Candied Pecans

I wanted to make a strawberry pecan salad with homemade raspberry vinaigrette and really wanted some candied pecans on it.  Walmart didn't have anything specifically labeled as "candied pecans" instead they had honey pecans or something like that for $4.  I looked up a recipe and knew I had all of the ingredients at home.  Therefore, being my awesome self I decided to make my own candied pecans, but altered the recipe some.

Ingredients
1-1/2 cup of pecan halves
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg white
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Preparation
1.)  Preheat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and cover a baking sheet in aluminum foil.

2.)  I recommend mixing your white sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl (like what you eat cereal out of).

3.)  Whisk your egg white, water, and vanilla in a large bowl until it is frothy.

4.)  Pour your pecans in the bowl with your egg white mix and stir with a spatula to ensure each pecan gets the mix.

5.)  Pour the sugar mix into the bowl of pecans.  Stir well with a spatula to evenly distribute your sugar mix.
6.)  With your hand remove the pecans and evenly spread onto baking sheet.
7.)  Cook for 1 hour and stir the pecans every 15 minutes with a clean spatula.

8.)  Remove from oven and let cool off for 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Reflection
These were really good, but I think next time I may try to do 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar.  I also may try to use vanilla extract in place of water.

Spare The Rod, Spoil The Child: Creflo Dollar

Recently many of us read or heard the shocking story of televangelist Creflo Dollar being arrest over a domestic violence allegation by his 15 year old daughter.  According to the story Dollar and his daughter got into an argument over her going to a party.  It seems that Mr. Dollar did not want her going and according to his story the young girl raised her hand at him resulting in him choking, punching, throwing the girl down on the floor, and hitting her with a shoe.  Many in the African American community heard the story and said,

 "What's the big deal?"  

All those years of my mom hitting me were domestic violence?

 I wish I would have call the police on my mom when she raised a hand at me.  I'd be dead.

 Kids nowadays have the pleasure of calling the police up anytime their parents do something they don't like."

Now my parents come from the "old school" where their parents would give them what we call "beatings" in today's society.  I can recall a few stories of my Dad's childhood that included not so pleasant forms of discipline.  Once he went outside without shoes on and stepped on a glass bottle.  The glass got all in his feet and he was bleeding of course.  He said when he came inside his mom started whipping him while he was already in pain and after she finished she sat down and cleaned up his cuts.  The other story is when he did something and thought his mom had forgot about what he did.  He said he went and took a bath and upon emerging from the bathroom a belt came flying into his body.  Stories like this would classify as child abuse in today's society.  This leads to Creflo's incident.