For Those of You that are Interested...

I'm blogging about my daughter's summer in Japan - you can find it here - Chiyoko's Summer in Japan

For me, squeezing a lemon by hand is a religious experience.

 One of the most difficult things in life is to not fall into a rut – do the same thing, day in and day out – get comfortable – and then, just as your bed gets warm and comfy, something comes along and tosses things everywhere – making a mess of the nice and tidy life that has been made – no, cultivated, all these years, and then feeling insulted, violated and resentful of the fact that the way of life is now in shambles, tattered and torn.

Or is it? After all, everything changes – the seasons, the circle of life and business cycles – each time the change is different and unique. The thing is, the changes that take place, more often than not usually are never, ever the way we do things, but what if the challenge of life is, even though things are done in a manner in which we wouldn’t do them-if we were open-minded and just a bit curious, would it possibly enhance life in a positive way? Deliver us, from our mundane ways and change us forever? 

Yes, many things in our lives do this – graduating, marrying, babies, death. But on a much smaller scale, a little food deliver company called Blue Apron, has done this for me. 

Blue Apron is a meal home delivery internet company. From the looks of it, one of the leaders in the home-prep delivery industry. You go on the internet, look over the meal options for the week (there are two meals, delivered once a week on a day of your choosing), relieve your wallet of $69.92 for four people (in the metro San Francisco Bay Area) and wait. Actually, I never relieved my wallet of any money, my cousin’s kid uses Blue Apron and received a free “box” to give away, so this is how I was introduced to Blue Apron.

On the appointed day, your meal arrives in a cardboard box on your doorstep. An ample number of cold packs are designed to keep your food cold if you are not present at time of delivery. The box comes with perfectly proportioned, locally farmed/and or sustainable fresh foods complete with recipe card(s) with cooking instructions.

For example, our first meal was Seared Beef & Goat Cheese Sandwiches with Purple Mashed Potatoes & Asparagus. Now here’s where the “this is not how I do things, let’s get out a rut” comes into play. Before Blue Apron, I had never heard of purple potatoes, I wouldn’t know a purple potato if it jumped up and smacked me in the face. In real life, they resemble the shape and size of a new potato, except it looks like a squid squirted its ink all over it! Had a seen one in the store, I don’t know that I would even entertain the idea of buying it! But here it was, on my kitchen counter, so instead of following the instinct to junk the purple potatoes and go back to my safe, new potatoes in the pantry, I forged on, preparing and mashing my purple potatoes with olive oil (another new thing, and at first blush, I felt a bit “out there”, foregoing that lovely cream and butter of your everyday, garden variety mashies!). The potatoes, although really weird looking, were actually very good! They were almost a sweet potato, but not quite; I don’t know what I was expecting, taste-wise, from a purple potato, but I guess what I got was better than how it looked. A dash of olive oil in the potatoes was a great lighter alternative to my usual cream and butter potatoes. I also created a simple feta/sour cream sauce accented by lemon juice. The lemon juice preparation was another way I deviated from my former mundane life – instead of slicing the lemon (which actually was a “pink” lemon, as a matter of fact, I’d never heard of a pink lemon before this either!) in half and squeezing it over the lemon juicer, the instructions said to cut it in quarters, seed it and squeeze each quarter into the mixture – and when I did, it gave me such squishy joy to feel that lemon juice run over my fingers and the lemon as the juice was leaving was a memory I’ll remember as one of the most lovely feels ever, like being a kid and feeling something new – it was luscious! The feta/sour cream sauce turned out to be a very simple, delicious sauce (kissed with “pink” lemon) that could actually be used as a dip for veggies or any other number of accompaniments! So far, I was very happy with this service, I was leaving my comfort zone, learning new things and finding new uses for the components of the meal! I’m feeling it was worth every penny I didn’t spend!

In the end, I got a meal that my family really liked, instead of the same old dinner which has gotten so boring and I learned a thing or two about food! It was a 2-pot meal, so clean up was a snap! It took about an hour, prep-to-table, so not very different than any other weekday meal I’d be preparing. Because of the pre-measured ingredients and step-by-step instructions (which, if you are a paper person, you can read off the paper that comes in the box, or if you are a computer person, you can read it off any one of your myriads of electric digital devices), it would not be a bad teaching tool (although pricey) for the budding chef in your life! In most instances, most teenagers (15 years old and up) who can handle a sharp knife and have a healthy respect for the heat of the oven or stove could prepare dinner for the family all by himself! 

So is there any downside to Blue Apron? Well, with regard to the meal, the “sandwich” portion of the Seared Beef Sandwich turns out to be a 12” white bread bun: That’s an awful lot of white bread! I feel like possibly a whole wheat or multigrain bun would have been a healthier choice. Additionally, as the hubby will attest (because he takes out the garbage) the “delivery box” and the plastic and paper and just plain stuff they use to wrap everything in adds up to a whole lot of waste – a whole lot. One idea might be to use a returnable ice box (like remember when the milkman delivered the milk on your doorstep in those glass bottles?) for a small deposit so that millions of cardboard boxes don’t need to be made. Most everything comes in a neatly sealed plastic pouch – there’s gotta be a way to cut down on all that waste! Even the ice packs were like 4-5 plastic enclosed monster bags. Having said this, yes, they do have a recycling option, where you can send the whole deal back to the company. 

So in the end, I would recommend Blue Apron! For the money, I got a great meal made with locally farmed, extremely fresh food. I learned stuff and I did things (not the way I would normally do) and in some small way, stretched my world! I feel like even though it wasn’t the way I would do things, now I have more in my culinary repertoire that I feel makes me a better cook! I don’t know that I would do this weekly (I think I’d go broke), but once in a while, it is good to get out of that rut and learn something new. A good thought to keep in mind for all aspects of life.

I was not compensated in any way by Blue Apron for this review, but I totally should have been! :D

But Wells Fargo MAY Take the Cake!

Yesterday morning. Somehow, in trying to pay some bills online, I locked myself out of my online banking account. Wells Fargo requested I change my password (because they take the security of my information seriously - seriously). So after changing my password, I get a note that says my account has been temporarily suspended, so please call a phone number to access my online account. So I call - put on hold for 10 minutes. The gal on the other end (may have been the business end, but def not the smarter end) said because this was a special account, she couldn’t help me, she had to transfer me somewhere else. On hold for another 5 minutes. The next gal says she’s not the right person either, but changes my password to a 6 digit number and I get the same message (temporarily suspended, call a certain phone number, same as before). I get transferred again to a gal who says the reason I can’t get in is because I haven’t answered “security questions” on my account. She asks me (seriously), “How close am I to a Wells Fargo Branch?” So I’m angry now. I say, “I’m just trying to pay some bills online and now you want me to go into a branch? Honey, the only reason I am going to a branch now is to close this friggin’ account!” I ask to speak to a supervisor - she says I will have to hold. After an hour of this I hang up on her. I am fed up. I try to cool off. I call my banker husband who says he will try to help. I take several big breaths. I call the generic 800 number and I explain my tale of woe to the gal on the other end. She actually helps me. In spite of the fact I have no security questions, she ID’s me through my ATM card. After going through the six digit reset password thing (which doesn’t work again…) she ASKS me what browser I’m using (Microsoft Edge) - she suggests we try Google Chrome. One more six digit password exercise and I’M IN! We change my password and I can go down the road after over an hour. I patiently wait another couple minutes on hold to get her supervisor and tell him that not ony does this Customer Service Rep deserve a medal, she deserves a big raise. Fire everyone and hire everyone like her. To change my password, this took over an hour of my life I will never get back.

Moral of the story - don't forget your password - ever.

The Garage Guy and Why I May be in Love with Him. (An old story - may be amusing)

I love working out at the 24 Hour Fitness in Oakland, California but it is, after all, in Oakland...parking in the cavernous, dark, public lot at the Kaiser Center freaks me out a little, but I feel my belongings and car are marginally more secure in there.

Anyway, today I just couldn't make it work...I came 10 minutes too early to get a validation, however, got a validation for 1.5 hrs a bit later, but then missed the 8am time limit by 10 minutes sticking me with a $15 parking bill.

So I go down to pay my bill at the parking machine, and - insult to injury, the friggin' machine won't take my twenty dollar bill! After trying to jam it in the machine for 5 minutes (turning the bill every which way from Sunday), I come to realize the friggin' machine doesn't want my friggin' bill!

More insult to injury - I have to go to the office to pay - so I knock on the door a big guy answers-I say, "Good morning, your parking machine won't take my money because I was 10 minutes late to late for my validation!"

"Won't take your Money?!", he said like it was the most ludicrous thing he'd ever heard..."Show me!", he said.

We tromp back to the machine... More shoving of the twenty dollar bill commences...after the 5th time he grunts...reaches a massive hand into his pocket and pulls out a stack of what can only be described as pink and yellow Magic Tickets. He leafs thru them and settles on a yellow one. He takes my ticket, shoves it in, then follows it up with the Magic Ticket - after the machine finally clicks to life and makes some happy humming machine sounds, it spits out my ticket which the guy and hands it back to me, and, pointing westward, sez, "The exit is over der.."

"Don't you want my $20?", I ask handing him my wicked $20.

"Nooo", he says..."I don't want to process cash!" And as he turned to walk away he said, "Enjoy your day!" over his massive shoulder.

Cash is King. And I think I love the Garage Guy!

Jake Shimabukuro – A Review - Grand Ukulele Tour 2013 - Veteran's Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael California

SCORE! Jake Shima USB key with
the night's concert download
included! Yay!

              

              I remember when I was young(er than I am now – and after this sentence you will know approximately how young I am not), my high school boyfriend and I contemplated buying tickets to Diana Ross’ one woman show at the (then) Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California. I remember we had this conversation about seeing this one-woman show – how the could one woman hold a whole auditorium of roughly 4,000 occupied for 90 minutes or more? Will we lose interest and get bored? Will she NOT sell out so it will be weird playing to a half empty venue? In the end, we splurged – bought the tickets and we didn’t regret it. For 90 minutes, Diana Ross had us from the minute the lights went down and at the end of ninety minutes, the full house leaped out of their seats, getting her to do two encores and even after that, wanting more.

            Skip to so many years later….2013. Jake Shimabukuro, this kid with a ukulele, is coming through my backyard in Marin on his Grand Ukulele 2013 Tour one-man show.  Same thing – how can some kid with a ukulele keep the Marin Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium crowd of 2,000 seats occupied for 90 minutes – I mean, really? Jake is a Japanese-American, so in a weird way, I feel like he’s “my people”, my Mom & family friend are really into ukulele music right now, so hubby and I decide to spend our hard earned mega bucks to support Jake and in the meantime, hopefully be entertained.

            We decided to buy tickets – everyone decided we wanted “good seats” and I think I got lucky – I got the last four seats in the third row of the orchestra pit. Not too long after that, the whole venue sold out.

            Jake did not disappoint. From a stage sparsely decorated with some crinkled fabric runners and vibrant colored lights and a microphone perched center stage, Jake hit the stage strumming. This is not Tiny Tim's ukulele show. Jakes ukulele is jazzy, it’s full of rhythm and, well, damned entertaining. If the music doesn’t entertain, his sheer manual dexterity – gained from years of practice (since he was four years old) will amaze you. The kind of amazement that leaves you slack-jawed and in awe.

            Full disclosure, I previously saw Jake in San Diego at a fundraiser my rich uncle (doesn’t everyone have a rich uncle?  I figure everyone has at least a rich uncle, or a deadbeat uncle – and I lucked out) organized at the Balboa Theater in downtown San Diego. At this fundraiser, Jake was 2 years younger and catered to the “Japanese-American” community side of the audience. After the show, we were lucky to have a few words at a meet and greet at the Japanese Gardens in Balboa Park, another venue my uncle was running at the time.

            This time, Jake’s performance was a bit more “mainstream”. Highlights included making his trusty ukulele sound like an electric guitar (ala Jimi Hendrix & Van Halen), mandolin and even a little rendition of “Dueling Banjos” from the early ‘70’s kept toes tapping and heads bobbing  along to the familiar music (have to mention the “ala Hendrix” part was hubby’s favorite part). I firmly believe his use of sound engineering is brilliant and shares in making the magic of this show.

            This reviewer found nuggets of gold in his self-composed pieces, such as 5 Dollars Unleaded (a piece I run to) and a variation of  “Dragon”. I am crazy proud that in 2013, a Japanese-American can make it to the heights Jake has achieved, all the while remembering how difficult it was for prior generations. In this regard, his talent notwithstanding, this show for me was a marvel.

            After a two encore standing ovation, Jake retired to the lobby to sign autographs and chat a bit with his public. This reviewer was thrilled when this famous guy recognized me from the third row and shared a nice “Aloha”. Autograph scored and $50 worth of souvenirs later (poster, CD & ukulele USB with a soundtrack of the concert included (yeah!)) this reviewer went home happy!

            Can one person keep a whole audience entertained for 90 minutes? You betcha! If you enjoy jazzy music with some old familiar tunes mixed in, a little bit of island humor and unbelievable manual dexterity, than this is your ticket. Get yourself a third row seat and prepare to be entertained!