Great cookies

At the Farmers' Market in Mountain View, CA, I bought some really yummy cookies that are made from pure almond meal and no sugar added. These are great for diabetics. Each cookie contains 10 grams of fat, but good fat of almond.

http://www.natashashealthnutcookies.com/index.php

Tips from Devon Cass Class

Recently, I've become interested in photography. I took a class at CSC 2007 with Devon Cass. Here are some tips for men I learned.

Foundation: Mac studio fix provides full coverage. No powder is required. For men, it can be applied around eyes' corner to take away many years.

Clothing: no pattern, no white. Classic neckline.

For women, here are some short tips:

Eyebrows are very important and need to be finished off evenly on both side.

Eye Shadow: For day look, use light eye shadow, pressing harder at arch brow bone. Colors: brown = night divine charcoal, black = carbon night shadow.

Contouring: start at mide ear and brush down to accentuate cheek bone line.

A pleasant weekend

This past weekend was quite pleasant and relaxing. The voice lesson on Saturday was very helpful technically. I feel that I'm now making some progress on inhibiting the muscle tension in the tounge with the start of a sound.

I also saw Shrek 3 this weekend. The movie contains many great concepts but the writing for the ending was weak. I wonder how such a top notch studio would turn out a product that was definitely less than the first two installments. It could have been much better.

I also helped plant a purple Bougainvillea by the side of the house. Attached to a wood mesh, the Bougainvillea, currently green and leafy, will hopefully fill out the side wall with some beautiful flowers soon.

Back to the Basics

Sarah and I decided that we should work on the basics of vocal production again. I've been holding much of the tension in the tounge. Therefore, that's where we begin.

First, place one finger inside the mouth, underneath the tounge by the base or on either side. Second, use a finger from the other hand to press up underneath the chin so that the two fingers should feel as if there were touching, only separated by the skin. Third, vocalize on the sound "ah" without the tounge muscle tensing. The fingers will monitor, for any tounge tension will cause the muscle tension between the two fingers.

Another exercise is the "nga...." vocal starter. Thinking of a tall egg being at the back of the mouth seems to help.

Execute these exercises 3 times a day. This is this week's lesson.

First Time in San Francisco

After the Classical Singer Convention, I moved from Sir Francis Drake hotel near Union Square to the Omni Hotel by China Town. And, how glad I am now that I did move! Only a few blocks away, the feel of the city was quite different. The Omni was a wonderful hotel with excellent staff, all so friendly and helpful. The room was spacious and decors were pleasing. The bathroom was large and well decorated. The invigorating walk up and down the steep hills paid off handsomely. As I walked along dragging my carry-on luggage, an older couples were also on their way uphills with their luggages. She sighed, "Ah, my back!". I couldn't help but smiled as I personally thought, which could be considered sadistic by some, that the walk was fun!

So I heard that San Francisco is food heaven. Fortunately, I found "House of Nanking", my personally all-time favorite Chinese restaurant. Occupying a small and modest space in China Town, the wait queue was way out the door at 4pm in the afternoon. Service was fast and the food was a wonderful treat to the taste buds. Pictures of celebrities on the wall with the chef added a nice touch.

The next 2 days I enjoyed the company of my dear friends. We saw the production of "The Merry Widow" by West Bay Opera in Palo Alto, in which one of our friends was singing in the chorus. We drove around San Francisco. We visited the racy club Asia SF. We weathered the heavy, cold wind at the mountain top absorbing the majectic sights of the Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz, and the distant San Francisco skyscrapers. We visited Sonoma Valley for wine tasting. In a short time, we visited Chateau St. Jean, Arrowood and Viansa vineyards. Viansa was the first vineyard into the valley with visitor information house. An outdoor concert was playing while Viansa's visitors are tasting wines and enjoying the warm sunlight. Arrowood is the place for wonderful wines where I discovered the Special Select Last Harvest White Riesling. I don't drink very much. But, this dessert wine is simply amazing, riched in aroma and fruity flavors of apricot and peach. Chateau St. Jean was a big tourist destination with its beautiful landscape. We sat in a rocking chair in the beautiful garden under and big lush pine tree, enjoying the cool breeze in the warm summer day.

San Francisco is really a beautiful place to visit. I wish I had a few more days to enjoy the food and culture there. Next time...