Shirley Yu

McCormick

When I first came to the U.S, my biggest fear was cooking. I was intimidated by the possibilities of cooking a meal. I walked into the supermarket and stood in front of shelf that had hundreds of choices and I stepped back and decided to live in a homestay, which the family cooked for me.

I finally took my first step to cooking when my boyfriend moved in with me 3 years ago. To show him that I was qualified to be a good girlfriend, I bought cooking magazines, watched many videos online and called my mom very often in order to take control of my own kitchen. I felt the nervousness, the encouragement, the excitement and my own expectation before I actually started.

The varieties of ingredients, spices, seasonings and other material should be the introduction of leading the beginners to the cooking wonderland, not to scare them away. Luckily, I found my way to dig deep into the world of cooking and enjoyed the accomplishment it brought to me. 

We all should be inspired by making delicious dishes for ourselves, the ones we love and care.

Me Generation

People born after 1980 are known as the “Post-‘80s” or “Me Generation.” The One Child Policy has caused them to define themselves as individuals. Compared to the traditional “work really hard and get rich” philosophy, they prefer a self-actualization lifestyle because they are risk-takers, individualistic and heavily influenced by the western lifestyle.

People in this generation are dynamic, self-centered and care about equality. Their points of view differ dramatically from their parents’ traditional Chinese roles in which males are the household financial provider and females are very focused on the family and having children. The Me Generation doesn’t believe in this stereotype anymore. They prefer equality, in which males are no longer the only wage earners.

Three Twins

Ice cream is for everyone EXCEPT you care about gaining weight and worry about health issues. When summer is around the corner, all we want to do is to put on our shorts, flip-flops and sunglasses. Of course, when we see an ice cream shop on every street, we are going in there to try different flavors and maybe have 2 scoops each time. We walk on the street, feel the sunshine realizing we will get tanned by the end of the day and have a big bite of the ice cream. We can taste that creamy in our mouth and we can feel the coolness from our throat. We love summer because we enjoy the gift that only that season can bring to us. 

However, many people, women and men, are trying to keep in shape and that makes ice cream no longer their favorite choices. They worry about calories so much and they will spend hours in the gym if they have just one little scoop of ice cream. 

We want people to eat ice cream, to enjoy the hot weather and laugh when they see a melting ice cream. Therefore, we choose ingredients that have lower calories and we source our milk and cream within 17 miles from our factories to keep everything fresh and original. We use organic and fresh ingredients only. 

Creating delicious and organic ice cream is not enough. Our mission is to create guilt-free feelings for people to enjoy the best out of eating an ice cream. 

Dog Shelter

Before I visited the shelter, I asked people what they think of them. Most said that shelters have many dogs waiting to be adopted, and they feel sad for these dogs. I felt the same before I actually went to the SPCA in San Francisco. The shelter felt like a real home for these dogs. Over 800 volunteers feed them, walk them, pet them and give them love. They work there because they enjoy spending time with dogs.

I’ve visited this shelter a few times and have had different feelings every time. I feel sad for the dogs because their owners left them, but I feel happy that the dogs found the SPCA as their temporary shelter. I tried to find out the reasons why people wanted to go the shelter and if there’s any connection between them and dogs. The answer is yes. People feel emotionally satisfied when they visit the shelter, pet dogs, play with them, donate money and volunteer. 

One volunteer said she adopted a rescue dog, and working at the shelter made her realize how precious her dog was. A visitor who came in with her dog had planned to leave her dog in the U.S. when she had to leave the country, but after visiting the shelter, she decided she would keep her dog with her no matter what. She saw a big German Shepard that was about eight years old and asked, “Why would the owner leave such a good dog in a shelter? Why couldn’t they just take him? Oh, I’m taking my dog with me everywhere.”

My visit to the dog shelter made me realize that humans rely on dogs for comfort and security. We need them as much as they need us. I also wondered why people can’t finish what they start. Can’t they remember the first day they welcomed their dog to their house, or why they got a dog in the first place? I learned a valuable lesson at the dog shelter that I’ll never forget: Be grateful.