Negotiations- Game Theory

Through this whole home-buying adventure I've really come to the realization about how much of life is a negotiation.  From negotiating the price of my condo, to the appraisal, to the cable/internet fiascos to negotiating at work or picking the restaurant for dinner- I've really learned how to deal in a better way with people. I think this is a very non-spoken-about art. The art of reading people and knowing when to push and when to ultimately pulll is a very fine art.
It boils down to:
a. either you end up with what you want
b. you compromise on what you both want

Game theory is a concept of strategic decision making and through time and life, we refine our game theory more and more.

When I deal with companies/people out for themselves etc I could care less about what they want- I'm the customer/person being taken advantage of, and my satisfaction is my only concern. When I'm dealing in relationships, however, that is certainly not the case and I care MUCH more about how the other party feels and what we get from each other when the conversation/confrontation is over.

A factor that plays into every facet of my life especially the negotiations and my interactions with others is my feelings on energy and karma. I am a big believer in living life the best way I can & leaving people better off after dealing with me than they were before (passing along good energy). That is very important in my life as it is the only way I've found meaning and a reflection on my purpose and why I'm here. These are things  I can do on a daily basis, on an hourly basis to effect the world in a positive way.   When you think about the purpose of life its hard to wrap your head around the every day- and this is my solution to it. I want to give back- enhance- motivate- and make people feel good about me as much as I want that feeling myself from my interactions with them!
Ultimately life is a journey- but what I've learned is that as we grow and learn, the navigation becomes more and more strategic and refined  :)

Food Photo Diary

Ment to post this a LONG time ago but it sat in my queue unpublished!

I am slammed with to-dos today but I felt like writing anyway.  My little housewarming is looming and I'm stressing a bit.  Thought I'd recap a day in food, my week in general,  and show you some pics.

I started off my week by going to a lovely celebration brunch thrown by my amazing boss Patti. We just wrapped up a MAJOR project at work and she took the couple of us who were involved out to breakfy at Le Pain Quotidien at Fashion Island. It was such a lovely breakfast spot. It had some semblance of a Panera but 10x better. They had amazing bread and coffee. I couldn't get over the coffee. They even had delish toppings for the bread like nutella and biscoff spread. Right up my alley. I tried to be good but it was ohhh soooo hard. I decided that this would be my big splurge meal of the day and I'd be good from there on out.

I got the goat cheese and spinach quiche and dont even get me started on how much bread I ate. It came with a nice side salad that had a light vinaigrette

So planning ahead as a good girl does I brought a very very light lunch of chopped up melon and a side salad with raddishes, carrots, grape tomatoes  a dash of light ranch and veggie hummus. I ate this around 2 since breakfast was so late in the morning.  A little tip- I keep healthy food choices in bulk in my office- like the melon and hummus, then I can grab it to snack on anytime!

Around 3pm I drank some coffee with hazelnut creamer as my afternoon pick-me-up.
and had some of these babies-

These are amazing delish!

After work I ran some errands and went to the gym with my friend and ate M&Ms and Australian licorice from Sprouts (the best!). healthy huh?
Sometimes I dont even notice that I go days on end eating vegetarian. I'm definitely a meat lover but don't eat it often!

I also wanted to share some pics of the absolutely amazing Muse Concert. My wonderful friend Brenda took me on Wed and I had such an unforgettable time. Before the show we hit up Bottega Louie in DT LA. I've heard of this place many times before so I was excited to finally get a chance to have a drink in this beautiful restaurant. Its totally open-concept with the kitchen right smack dab in the middle- vulnerable to curious eyes. The bar is marbled and polished and everywhere you look it feels like a nod to modern minimalism with a chic bluesy edge.

Brenda's drink (L) was a Clover Club- Gin, lemon juice, pomegranate syrup & egg white
My drink (R) was my own concoction-  I asked the bartender for a gin drink like a Gordon's cup with bitters and a freshness- he made this decadent highly potent delish cucumber cocktail that we dubbed the "Amy Swizzle" I had to tip him good for this one

 We then ventured over to Taco Rosa to continue the drinking and then on to MUSE!!!

The beautiful stage

As Muse played "Starlight" the crowd aptly responded- this is a pic of the thousands of cell phones aglow in the crowd!

My friend hooked us up with the set list so we knew exactly what song would be comin up next and when to best make our exit.  

I couldnt have asked for a better night. Thank you to my lovely friend for inviting me and fulfilling a lifelong dream of mine to see one of my all-time fav bands!

Workout Week Jan 23-30 2013

My 3 personal goals: 

1. Drink 64 oz. of water.
2. Eat 3 servings of vegetables a day.
3. Workout at least 5 days this week

Overall personal goal analysis: I drank my goal amount of water only 2 days (again) and ate 3 servings of veggies 4 days. FAIL

I did meet  my workout goal but felt like it was halfa$$ed and a lame attempt. I felt like a sloth and super lazy this week, probably because of stress and anxiety.

Here’s how my workouts went:

Wednesday: I sometimes like to wake up early on Weds and get a boot camp workout in but today I had a MUSE concert in the evening, I just couldnt drag myself out of bed at 6am just to go to bed at midnight and be shot for the week. SO instead I ate like a pig this day and enjoyed myself

Thursday: I got back on the wagon this day and did my spin class with Joseph and took my cadio line dancing class in the evening. Felt good.

Friday: I usually play softball this day but it was rained out. I wouldnt have played anyway because I had so much to prep for- I had two housewarming parties at my new condo this past weekend and was stressed to the max preparing for them. I  took a half day at work and ran errands all day this week. I'm super proud of myself because while at Costco I resisted all temptation and just sampled a small piece of cheese on cracker

Saturday: Although this was the day of party #1 I got my butt outta bed at 8am and took a trekking class with my mom. The rest of the day I cleaned and cooked like a madwoman and my friends came over that evening until about midnight

Sunday: Party #2- this one was a brunch with my family and family friends. I was up at 7am prepping for this and was on my feet all day. I had ZERO time to workout much less catch my breath!

Monday: The detox. I took this day to center myself again and went to some much needed 90 min of yoga. I actually fell asleep in Savasana! I never do that.

Tuesday: My awesome spin instructor Pam was back at the gym. Although I cam prepped to do cardio line dancing I actually ended up taking spin class with Pam- I couldnt pass up the chance to take her class because you never know when she'll be back!

The intention the next day was to get up for bootcamp- that didnt happen  :(

Overall workout analysis:

How I feel: Feeling lethargic still.  Have been eating a lot of sugar. My monthly visitor is right around the corner so that must explain this laziness. 

For next week: I want to get back into eating healthy. Exercise has never been my issue- its the food that sabotages me.

On deck: I have a major weekend coming up complete with Ducks Hockey and a very special baby shower for my cousin Melissa. I am supplying the Bellini's but Steph is making her famous cupcakes that I must limit myself to ONE!  Also I have a birthday looming... Dun Dun Dun....

Workout Week Jan 16-22 2013

My 3 personal goals: 

1. Drink 64 oz. of water.
2. Eat 3 servings of vegetables.
3. Workout at least 4 days this week

Overall personal goal analysis: I drank my goal amount of water only 2 days and ate 3 servings of veggies 5 days.

I did meet and exceed my workout goal with a grand total of 6 days working out (I didnt count my hour of softball on Fri because that was hardly a workout)

PS I like to begin my week logs on Wed as I weigh myself this day and that's my "square one"

Here’s how my workouts went:

Wednesday: Although I weigh myself around 9 am every Wed. morning- I decided to wake up at 6am this morning and go to a Barry's Bootcamp type class at my gym. We do most of the workout on a treadmill and then hop off a couple times to do strength training.  Overall I ran 4 miles and did about 20 min of strength training. Felt awesome afterwards but was ravenous the rest of the day.  Counter intuitive?

Thursday: I really like my Thur workouts. I have a spin class I take every Thur at my gym and try to never miss. My instructor always pushes me. We are friends, so this day he even made me write down 3 goals I'd like to accomplish in the next few months. He said he'd try to push me to stay accountable. Usually I do an hr at the gym and I'm done- esp after spinning where I drip buckets of sweat! But this day I stayed and took a cardio line dancing class afterwards. 2 hours of cardio! GOOOOO me!

Friday: This is my coed softball day with my friends after work. I showed up late and barely played- not much exercise this day- however, I did go to The Ranch this night, I danced a lot but undid it all by drinking three beers  :(

Saturday: I had every intention of getting up early to work out, which I did but I by no means pushed myself. I got up at 8:30am, went to the gym, jogged for 20 min and walked at a steep incline for 10 more min. then went to a strength class for 45 which was intense. I wasnt really feeling it though. Afterwards I went to Trader Joes and shopped hungry which is always a no-no. Never SHOP HUNGRY!

Sunday: I got up at 9am this morning and went to spin. Usually Sunday morning has a great instructor but for some reason she was out so I had a crappy one and didn't have a good workout. Waste of time. Hate that.

Monday: Usually I do nothing on Mondays but because of the MLK holiday I had some time. Soooo I went to Pilates with my momma. This is great cross training and great for my core and weak back. I find that the more I do Pilates  the less injury prone I am and the sharper I feel physically. I wish I could do this consistently but my work schedule makes it hard to squeeze in.  If I have a free hour a day I am much more prone to do cardio than pilates because I am looking to lose weight.
Tuesday: Again I usually take spin this day- (can you tell I love spin? Such great low impact cardio that makes you drip sweat)  but my great instructor has been on a holiday hiatus so I've been switching it up. Since one of my best friends, Becca was free we took cardio line dancing together.  She and I have a goal to get slim and cute  enough for the summer to don short skirts and cowboy boots to go line dancing!  This class isn't the best workout, i do sweat a tad but the hour goes by soooo fast becuase we're having fun!

Overall workout analysis:

How I feel: Feeling really proud of myself for exercising regularly. Where I struggle is eating. if I made smarter healthier choices I think the lbs would just shed off. Instead I am eating like a maniac especially after I work out in the mornings.  

For next week: Like I said before, I feel good about my exercise, but bad about my eating.... need to stop eating like a maniac!  (but dang I enjoy food) Would love to workout every week like this, but I rarely have the time I did this past week.

On deck: All I can think about is the MUSE concert tonight- excited would be an understatement.

Also this weekend I am having two housewarmings. One for friends, another for family. MAKE GOOD CHOICES AMY (repeat to myself throughout the week)

Baking Weekend- Persimmon Cookies

My grandparents have two amazingly abundant persimmons trees in their back yard. Every year we are overwhelmed with how to use them before they go bad.
Their season is from late fall to the first hard frost of cold winter so right about now they are going soft and the tree has stopped fruiting. Ironically the more ppl I talk to about persimmons the less people I  find actually know what they are. I can usually always count on my fellow Asians to know the fruit but very few white people.  Persimmons come in varieties but are basically edible fruit with a hard rind and an apple/pear/nectarine consistency on the inside. My grandparents grow the Fuyu/Jurio variety and growing up I was never the biggest fan. Luckily enough, because my grandparents had such a large backyard with many fruit trees I was never limited. I always preferred their figs. The persimmons never tasted like much to me. Yes their texture sometimes came off as slimy, but early in the season they are firm and crisp like apples and even have a slight cinnamon taste which I usually love.

So being that its the end of the season and the persimmons are growing soft, they are the perfect consistency for baking. My mom and I picked some last week, peeled the rinds off and pureed with an immersion blender to create the pulp.

Here is the recipe we used and some pics!

Persimmon Cookie Recipe

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Yield: 30 cookies

A sweet and spiced persimmon cookie recipe with cranberries,chocolate chips and walnuts. A perfect soft and moist cookie to make during the winter!

Ingredients

Ingredients-
• 3/4 cup  butte/margarine softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup persimmon pulp, puréed (3-4 very ripe and soft Fuyu persimmons)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries/raisins
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 walnuts, roughly chopped

Directions

Directions-
1. Using the paddle attachment on your mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg and mix on medium speed until combined.
3. Add baking soda to the 1 cup of persimmon pulp purée in a separate bowl then add to sugar/butter mixture and mix until combined
4. Add vanilla to wet ingredients and combine
5. In a separate bowl sift the dry ingredients together; flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Slowly add dry ingredients into wet mixture on low speed. Mix until just combined.
6. Blend in the nuts, dried cranberries/raisins, and chocolate chips. Mix on low speed until combined, approximately 1-2 minutes.
7. Portion the dough onto a lightly greased sheet pan. I line mine with parchment for easy clean up.   Make sure that the cookies are at least 2 inches apart (although know these dont expand or spread out much).
8. Bake at 325°F until almost firm and golden brown, approximately 14 to 16 minutes.

Mixing dry ingredients into wet

adding my favorite element- chocolate chips!

scooping the cookies out with my nifty cookie scoop!

The finished product after about 14-16 min in the oven, I like them slightly underdone

The final product is always a hit with people whether they know what a persimmon is or not!
My coworkers scarf these. They dont even last the morning!

Shabu Squared

I dont often go out to Shabu, but for some reason in the past 5 days I've been twice!

The first time I went with Mike to a place in Costa Mesa called California Shabu Shabu.

It's located on Baker not too far from where the 73 meets the 405 fwys.  

It was such a cold night that immediately upon entering the restaurant we were warmed up by the smells and sights. We sat and waited about 10 min before we were seated which seemed like a miracle considering how packed it was.  We sat at the end of the bar on the right side of the restaurant and immediately placed a order for my new favorite sake- Nigori. Sadly I was sitting right under a draft and freezing the entire meal.

Our waitress helped us out so much by mixing our sauces and telling us how best to enhance their flavors. I ordered the Medium Choice beef which was accompanied by a plethora of veggies like shiitake mushrooms, Napa cabbage, spinach, tofu cubes, carrots, some udon noodles and a pinch of kelp.  They also had two dipping sauces  one ponzu and vinegar based and the other sesame peanut based. I prefer the vinegar for my meat and the peanut sesame for my veggies.  The udon noodles are what really set this place apart from other shabu restaurants  When you're just about to finish up your veggies and meat they bring out a big bowl of udon broth to lay your udon noodles in and finish your meal. Ironically at that point you're usually too stuffed to even consider this notion. Overall delish!

Second experience- last night was in Gardena at Shin-Sen-Gumi locted on Artesia Blvd. just across from Marukai. this place is set up more like a Shabu/yakitori and Christi and I shared a table with a buncha guys. It was fine and was actually pretty entertaining seeing 4 Asian guys scarf beef. Overall the meat quality was the same but they served A LOT more veggies. Still I think I preferred California over this one due to the sauce selection and attention to detail in setting, service etc- though these places were both healthy and delish. A pic from our dining experience below-

If you haven't tried Shabu you absolutely must! its a great winter time meal with lots of healthy veggies and tender yummy meat.

A beginning

So I thought I'd use this forum to vent, relate, meditate and set goals, all while recapping my passions and life.  This might be a boring daunting prospect for some but I just love blogs. What an amazing thing the internet has become. Just like reality tv- sure we can get a glimpse into people's lives but we can also release our innermost thoughts, emotions and dreams in a creative setting that has a reference guide built in  :)

So one thing I'd like to use this blog to accomplish is setting goals

Another is to document the journey of a healthier lifestyle

Another is to talk about my passions which include food (hence goal of a healthier lifestyle) traveling, friends, and lifestyle things in general like products, decoration, & new activities.

Hope I can take you on this journey with me and we can both get something out of it!

Moi! Taken in 2011

Lets begin....

(PS I am by no means a writer, and often misspell, use slang etc... please excuse and lighten up ;))