Leeann Chin, rest in peace

Leeann Chin, 1933-2010

I do not think there is an Asian woman running a restaurant in Minnesota who has not been compared to Leeann Chin. From 1980 until now she was the gold standard for Asian restauranteurs. Everyone knew who she was, even Minnesotans who do not eat Chinese food.

Like Wolfgang Puck and Minnesota's Mama D, Leeann Chin is an icon. Her name will live on and her story will inspire countless more young Asians to introduce new food to buffet-loving Americans.

Leeann Chin opened her first restaurant after I came to America, and long before I got to Minnesota she was already famous. As a businesswoman she was a big inspiration to me and many other Asian women. At first I admired her for her legendary work ethic, but after opening True Thai I began to appreciate her business skills even more than her hard work.

Services will be held Saturday, March 27th, at Normandale Lutheran Church in Edina.


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Found money

I found $4,000 today but don't get excited. It was my $4,000!

I sent my bank a check for $4,000 to pay on my credit card, but the payment never showed up on my balance. I called the bank and they told me they didn't know what the problem was. I knew what the problem was, I had paid them but they hadn't applied the money to my balance!

So last night several employees and I spent the end of the shift sorting through bank statements and receipts back in the party room. Some party! We found several interesting things and this morning I took our findings into my local branch. The manager pulled up my file and immediately figured out that there had been an entry error transposing two numbers, and that my money had been applied to another credit card account.

The manager apologized and straightened out my account, but the other missing $7,000 we identified from last summer he's still checking into. So I came into $4,000 today, but since it was my $4,000 it wasn't exactly a windfall.

Does your bank make mistakes? Mine sure does!