You get what you . . . .

Finish that statement and I get who you are more than you know.  Pay for?  or give?  I'd say either on any given day depending on my mood.  They say the faster your mind does those crazy optical illusions the smarter you are.  I choose to believe that since mine flip faster than your average DC politician (that's fast folks!)   SO that said.  I have to ask.  What will you or won't you pay for?  I'm so cheap I won't pay my good earned (or bad for that matter :D) money for pretty much anything EXCEPT as I have been thinking outside the box (hello? last post) I rethink everything I do lately.

I give a lot.  Personally - professionally - spiritually - I like to give.  BUT I like most of all to feed.  Egos - spirits - souls - tummies.  I like to feed you.  I am a feeder.  Some (hey Kristen) would call me Co-dependent. And she would be correct.  Not just because she has a masters degree in Psychology, but because she's my sister.  And knows of which she speaks.  BUT really - this is WHO I am - broken stuff and all - I like to feed.  I have that whole hospitality thing.  I love it.  It makes me happy and warm.  I like feeling warm.  :D

So - what would you PAY for?  I clearly would never ever - pull my teeth out and even then I couldn't - pay someone to clean my house.  I don't hate cleaning - but it certainly isn't one of my passions.  My house is clean (yes sanitary) could you eat off the floor? sure there may be enough for a small appetizer . . . . (sorry family joke) BUT do I love to clean - absolutely and I love having my teeth cleaned too ..... HELL NO!  I hate cleaning but I do it because life is lived here by people and animals.  Cleaning is necessary to life or it gets complicated and frankly I already HAVE complicated.  Clean makes it easier.  I like bleach and such things.  So I clean - a lot.  BUT paying for that?  No way.  I am too proud to have Margalitta cleaning my toilet.  Or Lolita - you pick - either way NO WAY!  I'd rather die.  Even if I won the lottery in 6 states NO WAY. 

Okay so what WILL I Pay for?  Good underwear is one.  NO not La Perla.  I am Katie Wenzel Sullivan-Howard for God sakes not "Mrs. Married to Seal" (oh wait that would be vickies). But a good Victoria Secret bra - that fits me just right OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have boobs!  Oh wait? - you just think I do!  Excellent!  Yep.  That is one.

Scent.  What I smell like.  Yes I will pay dearly for that.  Smell to me is huge.  I have huge olfactory issues.  If you smell bad to me and I mean to ME  - not smell bad to the human race - JUST ME - it's big.  I know people I can't sit by or be close to because to ME they smell off - odd or just bad.  It's me.  BUT then - my ex (hey Tim) hated the oil I LOVED to wear.  HATED IT.  I loved it - love it and wear it daily - Roger loved it on me the day we met.  CHA -CHING - you're IN!  Sorry but smell is huge.  It dictates who we mate with who we do business with etc . . . If you are with someone that you hate how they smell . . . run.  Don't walk . . . IT WON'T end well.  JUST SAYING. . . . ..

And food.  I will - I will pay for good ingredients.  I will pay 8 bucks for a tiny - miniscule - jar of saffron threads.  Because I LOVE SAFFRON RICE!!!!!!!!!!  I will pay for good seafood.  I will pay for good jasmine rice.  I will pay for ingredients.  BECAUSE I LOVE TO COOK!!!!!!!!!!!  I hate restaurants.  WHEW - got that off my chest.  I hate paying for someone else to touch my stuff.  Food I mean.  I like - love - live to cook.  I live to feed.  I hate to be fed other peoples stuff.  WOW does that make me a hypocrite?  I hope not.  I just love to feed you if you need something.  Dinner? a compliment if it makes sense for ya - really is that so bad?  Who doesn't like to hear that their hair is falling right today and compliments their eyes?  or that they look nice in that top - it fits them just right.  Or here - you hungry - have this - I just made some for us - enjoy.  I am an epicurean.  I am a lover of the senses.  And I embrace that.  I like how things sound and feel and taste.  Thank you.  And THANK YOU!

STUPID AWESOME CURRY JASMINE RICE.

1 container of jasmine rice (like a coffee cup) rinse it once
take that same container and put one measure of light coconut milk and one container of pineapple juice
bring to a boil and add 1 T of curry powder
reduce heat and stir once.  lid this
add at the last second some of the pineapple some flaked coconut.

Yum.  Good with Indian food or just food.  Good.  Enjoy :D :D

shaving - discuss . . . . .

So this is not technically a cooking post - though if you are nice I may share my kick ass WHITE CHICKEN CHILI - though it has absolutely nothing to do with my random thoughts.   so.  Shaving.  It's so dumb.  Who started the body shaving thing other than the unclean who had lice and various other body vermin hiding in their body hair? 

Okay so as an American female raised in the MTV era - I was so traumatized by Nena's 99 Luft Balloons video (hello European pits!) that shaving my armpits became a daily obsession.  (yeah TMI I know - but you know me already if you are reading this and TMI is my middle name so shut it.)  But really  = who said it was imperative to have women shave soup to nuts (so to speak :D) and men not so much. 

I'm not talking about the latest "manscaping" trend to make their "deck" look bigger.  Yeah I watch comedy central too - but come on!  Men don't typically shave their bodies - just their faces.  AND maybe their heads (my ex did that and yes it was sexy as hell - but a HUGE pain!) but WE "have" to shave Pits and Parts AND legs !!!!  HUH?  SO they (aka - men) according to modern AMERICAN convention shave faces everyday but EVERYTHING else is hairy.  We - girls everything else but the head (unless we are Sinead O'Connor and we know how well her career has gone of late) - WHO PICKS THIS CRAP? 

Okay - I pick again.  In winter - unless going to a party in a short skirt American girls don't shave their legs - Thank you.  WHAT? you say.  Okay then you (boys) shave your pits and parts bare and we'll talk.  When it starts to grow back and it itches like an SOB yeah.  we'll talk.  I'm baffled by the stupid things we do because "conventional culture" says so.  Shaving is not Biblical - but rather cultural.  Rebekah had a NOSE RING for gosh sakes!  look it up.  She did.  Hahahaha!!!  I'm tight with my sista here!!!!  SO anyway - this rambling is just a huh?  why do we do the dumb things we do?  Leg hair is not offensive unless we "think" it is. 

I love long hair on my head - but it's heavy and hot.  Straight up - it is.  But I love it.  For me.  Would I ever in a million years demand you to do it like me?  HECK NO - but it works for me personally. 

Just saying - BOX?  think outside it for a day and you will be blow away by the things you "do" because you just do. 

You were good.  Here you go.

White Chicken Chili - Hot Katie style!!!

3 lbs Boneless skinless THIGHS - yeah cuz they rock.  Chunked into small cubes
2 qts water or broth.  Really doesn't matter here since  we jack it up.
1/2 jar of Mrs Renfros Green Sauce Salsa (walmart carries it) if not 2 small cans of green chili's &2 T sugar
3 T Cumin
3 cans white navy or butter beans with juice (don't drain)
1 onion chopped
1 t salt
bacon grease or olive oil

brown onion in grease or oil - add chicken - brown - add cumin - add salsa and then QUICKLY add water or broth or your nose will scorch.  Yeah.  Personally.  I know.  add beans add salt.  Boil.  Reduce heat.  Reduce to your desired thickness after about an hour or two.  Serve with sour cream - and more salsa.  Freakin rocks.  I love it.  :D  Now go shave something.  :D

I like freaky food - yes I do - I like freaky food - how bout you?

sorry that wasn't necessary - just my inner cheerleader poking out at the craziest times.   Okay so I am  suspect of people (adults) who won't try something that other adults around the world eat and enjoy.  Now, I'm not talking about something that will hurt you if you have an allergy or something really nasty like hot dogs or manufactured pickle relish - I mean really this is fun stuff people at least take the "no thank you" bite. 

I get that people don't like things.  I hate.  No, I HATE okra. I make a mean gumbo WITHOUT freakin okra.  It's slimey.  IT'S ICKY - IT'S OKRA!  Ewwwww!  okay so you get what I mean.  We all have things that hell or high water we just won't eat.  But to my defense I HAVE actually tried it.  Multiple times.  In multiple locations.  All positions.  Yes I am still talking about food.  I hate it.  There are actually several things I don't enjoy but I am always game to try.  If you've made it and enjoy it, I will ABSOLUTELY try it.  Yes.  I have so many allergies.  BUT I am learning how to deal.  Massive doses of BEANO can give me a few precious moments of wheat.  I use it sparingly but yes I do when I want to.  I love my Lactaid.  I don't abuse.  But yes I am Katie and I like Ice Cream.  It's been 5 days since I last had a cone. 

But I'm sorry.  I push the envelope with my family.  I love my people but they are boring.  Boring foodies that is.  My only hope was Connor who sadly left us in August for a whole year.  But he was fun.  If we cooked it together he would eat it.  How fun is that?  I love to try things that are weird and exciting.  I like chicken liver.  Risotto and chicken liver.  You have to stir it for 15 minutes or it dies.  It was amazing.  I know that because I ate it.  No one else would touch it.  They had tacos.

This recipe is kind of complicated because I used bone marrow.  When I die - please bury me with a marrow bone.  I think there is nothing on earth so amazing as sex and bone marrow.  Sex would be hard to bury.  So have some for me and then just put a bone in my coffin (besides me that is!)  Thanks. 

Risotto with chicken liver

I cooked up a marrow bone and then extracted the 2 T of marrow for the pot.  If you don't enjoy this - olive oil will do.  melt it in the pot - sweat a chopped onion and garlic.  add 2 cups arborio rice and wait until it's slightly translucent.  add 2/3 cup white wine and reduce a bit.  then add 4-5 cups good chicken broth.  Yes your own.  really?  A pinch of saffron threads.  some salt and pepper and then stir for 15 minutes.  Don't cover.  just stir.  it's a pain in the ass but good.  Get a kid to stir - really it's not rocket science. 

for the livers -
take some olive oil or better yet chicken fat from the chicken you used to make the broth (aka schmaltz) and sweat another chopped onion and garlic - then jack the heat and get 1 pound of good fresh chicken livers (frozen are okay) dice. a lot.  Like tiny chunks.  Brown the living hell out of them.  Add 1/2 cup of broth to them and when you would eat them then - add them to the rice.  shred in 1/2 cup fresh parm.  Yum.  And I can say yum because it rocked.  I get that beef liver can be scary because it's usually cooked into shoe leather but really this is different.  TRY IT - if not and you just hate liver for some stupid reason - get the hell over it.  Try it and enjoy.  Remember the first time you heard about sex?  It sounded yucky and gross.  Right?  yeah.  right.  again.  I say.  Grow up!  :D