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Kathleen’s Kitchen: chicken & vegetable fried rice, a one skillet cure to leftovers!

By: Kathleen Neafsey

Okay, here’s the thing: I come from a big family. In the past, holiday meals in our house meant setting two tables, spanning two rooms. I can actually remember one Thanksgiving not that long ago when I had to go out the front door to come in the back door to use the bathroom. Times have changed, but the way that I learned to cook a holiday meal has not. While I’m scaling down from cooking for 30 to cooking for 10, I still have a ways to go. Hence, this week’s recipe for using leftovers!
The only thing in this recipe that hadn’t been cooked already was the onion and the rice. In fact, it’s better to make the rice ahead of time and add it to the recipe when it’s cold. Warm rice soaks up too much of the soy sauce and becomes mushy. Ew.
I remember my mom first making homemade fried rice when I was a teenager back in the 70’s – keep in mind, in our Irish household things were pretty much meat and potatoes every night, so this was kind of “exotic” for us. I don’t know where she ever got the recipe or who talked her into making it, but the basics have stuck with me through the years and for that, I’m glad!
The truth of the matter is that this recipe is so quick and easy that it took me longer to write this article than it did to make dinner!
So here goes, ingredients and directions:

Dear Kate: My friend mistreats his cat. How do I say something without ruining our friendship?

By Katharine Luckinbill

Dear Kate,

A very close friend of mine treats his cat meanly and it’s really starting to worry me. He always talks badly to him and doesn’t seem to realize that, as a kitten, he’s going to be ornery for a while. He scolds, yells, and outright spanks the cat for normal kitten behavior. I’ve tried to talk to him about this, but he gets angry and tells me I shouldn’t tell him how he should treat his cat. It really bothers me to see him treating his kitten like this. He plans on getting the cat declawed soon rather than take the time to teach the cat to use a scratching post and not his couch. When I ask him why, his response is always somewhere along the lines of, “I shouldn’t have to deal with this!”

How do I address this issue with my friend without damaging our friendship?

Sincerely,

Katie-Cat

Dear Katie-Cat,

This is a really tough one and I applaud you for not clawing your friend’s eyes out yet for this kind of behavior. Almost every writer on the Kate-Book team is a cat owner/lover, so I think I can vouch for us all when I say this guy sounds like a jerk.

People can get very testy when it comes to being told how to treat their pets (or their children) but sometimes it is so tough to just sit back and watch someone seemingly abuse their pet when you know that there is a better and more productive way of training the little critter.

Firstly, I would open the conversation in a non-accusatory way by saying Continue reading →

Tagged cats, dear kate, declaw, friends, friendship, grumpy cat, katharine luckinbill, kittens, maru, maru the cat, pets

Mar 07 2013

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Dear Kate, My boss is the worst! What do I do?

By Katharine Luckinbill

Dear Kate,

My boss has always been pretty difficult to work for, but recently wrote something terrible about me to someone else at work on email that I have access to. I want to say something, should I?

Sincerely,

Should I Speak Up Sally

****

Dear Should I Speak Up Sally,

Well I guess in this situation you have two choices:

You can either…

1. Chalk it up to unprofessional and inappropriate behavior that isn’t even worth getting upset about.

A wise woman once told me “If you don’t respect and love the person giving you the criticism, consider it to be of no consequence.”

“If you don’t respect and love the person giving you the criticism, consider it to be of no consequence.”

So you have to ask yourself if you respect someone who would be so careless with such disparaging remarks about one of their employees. If he or she knew you would have access to what was written, was it intentional, or just thoughtless?

Or you can…

Captainess Kirk: In honor of World Spay Day (Feb. 26)

Captainess Kirk By Kathleen S. Kirk

(Warning: Warm and cuddly PSA in anecdotal form to follow.)

I’m going to tell you a story about someone very important to me. This person is my personal assistant, my dear friend, my late-night footwarmer, and sometimes my garbage disposal. And no, I’m not talking about my boyfriend.

I’m talking about my cat, who, by serendipitous accident came into my life and made herself at home. She was a shelter cat, precisely the kind of animal that World Spay Day spotlights. Wonderful companions like her are euthanized daily because of overcrowding in shelters.

But I’m sure you’ve heard it all before. I know I have. So allow me to just tell you about the amazing cat in my life, the product of a shelter, and how we all came to be.

It was only four months ago that I found myself adopted by a cat. But it wasn’t just any cat I was adopted by a beautiful kitten named Britta, who looked to be, by all outward appearances,a perfectly normal little girl. Continue reading →

Feb 14 2013

Dear Kate: I’m Single in NYC and I hate Valentine’s Day. What should I do to make it less annoying to be alone tonight?

By Katharine Luckinbill

Dear Kate,

I am single, I live in New York City and Valentine’s Day is the only day of the year that I hate this city. What do I do to avoid the awful crowds of kissing couples everywhere I go this year? If I see one more stuffed bear and chocolate rose I’m going to throw up on someone.

Sincerely,

Out of Love Lucy

****

Dear Our of Love Lucy,

Girl. I hear ya. Even though I have now joined the hoards of vomit-inducing love couples – I was single for a very long time before that and every year I dreaded Valentine’s Day. It seemed like everyone I knew was married, engaged, had a boyfriend or already had a date. I found myself thinking, “How is this possible? Where do they all find each other? Am I the only single person left in the WORLD?”

Of course I wasn’t, there were droves of other Valentine’s singles brooding about the holiday the same as I was. There was also another group, a group I hadn’t yet been introduced to, the “I Hate Valentine’s Day So Let’s All Get Together and Party” party. This bunch was awesome. A whole other mindset and approach towards this Hallmark holiday.

So awesome, in fact, that there are now super events organized all around the city just for them!

Here are some ideas for how to spend your Valentine’s Day in the big city without a date:

Tagged dating, dear kate, Kate's Dates, katharine luckinbill, love, new york, NYC, relationships, Valentine's Day

Feb 07 2013

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Real Kates, Uncategorized

Captainess Kirk: The Russian Kate

by Kathleen S. Kirk

From a young age, I was very used to responding to variations of my name. I was called Katherine and Katelyn, Kathy and Kate, and everything else in between, and I always took it in stride. It was never very difficult to weed out what I might be called or how someone might interpret my name.

Then I began a relationship with my Militantly Nerdy Boyfriend Alex, an odd hybrid of Russian strappings and vibrant American patriotism. He was born in the Soviet Union and immigrated with his parents at the age of three, becoming a naturalized American and even joining the military. When he’s not using terms of endearment for me, my name gets shortened to an affectionate “Kath.”

I suppose this was the warning sign I should’ve looked for, but everything else was going so well in our relationship that I hardly spent much time dwelling on it. However, by the time I met his grandparents, I knew I had fallen haplessly into a bottomless pit of foreign moniker confusion.

Alex had, at my request, told his whole family that they could call me Katya, since “Kathleen” has sounds that don’t exist in Russian, especially that difficult “th”. I don’t think I have ever been called Katya once, though.

When I first met Alex’s grandparents, his grandfather, beaming at us, announced that he would call me Kate. Alex explained later, amidst the broken English, that his grandfather felt he was being more respectful to me by translating Katya back into English again and calling me an English name, even if he couldn’t pronounce my actual name.

Eventually they became comfortable calling me “Ketlin”, which is essentially the Russian pronunciation of “Kathleen.” But that is when the floodgates opened, so to speak. I started thinking of it as a game, and in the beginning it actually was kind of funny, if not even fun.

I had always gone by “Kathleen,” or “Katie” around family, but now I also learned to prick my ears at the sound of a “Kath,” “Kate,” or “Ketlin.” Soon “Ketlin” bifurcated and I found I also had to listen for “Ketrin.”

Now, this may not seem too terrible, and it wasn’t, in English, but I usually was trying to listen for my name amidst a flurry of Russian, a language full of that hard K sound. My ears were constantly primed for anything that sounded similar. Continue reading →

Tagged captainess kirk, foreign language, kathleen kirk, katya, russian

Feb 04 2013

1 Comment

Adventures in Greening: A review of “Practically Green: Your Guide to Ecofriendly Decision-Making”

By Catherine Moran

I purchased Practically Green used from Better World Books. I have to give them a brief plug, because they are pretty neat. From their website:

We’re breaking new ground in online bookselling. We believe that education and access to books are basic human rights. That’s why books sold on BetterWorldBooks.com help fund high-impact literacy projects in the United States and around the world. That’s why we commit to matching every purchase on our website with a book donation to someone in need – Book for Book™
All books are available with free shipping worldwide. And in case you’re concerned about your eco-footprint, every order shipped from Mishawaka is carbon balanced with Green-e Climate certified offsets from 3Degrees, a leading green power and carbon balancing services firm.

Awesome, right? Ok, plug done. On to the book review.

I read Practically Green in one sitting. One of the reasons for this is that there’s a lot of DIY projects included here, many for children (which I do not have, so I skimmed those), and I was reading the book on the subway. As much as I’d like to be able to make “Volcano Sink Scrub” to clean my kitchen sink right after reading the recipe, that is something I’ll have to revisit when I am prepared to make it, not when I’m avoiding getting an armpit in the face as the train takes me to my destination.

Tagged adventures in greening, book review, catherine moran, diy, green books

Jan 31 2013

1 Comment

Dear Kate: What’s the rule on using lingerie from an ex for your new beau?

By Katharine Luckinbill

Dear Kate,

I’m seeing a new guy, and I want to heat things up in the bedroom with some sexy undergarments. Problem is, I don’t really need any new outfits (I’m lacking on cash, but not on clothes)…but the intimate articles I own were all gifts from an ex. What’s the protocol on using old clothes with a new guy?

Sincerely,

Panties in a Twist

****

Dear Panties in a Twist,

I understand your dilemma and I too would be hard pressed to throw/give away perfectly good lingerie, especially if I were on a tight budget.

But you have to see if from your new beau’s perspective…put yourself in his pants (pun intended)…would you want him re-gifting things that he had bought for an ex, to you? Probably not. It’s not that your clothes or lingerie necessarily have any sentimental connection to your ex – or at least I hope they don’t if you’re considering wearing them for the new fella – it’s just a general respect thing.

When I got into my first serious relationship after a yearlong dating spree, I decided to cut all my hair off. This was not a spectacular idea and probably a little rash in hindsight and my new boyfriend certainly didn’t care for my shorter ‘do – but I wanted a clean break from all of the guys that had played with or enjoyed my long hair in the past. I wanted my life with him to be new and fresh.

So the question that remains is how to furnish your new life with some new lingerie, and not go broke.

A few ideas:

Tagged dear kate, katharine luckinbill, lingerie, new relationships, panties

Jan 17 2013

Real Kates, Uncategorized

Dear Kate: My friend is getting married and I’m not invited! Should I be upset?

By Katharine Luckinbill

Dear Kate,

One of my pretty close friends is getting married. She’s been with the guy for a long time and so I know them both well. We ‘ve talked about her getting engaged many, many times, and after she finally did, we had a great conversation about how much fun her wedding would be. Well she just sent out the “save-the-date’s” and guess who didn’t get one? Should I be upset or should I just let it go? I feel like I thought we were good friends and she didn’t feel the same way. All of my other friends will be there. Am I the black sheep?

Sincerely Uninvited,

Cassie

****

Dear Uninvited Cassie,

Well first thing’s first, to your question, “Should I let it go?” the answer from me will almost always be a resounding YES. Not because some things aren’t worth fighting for, but rather because the essence of “letting go” is to not hold on to anger and ill feelings because it only does harm to you and no one else.

However, your other question, “Should I be upset?” is kind of another ballgame. That one is really up to you.

Would I be upset? Probably.

Would I stay upset? Probably not.

Why is that?

Tagged dear kate, electric slide, katharine luckinbill, wedding

Jan 01 2013

Fabri-Kate: Mickey-shaped favors to ring in the New Year!

By Kathleen Neafsey

Happy New Year!! It’s January, and you know what that means … today, a year of birthdays and celebrations starts all over again! I happen to be invited to a very special birthday party next month—my boyfriend’s niece will be one, and his nephew will be four, so there will be a Minnie/Mickey Mouse soiree’ for the two of them. Personally, I’m pretty excited— so excited in fact, that I offered to make some goodies and treats for the party.

Where to start? Pinterest, of course! I found some very cute ideas there. These were available through Etsy, but why buy when you can make your own version?

Here’s what you’ll need:

Black poster board
White and yellow poster board or card stock
Protractor – this is perfect for the shape of the “hat”
2 Circle shapes – glasses, spice bottles , cookie cutters – one slightly larger than the other
Clear treat bags
Goodies to fill the treat bags: goldfish, animal crackers, M&M’s
Red pen or sharpie
Glue stick

Follow the steps to make one complete hat before you trace anything else. Once you have one completed, it will be easier to trace and cut the others. Nine steps seems like a lot, but once you’ve done the tracing and cutting, it goes really fast.