Results matching “friends” from Jeanette Hada's Wellness and Happiness Blog

It's been a year or nearly a year since I last posted anything here.  I am happy seeing my daughter grow and never thought life could be this good.  Finding time to juggle family, work and everything else in between is a challenge. 

Thankfully I am able to stay connected with friends, family, and clients via a combination of email and Facebook.  I don't mind that it's considered the new "AOL" or too trendy, I enjoy how easy it is to stay in touch.

We are still in our lovely Craftsman gingerbread home.  The market is still a little rocky, but definitely improving.  Can't wait to see more summer fruit this year.  Loquats have been plentiful.  Pluots and peaches are my favorite.  Photos to come

When we first saw the sour cherry tree at God's Little Acre Nursery (located on Almaden Road in San Jose), I thought the fruit was for birds only.  It was the prettiest dwarf tree laden with branches of tiny bright red cherries -- perfect for eating off of the tree or baking in pies.  The owners of the nursery, Phil and his beautiful wife, Dolores, became our friends and we've enjoyed several trips to their gorgeous place to purchase fruit trees and a Silver Dollar Eucalyptus.  If you purchase six or more trees, Phil will give a 10% discount...of course, Naoki could not resist such a deal! 

The ones you see in this cup were a few of the last cherries, before our guests and bird, Lucky, finished them.  We'll have to wait until next Spring for the new harvest.  I wonder how the cherry blossoms will look.

After weeks of loading and unloading, we're finally finished (for the most part) with our move into this gorgeous old gingerbread/Craftsman/Victorian home on the Northside.  It's been challenging this far along in the pregnancy to deal with relocating even at this short distance.  I'm due in 11 days, which feels unreal.

The house is definitely far from organized, but Naoki did an excellent job of refinishing the old pinewood floors and is in the process of applying Venetian plaster to one of the rooms.  When we first viewed this property, I thought it was beautiful (still do), but not for us.  I pictured us moving to some place...newer and more modern, possibly even a townhouse.  Naoki fell in love with the yard and has since planted 19 fruit trees, or was it 20?  I've lost count.  All I know is that those damn squirrels that I thought were the cutest when we moved in, have eaten the white nectarines on my daughter's tree!  Her papa purchased her a grafted white peach with two different white nectarines tree.  I want to plant it as soon as she's born.

The gorgeous floral arrangement you see in this post is from our newlywed friends, Carla and Andre.  They made our dining room smell amazing!  This was our first of many flowers that have entered this home, but the only one that I managed to photograph. 

After an excellent appointment with my midwife's assistant/doula in Menlo Park, my friend and I headed to downtown Los Altos to indulge in something light and sweet at Satura Bakery. If you've not yet been, I highly suggest taking a trip there on a Thursday afternoon. After eating one of the best choux creams in my life, we walked over to the farmers market. This is one of the rare markets that stays open later in the day. We sampled different types of flavorful cherries that were sweet and not the least bit sour, hearty Jersey Brand milk cheeses, super sweet sweet peas, and dark juicy red strawberries. I left with five small, but crisp and sweet, organic white peaches from Kashiwase Farms, organic Spring Hill Farms garlic curds (made from fresh mozzarella), and also one of their pesto jack blocks, melt-in-your-mouth roasted rosemary fingerling potatoes (we ate those there), and a small basket of unusually pointy, but remarkably sweet strawberries!! Oh, and I also purchased five of Satura's choux creams for Naoki -- three vanilla and two green tea flavored. Forgive all of these foodcentric posts. Occupying my mind most of the time is food, house hunting for friends/clients and ourselves, and this baby.

just mix all ingredients and bake it at 350 F for 45 minutes.

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I hadn't seen my friend in two years, so this get-together was a very special one.  It was our first time meeting her absolutely charming, talented and interesting husband.  It was a blessing to meet a couple that pair together so well.  Both are musically inclined, share a passion for traveling and fine food, as well as seem to be very in love with each other (after being together for 10 years).


~ pictures to follow at http://jeanette.hada.us

Dear Friends,

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last month that
the Agency will likely approve the sale of cloned foods this
year. FDA's action flies in the face of widespread scientific
concern about the risks of food from clones, and ignores the
animal cruelty and troubling ethical concerns that the cloning
process brings. What's worse, FDA indicates that it will not
require labeling on cloned food, so we will have no way to avoid
these experimental foods!

In response to FDA's pending approval, US Senator Barbara
Mikulski (D-MD) has introduced Senate Bill S.414, the Cloned
Food Labeling Act, and U.S. House Representative Rosa DeLauro
(D-CT) introduced an identical bill, HR 992 a few weeks later.

Tell Congress to support the Cloned Food Labeling Act! Please
take a moment today to send an email to your Senators and
Representative in support of these important bills. It only
takes a minute and you can take action now through the Center
for Food Safety at
http://ga3.org/ campaign/ Cloning_Label? rk=p7suhdK11UVcW

2007 was an interesting year of new and interesting experiences.  There was some sadness with the end of certain projects and relationships, but also lots of happiness with the strengthening of old friendships, and the meeting and making of new friends from many places. I am thankful to have my family and friends in good health, a growing career that allows me to work independently (most of the time), and most of all a peaceful life. 

I wish all of you a very healthy, happy, and prosperous 2008!

On New Year's Day we celebrated 2008 by visiting our good friend who has prepared the traditional Japanese New Years dishes for us for the past couple years.  It was a little challenging as Naoki is vegetarian and I basically eat fish (ok, sometimes I'll have chicken, but it's rare these days).

She made my favorite dessert made from fresh Fuji apples and agar.  It makes for a lovely, gelatin-free, refreshing jello.  Everything was lovely and neatly sorted in a lacquered box.  My favorite is the soup she makes flavored with kelp and filled with savory bits of dark leafy greens, daikon, and mochi (which she first toasted in the oven).  The black beans that she prepared were soft and chewy in texture and slightly sweet.  The chestnut/sweet potato was hearty and a beautiful golden color.  Her anago rolled omelet was absolutely delicious and small rounds of seasoned taro were just a few of the items there.  What a wonderful and special treat to experience every year!  Pictures to follow at http://jeanette.hada.us

Ok, obviously I'm a little obsessed with food and would love to share a few of my favorite foodie sites.  Some of these most people already know, but here they are just in case...

http://www.yelp.com
- This is an excellent site, where people can critique (rant or rave) about their experiences with different places they've visited.

http://www.opensourcefood.com
- By far my favorite recipe site with pictures that will have those late night hunger pangs kick in.

http://www.annamariavolpi.com/foodmovies.html
- Another food lovers list of food-related movies

I am one of the world's biggest chocolate lovers, though I usually try to refrain from going overboard especially during Halloween. When going to Walgreens I'll sometimes pick up a bag of bite-sized Twix or Snickers to share; however, if the recent email I received from PETA a few days ago (please see below) is even a little bit true, I'll stop buying every single product this company makes and encourage my friends and family to do the same. It's sickening and just doesn't make sense to torture and kill animals for food testing (or almost any testing for that matter). Forget the flavanol health claims if it means harming these tiny creatures. If it's humans that are supposed to benefit from this antioxidant, shouldn't they test these products on people? ---------------------------------- PETA has uncovered gruesome evidence that candy giant Mars has been paying experimenters to conduct deadly tests on mice, rats, guinea pigs, and rabbits. We're launching a worldwide boycott of Snickers, M&M's, Twix, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Starburst, Dove, Skittles, and other Mars-made products until the company has a heart and stops hurting animals. Right now, Mars is funding a study at the University of California, San Francisco, in which experimenters force-feed rats by shoving plastic tubes down their throats. The animals are then killed and cut open. Mars has also paid experimenters to do the following: * Force mice to swim in a pool of water and paint and find a hidden platform to avoid drowning—only to be killed later * Surgically attach plastic tubes to guinea pigs' carotid arteries and inject cocoa ingredients into their jugular veins to induce dramatic decreases in blood pressure * Force rabbits to eat high-cholesterol diets with varying amounts of cocoa and then cut out and examine primary blood vessels to their hearts Not one of these tests is required by law for candy. Mars' chief competitor, Hershey's, has already signed PETA's statement of assurance pledging never to conduct or fund tests on animals. We need your help to end Mars' cruel experiments! Visit our new MarsCandyKills.com campaign Web site to find out what you can do to help. Sincerely, Jason Ullman Anti-Vivisection Campaigner PETA -------------------- PETA boycotting Mars candy co. over animal cruelty Fri Dec 7, 9:25 PM ET People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is calling for a boycott of M&Ms, Twix candy bars and other snack foods made by Mars Inc, claiming the company funds experiments that kill mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits. "In violation of its own written policy, the candy company is currently funding a study at the University of California, San Francisco, that uses rats. The rats are force fed by having plastic tubes shoved down their throats, and they are then cut open and killed," PETA said in a statement. "In response to this new information, PETA is filing a legal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over Mars' false statement," the group said in a statement. The FTC investigates claims of dishonesty in advertising. Mars spokeswoman Alice Nathanson said regarding the University of California experiment: "I can't speak to any information that PETA may or may not have. I can't speak to any experiments." But, she said that the privately held company "would never issue or post a statement that we were not 100 percent confident in." PETA spokeswoman Kathy Guillermo said in an interview the experiments seemed aimed at developing health claims for chocolate because it contains flavonoids. Health studies have found that flavonoids protect against heart disease and cancer. Guillermo said the boycott would start on Monday. Mars says on its Web site that it bars animal research "involving euthanasia, vivisection or the suffering of any animal" in developing its snacks, drinks and pet products. But the Web site also says that a separate business unit, Symbioscience, would undertake "limited forms of animal testing" when required to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of "pharmaceutical and therapeutic food products." PETA said in its statement that Mars paid for experiments in which mice had to swim in a pool of water and paint and find a hidden platform to avoid drowning and were killed later. The group also accused Mars of funding an experiment in which plastic tubes were surgically attached to guinea pigs' carotid arteries and cocoa ingredients were injected into their jugular veins to cause a sharp drop in blood pressure, and another experiment in which rabbits were fed high-cholesterol diets with varying amounts of cocoa and later the main blood vessels to their hearts were cut out and examined. The University of California, San Francisco, confirmed in a statement that it was conducting a Mars-funded study of the potential health benefits of cocoa flavanols involving testing on rats. "UCSF takes seriously the responsibility of working with animals and is committed to maintaining the highest standard of humane treatment in animal care and use," Clifford Roberts, interim associate vice chancellor for research said in the statement. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

Meet the newest member of the Kim family.  I'll add his stats (dob, weight, name, etc.) once his family has made a formal announcement.  Often newborns are not the cutest, and I'm not sure if it's because this tiny guy is part of one of my nearest and dearest friends, but I am really overwhelmed by how cute he is.

If you're going on a cruise, I would recommend Royal Caribbean. Their level of service, cleanliness, on-board entertainment, and food is amazing. This was our third time cruising with them and we had the best time ever! The weather was gorgeous. One evening as the sun set, a full moon rose at the same time while dolphins swam next to our ship, the "Serenade of the Seas". Guiltily I must admit, my favorite time was spent on the ship. This cruise was an incentive trip we earned earlier this year. Can't wait to see what the company has planned for our next incentive! Interested in coming on the next trip? It's always more fun going with friends (old and new). Here's a quick slideshow of a few of the pictures I snapped with my Treo phone... Enjoy (you can turn the sound off by clicking the speaker icon) Places we visited were Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallerta. The last two ports were wonderful and I'd be tempted to fly to PV again for a short vacation. The food and people were lovely there. The other two cruises we went on were to the Caribbean (The Bahamas and Jamaica) and Alaska (Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan). Hopefully the next cruise will be aboard the new ship "Freedom of the Seas". Our ship the Serenade was twice the size of the Titanic and Freedom is twice the size of the Serenade! They have an ice skating rink, boxing ring, shopping mall, rock climbing wall, wave pool to surf (yes, that's right surf!), and so much more. Oh yeah, one of the best acts on the ship was an excellent magic show by a magician named Chad Chesmark. He and his show was beyond amazing and I had a stomach ache for the rest of the night from laughing so much! Though this cruise was a gift from the company I work with and partly a vacation, there was an informative and interesting health and business workshop held every day on the ship. Of course it was optional and part of the luxury was being able to watch it in our room!

One of my dearest and oldest friends will soon be a mother. To celebrate her lucky golden piggie, we held a celebration with her closest friends and family at the beautiful Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. The food was pretty and delicious, but what really made it special was the impeccable and absolutely wonderful service the staff at the hotel provided. The baby shower was held on the second floor in the Promenade Room. I noticed each of the banquet rooms there had a peep hole in the door that let you see who was inside. One of the staff people noticed I was peering through the wrong side of our opened door and allowed me to take a peek in the other rooms. (None that were occupied...because that would be weird, right >_o )

A friend of mine sent a "Funky Sock Exchange" letter to me a few weeks ago. It was reminscent of the "Dish Towel Exchange" many of our mothers did during the 70's and 80's. Similar to a chain letter without the threat of bad luck, death, or involving money of any sort, this exchange, should someone decide to participate (optional, of course) would yield 36 pairs of funky socks from all over the place within a few weeks.

So far I've received two pairs of socks - one from San Antonio, Texas and another from San Ramon, California. This is the first time I've ever participated in one of these and it's been surprisingly fun!

If you'd like to participate, please send me an email at jeanette337 at gmail.com. Please keep in mind that funky is meant to mean "cool" or "stylish", not foul in odor.

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funky

adjective
1. offensively malodorous; "a foul odor"; "the kitchen smelled really funky" [syn: fetid]
2. (of jazz) having the soulful feeling of early blues
3. stylish and modern in an unconventional way; "she likes funky clothes"; "we did it all in black and white in a very funky sixties style"
4. in a state of cowardly fright

The Secret based on The Law of Attraction is one definitely worth watching. If you're in the Bay Area and interested in watching the DVD, please let me know. My friends and I set up viewings once a month. Of course, you can watch it online or purchase it through http://thesecret.tv, but sometimes it's more interesting to watch it with like-minded people. This video and book was recently featured on Larry King and Oprah.

Last Saturday on the 27th of January, my wonderful and dear friend, Sophie (who has thrown a birthday celebration for me every year that I've known her!) hosted a fabulous dinner with an unending array of dishes presented family style at Buca di Bepo (sp?) in Palo Alto for both Mina and me! Although dessert was to be included, she went out of her way to pick up a cake from one of my favorite bakeries. To make it even better she chose the white vanilla fluff frosting which I adore!! It was like biting into vanilla clouds with a slight hint of coconut... >_< so good!

I actually thought dinner was going to be a simple affair with everyone sitting down to a meal, but it was much more fun with all the different dishes to try, the diverse company and interesting conversations going around the table. I am really blessed to have such truly special people as friends.

After visiting a handful of properties, it's apparent more than ever, that it's necessary to view the property in person and not make judgements based on the images posted on the MLS. Listing agents are either getting better at angling their shots or using Photoshop really well. I have a few friends also looking to purchase homes, some even for the first time.

One of the benefits of working with a friend who's a realtor and understands the finance side of the purchase is she's upfront about the difference between affording and qualifying. Property tax, maintenance, utilities, and other general living expenses, plus having enough to invest in either other ventures or the market allows us to expand our portfolio and make more investments.

One of our friends from Oklahoma sent us the most heavenly pieces of dark chocolate truffles! I would not be able to describe how decadent and delicious they are. They arrived in a modest looking pale wood box and were set in a gold foil tray wrapped beautifully in red tissue. Each of the 15 pieces of chocolate were well dusted with cocoa powder and melted almost instantly on the tongue. Every bite flooded the mouth with the most intense rich chocolate taste.

Yes, if I ever had to choose death by chocolate, I would choose to do so with these tiny pieces of happiness... (I'm speaking figuratively and not literally, of course.)

This past Wednesday evening was spent celebrating the birthdays of two friends, Nao and Carla. I met both of them earlier this year at a beautiful and elaborate dinner party hosted by one of Naoki's fellow Toastmaster friends, Fumie. My dear friend, Sophie (she decorated the table and created the lovely party favors!), and I attended Carla and Andre's housewarming party this summer and met up with Nao again. Good friendships keep us all young and healthy!

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Gerald Ellison, Ph.D., director of Psychoneuroimmunology Services at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is another proponent of friendship for managing stress. He observed,

"Friends keep us from becoming isolated and lonely; they offer encouragement and support; and they help keep our thinking in line with the real world... When we're missing friendship, we experience isolation and loneliness. These feelings are associated with illness, discomfort, and general ineffectiveness as a person... Having friends can also be especially helpful if you're already seriously ill... Friends--if supportive and encouraging--can increase our hope when dealing with illness and trauma. And increased hope is associated with higher levels of immune system functioning."

Summary:
Friendship is a sound prescription in times of stress, for both our emotional and physical health. Dr. Ellison's statement seems a fitting summary:

"Friends--if supportive and encouraging--can increase our hope when dealing with illness and trauma. And increased hope is associated with higher levels of immune system functioning."

I've watched "The Secret" DVD three times now (actually 2.5 times - the first time was on our Alaskan cruise in their theatre. I'd fallen asleep after staying up late one too many nights in a row.) Every time I've watched it, I've come away with something new. All of it good in my opinion.

This documentary-style movie stirred up a lot of buzz within our group of friends, colleagues and also online with many of the Yahoo Groups I'm a part of. If you haven't seen it yet, it's something I would highly recommend be watched to my family and friends.

If you live nearby me (in San Jose, California) and are interested in watching it, please let me know. You can also go online and view it yourself for $4.95 at http://www.theSecret.tv or purchase it via that site or at Amazon.

There's something about the sound of laughter that's contagious, especially when it comes from a baby. Have you ever laughed so hard it hurt? The worst/best is when you can't stop laughing. I don't know how that affects health, but some of my favorite memories are of times like those. A few of my good friends have the best laughs, which are sometimes peppered with snorts as they try to catch their breath.

I love it when people laugh with abandon!

There are always treasures to be found at each of the local farmers markets in the Bay Area. Today was our first time exploring the one held in downtown Campbell. We decided last Sunday while at Santana Row's Farmers we'd follow one of the friends we made at the Twin Girls Organic Fruit Stand to his new location and purchase some of their fresh pressed, organic pomegranate juice. As usual, we arrived 30 minutes to closing. We found our friend, Isaias, and puchased a bag full of Fuyu persimmons, red/black pluots, two pomegranates (cracked, how Naoki likes them), and two bottles of the pom juice.

If you've ever tried and liked POM at your local grocers, you will LOVE Twin Girls freshly pressed pomegranate juice! The first sip will make you pucker, but after your initial taste it really becomes so deliciously sweet. It would make for a wonderful popscicle, drizzled atop vanilla ice cream or even a fruity vinegarette dressing. One thing to keep in mind though, it's best to drink it in a small glass. While it is preferable to drink after it's just been pressed, it does contain a high amount of sugar. There's also a potent amount of antioxidants, but a little does go a long way.

More on the health benefits of these jeweled fruit -

- High in potassium, vitamin C, folic acid, fiber and polyphenols
- lowers risk of heart disease by preventing the formation of plaque
- preserves nitric oxide, a chemical that regulates blood flow and maintains healthy blood vessel health
- combats free radicals that may cause stroke, hypertension and Alzheimer’s disease
- high levels of antioxidants may prevent premature aging
- polyphenols may slow or even prevent the development of cancer