Monday, April 25, 2011

On teachers, foes and friends

I wonder sometimes why is it that time passing tends to turn our past experiences upside down and shine a new light on what REALLY was learned.
During my childhood I was not very much open to feedback (case to point- picture of me at 13 with my grandmother). Over the past 30 years, things have clearly changed.

Lesson 1- turning students into teachers
As I think about my past teachers I realize that some of them did not intend to teach me anything at all, and some just wanted to reaffirm themselves maybe. For example, back in 2006 I tried to teach at a small all girls college in Chicago. Heavens only knows why I thought I qualified (oh, yes, of course, I thought that having an MBA qualifies one for practically any job). Teaching just one semester shed a light on the fact that I never wanted to teach again, simply because in my cockiness I did not realize that teaching requires infinite patience, ability to listen to the silence in the classroom and perseverance in understanding why is it that some of my students struggled. In my naivete I thought that I was bestowing my infinite business wisdom on girls. Instead they thought me about my own shortcomings.

Lesson 2 - foe turned friend
During my corporate career I've had many bosses, but one in particular was constantly there to point out my mistakes stemming from my lack of attention to detail, rushed judgement and excessive enthusiasm for my projects. At the time of course, I thought she was a total witch and complained to my poor husband excessively. I thank my stars for having to report to this person til this day because while she was very demanding, she was also bright, no nonsense marketer who was down to earth and infinitely cool. Also, she made me far better marketer than I ever hoped to be.

Lesson 3 - Humbling dancing experiences (still ongoing)
After visiting Buenos Aires for the first time last July I thought that learning to dance tango would be a "cool thing to do". I love dancing (God did not give the gift of gracefulness though) and learning to dance was always something i had to prove to myself I could do easily. So, armed with a new pair of tango shoes I marched into a local dance school prepared to take a lesson and amaze everyone with my excellent steps. Needless to say that with such technically demanding dance as tango, here I am 8 months later, having only slightly better movements and body coordination. I dress up for the milongas (tango dances), have two more pairs of shoes and even get to dance once in a great while. Most of the time though I sit on my royal behind and play Angry Birds when everyone else around me is dancing. Maybe one day I will dance with a real partner, not mostly with my imaginary friends. But for now- I am armed with humbleness, patience etc..... this was not an entirely true statement, but I am trying to live up to these virtues.
So, I am raising a toast of herbal tea (it is Monday night after all which means no drinking for me because of my self- imposed calorie counting adventure) to all of the teachers, whether they intended to teach me or no.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Happy Passover and reconnecting with my roots

Growing up I never realized that being Jewish is not the same as being Ukrainan, in other words not a nationality but a religion.. My grandmother had Jewish in her passport under nationality. You were supposed to take your passport everywhere, as a form of identification, sort of like Drivers' license. Except Grandma did not drive (at least not the car, however she drove us crazy most of the time). Every time Grandma had to show her passport, she would get a range of facial expressions from the government officials when they saw Jewish inside the front cover- from smirk to silent hatred and to a knowing sad smile. I did not have Jewish for nationality in my passport- I was apparently "Russian". This was done because my grandma and mom believed that my chances for success in life will be greatly increased if indeed I kept my Jewish roots closeted. I however, relished my Jewish-ness- I told everyone in school and then in university that I was in fact among the chosen ones. My mom and grandma did not approve of such behavior and no wonder- they after all lived through times when Stalin, in the fit of last minute madness decided to expatriate all Jewish people to sort of a gulag. Thank God he died before he could commit further evils. Mom and Gradma believed in being silent Jews- all high holidays were celebrated at home, behind closed doors, mostly with food and drink.
Until I came to the US I never have been to the Synagogue or really understood the meaning of Passover. And yet, I know that it's been with me all along through my childhood- through my grandma's stories of her childhood, through delicious stuffed fish that she made every Passover, through the candle she burned quietly by the dark windows during Hanukkah. Now that Grandma is gone, Passover is even more important for me- a way to remember my grandmother, to taste her delicious fish and to even remember how she in her heart loved everyone. That is why we would celebrate Christian holidays too- with painted eggs (always painted by the natural color from onion peel) and cone shaped fluffy columns of Easter pastries Grandma made (never with sprinkles on top because those are bad for me)!
Happy Passover everyone (and Grandma!)

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Daily Indulgences

I believe in doing something good for myself every day: whatever it is that feels "good" on that particular day. So, today I got really lucky- not one, but two things felt really good
1. Work out at noon
2. Making a lentil soup (recipe from Food and Wine magazine).
Cherry on top? Re-runs of the "America's Next Top Model" of course!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Japanese candies with Russian accent



A friend brought box of hard candies from Japan recently as a gift for me. We have similar background (we were born in the Ukraine during Soviet times and have watched the same cartoons etc growing up). Imagine my surprise when the box that she brought for me featured Cheburashka, a creature with giant fan like ears and adorable eyes of a beagle puppy. What's up with Japanese obsession with Soviet characters?? In case you're wondering what this mythical Cheburashka does- he sings! He looks on adorably! He fans his ears! He lives with an older man (yes, he does, with a Crocodile!). He does your taxes...(not really). Check out this YouTube video of vintage Cheburashka

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Katie Meets Ina Pinkney, the breakfast queen from Chicago's West Loop


On Saturday, 4/9 I participated in a Coleman Entrepreneurship Events at Lexington College in Chicago. The topic was "Success as a Food entrepreneur and how to reach it". As one of the panel participants I was happy to share my insights, but at the same time I feel that success for me is still work in progress. I love these events, because it gives me an opportunity to meet other women entrepreneurs who are generously sharing their ideas and experiences. We can all learn from each other, that's for sure!
While there I finally had a chance to meet legendary Ina Pinkney of Chicago. Her restaurant, Ina's is located in Chicago's West loop and serves breakfast only. Ina's restaurant was featured repeatedly in Vogue, Top Chef, the Chicago Tribune, New York Times and many other publications. My favorite Ina's saying now is "It's not that your ideas are bad, it's just that mine are better!"

Inspirations from Belgium and Buenos aires


Recently my travels took me to some wonderful locations- Brugge (the capital of excellent chocolates). Antwerpen, Amsterdam and finally Buenos Aires, Argentina. While exploring these wonderful places I could not help but take pictures of delicious candy and food displays. Needless to say I came back simply overwhelmed with all of the ideas for future caramel packaging and flavors. Enjoy my pictures!