Midnight Musings

Pasta Mashup Recipe

2008-11-13T13:01:10-08:00

I was recently asked by KTEH to be part of their "Cooks With Garlic" production, where local Silicon Valley-ites were asked to submit videos of them cooking their favorite garlic recipes. We shot the video below at my house for one of my favorite recipes, "Pasta Mashup" which I can make in 10 minues flat -- and with ingredients already on my shelf or in the freezer.

So here's the video and recipe is below.

Pasta Mashup

Notes: This is a quick one-dish pasta "mashup" that Silicon Valley Techies and Moms will both enjoy. Easily made from your freezer or pantry shelf - substitute fresh vegetables when available, and add in any leftover condiments and relishes that you have in the back of your fridge. I use angel hair pasta because it cooks in 2 minutes.

Makes 2 hearty servings or 4 side dishes

Ingredients
1/2 box angel hair pasta (or your favorite pasta type)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons of jarred chopped garlic (or 4 cloves of garlic)
1 cup of frozen chopped onion (or 1 small onion)
4 tablespoons of Trader Joe's Sun Dried Tomoto Brushetta Mix
4 tablespoons of Trader Joe's Olive Bruschetta Mix
2 tablespoons of capers
1 teaspoon of jarred chopped garlic flowers (hard to find - or add another teaspoon/2 cloves of garlic)
1 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes (or 2 large fresh tomatoes)
Grated parmesan cheese to garnish

Instructions
1. Boil a pot of water and cook the angel hair pasta. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large skillet or wok (or even in the pot used to cook the pasta), heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add and cook the garlic and onion for about 2 minutes.
3. Add all of the other ingredients except the pasta and parmesan cheese. Cook for about 2 minutes until bubbling hot.
4. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir to mix in the sauce. Add more or less pasta to suit your taste.
5. Pour into a serving dish and garnish with the cheese.

Road Trip, Silicon Valley Style

2008-08-26T14:59:46-07:00

This summer my family decided to head out to Yellowstone I figured that seething hot springs and exploding geysers would have more appeal to an 8 and 9 year old than touring museums in major metropolis. And in a time of tightening budgets and the astronomical plane ticket costs, we decided to DRIVE to Yellowstone. And while we're at it, we figured we might at well camp to really get "close to nature".

I'm always up for a challenge, so after a dry-run weekend camping trip (where we figured out among other things that our gas stove didn't work) we were ready - at least on the camping end. There was this little problem of a 20 hour drive standing between us and American Western nirvana.

We all packed the various things we thought we'd need to entertain ourselves for the drive (and for the two week long trip). What I didn't anticipate was just how many electronics we ended up taking with us. And we were going camping for a week. In a tent, Where the only electrical source would be our car battery, Oh, the irony!

Here's a picture of all of the electronics we took with us and an inventory list:

- Three laptops (mine, my husband's, and my son's). My husband and I anticipated that we'd probably have to check in, get files, etc. We also used the laptops to play movies in the car, so they did double duty. My son had his favorite games on the computer that we refuse to load on our work computers, so we let him bring his. My daughter's Apple iBook has been on the fritz, or we likely would have brought that as well.
- Two Nintendo DSs. One wall charger and one car charger.
- Two cameras, a big Nikon SLR and pocket Canon and their chargers.
- Two phones, a Treo and Blackberry with a Treo car charger, wall charger and Blackberry mini-USB.
- iPod and Zune music players and their respective USB connector cords.
- Portable GPS (only the windshield holder is in the photo - the unit broke down the second day and we had to navigate with (gasp!) paper maps. It's been sent back to the manufacturer for repair).
- Sony Ericcson/TMobile PC Card to get wireless access. It turned out that only my laptop could use it and then, we rarely got a signal that would allow me to connect.
- iGo charger. This octopus of wires was our lifesaver. It's a universal charger that has interchangeable tips. Given all of our electronics and one power source - the car battery -- we had to make efficient use of our two cigarette outlets. One was shared between my husband's phone, one of the Nintendo DSs, and the GPS (while it was still working) - we were constantly swapping plugs in and out. The other outlet was used by the iGo which could charge a laptop, my phone, AND the other Nintendo DS all at the same time.

So the good news is we were pretty powered throughout our trip, although we didn't have Internet access for about a week while in the national parks themselves. We definitely missed the access, but not to the point where we went out of our way to find it. Occasionally we'd hit a pocket with mobile service and our phones would start pinging with text messages, voicemails, and emails.

We were also pretty good about leaving all of the electronics in the car once we got to the campsite -- and we didn't miss them at all. After hours of driving through the Nevada desert and Idaho potato fields, the kids were pretty sick of their electronics, games, and movies. Instead, we had the typical kind of fun that comes with camping - and most entertaining of all was emulating Bear Grylls of "Man Versus Wild" and trying to get a fire started with a flint.

Toward the end of the trip, we finally broke down. While in Mammoth Springs, we realized that we were just 5 miles away from Gardner, Montana -- and that there were Internet cafes there! As a treat, we took a break and headed there for coffee, ice cream -- and some quality time with a wifi network. An hour later, at 10 cents a minute and a total cost of $15, we had had our online fix and it was back to tracking bison, cowboy cookouts, and sprouting geysers again.

When we finally left Yellowstone and headed back to connected society, we landed in Cody, Wyoming where we found a hotel with wifi -- but only in the lobby. Again, we gave ourselves an hour of quality wifi time, but we also received several looks -- and verbal disdain -- from fellow travelers. It was something to the effect of, "In my day we wrote letters instead of all this fancy Internet stuff." My son took it in stride, and just declared the older gentleman as "not with it". But sitting in the stands of the rodeo that evening, I couldn't have felt further from Silicon Valley -- here were cowboys and cowgirls who's livelihood was made from staying on a bucking horse for 8 seconds. So we enjoyed the last few days of our vacation in the West - cheering and whooping for the heroics of these brave young adults and all of our electronics stayed neatly tucked away in their bags -- where they belonged.

Moms, daughters, and friendships

2008-06-23T00:53:13-07:00

It was one of those morning this week -- my two kids heading off to two completely different camps, swimming bags missing, lunches unmade...you know the drill. And on top of that, I had a really hectic , stressful day at work -- a panel presentation, video taping, and Churchill Club event.

As I was driving my daughter to her camp, I suddenly realized that I had gotten dressed, put on make-up, packed my briefcase, remembered my business cards -- and forgotten to put on my contact lenses, which I usually wear for public appearances.

Gripping the steering wheel, I sighed loudly, resigned to my fate -- it was far too late to turn back home to retrieve my lenses.

"What's wrong, Mom?", piped up a little voice.

I replied, "I forgot to put on my contact lenses -- and it's too late to go home to get them. I'm stuck with my glasses for the entire day. And I have a ton of business meetings today."

"Don't worry, Mom. I think you look fine with your glasses. In fact, I prefer you with glasses. They make your eyes better and you look, well, more awake."

Well, I thought, I'll take anything that makes me look more awake, and I felt better.

But her comment made me pause. When did my rising 3rd grader learn to feel empathy and to comfort others, let alone me? It's usually me that does the comforting. I couldn't help but feel that we had crossed a threshold in our relationship, where I'm no longer just a mom and she, my daughter, but that we were truly becoming friends. Friends, in that we not only had fun and shared things together, but also depended on each other in an equal relationship.

I responded back to her, "Thanks honey, that makes me feel a lot better." And as I walked her to the camp drop-off, I gripped her hand a little tighter, partly treasuring the passing of her sweet childhood, partly anticipating the friendship that is yet to come.

Reunion non-angst

2008-05-26T22:26:00-07:00

It just dawned on me last week that I'm heading off to my 15th Harvard Business School reunion this coming weekend. I've been so focused on work and end-of-year school activities that it kinda snuck up on me.

So I had two choices: panic or just make do. I simply don't have enough energy to panic, so I'm making do.

There's the 10 pounds (Ok, maybe it's a bit more) that I should have lost, but realistically, I've got less than a week, so why stress about it? I am what I am, and there's lots of me to love!

I am going through the pre-requisites and got a hair cut (I was overdo any way since it's been 2+ months since my last cut). I have ambitions of getting a brow wax and pedicure before I fly out Wednesday night, but time is getting short.

On the clothing front, I broke down and hit the half-yearly Nordstrom sale today and got a few things, but they are mostly for work, not really appropriate for reunion cocktail parties and galas. I'm going through my closet to find the things I'm most in love with -- and that will requires as little ironing as possible once I hit the ground in Boston.

In all, I'm feeling a bit guilty that I don't have much reunion angst at all -- shouldn't I be stressing a bit more, that I'm going to be seeing these friends/colleagues/potential business partners that I haven't seen in years? But in reality, I'm quite proud that I'm being so blase about it all.

The reason why: I worked at the HBS reunions for three years when I was an undergrad in college. My least favorite reunion class to work with was the 15th year reunion because these alumni were just starting to become VPs, CEOs, and power mongers in their industries -- and were all too eager to make sure their classmates knew how much they had achieved. My favorite classes to work with were the 40+ year reunion classes -- they were thankful just to be alive and seeing their old friends.

in that vein, the thing I'm looking most forward to this reunion is seeing a dear friend who now lives in London. We had our first child within a week of each other, but then have drifted apart because of distance. Hopefully, we'll have a few precious moments to escape and catch up.

So for me, that's going to be what's important about this reunion -- not that I look great or impress the hell out of my classmates with my career achievements, but that I leave at the end of weekend reconnected with people with whom I shared a precious part of my life.

(But it sure would be nice if I could juuuust squeeze in that last minute pedicure!)

Originally posted on Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Blogger customer support -- in Spanish

2008-04-22T05:33:53-07:00

I just received an email support message from Blogger.com:

Subject: Información de la cuenta de Blogger

Tu blog, se ha asociado al nombre de usuario de la cuenta de Google xxx@gmail.com . Utiliza este nombre de usuario de la cuenta de Google para acceder a Blogger y a tu blog.

Si has olvidado tu contraseña, puedes restablecerla haciendo clic en este vínculo:

Si experimentas cualquier problema o tienes alguna pregunta, visita nuestro sitio de ayuda en http://help.blogger.com/

Atentamente,
El equipo de Blogger

As I don't speak Spanish, I loaded this into Google's Language Tool and it came out perfectly translated, as follows:

Subject:Account information Blogger

Your blog has been associated with the username of the Google Account xxxx@gmail.com. Use this user name of the account to access Google's Blogger and your blog.

If you have forgotten your password, you can restore it by clicking on this link:

If you experience any problems or have any questions, please visit our website help http://help.blogger.com/

Sincerely,
The team Blogger

Curious, isn't it. This is one of those rare instances when I actually hear from Blogger/Google, and when I do, it's in a language I don't speak. At least they provided the tools with which I could understand them.

My first seder at home

2008-04-20T22:29:00-07:00

This weekend, I hosted my first seder. This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that I'm not Jewish -- and no one in my family is! But I love seders and have been to about a dozen of them over the years -- thanks to opportunities at school, invitations to friends' houses, and once, during a work offsite that occurred over Passover. I love the traditions, the symbolism, the discussions, and of course, the food! And I wanted to share all of this with my family, and especially my children.

So I found a good book on how to run a seder, tapped the deep knowledge of close Jewish friends, and borrowed the haggadahs of a friend who was going to be out of town. The best advice I received -- keep the seder SHORT!

Friday evening saw me dashing around my local Safeway, picking up the staples. But alas, no matzah was to be found anywhere! The helpful store manager dissuaded me from trying other stores -- everything was sold out up and down the Peninsula. His suggestion was to substitute the matzah with gourmet flatbread. Saturday afternoon was spent assembling some great dishes -- a hit with the kids was the Passover "Mac & Cheese". Matzah ball soup was easy and delicious with the help of pre-made, jarred matzah balls and boxed organic broth. But alas, my kugel was absolutely inedible.

As my family (which included brother, sister-in-law and their two kids, in addition to the four of us) sat down for the Passover feast, I was thrilled. I started the seder by blessing the wine and the traditional washing of the hands. We skipped a lot, lingered over Passover story itself, and sped through the Ten Plagues. The formal part of the seder was over in 20 minutes -- a short and sweet introduction that included some thoughtful contributions from the kids on the meaning of Passover.

I didn't stress too much about the seder -- after all, with the exception of my husband, nobody in attendance had been to a seder before! I didn't attempt to do the songs, not even my favorite "Dayenu" although I practiced with the help of online music. I just couldn't bring myself to play the music and have everyone follow along -- it just didn't fit the warm, familial atmosphere I was trying to create.

But despite the shortcomings of my home-grown seder, I consider it a success and we all agreed that it was something we would do again. The best part was that we came away with a greater appreciation for our freedom and for each other and the communities that we live in.

But next time, I'm going to make sure that we invite someone who knows how to sing "Dayneu"!

Originally posted on Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Taking a child on a business trip - a survival guide

2008-03-25T22:31:00-07:00

I recently took my son (age 9) on a business trip for the first time and plan to do more with both of my kids (daughter is almost 8). The reasons: I'm embarking on a book tour and will be on the road quite a bit over the next few months and this is a way for me to see more of my kids. But more importantly, I wanted my kids to see me "at work" and a lot of what I do is public speaking. When I travel, I usually am with a client all day, and it wouldn't work to bring a child along. But if I'm giving a 45 minute speech, I figure it's a good learning and bonding opportunity.

So my recent trip San Diego was a trial run with my son. I was set to give a speech on a Monday morning, so we left SFO early on Sunday to squeeze in a day at Legoland. That was "the bribe", along with missing a day of school. In the morning, we checked into the conference at registration (they made up a badge for my son, which was a nice way to include him) and got set up. He saw the backstage and then I found him a seat in the second row, sitting next to a friend he already had met before.

And this is our key survival tip - Nintendo DS. The night before, we made a trip to Best Buy and got him a new game. It kept him happy and busy for most of the boring waiting around, although I did make him promise to watch me for at least the first part of my speech. Frankly, he fit in with most of the other techie guys (and they were mostly guys) in the audience huddled over their laptops taking notes (or checking their emails).

After the speech, there were some hallway questions, which my son waited patiently to end, and then TV and radio interviews where he got to hold microphones and work cameras. We stayed for lunch and then headed back to San Francisco. As the plane touched down on the tarmac, I asked him what he thought, and he said, "When's the next trip?" Ah, the sweet taste of success.

My survival tips:

- Keep it short and sweet. I planned to be at the conference for only a few hours, and had some leeway in terms of being able to leave early if my son became bored and irate. It turned out he was a trooper and was game to try anything and everything.

- Plan a fun excursion. All work and no play makes for very cranky kids. I made it very clear that this was a working vacation, and that my son had certain responsibilities. An upcoming trip to Chicago will have a trip to the Field Museum and "the best pizza in Chicago", which we're still trying to figure out (chicago moms, any suggestions?). A trip to Seattle will include a full day spent sightseeing. You get the picture.

- Have self-service distractions on-hand. Being a geek, I had an arsenal of gadgets available for my son. In my bag was his Nintendo DS, several games, and an iPod. I also gave him my phone, which has several games on it as well as a lame browser and at one point, also my laptop since I wasn't using it.

- Stock up on food, water, and gum. The last thing you want to do is to hunt around for food and drinks. My survival stash is granola bars and Crystal Light powder packets, and I also let him pick out any kind of sugarless gum at the airport.

- Plan, plan, plan. I made it very clear with my son what the schedule was going to be and his options at each point in the day. I also had backups, such as my friend taking my son out of the room if he became distracted, or a swimsuit easily accessible in the luggage if he wanted to go for a quick dip in the pool.

One observation: It's still pretty unusual for people to bring kids on trips with them, and it can lead to some awkward situations. Most of the conference attendees cut a wide swath, especially during meals (I couldn't get anyone at a crowded lunch table to talk to me, and I had given the keynote!).

I also worried about the sterotype of a working mom lugging along a kid. Seems like there's a bit of a double standard -- a man bringing along a child would be praised for being family-oriented, a woman is dealing with the realities of being a working mom. I'd be interested in what you, dear svmoms.com readers, think about taking kids on business kids. Is it business-is-business and it's unprofessional to show up with kid(s) in tow? Or should we be bringing the kids along in specific circumstances, as long as they can behave themselves?

Originally posted on Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Happy 42nd Birthday To Me

2008-02-24T22:33:00-08:00

There. I've done it - made it a matter of record how old I am. There's this long-standing tradition that people -- and women in particular -- don't discuss their age.

It feels great to come clean.

For a while, there was a good reason why I didn't discuss my age -- but it was because I was too young. As a businesswoman trying to establish a career in my 20's, it didn't do to tell clients that I was a 20-something, and on the nearer side to 20 than 30. Even throughout my 30's, I was still deemed "young" by my colleagues -- when asked my age, it was usually followed by a comment like, "But you're so young!"

And then I hit 40 and finally, I felt comfortable discussing my age because it connotes a sense of maturity and experience. . Silly, isn't it. At a time when I've become obsessed with wrinkles around my eyes and white hairs seemingly sprouting in every direction (which I diligently dye), I want to let people know how old I am.

Here's why. I read about politicians and celebrities in the press and their age is usually given in the text. This provides tremendous context about the person -- knowing that Madonna is 49 (and totally rocking) is important.

So as a blogger, businesswoman, parent, community member, etc. I think it's important for people to know how old I am as it's an essential part of me. Just as it's important to know that I have kids, that I work, and that I live in Silicon Valley. It all provides context to better understand who I am.

As for my weight, fuhgeddaboudit! I'm not THAT secure!

I'm interested in hearing how other SVMoms feel about the "age" issue -- do you feel comfortable telling people how old you are, or do you feel it's nobody's business?

Originally posted on Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Milk and peanut butter

2008-01-31T09:12:36-08:00

In the mornings, I usually stand at our kitchen counter pulling breakfast stuff together and serving it to my kids. Out come the milk, bread, eggs, peanut butter, apples,plates, glasses -- your normal morning paraphernalia.

Like in many of your households, I'm trying to do four things at once and was feeling pretty good about having things under control for a change. I made toast, spread peanut butter on them, turned to get the milk and grabbed a glass.

I then promptly poured the milk into the the open peanut butter jar.

There I stood, looking at a jar of milk-soaked peanut butter. The kids were busting up and I had to admit that it was a bit odd!

I then proceeded to dump out the milk in the sink, and literally, rinsed out the peanut butter jar with some more water. I figured the peanut butter might be a soggy, but still edible. I have to report that my peanut butter toast this morning tasted as normal as ever.

Lesson learned: slow down and watch out for open peanut butter jars!

Also crossposted on svmoms.com.

Happy Birthday LEGO!

2008-01-28T10:16:19-08:00

Today is the 50th anniversary of the creation of the ubiquitous LEGO brick. Here's a link to a timeline and interesting facts about the Lego break. The most interesting fact: that three eight-stud bricks can be combined in 1,060 ways. That is the crux of what makes LEGO so wonderful -- they don't require instructions, just imagination.

Legos are a staple in our household -- our son (age 9) just repurposed them this weekend to remod a remote control car of his. We're on the second generation of Mindstorm robotics, and I have to admit, my geeky side has played with the set long after the kids are tucked into bed. We even invested in a stack of pink bricks for our daughters years ago so that she could build houses and cars with them. I find pieces them in purses, stuffed between car seats, and wedged into the fibers of my carpets.

And many weekends, when I ask the kids what they want to do, they say, "Go to Legoland", despite the fact that it's an 8+ hour drive away down in San Diego.

As a testament to the longevity of LEGO, my mother-in-law kept stored my husband's LEGO pieces in the attic, and gave them to my son. As I pick the pieces from around my life, I carefully put them all back into the storage box. After all, I want to make sure that my grandkids have LEGO at the ready to inspire their imagination too.

cross posted on svmoms.com