Lark Creek encore
Hurrah! 6 months after my actual birthdate, I was gifted with a mega-belated celebratory dinner out with my friend PS. PS is the kind soul who introduced me to Lark Creek Steakhouse to begin with, and seeing that is was “Heirloom Tomato Week” we booked a return visit to my favorite restaurant in all of downtown SF.
1st course: compliments of the chef, bruschetti of heirloom tomatoes and feta. Teeny, but quite tasty.
2nd course: Our waiter arrived with a small wooden board piled with what appeared to be 3 large, golden scones. PS and I stared at these in puzzlement. “Also compliments of the chef” our server said, “buttermilk biscuits”. He laid them on the table and pointed to the tiny white porcelain condiment dishes besides them. He pointed to the brown studded ball of butter, “Pecan and Andouille butter. Then to the flat, shining purple gloss, “summer plum reduction.”
PS asked him to reiterate the first item.
”Pecan and andouille butter”
“That’s what I thought you said, just wanted to make sure”
Hmm. I’d never heard of such a combination – yet it sounded like such an obviously reasonable, tasty complement. Gee, why hadn’t we been putting nuts and sausage into butters all along?
3rd course: The heirloom tomato salad with fresh pulled mozzarella that our server enthused is “fresh pulled I the kitchen after you order it.”
Simple salad was presented fabulously, a smooth, pliable disc of mozzarella pooled within a ring of chopped heirlooms and scattered microgreens. It was a delicate wreath upon a plate, glazed with an ideal touch of balsamic vinegar.
4th entrée 1 ounce Steak, mashed potatoes.
PS said this steak was not as buttery-tender as one she ate at RuthChris steakhouse. Yet I found it satisfying. A rare indulgence, probably one of the maybe 3 steaks I consume in any given year. Can’t go wrong with a basic quality steak and potatoes…
Addendum: my wine! Lord knows I have been having many a chaotic workday, the kind that requires a glass or two of a nice California Pinot Noir to resolve…
Dessert: Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting touched with lime zest that takes the edge of the sweet and creamy. This was servied with a luscious brown ball of deeply flavored walnut ice cream, and topped with a glistening dome of hardened spun sugar threads.
Bliss! Talk about heading home fat, phat, and happy…perks like this meal, and the fine company, remind me that I actually don’t mind getting older. I shudder to recall that I used to eat 7-11 pizzas and hot dogs at the bus stop in middle school.
I never had such fineries as Lark Creek to savor in my younger days, we’ve all worked our butts off for years…and these fine nights remind me that life, for me, is finally quite good. Not free of stress. Not free of fear. But moments of utter bliss on earth!
What’s in a name…
I’ve a tendency to put my hands over my nose, across my eyes while deep in thought. I can’t do this since my contact lenses mutinied, and now my damned eyeglasses are in the way.
So I sit with pad ‘o paper, silver laptop before me, trying to conjure up with a fictitious business name for myself. I am stumped. I can’t imagine how people mange to name their infants.
My ideas are clouded with the names I already know and like: Asian Pacific Family Center, New Leaf Center, Balanced Rock, Asian Pacific Psychological Services, La Familia, Center for New Beginnings. Heck I need some original, untainted notions.
I find fault with all the existing ideas.
What is my vision?
Well, I want the business name to be more than just “Helen Hsu, Psy.D.” since I envision future partners, associates, and services beyond my current scope. I could mimic my dear friends at “Fruge Psychological Associates” and be ‘Hsu Psychological Associates.” But frankly I worry that HPA sounds like some kind of acronym for a communicable disease. Anyways the the term "psychological" does not roll off the tongue.
While being broad in potential scope, my ideal business name would also hint at my specialties, namely psychological services, particularly to and about Asian American and other minority client communities. My work in tough yet beautiful cities like Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond, and New Orleans have gifted me with quite the rainbow perspective. But how to do this without pigeon holing the business into an ethnic enclave?
My favorite Chinese symbol is the phoenix, which seems a wonderful metaphor for therapy, what with rising up from the ashes and all. Yet I don’t want people to confuse the business with a Chinese restaurant. There are too many Phoenix Inns and Dragon Palaces out there serving tasty meals…not my expertise area to say the least.
A colleague Dr. Ing named her business ‘Compassionate Spirit.” A lovely name, but too nebulous for me, and my practice approach is not spiritually oriented. I also don’t want to be mistaken for a church movement or new age bookstore.
Finally, I decided a brainstorm could break up this logjam. I sat down, journal in hand, to just cough up as many names as possible, internal editor on shore leave. No matter if the names are ridiculous or unusable, just output for this page.
In fact, when I started brainstorming funny ones on purpose I had a great time.
From the brainstorm list:
Cultural Psychological Services
Hsu Health
Primal Asian Resources
Optimus Prime
H 3
Jambalaya
Panda Psychology
Psychology perspectives
and my all time favorite: Ragin’ Asian, Inc.
Ragin’ Asian may be the fave, but it doesn’t convey the compassion and tranquility that my practice provides. It’s more like a name for my aggro trail running, road racing, hell raising and protesting personal life.
By the end of all this, what do we have?
We have me with 20/20 vision thanks for laser surgery.
And we have: Balanced Life Consulting.
