I Lace 'Em Up Every Night For Guys Like You: Chicken Curry

This recipe was inspired by this video.

During the summer I like to try random recipes.  Why?  1.) Because I have the time and 2.) I like to eat.  My Mom is always saying I'm eating some different types of food and it's true.  This was no exception for my household.

Ingredients
1-1/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1/4 inch strips
Salt
2-1/2 teaspoons curry powder (divided)
3 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 teaspoons of minced garlic
1 tablespoon ginger
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons sugar
1-1/2 frozen peas
1/4 cup plain low fat (2%) Greek yogurt (do NOT use nonfat)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

This Goes Out To All My Baby Mamas: Nia Long & Black Community Outrage

Sorry for my "hiatus" of some sorts.  The router that allows me the freedom to be on my laptop in my room has stopped working on me and the modem for the internet won't let my laptop just hook an ethernet cord to it so I've been on my Mom's slow/out of date computer.  This computer won't let me do anything I swear.  I generally attempt to write two blogs at least a week because of working and such, but my patience is short.  Hopefully I'll figure things out or I'll be making a trip to the local library with my laptop to write.

Earlier this week I was reading a blog that discussed the recent Essence magazine cover for the month of August that featured actress Nia Long and her two beautiful sons.  The title of the blog was pretty much asking the question of whether or not Essence was "glorifying" single motherhood by having Nia on the cover with her boys (one cover includes both of her children and the other includes the baby).  I kind of brushed it all off until our magazine came in the mail today.  My first thought on seeing it was, "They are all so beautiful."  My last concern was the fact that Ms. Long is 41 and yet to be married with two children under her belt.  Then as I drove to my boyfriend's house a local radio deejay was discussing, or mentioning, the cover and people's feelings on it.  I rolled my eyes because to my knowledge she is a single mother and I kind of got the feeling that she wanted to agree with others on the issue except it would be like the pot calling the kettle black.  After much thought I came home and wrote a Facebook status on the entire thing.

1.) I believe the Black community has the highest rate of children being raised in a single parent household with the mother. So if anything Essence is just reflecting the trend in the Black community. 

I am not about to sit here and tell you all this sob story of how my mother raised me by herself with no help from my Dad because that is nowhere near true.  For the past 22 years of my life I have had the pleasure (somewhat) of living with both my parents.  Despite my Dad being a truck driver he has always been involved in my life even though I did not see him everyday.  I have one aunt and one uncle (recently remarried) who were divorced while I grew up, but they were involved in their kids' lives.  I honestly thought everyone was raised by both of their parents until I came to high school.  Yes, I was that sheltered from the world.  I soon discovered that some of my friends had little to no contact with their fathers and my heart hurt honestly.  

Here's the thing, the Black community has the highest rate of children being raised in households were the father is absent or either the mother and father have not been married.  Because of that every Father's Day we often see people putting a status up about their mother being both mama and daddy.  My favorite status was always from one of my friends who recently rekindled her relationship with her father that said, "I ain't have no daddy around when I was growing up."  I'm not saying that being a single mother is a bad thing that Essence was wrong for "glorifying" with this cover, but it honestly reflects the trend that is going on in our community at the current moment.  Therefore it's not "glorifying" it just showing the truth.  It's time that we realize the dream of everyone having a family like the Huxtables that performs musical numbers for special occasions is not reality.  Even if someone comes from a family that isn't "traditional" it doesn't mean the father is not involved in the child's life.  One of my friend's was raised by her mother, but is very close with her father.  This leads me to my next point.

I'm Not Saying She's A Gold Digger: Do Men Need To Spend A Ton Of Money On Women?

This is an old blog from my Tumblr account!  Enjoy!

Do Men Really Need To Spend Money To Capture A Woman's Heart?

I recently ordered Essence relationship columnist’s Demetria Lucas’s book A Belle In Brooklyn:  The Go-to Girl for Advice on Living Your Best Single Life and decided to pick it up today after taking a far too long break.  In the chapter, The Atlanta Fiasco, Demetria talks about her friend Eddie and how he was one of her top-five dates from the time they sat on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial just talking.  The quote that followed really struck a chord with me.

‎”When a guy has a personality and something to say, he doesn’t need to spend money to be memorable.”

Now I’m not the most experienced in the dating field, but I have to say this is true.  Of the three men I’ve gone out on dates with (two of which I’ve dated, the other was just…yeah) some of my favorite dates have been ones that just involve walking around talking.  I’m not saying every date a man takes you on should involve little to no money being spent, but I think you can find out if a man is a keeper from dates like this.  Dates where a ton of money is being spent is nothing more than a gimmick to me.  I know for a fact that there are men out there who think, “Well if I spend a lot of money on her she’ll ignore the fact that I don’t know how to carry a conversation because I have no life.”  I’ve had memorable dates that cost a nice chunk of change for a young adult in college and I’ve also had dates that involved doing the simplest things.

I’ve always felt that it’s the man’s job to plan dates so between my first boyfriend and my current boyfriend I must say my current boyfriend is in the lead for most memorable dates by a LONG stretch.  The most memorable date from my first boyfriend was Valentine’s Day 2009.  He came to visit me from Alabama dressed in his military uniform and gave me a teddy bear with matching dress blues.  He’s did other things that were sweet, but the further we got into our relationship it just seemed like going back to his house to watch a movie after eating was our typical date.  Yes, these are cheap dates but doing the same thing over and over doesn’t make anything “memorable” just routine.  He was always willing to spend a ton of money to see me or send me flowers for an anniversary, but he NEVER took the time out to really think of something I said I wanted to try out.

Now when it comes to my current boyfriend I might be biased in regards to our dates, but they’ve all been fabulous.  We’ve gone to the aquarium, ice skating, dancing, and a Kevin Hart show to name a few.  I think the most memorable date we’ve had though was when I was home for Spring Break this year.  What did he do you ask?  He cooked dinner for me.  That’s right.  Dinner.  Lemon pepper wings and mashed potatoes.  Sure it was nothing extravagant, but there was no wait to be seated or no waitress to constantly annoy us in hopes of receiving a larger tip.  Just he and I on a rainy day in March sitting in his kitchen eating a meal he took the time out to make and watching a movie in his room afterwards.  I think what made it so memorable was why he did.  I was constantly complaining about how my Mom never cooked meals anymore since I started college.  So the week before I came home he told me he was going to treat me to a home cooked meal. 

I also think this is a good way for a man to tell if a woman is really into him or what he has to offer financially.  A gold digger will become bored.  Any woman who truly loves you will be more than willing to take up a date offer that includes nothing more than laying on your couch while rubbing her feet and talking about politics or reflecting on previous good times that you’ve had.