Why?

I have a question for you, when you go to the DMV to renew your license do you make sure to have your hair combed and you are picture worthy or at least in your opinion you are picture perfect?  Then why in the hell does your picture inevitably come out looking like this?

No seriously, my hair is sticking up.  I have a nonchalant look on my face and ya'll I was smiling.  Finally, it looks like I have gained 20 pounds and I haven't!  Now I got to walk around for the next four years with this shyte!

Why can't we just send in our favorite photo? 

This was taken a week ago.  I was so cute here! 

Creative Cooking...Sesame Chicken

I haven’t been doing as much cooking lately, because it is just so damn hot which means I ain’t trying to heat the house through trying to cook. If I do cook it is late at night. This week I wanted to make my own Sesame chicken and since chicken breasts were on sale, this was the perfect time. I scoured the Internet searching for the perfect recipe, but I was finding recipes doing entirely too much. I wanted simple. Wasn’t that easy either, so I basically used a portion of the recipe as found on the Crepes of Wrath site and a mixture on what I was seeing on Allrecipes.


1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder I couldn’t find this so I left this off

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 pound chicken breast

2 tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons peanut oil canola

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 chopped green onion

Added: 1 teaspoon of Sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon oyster sauce, garlic powder, teaspoon of cornstarch. I also doubled the recipe to insure I had enough sauce.

My sauce.  Like my little whisk...me and my gadgets.

I mixed my soy sauce, water, maple syrup, garlic powder, ground ginger, sesame oil, brown sugar, oyster sauce and set aside. Then I mixed my flour and cornstarch together with black pepper and heated up my pan with canola oil. I floured my chicken breast which were cut into cubes and fried them in the canola oil until brown.

Browned chicken

Once all of the chicken was cooked I return them to the pan, which had very little oil left and added my sauce coating the chicken pieces with the sauce. Once completed coated I sprinkled my sesame seeds and added my green onions. I served it over some brown rice that I added soy sauce and sautéed onions, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms and a pinch of sugar to.

Coated Chicken

Brown rice with veggies

Finished dish

Verdict: Remind me that Sesame oil is strong. I used a bit too much, it didn’t make it too bad though, thank goodness. It actually tasted like the take out you get often from local Chinese restaurants. I was pleased with its outcome. Now I want a wok just so I can brown chicken like they in the restaurants.

Yummy!

If Youth Are Our Future, Things Are Going to Be Bad

I should have posted before now, but I just haven't felt like it lately, but I am sitting here on my second job fuming.  When I say fuming that is an understatement.  I really think these kids think adults don't already know the tricks, because they are constantly trying me.

I recently hired a new cashier, young girl never had a job, but the bubbliest personality.  Loves the friendliness she displayed through her interview and orientation.  So why Lawd, do I want to punch her in her throat?

On Sunday, the assistant manager on duty stated she got angry because she wasn't allowed to run the registers.  Sunday is our busiest day and the customers coming from church don't necessarily act like they just left the House of Worship and I knew they would not have the patience of Job to deal with her still in training.  So she was regulated to taking out orders and busing tables.  Not fun, but everyone has to do it.  She got mad and stumped away.  Seriously?  Really?  And later told one of the cashiers she wasn't busing anymore tables and proceeded to go in the back and sit down and text on her phone.  Really?  Oh hell no!

So I knew I needed to have a come to Jesus discussion with her.  And I did.  I explained what was expected and what she needed to work on.  I also told her to cut her nails because the constant tapping on our touch screens was unnecessary and hell that shyte gets on my nerves.  She said she understood. Yeah, right.

Today when I get here, they tell me she is going to be late because of a medical emergency with a family member.  No problem, but she was supposed to be her by 5:30 not 6.  Then she hops on the register and proceeds to tap again.  So you know I am ready to pull my hair out, but being the professional I don't say anything in front of the customers or her co-workers.  But when I did I let her know that was not going to work.  She was a bit shook after that because of course I am watching her. 

Cell phones are forbidden in the building and if you must bring one it is to be turned off.  All new hires are informed of the cell phone rules.  I take them and play on them and even text and call folks on their phones.  You will learn.  Anyway, the other day the owner got on a cashier about her cell phone and she was scared to death.  Why or why did the new girl get caught by me texting on her cell phone?  The damn phone is so raggedly it is pitiful.  I can' t deal with the cracks all over the face.  I let her know in certain terms cell phones are not to be seen AT ALL!  Yeah she is scared, but for how long?

These kids just don't get it and they are so spoiled and selfish it is just unbelievable.  Normally, when you are the new kid on the block you try to fly right, but these kids just don't care.  Well guess what?  I do and I ain't having it.  If the work ethic is shaky on their first job it is going to be hell if they work any other jobs in the future. 

Next time I will be back with a real post and not a vent.  No really.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Family Vacation Randoms...

Don’t let your family fool you into believing the road trip will be fun, exciting and of course we will not be in the car driving for 9 hours like the GPS says.


Don’t let your family fool you into a mini vacation because 2 days does not a vacation make.

Your GPS on your phone really works.

Encourage family members to not drink coffee before you hit the road or to take diuretics because it will insure you will have your first bathroom break an hour into the drive.

If lots of traffic is passing you on your left, you are going entirely too slow.

McDonald’s is not a good road trip meal. Next time, just fry the dayum chicken and have some light bread for sammiches. Yes, I said sammiches.

Some folks do not have a sense of direction. Really they don’t.

I know the comfort should be of the driver, but old music that makes your passengers want to hurl, is problematic.

Don’t forget your confirmation number.

You have to really love your family to go on a family vacation.

An itinerary means nothing to family.

There is a such thing as eating fat. I did it, my sister did it and I saw other family members doing the most---dayum eating.

Godfather’s pizza doesn’t taste the same.

Could people please wear cover ups over their bikinis because it is distracting to young black men?

My family will have some kinda card or gambling game going on every vacation. Every vacation.

Liquor + Family = Good times

Liquor + Family – Bottle Water = Moscato with breakfast

16 year olds are the devil spawned.

Hot Krispy Kreme Donuts are the business except they now cost almost $9 for a dozen.

Indecisiveness is the bane of my existence.

Hot and humid = no makeup at all on vacation.

My sister had folks dropping their mouths wide open. Seriously, she needs to really take care of her problem, it makes absolutely no sense. Hell, even her children were side-eyeing her.

Some folks do not know how to pack light. Seriously.

Watching a 60 year old enjoy things they have never experience is priceless.

Although I was apprehensive about the family vacation, due to its length and the distance, it was fun to be with family and enjoy each other’s company. When my cousin turned to me after the wine tasting and asked when we were going to do it again, it was really worth all the good, bad and ugly.

Final day of Family Vacation

Sunday morning I got up at 6 am to catch the sunrise. As I looked out over the ocean, I saw a couple who had taken it upon themselves to actually sleep on towels on the beach. And believe me they were sleep, you should have seen them tossing and turning. And within a few minutes two of the lifeguard stations had folks sitting in them. They weren’t lifeguards. The sun began to rise around 6:40 am and I took pictures as it made its grand showing. Just so you know it was already getting hot and humid during that time. After such a beautiful beginning to my day, I took my azz back to bed. I am on vacation. Geez!


Around 10 am, I started getting calls about the day’s itinerary since we wanted to go to the outlets in the area. So they decided to hit the beach first then go shopping. Let me disclose a bit of information here, I do not do sun, water, sand or heat and this vacation was all about being with the family because I do not like the beach. When I was younger I loved the beach especially when we lived in Jacksonville, Florida. Now, my little OCD quirks and issues with cleanliness are such that you will not catch me in a pool because I think of them as unsanitary and in the same way that is how I feel about the ocean. Plus, if sand gets on me and I go to wipe it off and more gets on me, I am liable to have a mental breakdown. So family members took my youngest niece to the beach and she put on a show. First of all, she isn’t going to go too far into the water and when the water touched her ankles she was like that is enough. Then she decided to go stand at the edge of the water and holler, “Save me! Save me! Neptune is going to get me! Save me!” All the while waving her arms frantically, and of course my cousins get concern and rush over to her because she sounded so distressed only for her to say, “There goes a wave.” Yep, she had folks thinking she was about to drown in an inch of water, as she states she felt they were bored so she decided to entertain them. A mess! My 60 year old cousin went to the beach and promptly got knocked down by a wave, which I heard was a sight and then he went under trying to negotiate the lazy river, which was this pool where inner tubes circle this pool all slow. Oh he can’t swim, but he got back in the tube and had a ball.

We went to the Tangier’s outlet and got really disappointed with the fact shyte was not discounted in my opinion. I did go in this Kitchen store and I remember looking at the decorating tips and saw about 6 I could use and realized I was doing too much and had to get out of there because I do not do that much baking and I was thisclose to crazy to even consider buying them. I love kitchen gadgets, but I don’t use all of them. I purchased some cheap hardcover books and of course found me a pair of shoes in the Nine West outlet. Then we headed back to the hotel for you guessed it, a nap.

For dinner we went to a Japanese Hibachi steakhouse and had a ball. Folks had never been before so it was an adventure. Unfortunately, my cousin ate something that aggravated her allergies and had to go to the doctor upon returning home.

When we got back to the hotel, Johnitis promptly appeared. What is Johnitis? My uncle was notorious for going out of town and planning to stay a certain amount of time, but inevitably he would be ready to go a day before and when he was ready you betta be ready or you were going to be left behind. I have been afflicted with this condition for years so when we got back to the hotel, I immediately packed and was ready to go, just in case my ride said let’s go now!

The Help...The Movie...

Since I do not want to give away too much about the movie let me tell you about the screening and a few tidbits about the movie. A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a Disney intern asking would my book club be interested in attending the screening of The Help in Montgomery. I received the email the day before book club meeting, which was great and of course members jumped at the opportunity and a couple vowed to read the book before the screening. Not me. I knew about the book, the controversy and the effect it had on readers and reviewers. Plus, I just didn’t want to rush to read a book just because it was coming to the big screen. We all know they have to take some dramatic licensing for the movie to play well to an audience.

Now getting the passes to the screening I felt like I was jumping through hoops. The intern promised to FedEx them that Wednesday, which meant they would get to me on Thursday and no later than Friday. And since they were coming from Atlanta I figured no big deal. Want to guess when I finally got the passes? Wednesday before the Thursday screening. I had to contact the intern about the passes a couple of times and found out she supposedly sent them by mail, I still haven’t received the mailed ones. All I am saying is someone wasn’t being upfront about sending the passes. And if the book club members weren’t so hyped about the outing I would not have followed up as I did. I mean the family vacation would commence the very morning after the screening. Thank goodness they came in time and I emailed my members and told them, you can’t be late, no video cameras and seating was first come, first seated. For once, the members heeded my notice.

I was there well in advance and from what we could tell, the film folks had done their research on women’s groups and book clubs in Montgomery in order to fill the screening. And it was full. The “security” for Disney, Sony and some other film companies was this big, tall African-American guy with the personality of Will Smith, totally witty and fun to converse with.

The film started a few minutes after 7 pm with no previews. Straight screening. LOL! It takes place in 1961 Mississippi during the early happenings of the civil rights movement. A young white college graduate comes home to Mississippi and wants to be a novelist or journalist and after a particular incident decides she wants to write the stories of what is like to be a maid for white women. The movie is funny, insightful and there are moments when you must have tissue ready. I barely recognized Sissy Spacek, “I’m gone have a baby.” I am sorry that is like my favorite line and I say it all country too! You will see Cicely Tyson and will be awed by her appearance. However, the main characters Aibileen and Minnie played by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer respectively give this movie heart and character. FYI – the guy I date (yeah I am still dating) went to high school with Ms. Spencer. I wish I could tell you my favorite line from the movie, but I would be giving too much away. On August 10, find your way to a movie theater and check out this movie, I am sure you will enjoy it!

BTW – One of my book club members told me I embarrassed them with all my damn crying. Whateva!

Day 2 of our Mini Family Vacation in Myrtle Beach

The second day of our mini family vacation had me up at 6 am, for an early morning workout since I was still feeling fat after the dinner the night before. Of course, calling my cousin who wanted to join me was a waste because she slept through her phone ringing. The exercise room was seriously, in need of a cleaning and please I do not even want to talk about the nastiness of the machines. I had begun my workout when I noticed just how nasty the treadmill was. Seriously, why wouldn’t you wipe your dayum sweat off the machine when you finished? Really? Folks are just nasty!


After my workout, I promptly settled down to watch Law and Order, and then I took a nap because my sister and I were hoping to the Jeep tour of the area and then make it to the Aquarium. Well, my sister decided to get some free stuff by sitting in on a 90 minute timeshare spiel. She was livid because the person giving the tour and talking about the place, which by the way isn’t built yet, was new and just kept rambling on and on. When she finally returned to the room, it was just too late to go on the tour. So we headed to Broadway on the Beach for lunch. When going with family, reason #1051, always have someone who can make a definitive decision about such things as where to eat and what to do if you want to do things as a family. We finally settled on Johnny Rockets. Okay, I ate a grilled chicken sandwich that I had to take the bread off because it was just too much.

Some really weird eel like fish.

My sister and her kids and I went to Ripley’s Aquarium. I have been to several aquariums and by far the best was New Orleans, with Baltimore coming in a close second. This aquarium was just okay. Nothing grand about it. It had an impressive amount of sharks, but it just wasn’t big enough in my opinion. My sister at least got free tickets for this from the timeshare tour.

Shark!

Then we decided to get some snacks. We went to Piggly Wiggly. Now I asked my cousin did the store stink earlier that morning and she kept asking me why I wanted to know. Well, I have yet to go to one that didn’t stink. And this one did stink; we were in and out of there. Then we went to Godfather’s Pizza. Ya’ll I haven’t had Godfather’s pizza in 20 odd years I was giddy with excitement because I love Godfather’s pizza. From Godfather’s pizza we went to get more snacks from Dollar General (there was one on like every dayum corner), then it was back to the room to rest.

Godfather's Pizza - Jumbo Combo!

Saturday was also the day we were to visit Carolina Vineyards for a wine tasting. So about 7 pm we were off to the winery, which is a storefront in the really ritzy Barefoot Landing area. Before you could walk into the store your nose was assaulted by the actual fermentation of wine done on the premises. I was in heaven, the aroma was intoxicating. We had a ball learning about the wine and tasting more than the allowed samples, because the guy liked us. Even when my cousin AJ asked, “My cousin, Shana, down on the end, wants to know if you have any Boone Farm.” Really? I have never drunk that in my life. Silly. I also realized that I prefer dry red wines, sweet wines turn my palate off. We left there a bit tipsy to head to Thorny’s Steakhouse. After already eating a slice of Godfather’s pizza I really wasn’t hungry so I ordered a salad with steak, but um, the salad wasn’t that good, but those dayum yeast rolls filled me up. LOL!

Not so good Steak Salad



Carolina Vinyards