Homemade Pesto Sauce

Perhaps its watching too many episodes of MasterChef; but, I felt inspired this past weekend to start cooking the majority of my meals, from scratch no less. Usually, my lunch meals consist of microwave dinners with less than 20% sodium (it's tough, but there are a few out there). My suppers are grilled meat and cheese sandwiches with a piece of fruit. Yet, last weekend, I checked out a couple of vegetarian cookbooks and went grocery shopping for vegetables and spices. My choice of vegetarian is simply because meat completely confuses me. I'm afraid it's undercooked and then I overcompensate to toughness. And, really, how does one thaw out frozen meat? After thawing, how long is it good in the fridge?

Sunday, I began by cooking something I've become proficient at - curry chicken. Thai Fresh sells a variety of curry spice mixes; and, they are delicious! The yellow and masaman curries are the mildest. The red curries are the next spiciest with the green curries barely edible due to the fire on one's lips. Coupled with brown Basmati rice, that fed me for three meals, which meant I needed to cook again tonight.

MasterChef Gordon Ramsey has been known to advise - "don't over complicate it". Usually, I try to use everything in my fridge at once and make some amazing concoction (which rarely succeeds). So, I started simple by cooking spaghetti noodles and steaming broccoli and carrots. My attempt at something new - homemade pesto sauce. The recipes looked deceptively simple - basil, garlic, parmesan, nuts, olive oil, all thrown into a blender. My kitchen contained basil, garlic and olive oil. I wasn't crazy about the nuts; but, would crumbled blue cheese suffice? I threw it all in the blender (sans nuts); and, waa-laa! "Have you tasted it?" Gordon Ramsey echoed in my head. A lick of the spatula was rather bland with a strong garlic aftertaste. Maybe some more greens? In went cilantro. The recipes also recommended adding salt to taste, another quick addition before hitting the mince button. The final pesto effect - too salty and then too garlicky.

Yet, I plopped steamed veggies on top of al dente spaghetti and drizzled the pesto sauce over the top. It looked pretty forlorn on the plate. Piling the rest of the plate with spinach and blueberries made everything look much more appetizing. My hopes were pretty low as I sampled the pasta. Yet, amazingly, it was delicious!

Indra Nooyi, CEO/Chairman of PepsiCo, speaking at UT's VIP Distinguished Speaker Series, Sep 16, 2010

Two and a half years as a graduate business student gave me a new cast of superstars. Now I understand the wit of a cameo by Jack Welch in the comedy series “30 Rock”; I am thoroughly impressed by Sony’s British CEO Howard Stringer; and, I even have respect for Austin’s hometown hero, Michael Dell. However, throughout my degree, the dearth of women top executives surprised me.  Meg Whitman of ebay, Carol Bartz of Yahoo and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo were three women that I learned about outside of my degree. When I heard that one of these women would be speaking in Austin, I had to attend!

Gracefully taking the stage in a classic black dress with iridescent silver jacket, Indra Nooyi looked smaller than I imagined. However, she captured the audience of mostly UT business students with her engaging manner. As part of UT’s VIP Distinguished Speaker Series, Dean Tom Gilligan interviewed Nooyi for the first half hour. Then, the floor was open for student questions.

She spoke of her first job. Hired as a brand manager, Nooyi was given a desk and a cabinet stuffed with information from her predecessor. “Figure it out yourself.” She took charge, organizing that cabinet, cataloging the brands she was managing, and learning about the jobs of all the people making those products. From this experience, Nooyi encouraged us to (1) sweat the details; and, (2) learn to go deep in knowledge.

Nooyi provided many tidbits for these students going out into the business world:

-          “Focus on the job you’re doing; don’t run for office.” Nooyi’s grandfather

-          Instill confidence in the people for whom you work. Confidence that your work has been so perfected and checked that they do not need to check it.

-          Investigate how your position impacts others and build those linkages. “Together we can do better by the company.”

-          Learn from your mistakes.

-          Provide appropriate feedback to your direct reports so that they know where they stand. It is a direct reflection of your own leadership skills.

-          The 5 C’s that she’s looking for: Competence (raw intelligence – “damn good at something”); Confidence (tell me your point of view); Communication; Consistency (do you defend your beliefs? Or, are you wishy-washy?); moral Compass (integrity).

Regarding PepsiCo, Nooyi reminisced on her interview process. When she started looking at other opportunities in 1994, several companies wanted Nooyi, including PepsiCo and GE. PepsiCo’s chairman/CEO, Wayne Calloway, was also on the board of directors at GE. The day Jack Welch announced to the board that Nooyi would probably be joining GE, Wayne Calloway called to convince her otherwise. He said that GE was a wonderful company; but, PepsiCo needed Nooyi more because she was a foreign born woman from a completely different industry.

Today, Nooyi proudly promotes the PepsiCo company culture as a “can do spirit coupled with must do responsibility”. As CEO, “I am PepsiCo, the company, so, if I don’t like something, I change it!” Nooyi expounded on the relationship between big companies and countries. Companies, as limited liabilities, owe society a duty of care. Toward this end, PepsiCo’s purpose is “Performance with Purpose”. The three main tenets of this purpose are (1) human sustainability, (2) environmental sustainability, and (3) talent sustainability.

In the area of human sustainability, PepsiCo has branched into healthier foods and beverages. The acquisitions of Tropicana and Quaker Oats has significantly increased PepsiCo’s nutritious portfolio. In the case of Tropicana, PepsiCo also expanded into a different daily segment – beverages consumed before 10 a.m.

Nooyi’s own childhood in water starved Madras has influenced PepsiCo’s environmental sustainability. PepsiCo plants strive to be water neutral.

Sustaining talent at PepsiCo is part of a long term development program. By looking out ten years with their employees, PepsiCo can plan backward to make sure their employees meet their professional and personal goals.

One student asked about the Pepsi Refresh program. In 2010, PepsiCo pulled their Super Bowl advertising and used that money toward grants. Each month, seventeen grants are awarded for grassroots projects. The funding ranges from $5000 to $250,000. PepsiCo will return to advertising during Super Bowl 2011.

Nooyi closed by answering a question regarding leadership qualities. She spoke of feeling PepsiCo everyday, of running it intellectually but with a human touch. In an endearing illustration, Nooyi related writing to the parents of her direct reports to tell them what a wonderful job their children were doing and to thank them.  Yet, pragmatically, Nooyi now has advocates in those parents to keep their children on the job. ;)

Grupo Fantasma - Mohawk - Aug 27, 2010

Friday evening was actually cool! When I walked out of my house with my bicycle, I considered taking a jacket. 86 is cool in August in Texas. Yet, I'm still a girl going to a bar on my bike; and, I decided against carrying around one more thing all evening.

The cruise down 12th street was pleasant until the sidewalk suddenly ended in stairs. I stopped in time. However, my bike light and bicycle chain fell off. It was time to get dirty, as I flipped the bike over to get the chain back on. My hands and arms were covered in grease. I rubbed them against the brown grass in the dirt along the sidewalk--slightly better. Just a few more blocks to the Mohawk.

Upon arrival at the Mohawk, a terrible band was playing. We verified with the bouncer that the band was not Grupo Fantasma. It was a bit painful to pay $17 cover with the awful noise. We walked outside to check out the crowd and search for a few friends. The outdoor venue is spacious. A raised area looks down on the stage from the right; and, a balcony over the entrance faces the stage. There are at least four bar areas - one inside and three outside (main level, raised area and balcony). Beside the great views from all the different levels, there is seating! On the ground level, a bench stretches across the fence bordering Red River. The raised area and balconies have numerous plastic chairs.

Our friends had sweet spots along the railing on the raised area to the right of the stage. We squeezed in and watched Grupo set up below us. Soon, we were enjoying the invigorating sounds of Grupo Fantasma. Cumbia is their specialty; but, every song makes you want to move. With such a great cumbia band, I expected to see more salseros in the crowd. Yet, the majority of the crowd were non-dancers moving to the energizing music. Along with a lead singer, drums and guitars, Grupo boasts a tight trio of trumpet, trombone and saxophone.

It's tough to be still with Grupo's lively music. We put the open space to good use, dancing our hearts out - cumbia, merengue, cha-cha. We danced them all, stopping to rest only after near disastrous spins. Yet, jumping up again as soon as we regained our breath and downed some water.

My only regret, I forgot to take a picture to post!