Climate Change Is NOT Caused By Humans?

A wise man once said...

"The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny."

In life whenever there is a problem, people are quick to point fingers and place blame.

He did it! She did it! Now look what you’ve done! They should be held responsible! This isn't MY fault!

While most will deny the accusations and will try their darndest to pass the blame on anyone other than themselves, a few brave souls will actually stand up and take responsibility for their actions, for their wrong doings. Even fewer will stand and volunteer to cleanup a mess they feel they didn't help create. Although, instead of playing the blame game and debating who should be held accountable, we should all be working together on our solution game and pitching in to cleanup.

Truth be told, there is no bigger oopsie (AKA, fuck-up) in this world than global warming problem we now have on our hands. We are literally murdering the very planet we live on! Contaminating and destroying the air we breath, the water we drink. In the words of my late Grandmother, "this world is going to hell in a hand basket." With all the ways we have to help combat global warming, somehow people are STILL arguing over what caused global warming in the first place! Does it really matter who is to blame?

The vast majority of us believe global warming is a direct result of human activity, but there are a few people out there that say that just isn’t so. While no one is 100% sure exactly what caused global warming to start, I think we can all agree that humans have only added to the problem over the past few decades and sped the process along. The fact is that climate change may result from both natural and human causes. So now what? Well how about we stop debating who or what is or isn’t responsible and start working on ending it...or more realistically, slowing it down. Or how about I just end this post with a warm, fuzzy tale instead of all this nerdy, scientific talk?

Jude Ndambuki teaches high school chemistry, but when he's not in class, you might find him dumpster diving for discarded computers. For the past eight years, the Kenya native has been refurbishing computers otherwise headed for landfills, then sending them to grateful students back home. In the Help Kenya Project, Nddambuki gives the computers away for free, but there is one small catch. For students to receive a computer, they first must plant a tree. While tree planting helps offsets carbon emissions, recycling electronic equipment helps the environment by reducing pollution from the metals inside the devices.

The kids are given new life. The computers are getting new life. And trees being planted bring new life. It's all connected. And as humans, so are we. Climate change is a human issue. And nothing is more human than sharing your love and giving all you can to help change the lives of others and the world we live in.

Humans "may" have not caused climate change, but we can help change it.

***NOTE***
The post you read above is my contribution to Blog Action Day '09. It's an annual event (held every October 15th) that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. It is the largest-ever social change event on the web with over 13,000 registered blogs in 155 countries. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices. Learn more at www.blogactionday.org

You can also see this post featured on BrazenCareerist.com

The Frosting Never Stops Here

MILL VALLEY
After visiting Tyler Florence’s charming store here, I spotted a cupcake store across the street. So you know I had to stop there for a try.

Frosting Bake Shop is a quaint cupcake shop that looks like a combination bakery and gift shop. Painted in festive colors and happy dots, the store is made up primarily of gift products in the front.

At the counter, you’ll find the 11 regular flavors of cupcakes all under these slender glass domes, almost like precious jewels under glass. The cupcakes lacked the sophisticated look of, say, Kara’s or Georgetown Cupcakes. Instead, they had this craft project look, like the head cupcake designer is a 5-year-old. I’m not pointing that out as a negative; I sometimes like playfully decorated cupcakes.

The flavors also have playful names like Razzleberry and Willie Vanillie, as well as standards like Red Velvet. A couple of the flavors were already sold out, but in the end I settled for the Lemon Twist ($3), which is a lemon cake with sweet lemon butter cream frosting.

Also at the end of the counter were cupcake truffles, which the owner says is the latest fad in cupcakes. Basically, they’re miniature cakes covered in chocolate to resemble chocolate truffles. I would have tried a few, but I was headed to dinner and I was already spoiling my dinner with the lemon cupcake.

The Lemon Twist had this huge pile of frosting on top, so it was a bit difficult to eat. I pretty much had to just eat the frosting with no cake. But you know what? I loved the frosting, so I didn’t mind just eating it alone. It didn’t have the thick butter cream texture, and leaned more toward a light frosting. It was very airy and not sickly sweet, so it was perfect for me.

The cake itself was good, although slightly tough on the edge, which might just be a sign that it had been sitting around all day. Still, I thought it was a nice cupcake treat. Frosting Bake Shop looks like the perfect cute cupcake match for the tiny downtown Mill Valley.

Frosting Bake Shop, 7 E. Blithedale Ave., Mill Valley. PH: 415.888.8027. www.frostingbakeshop.com

Around cupcake country:
Georgetown Cupcake, Washington, D.C.
Crumbs Bake Shop, New York
Kara’s Cupcakes, San Francisco
Cake Coutore, Honolulu

Don't Compare Obama To Mother Teresa

Can I be blunt for a minute? The media hasn’t cummed over a U.S. President this much since maybe JFK. Although I wasn’t born when JFK was around, so I can’t really say for sure. But you have to admit, if Barack Obama’s ego was a penis, it would have erupted long ago from all the stroking it has received. The latest - winning the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s like Obama can do no wrong, unless of course you watch Fox News then he’s ranked right alongside Hitler.

Look, I like the guy. I even voted for him. I will admit though, he hasn’t brought all this so-called "change" that he promised us during his Presidential campaign. Of course he hasn’t been in office for a full year yet either, so I certainly didn’t expect miracles overnight. I’m being patient. I’m giving him time. And I’m hopeful that the change will come...if not, I want my vote back. Until then, can everyone please stop sucking his you-know-what for awhile?

Whether you love him or loathe him, you can't deny that he's kind of a big deal. He's the first ever black (well half-black) President and that fact alone sets him apart from all 43 other U.S. Presidents in history. However, someone lost their mind when they awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize! I mean comeon. You are tossing him into the same category with the likes of Mother Teresa! Sorry, Barack. You're cool and all and I laugh when you knuckle bump your wife, but you're no Mother Teresa! For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. In an excerpt from her 1979 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, she said...

"I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive (the Nobel) in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone."

Wow! Those are some mighty big sandals to fill. Realistically though, can anyone even remotely be compared to the likes of one Mother Teresa? If there was ever such a thing as an angel on Earth, she was it. A truly phenomenal human being and one that no matter how much you love Obama, he isn't worthy of being compared to her. Mother Teresa won for work that she had done. Obama won for work that he plans or says he will do. There's a big difference!

I just don't understand how you can award a man the Nobel Peace Prize who is currently leading 2 wars! Sure, he may not have started the wars, but he hasn't ended them either. Where is the peace in that? And why is that being rewarded? In Obama's defense though, he was just as shocked to hear he won as the rest of us. I have to believe he was also a bit embarrassed and felt a bit unworthy of such an honor as well. Although it's not like he voted for himself to win. So really we should be hating on the panel of Nobel Peace Prize judges, not him.

While Obama's approval ratings are down right now, you would think that winning such a prestigious award could only help him. Although in this case, I think it has only further hurt him. The vast majority of people seem to be outraged that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. And while I may never be able to wrap my head around exactly why he won, I am forced to accept it just like everyone else. However, I will never accept him being compared to Mother Teresa! No way. No how. Not in this lifetime.

Dish on Dining: East Ocean Seafood Restaurant

A Fine Spot for Celebrations
1713 Webster St., Alameda
PH: 510.865.3381
Dim sum, lunch and dinner daily
Reservations, major credit cards accepted
www.eastoceanseafoodrestaurant.com

When my Mom was in town, it was also around the time of her birthday so she had a birthday celebration with her relatives in the Bay Area. I had the task of finding an appropriate place, so for a central location for all the relatives, I zeroed in on East Ocean Seafood Restaurant in Alameda.

I haven’t been to this Hong Kong-style Chinese restaurant, but I’ve heard good things about their dim sum. And it seemed like everyone having a party these days go to East Ocean. In fact, when we went on a Saturday night, there were a couple of birthday parties on our side of the restaurant and a wedding on the other half.

The restaurant is conveniently located on Webster Street a few minutes after you come out of the Webster/Broadway tunnel from Oakland. The spacious dining room is set up for large family dinners, surrounded by decorative paintings and some aquariums filled with fresh seafood.

When I arrived before my Mom, I asked the waiter about special birthday buns served at Chinese dinners. (They’re shaped like peaches, which are a symbol of longevity.) He told me there wouldn’t be a problem getting them at the end of dinner, and he also asked if we wanted the last winter melon soup, and I said yes. It’s an entire winter melon served at the table, and often requires an advanced order.

When my Mom arrived, she selected the rest of the menu for her birthday dinner, which started off with this amazing order of fresh prawns, simply boiled and served with a chili-soy dipping sauce. The prawns were so fresh that a few of them still had the roe attached. These prawns, which just a few seconds were freely crawling all around the tank, were served whole with the head still on (you’re supposed to suck on it, which I just tried once) and arranged symmetrically on the plate.

Then came the winter melon soup, which like I said was served inside the winter melon. In fancier places in Hong Kong, they’d actually carve a design on the exterior, but ours was just wrapped in plastic wrap. Still, it was overflowing with ingredients. The soup is a clear broth, buoyed by the mild winter melon and accentuated with a variety of Chinese herbs and ingredients like ham and shiitake mushrooms. When served, the waiter scraps the actually winter melon flesh from the side. When cooked the flesh is clear and tender. It’s been awhile since I’ve had this soup (yeah, how often do you order an entire winter melon, they’re huge!) so it was nice to start off with this soup.

Next up was the East Ocean Cold BBQ appetizer platter, which comes with an assortment of items, including Chinese BBQ char siu, soy sauce chicken, pickled pig’s feet (two version) and crunchy jelly fish. Everything on the platter was made with traditional tastes, but with fresh ingredients. (My favorite parts of this appetizer platter is the jelly fish, sliced thin and dressed in a vinaigrette and the thinly sliced pickled pig’s feat.)

The rest of our dinner included a minced squab and vegetables dish served on lettuce bowls. the entire dish was tasty and refreshing with the lettuce.

Then a plate of fried tofu stuffed with shrimp. This is a common dish in Chinese households, one that my Mom often makes at home so it was probably a comfort dish for my Mom to order it at her birthday banquet. The fried tofu creates a brown exterior for the tofu’s silken insides, then covered with an oyster sauce.

This is the steamed yellow feather chicken with a ginger-green onion dipping sauce. This is also a very simple chicken dish with clean flavors, but one that reminds my Mom of the dishes she had growing up in Hong Kong. I found the dish a bit difficult to eat because the skin didn’t easily come off the meat, which is really what I’m focused on.

The highlight of the dinner is lobster egg noodles. For Chinese birthdays, it’s important to eat noodles because they symbolize long life like the length of the noodles. Not everyone has to order lobster noodles, but my Mom wanted something special. The noodles did look impressive with the lobster pieces, but I have to say I felt the noodles were a bit overcook.

Despite the last two dishes, all the other dishes were well done. The dinner ended with the peach buns I inquired about at the start of dinner. Our waiter was especially helpful with my family, so my Mom enjoyed the attention, the service, and the food.

I can’t say what East Ocean is like for dim sum, but it’s a fine option on the East Bay if you’re planning a traditional Chinese banquet and you want tasty food served in a grand way.

Single guy rating: 3.5 stars (Tastes that are spot on)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner



Related reviews:
Hong Kong Lounge: “A Banquet for Family and Friends”
Great China: “Feasting with Family in Berkeley”
Bund Shanghai: “Hearty Northern Chinese Cuisine Done Right”

Giving Taboo Topics A Voice

Controversy erupted when BrazenCareerist.com Founder Penelope Trunk tweeted...

"I'm in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there's a fucked-up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin."

While I applaud her for being brutally honest and speaking out about such a taboo topic, I'll agree that her Twitter wording was a bit crass. However, I think everyone needs to keep in mind that people don't share the same feelings in the same situations. While one person may be devastated by a miscarriage, another person may be breathing a sigh of relief. How a person reacts to a situation isn't wrong or right, it just is what it is. We are all entitled to our own feelings, even if everyone doesn't share them or can handle hearing them.

Read her blog post and watch the CNN interview here.

(It’s somewhat necessary to at least watch the CNN interview linked above to understand what I’m talking about below.)

Penelope is right though. Miscarriages and other taboo topics should be explored. Because how else are people going to learn about, understand and bring awareness to things that happen in everyday life if we are too scared to discuss them? It's the very reason I have a Label on my blog titled "Taboo Topics" where I can discuss things that have happened in my life that others think should be hush hush/off limits topics - things like suicide and child molestation.

The reason I bring this up is not to debate miscarriages or abortion because as a man who has never gotten anyone pregnant, I'm in no position to speak even remotely intelligent on the subject, nor do I want to. Let's be completely honest, the vast majority of men out there don't have a clue what exactly a miscarriage or an abortion fully entails. We get the jest of it, but we really don't know the details of what happens in a woman's body. And it wasn't until I watched Penelope's interview, did I know just how common and frequent a miscarriage occurs. I also didn't know that the process takes literally weeks, which makes concealing what you're going through all the more difficult. We are unaware of these things because society has labeled it as one of the many taboo topics we don't dare speak of! I want to change that though. I think it's time we give taboo topics a voice. So when I read about Penelope Trunk being so brutally honest and candid about what she was going through, I wanted to stand up and clap for her, for giving yet another taboo topic a much needed voice. If we can't talk about things, we can't learn. And if we can't learn, how will we ever grow?

I'm not asking, nor suggesting, that everyone exposes the skeletons in their closet and airs their dirty laundry for all the world to see. I'm just encouraging people to talk. To educate. To bring awareness to things like suicide, child molestation, rape, domestic abuse, miscarriages, abortion, addiction, the list goes on and on. You know what the taboo topics are. They are the very subjects that are so widely misunderstood by the public because the public refuses to give them a voice. But if people would just muster up the courage to discuss them, you would quickly see how many others can relate. We are all more closely tied to one another than we care to believe.

Whether you agree or disagree with Penelope's views on miscarriages and abortion isn't relevant to this post. What I do want to know is if you think it's good or bad to discuss taboo topics? And have you ever been as candid about your personal life as Penelope or myself? Looking back, was sharing that "secret" a relief or a mistake?

I can't speak for Penelope, but I know when I came clean about my battle with depression and my suicide attempt (10/5/09 - My Deepest, Darkest Secret), it was a HUGE sigh of relief! It felt so good to get that weight off my chest. And if I helped just one other person by sharing my story, it made any of the negativity I received from that post totally worth it. What you get from me online is 100% me, but you don’t get 100% of me.

Shopping With Tyler Florence

MILL VALLEY
OK, I wish I was shopping around with Food Network personality and chef Tyler Florence. But really all I did was visit his store in this Marin County town just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Last weekend I had my hands on some wheels, so I drove up to check out the Tyler Florence store in the heart of tiny downtown Mill Valley. Florence calls this place home, giving up New York pizza for the fresh seasonal ingredients of the Bay Area.

Along with rooting his family here, he’s opened the store and has plans for three restaurants around the Bay Area (most probably opening next year).

The store reflects Florence’s personality — charming, handsome and stylish. It’s a bit Williams-Sonoma meets Oakville Grocery. Several products are from his own branded line, but he also sells products that he’s become a fan of, many of them grown or produced in California.

He also stocks products from fellow Food Network friends, like the Barefoot Contessa and Jamie Oliver.

Walk past the front area of cookware and dinnerware and there’s a center kitchen area that looks like the perfect spot for Florence to do a cooking demo. On this day, however, the TV screens were running old shows of Julia Childs. In fact, it seemed like the kitchen was dedicated to the French-influenced kitchen master.

The only thing non-Julia was this black-and-white photo of Mick Jagger.

In the back of the store is a room filled with cookbooks that felt like an exclusive men’s club or den. The leather seats were offset by photographs and antiques, and the back wall displayed a boar head. (In fact, there were quite a few dead animals around the store. I didn’t get that.)

There are a lot of interesting things to explore at the store. Some products look familiar (like the wall of Dean and Deluca spices) while others look like exclusive offerings. The prices can also run all over the place, from a few dollars for a kitchen gadget to hundreds for an antique kitchenware.

Visiting the store does feel like you’re walking into Florence’s home and getting a look at his very expansive pantry.

The Tyler Florence Shop, 59 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. PH: 415.380.9200. Open daily, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. www.tylerflorence.com

From Hive to Bottle to Table

Did you know there’s a board that actually goes around promoting honey? I thought that was funny too because to me these puppies sell themselves.

But, yep, there’s a National Honey Board, and I found out about them recently when they invited me to a special honey dinner at Perbacco in San Francisco. The Firestone, Colo.-based board packed up their honey and went on the road, putting on these special honey tasting dinners with the help of local chefs.

Honey? Oh, yes. Free dinner? Duh.

So last night I went over to Perbacco, the chic Italian restaurant in the Financial District, and brought along fellow food blogger and honey lover Foodhoe. We also met up with Food Gal, who drove up from Silicon Valley, and I also spotted or briefly met other food bloggers such as Tablehopper, Cooking with Amy, Kitchen Gadget Girl and Jen Maiser of Life Begins at 30. It was a virtual honeycomb of bloggers.

When we arrived, there was a bar offering up honey drinks and I picked up a honey mojito that had just the right balance of sweetness and mint. That primed my palate for the honey tasting in the back, where we listened to a presentation on the varieties of honey.

We tried 10 different types of honey, and learned that the names didn’t necessarily translate to the taste. Like the avocado honey didn’t taste like guacamole or the pumpkin honey didn’t say pumpkin pie. They just get their names from the plant’s pollen used to create the honey. But they were all quite different (although they all were achingly sweet; yeah, you try putting a teaspoon of straight honey in your mouth 10 times).

Some were light, others rich and gooey. The weirdest one was the buckwheat honey, which was thick as molasses, slightly dark like tar, and gave out a weird funky smell that was anything but sweet. It’s an acquired taste.

Speaking of taste, Perbacco’s staff kept us from getting tummy aches from all the sweets we were tasting by nourishing us with appetizers such as smoked goose breast with honeydew melon, honey and citrus marinated Asian pears with gorgonzola, and a salt cod croquette with lemon-honey aioli.

Then it was time to sit down for dinner, where we feasted on a five-course meal prepared by Perbacco’s Chef/Owner Staffan Terje. Chef Terje briefly talked about the challenge of using honey in preparing foods because, he says (and I agree), that you can’t use too much or else you increase the likelihood of burning.

First course: Honey-Glazed Smoked Trout with Roasted Beets and Horseradish Schiuma. Paired with a white wine: 2008 Langhe, Collaretto, Oddero, Piemonte.

The trout slices were layered with perfectly roasted slices of red and golden beets (I heart beets) and topped with a garnish of what seemed like miniature Italian flat leaf parsley that were seasoned with a light vinaigrette. The honey glaze served to lock in the moisture of the fish, but allowed the exterior to have the smokey look and flavor. Everything was beautiful and well balanced.

Second course: Sheep’s Milk Ricotta Agnolotti with Chestnut Honey-Brown Butter. Paired with a white wine: 2007 Kharisma, Ragnedda, Sardegna.

This was probably the star dish of the night as everyone raved about the honey brown butter, which was rich and luscious, gently kissing the light ricotta stuffed pasta. The brown butter and honey were a decadent combination that truly shows the strength of using honey in a savory dish. (BTW, my plate might not look as exciting as maybe Foodhoe’s or Food Gal’s because it lacked any of the slivers of sage sprinkled on the pasta. So now it looks kind of bland, although it tasted totally opposite.)

Third course: Honey and Arneis Poached Halibut with Thistle Honey Artichokes. Paired with another white: 2007 Roero, Arneis, Renesio, Malvira, Piemonte.

OK, this is where I’m going to blame the poor lighting and my bad eyes because I couldn’t really read the menu so wasn’t sure what this course was. So when the server placed the plate in front of me, I thought we were eating tofu. And I thought the tofu looked so white and bland that I turned my plate to show off the other components. So that’s how I took the picture above.

After I found out the main dish wasn’t tofu but a halibut filet, I retook the photo to give the halibut its due.

The halibut was silky like silken tofu. I guess you would be totally smooth and silky too if you sat in a pot of honey. (How many bottles of honey do you think would fill up my tub?) Overall, the dish didn’t have a distinct honey flavor.

Fourth course: 36-hour Honey and Barbera-Glazed Wagyu Short Ribs with Fall Vegetables and Herb Salad. Paired with a red wine: 2006 Barbera D’Alba, Tre Vigne, Clerico, Piemonte.

That’s right, that’s no typo. 36 hours, baby. This was a hearty dish of tender boneless short ribs. The honey glaze wasn’t overly sweet or sticky, instead it was a muted skin to the richly succulent meat. The roasted parsnips, carrots and potatoes with a tiny herb salad (with a minty zing) rounded out this dish.

Fifth course: Dessert plate of Milk and Honey Panna Cotta with Lemon-Zest Gelatina, Torrone Semifreddo, and Butermilk Bombolone with Honey Dulce de Leche. Paired with a dessert wine: 2008 Mascato D’Asti, Strev, Marenco, Piemonte.

I was looking forward to dessert because I thought this is where honey would really shine, but Chef Terje used a controlled hand again with the honey in dessert. So none of the desserts were overly sweet, including the panna cotta, which was more milky than honey. The torrone semifreddo was nice with some bits of nuts for the base, but I wished the dulce de leche with the bombolone was a bit more sweet because at the end of the meal is when I would throw caution to the wind and go crazy with the honey.

Overall, Chef Terje delivered an exquisite meal using honey both as a taste component and a cooking technique. It makes you realize that honey recipes don’t have to always be sweet, but savory too.

Speaking of recipes, try some of mines featuring honey:
Pomegranate-glazed Pork
Honey-Mustard Salmon
Asian-Style Pulled Pork Sandwich