Asian Dining Tips,Chinese Folklore & Popcorn

There is an old Chinese proverb that says if you hold your chopsticks close in, you will marry someone living nearby and if you hold your chopsticks far up, you will marry someone living in a far land.

So, how do you hold your chopsticks? Can you hold your chopsticks? Do you need a bit of practice or shall we start from the beginning?

In order to eat proficiently at a Sushi Bar with friends, or in a Chinese restaurant with business associates, you need to understand the following principals:

1. Cradle the middle of one chopstick in the hollow of your right or left thumb and palm with the narrow end resting on the third finger. Firm up your grip of the chopstick by using your upper thumb to press the chopstick securely against the tip of the fourth finger.
2. Add the second chopstick and hold it like you hold a pencil when writing. Line the chopsticks up evenly.
3. Hold the first chopstick in the original position and move the second chopstick up and down. The lower chopstick should never move while in operation. It should remain stationary at all times, serving as a base on which to clamp the food placed on it by the top chopstick.

Practice, Practice, Practice :

1. First, practice on popcorn! Yeah! Fun!
2. Second, practice lifting a wine glass straight up by the stem with your chopsticks. If you can do this without dropping the wine glass, you are ready to eat in public.

Tips:

1. Never point your chopsticks at anyone. It is considered to be bad luck and it is dangerous.
2. Never stand chopsticks up in a bowl of rice. This is also considered to be bad luck.
3. Do remember to use the larger ends of your chopsticks to serve yourself from a platter
4. Never eat food directly from a platter. Always place the food on your plate first.
5. Do not cross the chopsticks. When not using the chosticks, place them on the chopstick rest provided.
6. Do remember that a banquet can last two or three hours, and may include twelve or more small courses.

Practice and enjoy!

Job Interviews and Dating - What's The Difference

20 years of 20 questions. Job interviews, first date after blind date. What's the difference?


What is the difference between getting a feel for the establishment in which you may want to work, for a long time and getting to know the potential partner for whom you may want to marry, and will be with for a long time?

What is the difference in the techniques used in job interviews and the techniques used in dating?


The following are a few tips to pep up your job interviews and perk up your dinner dates:

• Each new job interview is a new opportunity for you to shine. Get yourself in a happy mood and be calm and positive.
• Each new first date is a new opportunity for you to shine. Get yourself in a happy mood and be calm and positive.

• Each new job interview is your chance to get the interviewer talking about themselves and their company. Prepare a few pertinent questions to ask the interviewer at the end of the interview when they ask you if you have any questions.
• Each new first date is your chance to get the other person talking about themselves and their family, friends, experiences, likes and dislikes, etc.

• Keep your resume professional and polite. Use Spell Check. Have a family member or friend who is good at editing look over your resume.
• Keep your conversation professional and polite. Pause, look and listen to what your date says. Pay attention to their tone. Listen also to what your date does not say.

• During your interview, do not comment on politics or religion, or talk about money. Do not list political or religious affiliations on your resume or Face book/My Space or any other social Internet site.
• During your first date, do not comment on politics or religion, money or past relationships.

• During your interview, look around the interviewer's office and desk for items and nick-knacks revealing what hobbies they may enjoy and read any degrees on the wall.
• During your first date, in conversation, nicely ask your date about their education and ask them to talk about their hobbies.

• On your resume, after each prior job listed, include an updated phone number and a current name of a contact. This makes it convenient for any future possible employer to easily check your information.
• On your first date, as the date is ending and if another date is agreed upon, leave the other person with updated contact information.

• As you enter and exit your interview, pay attention to how your interviewer treats their staff.
• As you are having your date, pay attention to how your date treats the waiter, cashier, etc.

• If you are asked during the interview why you wish to leave or why you have left another job, do not be negative. Be honest and explain why the past job was not right for you or why you wish to move on and what you have learned from the experience.
• If you are asked during your first date (or first few dates) why a past relationship was ended, do not be negative. Be honest and explain why the relationship was not right for you and why you chose to move on or why your partner chose to move on and what you learned from the experience.

A first job interview and a first date really are very similar, so enjoy your good opportunity and prepare!

Manners in French St. Martin - Not Wrong, Just Different

Adults at cocktail and dinner parties, students in tutorials, and attendees at lectures often ask me, if a particular manner is right or wrong, and how only one particular way of doing one thing is the only and always correct way, n'est-ce pas? My usual answer is: "It is not right or wrong, it is just different."

An example is American style vs. Continental style dining. One may eat in the "Continental Style" in America, and it is not wrong, it is just different. As a matter of fact, eating in the Continental style is how Americans ate in this country before 1840 when the style changed. Continental style is also very easy for left handed diners. I have been surrounded by lefties my whole life. My Mother used to complain about getting SO frustrated at dinner parties from people bumping her left arm while eating at the table because they were sticking their elbows out too far, and it never occurred to them someone would be eating with their left hand. Awareness and open-mindedness, y'all. It's simple.

While in St. Martin, reading the local daily paper "The Herald," I stumbled upon a delightful column called "Weekend Thoughts." The subject was "American Style" dining and how it was different from the way the French author of the column ate. She spoke of her American friend who ate in the American style while in the French Caribbean and how it was so different from the Continental Style way she was taught to eat. She commented at the end of her article: "It opens up a new world to me."



So, please be open-minded to differences in us all. Manners are not always either/or. Manners are not always yes or no. Manners are often just different!

What Do Lemons, Evening Constitutionals and Socks Have In Common?

Passed down to me by my Great-Grandparents, the following habits will help you to feel and live better. Thankfully, some things never change:

• Every evening, or, as often as possible, take an "Evening Constitutional" around the block. No big deal, 15-20 minutes or so is fine. Walk, chat, laugh and relax. You will digest your food, get your blood flowing, breath and relax. Make it a good habit and enjoy.
• Every evening after her walk, my Great-Grandmother drank a tea cup filled with hot water and lemon. My Father said she had the most beautiful skin for a 93 year old lady he had eve seen. The acidity of the lemon is good for your liver as it cleans out/detoxifies the liver, thus, will help clear up your skin.
• Before bedtime, smear petroleum jelly on your feet and heals, then put on footie's or socks and sleep in them. You will wake up with the softest feet ever!
• After handling fish or seafood, to rid your fingers the fishy smell, rub lemon or lime over your nails and the tips of your fingers. The citrus acid will work every time. The citrus, however, may dry your skin, so after you rub, wash your hands with warm water and soap, dry, then apply lotion.
• My Grandfather ate a tomato ever night. A good acidic fruit for you! Largely diced. Plain, or sprinkled with a bit of Kosher salt, with a dab of mayonnaise or vegenaise, topped with freshly ground pepper. Serve everyone one tomato each when you do not feel like taking the time making a salad or cooking a vegetable. It is quick and easy! Yum!

Mother's Day Poem From 1905 - Thankfully, Some Things Never Change

A Mother's Day poem from my book: "Forget-Me-Not, Forget-Me-Never, Remember The Fun We Had Together"

Thankfully some things never change and thank goodness for our Mothers! Thanks Mom!

Here's to the happiest

days of your life,

Spent in the arms

of another man's wife

....your Mother.

Elizabeth Thompson

Near: Lake Mohonk, NY 1905

Have an enjoyable day to all!!

The Best Outdoor Brass Cleaning Tip Ever and Patina

For all of y'all out there who cannot stand cleaning outdoor brass such as door knobs, door knockers and door plates, here is the best tip ever: SOS pads**. Yes, for most outdoor brass items that need a good scrub here is how to accomplish the cleaning:

1. Tape around the item so as not to harm any surrounding surface. Use the special painting masking tape so there is no sticky residue remaining when the tape is removed.
2. Clean the item with an SOS pad. Scrub, scrub, scrub. The SOS pad will remove all the grime and dirt so you can then polish the brass item. The SOS pad will leave a Patina on your brass item. A Patina is comprised of all those little minute "scratches" that naturally occur with age and make the item look like an antique.
3. A patina will change the luster of the item. I prefer my sterling, brass and pewter with a patina because I like the luxurious luster. Some people, however, prefer their brass, sterling and pewter looking shinny like new stainless steel. **If you do not want to change the luster of your item, do not use the SOS pad.
4. Shine the item with Brasso or Never-Dull, or whatever brass cleaning product you prefer.

** The SOS pad will leave a Patina on your item. If you do not like the look and the new luster of the Patina, do not use the SOS pad!!!!

20 Years of 20 Questions: Single In The City, Dating, and Hungry for Dignity

As a Single in the City gal for 20 years (LOL), I sure can say I went on many more than my fair share of dates, blind dates, and bad dates. The better behaved, the badly behaved, the abhorrently behaved. Men who did not get out much and men who got out a bit too much. This is the story of a blind date with a well intending, stable, intelligent man who just may not have gotten out so much.
Very nice friends from out of town set me up with their next door neighbor, who also lived and was a tenured professor at a very exclusive private college 2 hours away from them and about an hour away from where I lived.
Upon the initial phone call with this man, I informed him I was in between management jobs with a sporadic schedule of part-time jobs, so, he suggested we meet at a very casual diner for Sunday Brunch. Cool.
My date began by driving 1 1/2 hours to this exclusive private college and met this seemingly nice, tenured professor at a very cute diner. Great breakfast. Better conversation. Everything moving along nicely.
Then, the check arrived. The professor eyed it and let it sit. Finally he turned it over. The bill totalled $13.50 plus a tip. Unknown to anyone, I had $20 in my pocket and $5 in the bank until my next pay day which was the following Friday. So, I pulled out my $20 bill figuring we would split the bill. The professor then said to me: "How about you get this one and I'll get the next."
What?? I thought to myself, not only is this tenured professor not going to pick up even and only his half of this small check, after I have driven 1 1/2 hours to get here, he is also going to assume I am going to go out on another date with him after I, who he knows am in between jobs, pay for this date!!
Always polite, I paid the check and the tip, drove the 1 1/2 hours home and never answered any phone calls from this guy again. The first of a few starving weeks in my future to come with $5 in the bank so I could maintain some semblance of dignity!
According to his neighbors, my friends who set me up, he had a great time and just could not figure out why I would not return his phone calls. Hmmm.