Spaghetti Carbonara

Since it's the weekend I thought I'd write about something different.

I enjoy good food. I am the kind that will not hesitate to try places where people recommend there's good food, no matter how far. I will plan for it and eventually try.

But I don't just love looking for good food. I also love making them.

Cooking and baking (besides shopping of course) is therapeutic for me. 

Unfortunately, as ChairWoman, I only get to do this on weekends. But that's ok. Weekdays I get good food from mom whose an even better cook! (Ya ya I saw your eyes go green with envy..)

And this is amongst my favorite dish to make simply because my boys love it so much and...it's pretty easy to whip.

I learned this recipe sometime ago watching a TV program hosted by Chef Nik 

Yes the cute one (..but of course. Important motivation. Haha)

If I recall, his father is Italian and this is his Dad's recipe.

This picture could be better but my children were already pestering me to serve. No time for professional photography. That's how good it is! LOL.

Ingredients:

1/3 Pasta of the normal pack (best with Fettucine, Spaghetti or Penne)

Beef bacon (ones with some fat on the side)

Quarter bulb of a large yellow onion

A teaspoon of crushed garlic

1 bay leaf

Cooking Cream

(depends how much gravy and creamy you want it to be but I use about 500 ml)

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan

1 egg yolk

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Boil pasta with a bit of salted butter. El dente. Drain. You don't want mushy pasta in cream sauce (ugh!)

2. Put olive oil in a pan. Put in bay leaf and beef bacon. Saute till brown and slightly crisp at the edges. Add yellow onion till soft.

3. Add garlic. Stir till fragrant

4. Add cream. Medium fire and let simmer

5. Add salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

6. Add pasta and mix

7. Now here's the difficult part. Add lightly beaten egg yolk and stir quickly over slow fire (avoid the sauce from curdling). Take pan off fire and serve

Absolute awesome and easy recipe.

Don't believe me? Ask this boy.

Setting Expectations

I am an Engineer by education. And whilst I have stated in one of my earlier posts that I did not enjoy the subject much, in many ways it has shaped my thinking. More left brain. More structured. 'Square' as a few who knows me inside out would describe.

My grandma on my graduation (me so nerdy!)

We were cool from back then :P

But the non interest in engineering as a subject has also seeded my passion for marketing. The right brain stuff. Not the extreme right but enough to appreciate the right brain thinking and ideas. And a related area that interests me in particular is sociology, the understanding of human behaviour. Malcolm Gladwell's books like Blink, Outliers and his latest David & Goliath are my favourites. It helps me with life in general, understanding my children better, understanding the people I work with. It helps me work on improving my leadership.

And I am fortunate to observe lately that leadership is not just about setting strategies and directions. It is more and one underestimated but very important aspect is setting clear expectations.

Expectations about not just deliverables but mindset, values and behaviour as an individual (especially if you are managers yourselves because what you do and what you say shapes others' mindset!), expectations how people should work together and the list goes on. 

Sometimes we take that for granted. Sometimes we assume people should know. But I have seen almost always, leaders achieve better outcomes when expectations are made clear..and consistent. It's time tested. This video is proof of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WUxb8YB88o

Thinking Big

Ok I'm on a roll but this will be short and easy.

Think Big! I think at times we need this reminder. It's so easy to get sucked into daily routines, issues, limitations and fire fighting in your job that you forget..to think big.

And we may think it's hard to think big if we only know so much. But, you'd be surprised. 

Mind you, thinking big is not the same as a big idea.

But a friend shared this with me about big ideas. Someone said, to test whether an idea is big enough, tell it to someone else. And if the answer is 'Are you out of your mind?'..that's a sure sign it's big (or cuckoo) enough :P

So, this is a public service announcement. The next task you get, think big and see what you come out with.


Picture courtesy of Google Images

What have we done for our country lately?

So I had 'fans' who noticed I haven't written in days..more than 10 days to be exact. Truth is  I have been 'busy inspired' (I'll tell you what that means) but also uninspired to write. Takde mood lah! as a typical Malaysian would say. Anyways, 'busy inspired' is a term I coined for myself when work is overwhelming but in an interesting, inspiring way that it gets me so preoccupied, I pretty much don't do any philosophical observations about anything. No reflections, no stories so no writing. But I am back today!  

It's also been a busy week of reading and watching more news, speculations, theories and stumbling upon social 'pop up aviation experts'. Admittedly, some of the comments I read from so-called 'Malaysians' and neighbors alike made me feel angry (pissed off is more like it) and even disgusted.

I had an interesting discussion with a bunch of people from diverse career backgrounds and nationalities earlier this week. There seems to be a common observation that Malaysians have become a bunch of whiners and complainers. We are unhappy over everything and do not talk enough of the good things. Now, some of you will relate this to politics but put that aside for now, this is beyond politics. Try and do a bit of 'social listening' *read trolling through social media like FB, Twitter* and I think you would agree.

Then someone said that he comes from a country relatively under developed than Malaysia and he asked, when did you guys gain independence? Someone in the group said 1957 (thank God no one got it wrong!). The guy then said, well my country gained independence in the 1950s too and if you guys try to compare where Malaysia is with countries who gained independence about the same time are today, you should be proud of what Malaysia has achieved, how good your life is and how much opportunities your children get.

I didn't do my comparison, intentionally so, because deep inside I want to believe he is right. Because I am proud and whilst I may not be a seasoned traveller like Ian Wright, I too have seen enough places to be proud of where I call home. 

Nationalism is second to religion. If we don't have it, why call ourself a citizen of the country. Look at Japan and how, even when not threatened, wherever they are, they rally behind nationalism. Imagine if you try and threaten them.. But some of us, when the foreign media mocks us, without checking facts or knowing what goes on, we join them in the mockery! Just because it is an opportunity to capitalize on a weak moment. Sad.

It's not that I believe challenging ourselves and others isn't good. I believe in that. I believe we should always challenge the status quo so we don't get complacent. What is bad is bad, what is wrong is wrong but we can do this constructively. And drive that change where you can (even behind keyboards, effectively). But I also believe when something is good, it's got to be acknowledged. This is true in business too.

So, before we utter our next complaint let's ask ourselves. What have we done for our country lately?

Picture courtesy of Google Images

My prayers for MH 370, please Allah show us the answer...

War strategies and business

So I finally watched 300: Rise of Empire. The first 300 movie was very good so when I heard of the new release I wanted to make sure I caught it. No, not for the Greeks in tight underwear..well, not just ;)

I find war tactics and strategies very interesting, particularly the ones that seem so unexpectable. Ok my idea of this topic may not be original if you've heard of or read Tsun Zu's Art of War but this is my take on it. Actually, I have not read the book. Books with obvious titles don't interest me. Yeah yeah I do judge a book by its cover so judge me :P 

Not only from movies but through many conversations I've had with my father, grandfather, uncles and in laws who have been in the line of duty I've heard many stories, tactics and tricks being used in war and battles. Whilst I am impressed by the stories, what amazes me more is what it took to come up with them and this, I'd like to relate to business..

An effective strategy is prolly half in the execution and half in the planning. And planning effectively means a few things and in the case of this movie, it means knowing your opponents and in business, your competition. How big the fleet, how strong the ships, where is its weakest point, who is the general and what is his weakest point (and Themistocles the general's weakest point I knew from the part the movie got slightly cut, you know what I mean). These are just to name a few.

The second important part of planning is knowing your environment and in business context, knowing your market. In this movie, at least two battle strategies made effective use of the environment, the battle at the rocky valleys and the bay. Both 'terrains' naturally trapped the opponents.

Another lesson learnt from 300 and this applies especially to men (I of course pointed it out to my husband), don't ever piss off a woman. The saying 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' must have been said for a reason! 

Prayers

Saddened to hear the news of missing MH370. Someone's husband, wife, parent, child and lover was on board and it's unimaginable what they must be going through.

Let's pray for their safety and stop spreading information for unofficial sources. Social media is a powerful multiplier, let's use it wisely.

What about MBAs

I sometimes get this question. Is an MBA still valued by employers? Will it give any edge to my career? Will I get more salary or faster promotion with an MBA?

Well...yes and no.

Yes, if you think of acquiring an MBA for the actual management knowledge as your purpose. The process of getting the degree is your goal. When you believe that actually learning about all areas of business management from strategy to management accounting and 4Ps of marketing (ok there's 7Ps and 5Cs and many theories we could go on for days..) will be useful as you move up the corporate ladder and have bigger responsibilities.

But....

No, if your actual goal is only about walking up the stage on convocation day and holding a certificate stamped with your name that you later proudly include in your already long resume (primary school qualification, hobby, favourite color... Yes, I'm kidding). Or if you start marching into the boss's office demanding a promotion because you now know PnL actually means profit and loss, not the petite collection of Ralph Lauren.

There was a time when such qualifications did 'entitle' employees to some sort of extra allowance or better salary. I don't quite understand the rationale but I guess it was because such qualified employees were rare then (God I feel old!). But those days are gone.

I acquired mine many moons ago for none of the reasons above but just because I was offered a scholarship to study part time by my employer and well, everybody seemed to be doing it so why not. As icing on the cake, I knew most of the people who would be my course mates I thought it'd be fun. 

Now, studying while working full time and having a family was another thing altogether. It was tough because like everything else I get myself into, I want to do my best and there's just so much hours in a day to juggle everything. My course mates would smirk at this if they read this now because to them it looked like a breeze for me to a point I also had a baby (my third!) during that period. Haha. Super multi tasker eh? 

One of those days..

'Where I am' vs 'Where I'd like to be'

Yes, even as chairwoman. I'm human :)

Moral of the story:
Sometimes, try to see bosses and staff as normal human beings and not just as the boss or employee. It can lead to better understanding and working environment for both sides.

When in doubt go with food

Being Malaysians, we are diverse in our cultural roots and we respect that. However, more so in recent times, as so obviously seen and felt in platforms such as Facebook, there are things that continue to divide us, sadly instigated by many at times, with questionable motives.

But what I have seen unites Malaysians like nothing else is food (yes I hear you, except between Malaysia and Singapore. I even hear they claim Satay is from Singapore now.. Boo!)

We love our food. Doesn't matter which festivity we celebrate (and we do many), the food maketh the season.

And so I find this true in even the toughest business negotiation or conflict. The best way to diffuse a tension is to start a topic on food, and all's forgotten for awhile. The situation gets more relaxed and the understanding of the individuals you are dealing with improves. And things just magically get better even when you come out agreeing to disagree.

Try it when you need to and let me know.

This satay is mine!

Rubber stamp manager

The first time I heard the term 'rubber stamp management/manager' it was directed at me, pointing out a presumption I made which someone wasn't too happy about. Needless to say, it was a valuable lesson but I found humor in the term itself to never forget the incident..

You see, the most effective to way to build a positive, credible reputation at the workplace for ourselves is to consciously make a point to add value to the task we are required to deliver.

Ask ourselves. When something is in hand, are we adding value to it before the final output is delivered? or before it is passed on to the next person? or division? or (and especially..) the boss?!

If we feel our role in something is only a messenger, believe me that should be enough to be insecure about. It's too easy to become irrelevant and redundant from such a role.

I have seen others take it to the extreme. There are those who just declare it and walk out of meetings where they feel they can add no value. Asians are too polite to do this but I believe it is needed sometimes. Time is precious.

So, what is a rubber stamp manager/management and what has this got to do with it? Well, at any level and even more so when you're a boss, you must ensure you are adding value. 

Bosses are not there just to sign a.k.a 'rubber stamp' documents for approval (Most Malay TV drama series to this day portray bosses as doing just that! That is so 80s…). Nor as employees, we should expect our boss to not question us and that they should just approve our papers the moment we send it to them. 

And that was the lesson I learnt that day..many moons ago, when I was a young and eager executive (younger and more eager now :P). Having brought up a paper I presumed is a no-brainer at the last minute, only to find the boss had a view on it and needed time which I did not hide my frustration about. "We are not rubber stamp management" is what he said to me. Thank you DBO. I carry this with me to this day….

Picture courtesy of Google Images