It's a Beautiful World

i am grateful for having a friend like you, not only for a reason, a season, or a lifetime, but forever.. we may not be seeing each other as often as we did before, email each other when there's good news or bad news, but we know deep in our hearts that we care, understand, and have a deep concern for each other.. good friendships don't die they mature in time like any adult good relationships.. good friends understand good friends care good friends are there when you're down and bare.. good friends give their helping hand when you need them.. they are supportive and sharing good friendships don't die they endure in time..

Do you want to make dinner at home with your family? Try the delicious homemade pizzas. They are fun and easy to make. All you have to do is make the dough (recipe is on my other website: http://www.cookingenthusiast.blogspot.com/ ) ready for them to fill, set the oven to 500 degrees F, and tell them to cook their own pizza for 10 or 12 minutes depending on how they want it. Lay all the toppings: pepperoni, italian sausage, ham, sliced tomatoes and onions, mozzarella cheese, romano, parmegiano reggiano, and other delicious toppings. Last night, my family had fun making their own pizza . One made a heart shape crust, while the other added more onion slices to get a tangier taste, and I made mine to share with my daughter with lots and lots of pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. The gathering of all family members to share a home cooked meal is such a blessing, a lot of fun, and so easy to make.

Gone were the days when christmas and new years' eve dinner food preparation entailed staying up days and nights working on the menu. Making our yearly traditional fresh authentic chinese lumpia needed the whole family's help to julienne the snowpeas and the side pork, chiffonade the cabbage, thinly slice the shallots, grate the carrots, and many other tedious ways of preparing the ingredients before actually cooking them. Nowadays, all that is gone. Thanks to the genius inventor of the food processor . Life for cooks have been easier since. It can chop, knead, slice, dice, and shred in seconds. We can now make pizza dough for a few seconds, make the dough rise in 30 minutes, put our favorite topping and cheeses on it and in 10 to 12 minutes, we have a homemade delicious pizza that each of my children can cook for themselves. Food Processors come in different sizes. The biggest our kitchen has is the 7 cups with 1.5 quarts bowl capacity, which we use for making purees of vegeta...

What's a better way of enjoying your dinner in a hot weather than eating exotic food that refreshes your palate and cools you down physically and mentally. When the temperature started soaring the other day, I couldn't think of any other dish to make for dinner than freshly made simple ground beef tacos with chopped iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and taco cheese, served on a choice of soft corn tortillas or hard taco shell topped with freshly made Salsa out of fresh roma tomatoes with a hint of lime juice. On the side, I also served crispy corn chips to be eaten with the freshly made Salsa. Both recipes you can find at my other website: http://www.cookingenthusiast.blogspot.com/ . Living next door to a gourmet mexican-american neighbor, Blanca and Hector Gonzales and their three lovely children is so much a blessing. They cater and cook delicious authentic mexican dishes. We were lucky enough to have them cater for my granddaughter, Samantha Kho's, 4th Birthda...

"The Hunter Douglas International Alliance Conference is a gathering of the best and the brightest.", is what Hunter Douglas claims at their website. A network of window covering professionals will be inspired by our nationally acclaimed speakers like General Colin Powell, and others on July 23 to 27, 2007 at the Colorado Convention Center. This forum will be attended by over 3,400 participants which include Hunter Douglas Gallery Dealers, Showcase Priority Dealers, Priority Dealers, International Hunter Douglas Dealers, Hunter Douglas Full-Line Fabricators, Alliance Service Providers, Hunter Douglas product brand teams, and Industry Experts from around the world. My company, Window Coverings By Chris , being one of Hunter Douglas Gold Priority Dealers , received an invitation to attend this significant event. By attending this forum, we hope to work and think together, embrace and face changes with new strageties and more energy than ever to reach new heights of success.

Can you imagine what this world would be like if people didn't have good manners? If people just do and say what they felt like without any consideration to others? This world will be in great chaos making us look like savages out of the jungle, uncivilized, rude, lacking  discipline and finesse. Good manners start at home. Our parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, foster parents who took care of us since birth influenced our breeding . Some were taught, some were acquired. Children are great copy cats. They will eventually pick up the good and the bad.

Our typical family saturday morning starts at 10:00AM when we all get up from bed and help share to cook brunch, each one pitching in to share in a conversation about significant experiences that transpired in the week. Last saturday was different. My son, Bernard Kho left early in the morning to report for work, while I stayed snuggled in bed on a lazy morning, a result of my staying up late the previous night. My short repose was cut short by the intrusion of my daughter, Christina Kho, who slowly snuggled beside me being careful not to wake me up, at the same time wishing I was. "Mom, are you going to drive me to Oakland to attend the graduation party of my twin friends?", she whispered when I opened my eyes. "Oakland? No, didn't I tell you before that I have never driven to Oakland? I heard a lot of bad things about Oakland and I don't want to go there.", my voice sounding audibly stronger. "But mom, my friend told me it's in downtown Oakland, a...