Archive | December, 2010

A free holiday

21 Dec

I LOVE Christmas.  The holiday season is the one time of year where everyone is nicer to each other, and the whole world seems to finally support the go-hard in the paint for fun and happiness approach… Which I use every day, so it’s nice to have some company.  Seriously, I teared up watching a family put up twinkle lights.  And every time I see them it’s all I can do to not crash.

But, times are ROUGH.  A lot of folks have no idea what to get loved ones, family, friends.  So, whether you just can’t stomach the idea of an expensive Christmas (me either) or really can’t afford one… I give you freebies.

Gifts from the heart, are the least expensive kind.

Years ago I remember my dad had one of those moments where life and the dangers it presents scared him, for us… He pulled us all close and cried as he told us how much he loved us, that we never need anything but each other. Poignant as it was, that night was a priceless and irreplaceable gift.

That, more than anything is what I love about the holidays.  It’s all love.  Yes, I put up a tree.  And I wrap gifts for myself so I can relish the nostalgic feel of unwrapping things… While reminding myself how unnecessary “gifts” really are.  Everyone makes fun of me for it.  But there’s something powerfully liberating about making a purchase and then being humble enough to say, it is a blessing that I could buy this, when I have all that I need.

It’s never occurred to me to want for anything because I’ve always been able to find a way to get my grubby little hands on my wants, or to get over them.

Here are some classic, old-fashioned tips should you need them as the 25th rolls near…  The key is to be open, and let the syrupy sweet mushy sentimental holiday feeling take over.  What makes these gifts work, is you have to be willing to share your feelings.  No room for thoughtlessness or callousness, or unfeeling here.

  1. You: Make a promise to someone you love to spend an afternoon with them, or an evening. Make them dinner, or bake for them, or pamper them with your attention.  Put it in a card and honor your word.
  2. Write them a letter about how much they, or your friendship means to you.  It can be funny, sentimental, whatever.
  3. Give them a book you’ve read, that meant something to you.
  4. If you have a talent, share it with them.  Leave a singing voice message, recite a beautiful poem, read a meaningful passage of scripture to them.
  5. Make them something.  We all went to kindergarten.  Get out your paper and scissors and crayons if you have to.  It will get a hearty laugh and put a smile on their face.
  6. Cook or bake something.  If you don’t know how to cook or bake, save yourself.  Your holidays might be numbered: Survival and stuff.
  7. Give them something of yours they’ve admired.
  8. Give a big hug, genuine grin, and sincere I love you.  It’s ok, you do.  If you’re fretting about what to give someone to show you care, you love ‘em.  Even just a little bit and that’s ok.  Tell them.
  9. Promise a favor.  Agree to listen to them.  Agree to babysit for them.  Agree to help them with their next heavy lifting need, or party, or project, no questions asked. Put it in a card.
  10. Shine.  There’s nothing more wonderful than shiny happy people holding hands.  Folks who would scoff at this list are neither shining nor happy.  But they can’t really help but glow a little bit in your light if you keep it lit.

We’re alive.  Let’s honor life by showing our appreciation for every little bit of it this Christmas!

(Singing) “Me, I want a hula hoop…”

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Tender cheesy corn.

14 Dec

Disclaimer:  I’m totally overflowing with love an’ stuff.  I am a nessdehotmessdedness and proud of it.  So I had like, a daydream, totally hypothetical you know… But it’s incredibly sappy and corny.  So if you get turned off by glorious poetry that makes Roses are red, violets are blue look like a Dunbar lyric, please look away now.

Thank you for playing.

For the rest of you…  I encourage you to smile, laugh hysterically, roll your eyes, what have you with the Kogi tender twice marinated bbq I offer below.

I dreamt about the perfect man for me… He would be incredibly sexy, intelligent and caring.  Built like an Adonis, classically handsome.

He would rub my feet when they ached… Cook me soup and take care of me when I was sick… Sing to me about how much he loved me and shout it for everyone to hear… He would do the most thoughtful things… All without my asking, to make me smile.

He would stare at the stars with me and listen to the wind.  He would turn himself inside out for me to see, understand, love deeper.  He would be trustworthy, a leader to follow.  I would turn to him for direction, for support, for help.  He would soothe me, inspire me, excite me, challenge me.

He would have family and friends who loved him.  He would be positive, hard-working, loyal, sensitive, funny and sweet.

He would dance with me like we were made for each other.  Listen to me like he’d known no other.

He would always, always find a way to take care of me, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary and the mundane to magic.  He would let me in and never let me out.

He would adore and revere me, and in respect, turn to me for guidance second: God first… Unless he needed reminding…

We would love in love, with the peaceful certainty that we would weather and grow from any challenge we faced together or apart.  He would hold me close and make me feel safe and protected when fear attacked.  He would delight in me and I in him.

We would laugh until we cried, cry until we laughed, fallen tears kissed. Everyday we would learn more about each other, falling deeper.

He would remind me of who I am when my mirror is obscured,  enshrouded.  His spirit would laugh and dance and play and grow with mine.

Daydreaming is wonderful.

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15-minute Glamour-gal…

9 Dec

For anyone who knows a lady who wants to look glamorous fast, inexpensively and fuss-free…

I grew up in a household of 8, and being a Daddy’s girl for me meant comfort with wielding power tools, lifting heavy objects and doing the dirty stuff.  I’m no priss and live to enjoy everything nature has to offer whenever my heart feels the need.

My lifestyle requires me to be ready to go to a formal event, community service project, nightclub or meeting at a moment’s notice so I’ve no time for hours of prep, ever.   My signatures are big curly hair, glamorous cat-eye liner and well-lacquered nails (red’s my choice).

By look, I’m very high maintenance.  By practice I’m one of the most easygoing, spontaneous women around.  I refuse to spend more than 15 minutes a day on grooming.

Every woman should know easy ways to make herself look amazing when she wants. Hopefully this helps!

Toolkit:

  • Waterproof, smudgeproof, self sharpening black eyeliner (Maybelline and Revlon have great ones)
  • Homemade curl-spray (For all hair types: Fill a spray bottle 3/4 full with warm water and conditioner preferably a yummy smelling one. For dry hair: Add olive oil, and any other kinds of rich conditioning creams or oils you have, .  Shake thoroughly and keep handy.)
  • 1 or 2 inch rollers (Goody Pillowsoft rollers are fantastic.  The color should match your hair, to be as inconspicuous as possible.  No need to scare yourself or anyone else with martian-head.  And no, you don’t get to walk around in public in them. Ever.)
  • Quick-dry nail polish (Maybelline and Cover Girl make great inexpensive ones.)
  • Acetone
  • Cocoa butter (Palmer’s, in a tub)
  • Tea tree oil (Available at Trader Joe’s).

Hair: I wash once a week or as often as my hair tells me it needs it.  This link offers my dear friend D’s GENIUS tips for washing, conditioning, and products, which I follow.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XaBpvOElmbNgBgl2SVZxG9ic_E_MMG3txlYJtUZ5MWg/edit?hl=en&authkey=CLPriaAD&pli=1#)

After washing, I style in a 4-braid updo (farther below) which takes about 15 minutes to do, just before I go to sleep.  Styling between washes takes about 15 minutes a day before sleeping.  5 on waking.  The only time I need a mirror is to check the outcome when I’m done, which makes styling very convenient.

Hair should always feel soft, no matter the style.  I always air dry my hair, either out in curls or in one of the updo’s listed below.

Curls

For very tight curls with lots of texture: With hair loose, use your fingers, starting at the base of your neck, to section off a row of your hair about 1 or 2 inches deep.  Clip or tie the rest of your hair on top of your head loosely to keep it out of the way. Then either take half or a third of your loose hair (depending on its thickness) and spray with your mix.

Use your fingers to comb that section out and wrap from end to root around your choice of roller. Roll down towards your back, not up toward the ceiling. Do the same with the other 1 or 2 sections in that row.  Repeat.

For the hair above your ears and at your crown, roll down toward your ears, not toward your face or back.  If you want a part, roll away on either side. When done, you should have a 1 or 2 roller-deep row going across from one ear to the other, and another 2 or 3 deep row perpendicular from those, from your crown down.

Go to sleep. :)

Or, do whatever you would in your home for 3 or 4 hours. When you wake or finish, remove the rollers one by one.  Then, rub 1 pump of glossing serum onto your palms.

Rub this all over your curls like you were petting a cat.  Then run your fingers through your hair slowly, to comb, style, and separate curls as you like.

You’ll have tiny, tight ringlets that will withstand hours of dancing, workouts, etc. You can pull one or both sides back with pins or combs, or add a headband.

Each night, before you go to sleep roll your hair again.  It should take 15 minutes when you’re used to it.

If you’d like tamer, bouncier curls you can use larger rollers, curl your hair first using an electric curling iron and only use one spritz of your spray.  Only do this once after your weekly washing.

Updo’s:

My updo’s involve braids.  1, 2 or 4, it’s the easiest and most reliable way for me to pull my incredibly thick hair up.

4-braid updo: After washing, I prefer to use this style which takes ten minutes, so I can let my hair dry naturally without waiting.  It’s much more tame after.  The following night I’ll do the curl style above before bed, which only takes me 15 minutes.

Loosely section detangled, freshly washed and conditioned damp hair into four parts (You can have a clean side or middle part near your crown, but no other clean parts, we’re not 3 anymore.)  Using a soft bristle brush, take the top right section and brush the hair gently down toward your ears.  Braid the hair and if needed, secure the end with a no-break black rubber band.

Repeat for the other three areas.  When finished remove bands and arrange braids as you like, securing with bobby pins or tucking braids into each other. If needed, tie a scarf around your head to get a smooth, sleek look.

Go to sleep. :)

You can do the same with 2 or three braids.  Adding flowers, headbands, or clips can liven this up for a night out.

One-braid updo: Use your fingers to comb through your hair, then gather it all into one hand, leaving the hair around the crown loose.

Softly brush hair from the base of the neck up toward the crown, and from your ears back toward your neck.  Recapture any loose hairs and braid all the hair in your hand together without using any bands.

Then, tuck the end of the braid into the base of the braid to secure it.  With the loose hair around your crown, you can curl it, pin it, add a headband, or tuck behind your ears and smooth it down with a tie.

Nails: Bring rapid dry nail polish into the car with you and paint them before you get on the road for your drive.  It’s brilliant, because you’re really not doing anything that will damage the paint.  I do this as often as my fingernails chip, even daily.  Acetone quickly removes the paint for a full mani/pedi.

Eyeliner: Blot your lids to remove any excess oil.  Holding your eye taught in the outer corner, line the top lid as thick or thin as you’d like, extending the line no more than 1/2 centimeter past your eye.

From the outer corner, draw a shorter line to connect to the end of the first to create a triangle.  Cocoa butter quickly removes liner.

Tea tree oil: While pungent, it works wonders as a toner, or spot treatment. Dab a bit with water or without as needed wherever you want.  I rub all over my face after applying cocoa butter daily.

Glamour girls unite!!! And go have fun!!! :)

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Foodies

6 Dec

It’s funny to me that the term my dad coined when I was wee lass to get us excited about victuals is now a popular reference for a niche of folks.  For the record, whenever I say foodies it’s with wide-eyed glee and a funny voice, and makes me think of my overzealous, hilarious dad in his t-shaped afro days.

This is the same excitement I get about healthy cooking now… And I’ve got to share the glory.  In the last post (http://tinawatkins.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/get-in-my-belly/) I gave up a few goodies with the promise of more: Stuffed peppers, spicy tomato soup, 4 variations of breakfast potatoes, and fruit salad… Then made some crunk-tacularly spiffy lasagna…  So ya gets that too. :)

Stuffed peppers

  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 2 tbsp crushed garlic
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup each of finely chopped potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, cranberries, zucchini, mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup of corn

Set oven to 350.

In a saucepan set to medium heat, heat two tablespoons olive oil, add crushed garlic, cranberries, onion and potatoes until potatoes soften.  Add 1 tbsp basil, tomato paste, other veggies and stir until coated.  Remove from heat.

Chop tops off of two bell peppers, hollow and clean inside.  Cut tips off bottom of pepper to balance so it stands upright.  Spoon veggies inside, pressing to fill.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Serve hot.

Spicy tomato soup: This is partly stolen from my man… But until he gets his own blog I post.

Boil 4 cups water in a large saucepan.  Lower heat to slow boil, add 1tbsp garlic, 1 small can tomato paste, stirring frequently.  Season with basil, Chachere’s to taste.  Chop onion, add to soup.  Add corn, beans, squash, broccoli. Lower heat, cover and let cook until onion softens.

Mix ‘n’ match potatoes

  • 2 cups potatoes, cleaned and chopped into 1-inch chunks
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1/2 red or white onion diced
  • 1/2 red or green bell pepper diced
  • 1 cup chopped Broccoli
  • 5-7 Mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 can tomato paste
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Corn

Potato Var 1: Use only onion, tomato, mushrooms. Add 2 tbsp tomato paste, and 1 tsp basil, stirring to coat before adding tomato and mushrooms.

Potato Var 2: Use  onion, corn, bell pepper, cilantro and cumin.

Potato Var 3: Use all veggies, basil, oregano.

Potato Var 4: Use only onion and thyme.

Heat 3 tbsp olive oil, add 1 tbsp garlic and chopped onions, cook to soften.

Add potatoes, season to taste with Chachere’s and 1 tsp. of herb of choice.

Add veggies when potatoes are cooked. Veggies should be cooked just until heated.

Fruit salad

Chop 1 cup each of strawberries, plums, peaches and place in a bowl.  Squeeze 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, add mint, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger to taste. Finely chop 1/2 apple, add to lemon mix and microwave 1 minute.  Pour lemon mix into a martini shaker with ice, shake until chilled.  Slice 1 cup apples add to bowl with fruit.  Add 1 cup raspberries, blackberries.  Strain chilled lemon mix over salad, stir to coat.  Serve chilled.

Leftover Lasagna: We got a little extra creative with some leftover meats, but you can do a veggie version without the asterisk marked items.

  • 1/2 package of lasagna noodles
  • Your favorite marinara sauce (however you get it.)
  • Barbecue sauce
  • Your favorite Sesame salad dressing (however you get it)
  • 1/2 cup potatoes
  • Crushed garlic
  • Onion
  • Tomato paste
  • *2-3 turkey or chicken legs, skin on
  • *Shrimp
  • Corn
  • Spinach
  • Broccoli
  • Tomato
  • 1 cup asiago cheese, grated

Mmmm…   Mix equal parts of your fave store-bought veggie marinara, barbecue, and sesame salad dressing with garlic and basil in a small bowl and microwave as a marinade.  *Thanksgiving turkey was one of the staples here but any white meat will do.  Baste meat, skin on, and bake 15 minutes on 350 degrees.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan.  Chop 1/2 cup potatoes into 1/2 inch chunks.  Sautee potatoes, 1 tbsp crushed garlic and 2 tbsp finely chopped onion until softened.  Add 1 cup of marinara, one small can tomato paste and two tbsp sesame dressing.  Cover and set to low heat.

Add marinade.

*Remove meat from oven, separate meat and skin.   Chop skin finely and add to sauce.

*Chop meat into 1/2 inch chunks.  Season fresh, tail-off and cleaned shrimp with a light dusting of Chachere’s and garlic, mix with meat, refrigerate.

Boil water for lasagna: Remove from heat and drain when noodles soften.

Add vegetables to sauce, cooking each until warm in this order: 1/2 cup Corn, spinach, broccoli, tomato chunks. Turn off heat.

In a large casserole dish, pour one ladle of sauce to coat bottom evenly.  Lay 3 or 4 noodles in dish to cover the bottom.  Layer with vegetables, meat, sauce, cheese spreading  each evenly.  Cover with more noodles, layer again with vegetables, meat, sauce and cheese.  Dust with basil and oregano.  Put in oven (still at 350) and bake until bottom layers bubble.

Remove, add remaining cheese and return to oven until melted.

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