiladas, spam musubi, and rice). In addition, there were freshly baked peanut butter brownies and soft chewy chocolate chip cookies stacked delicately on rows of silver platters. All of them were homemade, which made the dining experience like a delicious heaven! 

Satisfied with our ravenous hunger, we migrated to the living room to enjoy a classic comedy movie: Mr. Deeds. While my friend popped in the DVD in the machine, we joyfully sang of parodies of pop songs and spontaneously dancing. Then the lights dimmed and we immersed ourselves watching the high digital quality movie, which made the scenes popped out of the screen. We giddily laughed as we witnessed character's downfalls and faults (mainly dealing with awkward, romantic scenes). 

When the movie ended, we headed straight to our cars. We ended up driving to Irvine's Pumpkin Patch! This event features a carousel, a kid playground (with a long, squiggly-looking orange bike), and the famous jack-o-lantern hot air balloon ride. I always wanted to ride on a hot air balloon, and that time was the perfect opportunity for me! We hopped onto the metallic safety cart of the hot air balloon. Little did I know that the balloon was attached to a wired cable (hooked from the ground and onto the balloon). I was looking toward flying solo in the air and freely floating toward the moon and stars. However, I am content when I am surrounded by my friends and sharing the experience with them as we look down at the city lights.

Then we went to the movies to watch Paranormal Activity 3, which was our anticipated movie of this Halloween! We had our eye-covered, loud screaming, heart attacks during fright-filled scenes. Overall, the movie left us with good laughs with a little bit of paranoia!

Dim Sum Spectacular!

New Capital Seafood Restaurant entrance

On Monday afternoon, I was hungry for some dim sum! So my family and I drove to New Capital Seafood Restaurant in Rowland Heights to try their delectable dim sum. We arrived at 1:30 pm, which was when there were no lines. In the restaurant, there were many people chatting happily and chowing their plate full of sizzling dumplings. We went straight to an open table (there were 10 seats and we're a party of five) and sat down spaciously and comfortably. Right away, there was a dim sum server jolly and enthusiastically asking what we want for dim sum. Here are some of the delicious entrees we've ordered:

Steamy beef balls with cilantro and tofu skin



Diced pork ribs with red peppers and pumpkin



Abalone-flavored, Japanese fried tofu





Juicy siu mai with masago(salmon eggs)





Har gao (shrimp dumplings)

Taro cakes

Fried sesame rice noodles with hoisin sauce

Steamed fish balls



Dim sum galore!

Everyone enjoyed the delicious dim sum. New Capital's entrees were all steamy because they came fresh out of the kitchen stove. The taro cakes and rice noodles were even cooked on a moving stove cart, so the food was served on the spot! Each and every one of the plates had a nice, non-greasy, flavorful aroma. The meaty entrees, in particular, would melt juicily in your mouth. You have to savor each of these bite-sized, scrumptious dim sum to get the full heavenly experience!