New Thing 45, New Thing Every Day: Prepare a Meal of Marcus Samuelsson Recipes

For Valentine's Day, what could be better than preparing Leigh a dinner of her favorite chef's recipes?

Here is what we had -- miso/honey/roasted garlic glazed tilapia; warm potato/apple salad; heirloom tomato/watermelon salad.

Here are 10+ things about our experience.

1. Everything worked out surprisingly well and the dinner was absolutely delicious.
2. We skipped dessert because we are watching our figures.
3. Marcus Samuelsson's s Leigh's favorite chef and his restaurant, Red Rooster in Harlem, is her favorite restaurant. We have been there several times.
4. We have also seen and met Marcus a few times, during visits to his restaurant. He is incredibly nice.
5. My favorite dish there might be the shrimp and grits, but there are just so many delicious menu items.
6. Leigh and I have both read his biography, a great read.
7. He did basically abandoned his daughter until she was a teenager, the one major red mark I can see in his personal history. He seems to have made up for it.
8. Marcus one Top Chef Masters.
9. He also won Chopped Masters.
10. He is also a James Beard winner, among many other awards.
11. Last year, for my birthday, Leigh bought tickets to see Marcus speak in Kansas City. It was very cool.
12. Over the course of the day, I tweeted him several times. Later, we were able to meet him and he called me by name. Incessant tweeting works!

New Thing 44, New Thing Every Day: Watch Raging Bull

SPOILERS! Read at your own risk!

I was mostly working at home today, mostly working, and Raging Bull was on HBO on Demand, so I took the opportunity to watch it. For years, I have meant to watch it, and now I have.

Here is my list of 10+ things about watching Raging Bull.

1. The way DeNiro got in shape and then gained so much weight was amazing commitment.
2. DeNiro actually fought in three professional fights to get ready for the role, winning two.
3. Joe Pesci was so perfect to play LaMotta’s brother.
4. Jake LaMotta really was a jerk. Apparently seeing the movie convinced him of that.
5. Scorsese sure loves the mafia.
6. Another American tragedy, showing that, so often, our greatness is matched by or weakness.
7. Jealousy seems like I really pointless emotion to me.
8. Everybody wants to be a comedian.
9. So glad Vicki finally left him.
10. Also glad that he and his brother made up.
11. Joe Pesci is so awesome.

New Thing 43, New Thing Every Day: Make a list of 10 Businesses I Want to Start

As most folks who know me are aware, I like to start businesses. I have started a few that have done well, and a few that have really not. I have one right now, EveryEventGives, that is doing well and that I think will be a big success for me (we'll see!).

I like to think of myself as a serial entrepreneur and, over the course of my life, I suspect I will start at least a few more (again, under the assumption that they could just as easily succeed or fail).

Today, I made a list of 10 businesses I would like to start, something I have never done before. One is actually moving forward a bit, a few have been knocking around in my brain for a while, and the rest are totally new to me. We'll see how it all goes!

Here is my list.

1. Brainstorming software
2. Processor for non-profit contributions
3. For-profit business incubator
4. For-profit angel investment fund
5. Restaurant
6. Printed publication
7. Facebook/LinkedIn for business women
8. Crowdsourced copy editing
9. Happiness consulting/content company.
10. Incubator for writers.
    

New Thing 42, New Thing Every Day: Attend a Jewish Service

Me, with the students, with the Torah on the table.

My stepfather and his side of the family are Jewish, so you would think I would have been to a Saturday service by now, but it just hasn't happened. (In all fairness to me, he has only been my stepfather for four years or so.)

When my friend Greg Soden heard I wanted to do this, he made me a great offer. He is a Battle High School teacher and has a world cultures class that takes a group to a Jewish service each year (optional), and he offered to let me tag along, which I did. Thanks, Greg!

Here are my 10+ things about the experience.
1.    My little Saturday adventure took me to Congregation Beth Shalom on Green Meadows. They are extremely welcoming to guests of any faith.
2.    They told me that a yamaka is not required, but wearing one is a sign of respect, so I wore one that was midnight blue.
3.    Another guy had an MU Tigers yamaka.
4.    The service did not start promptly, which was a little weird for this small town protestant.
5.    Also, a little odd for me was that the dress was very casual. I realize that pretty much all church-type places have gone this way, but it still feels not quite right to me. I am a fuddy-duddy.
6.    Prayers are sung in Jewish services. Very cool.
7.    Religious texts are read right to left.
8.    They had a US flag on the left and an Israel flag on the right.
9.    Don't put your prayer book or Torah on the floor. Seriously.
10.  Their prayer books have both English and Hebrew.
11.  This weekend is Sukkot, a Jewish holiday, "New Year of the Trees". After the service, we celebrated with sanctified bread and fruit.
12.  The Rabbi was from Israel and could be hard for me to understand.
13.  He used a tambourine during the service (kind of for emphasis, not ala Bob Dylan).
14.  There were 32 attendees, plus the rabbi. Seven were from our group.
15.  The second part of the service included reading from an actual, giant, scrolled Torah. This part of the program started with someone carrying the Torah around the room. Everyone touched their individual Torah to it and then kissed theirs.
16.  There was a religious Q&A where members of the congregation raised issues and asked things of the rabbi. That was my favorite part.

New Thing 41, New Thing Every Day: Order from the Panera Secret Menu

Did you know that all kinds of popular chain restaurants have "secret" menus? Apparently, they are just for the cool kids, and those of us who stumble across them on Google.

Leigh and I really like Panera, so theirs is the first secret menu I tried. Tonight, I ordered a Power Steak Lettuce Wrap. There was a little confusion at first, but within just a few minutes, the counter guy figured it out and I got exactly what I wanted. He had to charge me for a tuna sandwich because what I ordered was not programmed into his cash register, but apparently that was not  big deal.

Here is what is on the Power Steak Lettuce Wrap -- seared top sirloin, lettuce for making the wraps, sliced cucumbers (they forgot these), diced onions & tomatoes (they sliced them, which I think was not the better way to go), and then it's all topped with both lemon juice and basil pesto.

Very tasty!

- sean

New Thing 40, New Thing Every Day: Read Parts of the Torah

I grew up in rural Kentucky and knew just one Jewish kid (Alexis, super cute). As a teenager, I had many Jewish friends at a camp I attended in New York, and that gave me my first glimpses of some level of contemporary Jewish culture. Today, my mom is married to a pretty devout Jewish man, but they live far away, so that has not done much to expand my Jewish horizons. In all that time, I had never read even a word of the Torah, except to the extent that it includes parts of the Old Testament, which I have read in its entirety.

Today was my first time reading parts of the Torah, specifically as the Torah, and not the Biblical Old Testament. I read several passages and then a list of quotes. As with pretty much any religion, I see a lot there that can teach me something, and I am glad to have had at least this limited exposure. This weekend, I will go to a Jewish service for the very first time, as my New Thing, and I am pretty excited about it. I do not see myself converting, but there is much to learn from any religion, and I am also looking forward to this opportunity to think about things bigger than myself.

As a little addendum, here is a list of quotes from the Torah that you might like.

1) If I am not for myself who will be for me? Yet, if I am for myself only, what am I? And if not now, when?

2) Say little and do much, and receive all men with a cheerful face.

3) Initiate a greeting to everyone, and it is better to be a tail to a lion than a head of a fox.

4) Don’t try to appease your friend when he is angry, or try to comfort him when the dead lie before him. Do not try to see your friend in the time of his disgrace.

5) We can not explain either the suffering of the righteous or the happiness of the wicked.

6) Be careful of politicians. They are your friends when it is to their advantage, but abandon you in your time of need.

7) The more flesh you have, the more the worms will eat. Let the honor of your friend be as important to you as your own. Don’t get angry easily, and repent one day before you die.

8) The day is short, the job hard, and the workers lazy. You don’t have to finish your tasks on Earth, but you can’t abandon them, either.

9) What is wealth? Being happy with what you have.

10) “Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, or let your heart feel joy when they stumble, lest the Lord see and turn His displeasure to you.”

11) Do not look at the flask, but what is inside it. There is a fancy bottle with bad wine in it.

12) According to the effort is the reward.

13) Do not be scornful of anyone, or doubt that anything can happen, for there is no person without his hour, no thing without its place.

14) When you pray, don’t follow a set routine or text, but rather beseech for mercy and pity, as it is written, “For the Lord is gracious merciful, slow to anger, and great in love.”

15) I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, yet they are all the same when a time of disaster falls upon them.

16) Like birds caught in the snare, like fish in a trap, are we when bad luck falls upon us.

17) Even though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will not fear evil for You are with me.

New Thing 39, New Thing Every Day -- Visit an Asian Grocery

For today's New Thing, I visited Lee's Market at 700 Cherry Street, Columbia.

Here are 10+ things about my first visit to an Asian grocery.

1. Lee's Market really is kind of a hole in the wall location, but that is part of their charm. Lee's isn't fancy; they just get the job done.
2. Inside, it looked pretty much the way I thought it would -- dark, cramped, with food crammed everywhere.
3. There were several families shopping there, all Asian, speaking in languages other than English.
4. There were so many foods I had never seen before, almost entirely imported from other countries, and from all over Asia.
5. Definitely, I should have gotten the sliced octopus tentacle. Big mistake.
6. My first choice was the gochujang, a "a savory, spicy, and pungent fermented Korean condiment made from red chili, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, and salt." I have started seeing it on a lot of cooking shows and am excited to try it.
7. From the refrigerated section, I got a little bottle of sake, because it was really cute and, well, sake.
8. Leigh will like the bag of frozen potstickers I found; we get them in restaurants all the time.
9. My friend Brian Clark, gone way too young, introduced me to roasted seaweed when we were living together at the Dumas building, across the street from the MU campus. No clue what I will do with it, but it makes me think of Brian and that makes me happy.   
10. The checkout kid was so incredibly nice.