Blind Date?

Is a blind date really a blind date anymore?

With social networking at it's peak and the 500 Million users of Facebook, is it really appropriate to call it a blind date?

Cyber Stalking used to be just "goggling" a person, even yourself perhaps, but now the first place to find out the "juice" on someone is Facebook.

As you are sitting across the table from someone on the "first date", should you tell them that you already know their zodiac sign, their religion, and who they voted for in the 2008 Presidential Election?

What's the purpose of the first date if you have already researched this person like your high school term paper?

This is not fair, people.

Cupid is upset that you are not letting him choose your destiny.

Most of you are canceling the blind date before it even happens based on the "subjective" information you are gaining by googling and facebooking your potential date.

I see this as a major issue.

The date you just cancelled, could have been "the one".

Forget looks, opposites attract.

I know I don't take a good picture, so if I was being judged by my hideous profile photo, I would get cancelled on too.

Let's really make these dates blind and forget that we have access to the crystal ball.

The next time you have a blind date, promise yourself not to cyber stalk.

You may be surprised that you can't judge a book by it's cover, or is it "by it's Facebook profile".

Let go and let fate step in, you'll be surprised.
KHAK

Alfresco

This time of year is just whimsical.

The fresh veggies everywhere, the different recipes to experiment with, and the good ol' sunshine!

Since discovering my new found love for cooking, I am always wanting to provide a tasty treat for friends and family.

Sunday we had a special day planned with two of our "like family" friends.

We had a long boat day planned so I took the opportunity to make the Mango-Pineapple Salsa recipe I have been so anxious to try.

It was the perfect treat for a long day on the boat.

The chill from being in the cooler was so divine, I couldn't have thought of a better treat at the time.

We were beginning to feel sun-kissed when I reached into the cooler to enjoy the little snack.

I attempted at making pita chips.

They were too chewy, but I know what mistake I made so next time they should turn out perfect.

I sort of feel sorry for all of our guests who become my guinea pigs when trying new recipes. They do not always end up perfect, but this salsa definitely hit the spot and I am definitely making this again.

YUM YUM.




The salsa recipe is linked to Charleston Outdoors Magazine

The pita chips recipe is from my book, The Beach House Cookboook

A great gift from my sister a few Christmas's back.

Cheers to the perfect Alfresco treat!
KHAK

Watch yo' mouth

I am practicing something new this week and I am letting you know so that I can be held accountable.

I often mis-speak, speak out of turn, or say too much.

I also sometimes manage to do all three in the same conversation.

Shame on me.

I am too honest. As my sister's calls it, I am "honest Abe"

There is no holding back with me, that is, only after I have said what I should have not of said and then there you go....me trying to reverse my statement......

I can't tell you how many times a week, I lay in bed at night upset with myself for saying too much.

I believe this is my biggest weakness.

Uh. Why do I do this?

I know one should never apologize for honesty, but sometimes I put my nose where it has no business being.

I just realized that I offended a dear friend by insulting a purchase she made and although she says that I did NOT offend her, I feel that I should not have said anything in the first place.

What business is it of mine, to question her purchases, especially when she was having me over for dinner.

I sound like a real jerk, don't I?

Not this week.

This week I stand firm to not offer my opinion when it has not been asked.

Whew, this may be a long week.

To my dear friend, you know who you are. Please forgive me.

Disciplined,
KHAK

Juicy-Ness

Last week while here

Here is the Eastern Shore of Va here our good friend Clinton gave us some tomatoes from his garden.

He has grown all types grape, cherry, large, small....yum!

Nothing makes me happier than fresh veggies.

I am anxiously waiting for the day that I get to have my very own garden.

Hopefully, it will be in the next decade.

My selling point is how much moolah I can save at the grocery store, aside from cereal which is highly over-priced, produce comes in second as the highest price point per unit.

*This is my own study, no official results have been collected so do not hold me to this.

Anyhow, I have told Aaron at least a half dozen times this week how I can't wait to have my "own" garden and be a farmer.

Back to the tomatoes.

Yum. Red. Juicy. Delish.

We put our Italian influence in motion.

Aaron loves making bruschetta/caprese salad on bread and makes it periodically.

It's so easy, but oh so scrumptous.

Small loaf of italian
fresh mozzarella
fresh basil leaves
the perfect tomato

Slice the loaf into thin slices, then toast in the oven for about 10 minutes @350 degrees

Cut mozzarella into small slices

Cut tomato into small pieces/cubed and put into small bowl, add a little fresh pepper and EVOO.

Rinse and break basil leaves into small pieces, add to tomato bowl.

Lightly mix/stir all ingredients.

After 10 minutes add the mozzarella to each slice, let melt a few minutes

As soon as you remove bread from oven.

Spoon tomato mixture on top of the melted mozzarella.

Finally, enjoy and relish in your creation.



This is a must-make recipe when you have a perfect tomato.

Chiao,
KHAK

Love Birds

For some reason today I am feeling super in love and lucky to have my husband.

I periodically remind myself that I am married to Aaron ..... (not mentioning last name for privacy reasons, my blog is public)

I remember the days in junior high when I would play all the silly games telling me who I would marry.

The Apple Game:
I would twist the stem super hard in hopes that it will fall off at A for Aaron as I sang the alphabet. And if it didn't work the first time, I would twist super lightly the rest of the alphabet so I would make it to the second round, and I would make sure it fell off at the second A!

Any of you play that game?

And then there was..the house, mansion, shack game which supposedly told you your destiny.

That game just makes me laugh. MASH> we believed it though, didn't we?

At that point in my life, I believed that if I cheated a "little bit" I could determine my destiny and if I willed it, it would be.

So funny to think about now.

Then in high school came the more mature relationships and my life was sans Aaron.

I thought for sure, I was going to marry both of my high school sweethearts. Nope. Didn't happen, and for good reason too.

They are both great people, but were not a part of God's plan for me.

You see, I do believe that he has a plan, but I also know that I have a plan too!

Funny, me have a plan. Of course!

College came and went with me trying to fit a square into a round hole.

Sort of like the game I played with a 3 year old this past weekend.

It doesn't work.

This was my higher power telling me, to give it up. It was never going to happen.

Then, Aaron came back to me.

Whew, and thank goodness.

You see, all of my hoping he was "the one" in junior high, was accurate all along.

He was the one, but the timing was wrong.

Obviously, 13 is a little young for marriage, right?

At least in this country it is.

I am so blessed that things worked out the way they did.

We both constantly remind ourselves that we are married to each other.

We were just little kids dreaming of a life together when we were 13, not knowing it would come true one day.

My advice to anyone who is cheating a little bit when playing the romance games:

Let go, open your heart, and you will find your way.

In love with destiny,
KHAK

simple notions....

Tonight as I cooked this recipe for White Turkey Chilli I realized a few simple truths.
I think I have admitted once or twice that my Mom is always right. Well, tonight I offer my notions about my grandmother Kitty.

She was always right too.

You see, the above recipe calls for me to puree a can of cannellini beans.

I immediately reacted the way I always do when I get to the difficult step that my eyes somehow missed when I glanced over the recipe when I first discovered it. Which is to say to myself, "Oh, sugarfoot!"

I really was not prepared to pull out the blender, clean the blender, you know that whole nine-yards.

I quickly remembered, "Oh yeah, I've got that little food processor Grandmother gave me for my wedding".

When she gave it to me she told me more than 5 times that she always gives this item as a wedding gift and she promised it would come in handy many times.

Of course, halfway through her story about how dandy this food processor/chopper was, I always went off into space and had those thoughts we all have when our outdated grandparents try to tell us something. We think "what do they know, they are not hip anymore?"

WRONG.

ABSOLUTELY WRONG.

She was so right.

I suggest you all go out and get one of these. (I have mentioned this in one other post when I made my homemade hummus)

This thing is the bomb-diggity.

Easy to clean, Easy to use, Easy to put away.

Perfection. Sweet Perfection.

I have one of those enormous awesome mixers for baking, cooking, making confections, but this little thing is the perfect kitchen item for quick simple recipes.

In and Out in a jiff!

My advice to you: Go get one of these pronto!

As I cooked dinner tonight, I decided to enjoy a glass of Pinot Grigio and used this nifty glass.

I bought these at my favorite store in the world, Anthropologie



Aren't they purrrty?

I love Vintage glasses. You can drink juice, wine, water, anything at all in them. You can even eat ice cream in these.

Just wanted to share one of my loves.

PS. The White Turkey Chilli turned out so good, Aaron had two servings. He usually never has seconds so I know this recipe is a keeper. I froze the rest for a future last minute dinner option. This makes me smile. I love finding good recipes!

Night for now,
KHAK

Tick. Tock.

This post is for educational purposes as well as your own entertainment.

I have had two run-ins with ticks this month already.

I am starting to wonder if ticks are a part of my destiny.

In the mountains of North Carolina for the July 4th holiday was where my first incident took place.

I am not sure if it was from the white water rafting trip, two morning hikes, or the dancing under the trees in the moonlight but somehow I managed to have one stuck into my waistline.

I immediately freaked because my fear of lyme disease is intense and often takes over me.

Luckily, it came off and left no "bulls eye" but I could not get it out of my mind, so a week later I went to get it looked at and to get tested.

They tested me for lyme disease and some other "mountain spider hee-bee-gee-bee"

Good news!

While, walking through the woods in Virginia this past Saturday they left me a voicemail to tell me it was negative.

Woo-Hoo!

Except, one big thing...while on this walk two ticks landed on me but I brushed them off so fast they barely touched me.

Aaron and I basically stripped down in the middle of the country and checked each other as soon as we were done.

We searched ears, backs, waists, etc....

Now that I think about this, this could have been a romantic opportunity but at the time it was more of a "you check me, I'll check you" type of moment.

HaHa.

Here's where we were......

"On a country road........."

Here are my tips....
-Wear long sleeves
-Spray all exposed areas as well as on top of your clothes
-Check yourself immediately after being in an area where you think you may be at risk
-Check all "nooks and crannies" they like ALL areas

If you do find a tick on you:

If the tick will not release from your skin, you may want to seek medical advice. Sometimes you have to use needles to get them out. (Note: I am not an expert)

Make sure you don't have a bulls eye around the spot where the tick was, if you do seek medical advice. This means it is infected.

Here's the kicker:
Aaron and I both have chiggers now! Awesome. I will educate you on chiggers at a later time.

For now just be glad you don't have chiggers. We are a little itchy itchy scratchy scratchy.

Peace,
KHAK

Don't even think about trying it twice.

While in the waiting room of a doctor's office today, I decided to pick up the nearest reading materials.

The paper I picked up was named LowCountry Sun with their motto printed boldly stating for the young and active after 50.

I sort of hesitated and thought to myself, "why do I want to read this, this is not my age group?", but I did anyway.

My reading got pretty interesting as I turned the pages.

When I came across this article named "Senior Sex Guide", I couldn't help myself.

WOW! This article was hilarious!

The bad part, all I could think about was those family members in my life that happen to be in the category of young and active after 50.

Oh lordy!

This was just too funny!

Be sure to click on the photo to make it large enough for you to read. This is a MUST read!

Sorry, but I had to share.
KHAK