Product Review: Nespresso U

Over the weekend, my husband and I realized we had credit at Crate and Barrel that had just been sitting there, combined with the fact that we've been talking about a Nespresso for over a year. We'd tried Nespresso at my brother's house (they have the DeLonghi Lattisima Plus) and at a friend's house (I believe they have the Essenza).

So, we bit the bullet and ordered the Nespresso U Bundle with Aeroccino. It arrived Saturday and we are completely in love with it! We immediately set it up and each had a cappuccino. It was easy to use, and the Aeroccino made perfect steamed frothed milk.

Since I don't drink much caffeine due to being pregnant, this morning I chose a decaf capsule, added 2 pumps of vanilla Torani syrup, and some frothed milk. Delicious decaf vanilla cappuccino!!!

We also happen to have a Keurig, which isn't going anywhere. Being Italian, there is definite use for both a coffee machine and an espresso machine. Plus, with a baby on the way come January, I am sure there will be a need for caffeine in multiple forms shortly!

Has anyone else out there tried the Nespresso?

Leadership Development: Lean into the Fail

This past weekend I spent a few hours helping our Booz Allen team run a pilot of our digital leadership simulation with the Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School (TCPNS). Participants included members of their board, staff and membership. The simulation was originally conceived as a board game and has now been turned into a digital format that is played on iPads with a facilitator at each table. Each group competes for value points while having discussions about the decisions and risks they are currently facing or could face in the future.

Throughout the simulation, we take breaks to debrief what's going on. During the first debrief, one of the board members started talking about the importance of learning from failing or from when something doesn't go as planned. So I added "so we need to learn to lean into the fail."

Apparently, that one statement had a huge impact on the day! Lesley Romanoff, Director and Teacher at TPCNS, wrote this blog about the concept of leaning into failure rather than avoiding it like the plague.

Blog Post: http://takomacooperativeschool.org/2013/11/lean-into-the-fail/

 

The point is an interesting one. We teach our children to learn from failure. We teach them science experiments, and when something doesn't go right we explain that most of science experiments will not work but it leads you closer to the right answer.

And yet, as adults, failure is seen as a bad thing. Yes, we are told to learn from it and not make the same mistake twice, and yet it is still taboo to fail in the workplace, or at home, or with friends.

In the blog post by Lesley, she talks about taking her class out into the woods to explore an old fallen tree. The morning class had a bit of a "failure" and then she repeated the exploration with her afternoon class, utilizing what she learned from the first trip!

I hope you enjoy her blog. And for more information about our Digital Leadership Challenge Simulation, leave a comment and I'll get you in touch with our team.

Crockpot Dinner: Sweet and Sour Chicken

Tonight we have a bit of an Asian theme going on for dinner. I decided to try making Clinton Kelly's version of sweet and sour chicken in the crockpot, but I had to make some adjustments to the recipe. Most importantly, I thought I had orange marmalade....turns out I had apricot (it was in German and I didn't know any better). So I put in some of that, and added in a clementine plus it's peel to help up the orange flavor. I also didn't brown the chicken, which will make a difference, but being 31 weeks pregnant, it just wasn't a top priority for me today.

Here's the recipe I ended up actually making. I had to use the picture from The Chew's website, because we ate most of it! Ours didn't end up as caramelized, but it was still delicious!



Ingredients:

• 1 package of chicken thighs
• Salt
• freshly cracked Black Pepper
• About 6 oz Apricot Jam
• 1 clementine (peel plus the juice - could have used more but that's all I had)
• 3 tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 3 tablespoons BBQ Sauce
• 3 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Red Chile Flakes
• 1 inch Fresh Ginger (peeled and sliced into coins)
• 2 carrots, in large chunks
• 1/2 package of mushrooms, halved
• 1-2 scallions (sliced on bias)

Directions:

1. Place the chicken in the bottom of the crockpot, and add salt and pepper
2. Mix together the jam, soy sauce, BBQ sauce, rice vinegar, chili flakes, ginger, and the clementine juice and peel
3. Pour the mixture over the chicken
4. Cook on low 2-3 hours or high 5-6 hours
5. About 1/2 hour before the end of cooking, add in the mushrooms and carrots
6. After it's cooked, serve over rice with the scallions

I also served it with Szechuan green beans with oil, garlic, ginger, crushed red pepper, a bit of soy sauce, a bit of rice vinegar, and some salt.

What's your favorite slow cooker recipe?