>> for the dedication, it is my pleasure to introduce the vice- president for sales at the u.s. postal service. he was named vice president of sales in august of 2001. he oversees the sales and service organization focused on serving the needs of all commercial mailers and businesses. please welcome him to begin the dedication of the stamp. [applause] >> thank you. good morning. happy new year. i am pleased to be here joining you and thousands of people around the world in celebrating lunar new year. the u.s. postal service work force is one of the most diverse in america. that is by design. we serve the most diverse customers on the face of the era. nearly 40% of our employees are minorities. of those, nearly 9% are asian-

american or pacific islanders. we are extremely proud of our inclusive environment that respects the uniqueness of every individual and encourages the contributions of people from different cultures, backgrounds, experiences. diversity is one of our biggest pluses as an employer. the postal service issued its first service of lunar new year stamps through 2004. in 2008, we introduced a new series of stamps commemorating lunar new year. since then, we have probably pay tribute to the year of the rat, the year of the ox, me, the year of the tiger, and the year of the rabbit.

we're pleas stamp for the year f the dragon to the popular series. according to one chinese legend, all of the animals of the kingdom were invited to a meeting but only 12 showed up. as a reward, he gave each animal a year of his own. the dragon is the fifth of 12 animals associated with the chinese lunar calendar. of the 12, is perhaps the most potent and recognizable in images and mystic tales. it has been said that people born during the lunar new year tend to of the traits of the animal feature during that year. individuals born during the year of the dragon are said to be brave, passionate, innovative, enterprising, and self- confident. these same qualities can be found throughout the postal service, one of our nation's

oldest public service institutions that continues to be a vital interest to the gateway to american households. it was created more than 235 years ago. it delivers messages, merchandise, and money everywhere, every day. it is a service that the american public relies on. the postal service also issues stamps that help to keep the mail moving and facilitate communication and commerce in america. oftentimes these stamps are referred to as our nations calling cards. that is why they're so important -- it is so important that they reflect our rich culture and heritage. that is what the lunar new year is all about. if you combined every holiday tradition, decoration, food, prayers, and blessings, you might begin to understand what happens during the day when people of chinese, korean, vietnamese, tibetan, and

mongolian heritages around the world celebrate the lunar new year. it is also celebrated with parties and parades where skilled teams of dancers to let the crowds with their portrayals of dragons. to those who celebrate lunar new year, dragons are not scary monsters to be feared. they are regarded as magical or the wind, welcome symbols of the new hope in the new year. if you look at the colorful creatures depicted on the new stamps, you will see the magical and divine adjectives are excellent ways to describe this beast. by combining original artwork with elements from the previous series, clarence lee's intricate paper cutter and calligraphy, the art director has created a

culturally rich stamp that celebrates the diversity of the american experience. you did such a great job on the stamp. please stand. [applause] we hope the year will bring the best to all of us, no matter what sign we were born under a. the year of the dragon begins today and ends on february 9, 2013. if you purchase the stamps today, they will be good for first class mail postage forever. they'll be good anytime from today forward and no matter the price in the future. on behalf of the united states postal service and all of its employees, and like to invite mayor lee and the program participants to join me in dedicating the year of the

dragon stand as we unveil the design, i would like to receive to view -- wish each of you good health and happiness in the year of the dragon. ♪ [applause]

>> thank you for that dedication. it is a beautiful stamp. [applause] now we are in for a special treat. we have with us a beautiful performer, jasmine lee, to perform a beautiful rhythm dance. we have some speakers who will make some brief remarks. the next speaker is the president of the chinese chamber of commerce.

[applause] >> my name is tony fong, president of the chinese chamber of commerce. i had no idea i would be on stage with mayor lee and [inaudible] welcome. the chinese chamber of commerce has a long history. we're not only famous for the parade but we have done many things. in the president of the chinese chamber is an honor. i have been waiting for this job for over 200 years.

it is my first term and may be my last term. anyway, we wish everyone happy chinese new year. the year of the dragon means power, prosperity, and happiness. power can be rightfully used or wrongfully used. if wrongfully used, it can mean disaster. today i am not wasting a minute of power. i do wish him good health. thank you very much. thank you for coming. [applause] >> thank you, tony.

our next speaker is mr. thomas ing of the chinese benevolent association. [applause] >> good morning. i am delighted to be here representing the chinese consolidated benevolent association on the occasion of the first issue of the commemorative stamp for the year of the dragon. according to some of my reading, this year's dragon will bring prosperity, good fortune, good health, and if you get married this year, you will have a beautiful wedding and love and happiness will always be there

for you. best wishes. thank you. [applause] >> now it is my pleasure to introduce mr. clifford yates from the organization of chinese americans. [applause] >> good morning. on behalf of oca, dedicated to advancing the well-being of asian pacific americans, we're pleased to announce the stamp by the postal service. oca is proud to be an organization that has helped to launch this program for 20 years. this commemorative stamp program has been a wonderful

opportunity to promote our social heritage. we look forward to doing that in the future. unlike true knowledge of those who designed the stamp and a part of the -- i would like to acknowledge those who designed the stamp and are part of the program. [applause] the year of the dragons symbolizes freedom, ambition, and passion. we anticipate this lunar new year to be full of innovation and success for the work we continue to do. i am happy to extend the warmest wishes on behalf of the five chapters in northern california and wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year. [applause] >> thank you, clifford. our final speaker is claudine

chang. please welcome claudine chang. [applause] >> [speaking foreign language] [applause] before i start my closing remarks, i would like to welcome someone who has always been at our new year ceremony. thank you very much. [applause] we are in the second series of this celebrating lunar series. you can buy all of the series

from 1992 until 2004 around the country. we're so proud we now have the second series coming for the next 10 years. i would also like to take this occasion to think about one person who came up with this idea of what i and many other people have worked on the program. this was the idea of an oca member in atlanta, georgia. they wanted to do something to celebrate our chinese-american heritage. i would like to take this opportunity to say thank you and celebrate with the idea of one person can do. [applause]

we have talked about what the dragon means. both are very auspicious symbols on the chinese calendar. when we think about water, we think about economic vitality. when we think about dragons, we think about business. when i think about san francisco in the year 2012, we're so very lucky to have mayor lee. when you think about all the forces coming into play, this is a year and the next quarter years we will have prosperity in our community. our city will be in a leadership position in the regional and world economy. they care very much, mayor lee. i look forward to working with you. -- thank you very much, mayor lee. i look forward to working with you.

it takes a lot of people to put together. and may become a part-time employee of the postal service. i just want to thank the program for helping to distribute posters around town and in many other areas of the city and community. my friend, sherman, many people have gone way beyond the call of duty. i just want to give them a round of applause. [applause] san francisco will always have a

happy new year. i look forward to seeing everyone next year. [applause] >> thank you, claudine. that concludes our stamp ceremony. on behalf of the postal service, i want to thank the mayor for joining us and our platform guests for participating in a ceremony and for all of you for attending our lunar new year, year of the dragon commemoration. ♪

>> it's a pleasure to welcome you all here to b.s.c.. b.s.c. is the culinary store across the street from the department of building inspection and we're here for our brown bag lunch where we're going to talk about home kitchen remodel. i want to introduce andre roth bat. he specializes in residential remodel work as far as i know and is a real kitchen expert and rachel whiting is a good friend who is going to cook today. shem has a blog called a kitchen of her own.blog spot.com and for the first time

in her life rachel has her own kitchen. what is that like? >> it's fantastic the it's really tiny like a lot of san francisco kitchens. but it's going to have a stove and oven which i love. >> no remodeling, in the works? >> not yet, no. >> a lot of people have their own kitchen and want it to reflect their own needs and used -- uses and desires and a lot of other things in their life. what drives people, andre, to want to remodel their kitchen? >> there's lots of reasons. really kitchens have become the most important room in the house and people use it as a means to express themselves. they use it for investment purposes and kind of become a status symbol. people want really handsome kitchens that reflect and express their own personal style. >> i see a lot of people come into the building department with dreams of renovating their house so that it's a palatial

kitchen and often they have to be brought down to some kind of reasonable level in terms of the cost and the realities of it. is that what happens typically for you when you look at people's anticipated kitchen? >> well, it all depends. it depends on what i -- when i get to meet with them. if i get to meet with them early on, i can give them a reality check. but san francisco is a very expensive city for construction. i read that it's the second most expensive city in the country for construction, second only to manhattan in new york. so you have to be realistic. but if you have a design professional working with you we usually can meet most of our -- your goals and budgets. >> and i just want to emphasize to everybody, work mcgahee design professional, as you know if you've been watching our brown bag lunches, working with a design professional or

an act dr. architect or engineer, someone who is trained and knows what's going on, it will be in your best interests. a lot of people say it's a kitchen, i'll use it, i'll figure it out myselfful to be successful you typically do need somebody who has a broader range of understanding the what would make it successful? >> well, obviously, you know, good planning. it's also investigating the existing conditions so you can anticipate problems. for instance, people will place a sink there or a stove there, not realizing we have to put ducts and pipes so if you know, you know, early on that there is a beam there and we can't do it and we know that from the onset we can work around it. >> but successful means at the end of the project it has met your goals, you're satisfied, you're happy, it hasn't exceeded your budget by more than twice? >> absolutely.

>> it hasn't taken more than twice as long as you imagined, right? >> yeah, the whole kind of purpose of working with an architect or designer is to you can in a graphic sense anticipate the conflicts. you can locate your appliances, you can negotiate with all the windows and doors and beams, you can do your lightings, your tile patterns and anticipate any conflicts on paper before you start. so the more drawings that you do, the less problems you have during construction. >> right. and actually in san francisco we see so many people start a project and then they come in for a permit revision because when they started the work they found that there was something that they hadn't anticipated. they opened up a wall and oh, my god, there's plumbing in that wall. we had no idea. how -- now we can't just remove the wall. or there's dry rot everywhere or who knows what.

so the fewer of foes you have to do, and believe me nobody wants to do a permit revision, your contractor doesn't want that because it slows down the project and the contractor wants it to go fast and smooth so he can move on to the next project the we certainly don't want to see any permit revision. let's take a little quick change here. i want to have rachel tell us about gugere. >> we're going to quickly demonstrate a recipe for the tartine cookbook. tartine may have the most wonderful of items, gougere, a savory french pastry. i like eating lots of them hot out of the oven with champagne. but you may have your own

preference. >> ours will even look better than these. >> bite-size treats made with grewaire -- gruyere cheese. >> this very s it's started with a cup and a quarter of milk. for some reason low-fat milk is specified, though i use various kinds with fantastic effects. so we boil together a cup and a quarter of milk with 10 tablespoons of but ther. -- butter. >> ooh. >> that's a stick and i little bit. >> that's a lot of butter, isn't it? >> that's why these are fun. >> what kind of butter? >> is it unsalted? >> i use unsalted for this so i can control the salt level although they're really delicious salty with champagne. and for this i like to use a really nice quality butter because there's so much butter,

you're going to taste it. it's not a small element of the recipe, it's a large element. so use the highest quality. european butters or european style bulleters are fun. there's a -- butters are fun. sierra cheese company actually makes a cultured but theter -- butter that's delicious. >> this is strauss. a european butter. i'm going to pass this around. if you were to have the kitchen of your dreams, what kind of kitchen would that be? >> i love that i have a wall of ovens behind me. this is fantastic. lots of times i wish i had double ofins. i've lived in houses with them before and miss them terribly now. right now i have a very old vintage stoveg with a proofing oven beside it. >> what is a proofing oven? >> it's so old it's not highly

temperature controlled but it's an oven you can put yeast products in to raise. so if you're making yeast bread, i have a place in my kitchen to make that. but with my modern urban lifestyle, i'll make gougere but probably not bread. >> it's like why would you make wine here? san francisco has the best. >> this has come to a boil now. i'm going to incorporate the flour here and it will thicken up and good towards lumpy. but we're fine. sob the next step here, and this is kind of -- >> it's liked mashed potatoes. yeah. >> it has so much butter in it, it will probably taste great. >> andre, when you work with your clients about their

kitchen needs do you ever see them cooking in their house? >> no. we interview them on their cooking styles and whether they stir-fry or use a stovetop or bake and do they cook with their partner and is there a division labor? we kind of do an inventory of their pots and pans and appliances as well. >> which is an interesting thing about who does the cooking? i did a little bit of web research the other day which talked about the differences of the way people cook today and in the 1950's and earlier 1960's when a lot of the older kitchens that we live in were done and most of the -- and the most efficient kitchens designed in the 1950's were based on the fact that women were home cooking. they cooked from ingredients. they cooked from scratch. they typically worked alone. and they needed a relatively

limited number of ingreed yefpblets and of course none of those things seem to be true today. is that your experience? >> absolutely. it's completely changed. the obvious change 50 years ago where kitchens were single rooms, usually small and separate, so now they're bigger and they're always open to something. so frequently almost every single one of my kitchen remodels we're opening up walls to combine a kitchen into a dining or living room. now everyone is in the kitchen the if there's a party, people are there while you're preparing and appliances are more numerous and counters, now we have home offices and tv's and computers in the kitchen as well so it's really the home center. >> right. i was just at a neighbor's house on second avenue who had just finished taking out the wall between the traditional sort of victorian living rom