Toluu

www.svmoms.com

A Byte of Silicon Valley Life

Overcoming my fear of cooking, at a Silicon Valley Indian MarketYesterday

"Twas the day before Thanksgiving, and a little voice inside me said, "Jill, it is time to cook, It is time to be adventurous with your cooking.  It is time to get over your fear of cooking and JUST DO IT.".  You see, my mother owns Thanksgiving, meaning that she does all the cooking and entertaining this one day of the year.  Yes, she owns the holiday (don't even ask...).  I don't even think about cooking or inviting friends and family over to our house on this holiday  It is off limits.  Which is probably a good thing, because I have this awful fear of cooking.  While it might be creative and fun for most of you, it is utterly stressful for me.  I can't even get passed opening the pages of the cookbook.  The panic just sets in LOOKING at the cookbook.

Mind you, with the best intentions to cook, I have an entire collection of unopened, unused cookbooks.  Purchasing the cookbooks is NOT my issue... it is the cooking part that stumps me.

Over the past year, the number of Gluten Free cookbooks have increased in the Asher home.  It is almost one year to date that I became gluten free.  The doctors have tested me for gluten allergies and Celiac, but everything has come back negati

"I'm Not a Bad Guy, I'm the Prince!"Yesterday

What mother doesn't want to hear her little boy utter these words? In a world where our boys are learning to use violence indiscriminately from TV, movies, and video games (even from 30 second trailers with violent images!), one of my biggest fears for my son was that he would learn to use violence to get what he wants, regardless of whether it hurt someone else or not. That he wouldn't be able to distinguish between "bad guy" violence and "good guy" violence. So when I first heard him state vehemently to his twin sister that he is a good guy and not a bad guy my mother heart rejoiced. Yes! I'm raising a prince who wants to protect others not hurt them. All my efforts at keeping violent images away from my children and being vigilant about what they watch on TV, as well as teaching them that it's not okay to hurt others, is paying off!

Some would argue that any violence is bad. And before I had my children I was one of them. But in spite of my pre-mom belief that boys can and should be raised to never use violence and that I would never buy my son a toy gun, I have been humbled by the power of male versus female biology. My son is all boy, in spite of the fact that he has dolls and kitchen toys and girlie dresses to play w

The Dog FightYesterday

When I was born, we had a host of dogs.  We lived on a farm and shared our lives with pet dogs, hunting dogs, herding dogs… work dogs, and play dogs.  Our beagle had puppies on my fourth birthday, and I remember that with such excitement that it’s hard to believe over thirty years have passed since.  My family downsized over time, moving off of the farm and into a town, but the furry companions remained with us through the years.  My parents’ youngest dog, a toy poodle named Molly (pictured), is the same age as my daughter (8), and they used to play together in the crib.  There’s no question that my daughter, Petunia, inherited almost every single thing from her father: big brown eyes, charisma, the ability make me laugh even if I’m angry… But from me, she inherited a very big love for animals, especially dogs. 

I have wanted to adopt a dog into our family since Petunia enjoyed Molly at birth, but life always seemed to conspire against us.  First I was working, and in graduate school, and no one could spend the time training a dog.  Then I was pregnant with our son Dash, and we thought it might be too much to add a dog to the family with a new baby coming on its heels.  Even when my parents

Has the world gone insane? A “black” Friday indeed.November 30

I’ll admit, we were at Sears Friday morning for Black Friday. We knew what we wanted, we found a great deal and we woke up insanely early Friday morning to go shopping.  My husband and I don’t normally shop on Black Friday, but we did this year and it was actually fun. But while we were there, we saw one middle-aged gentleman LOSING IT because he had to wait 10 minutes to get his TV. I mean, the guy was STEAMED. Come on, dude, it’s 10 minutes.  Big deal.  And it was obvious the employees were stressed, busy and doing the best they could.  I wanted to tell him to chill out, but I was afraid he might knock me out instead.

Then we got home and my sister shared this story with me (read it here).  A Walmart employee in Long Island was trampled to death by crazed shoppers when the doors opened at 5:00 am. Four shoppers, including an 8-month pregnant woman, were also injured.  It made me sick to my stomach.  I thought the guy we saw at Sears was out of line, but apparen

Why I Love our Speaker SeriesNovember 29

Once a month, for an hour and a half, I get to be a thinking adult again. Of course, I use my brain when I work, but that's a very part-time arrangement and this is different. When my hubby and I go to our monthly speaker series (called "Celebrity Forum") at De Anza College, we're transported. For an hour and a bit, we get to listen to fascinating people talk about their lives, their work, and their passions. They share tales of engagement with the world, of careers in the arts, media and politics that truly give me a window into the lives of other people. On those random Wednesday nights once a month, I feel totally removed from my daily reality of two screaming, tussling, giggling preschoolers that it's like I've hopped a rocket ship and sped off to a faraway planet.

A few nights ago, we got to listen to the actor Martin Sheen speak about life, politics, religion, acting, families, addiction, fatherhood and even funnily, memory loss.

He told a hilarious story about seeing a woman at an event recently who said, "Hi Martin!". He didn't recognize her, so she finally said, "Don't you know who I am?" He had to sheepishly admit that he didn't. She said, "I'm Paula Abdul and