Cooking? Whatever

My friend Jen recently started a new blog called Cooking Whatever.  In it she'll dish on her areas of expertise: cooking, kitchen gadgets, hosting, etiquette and much more. As someone who has eaten many of her delicious meals, I highly recommend you check it out!

North vs South: It's almost December

And the weather down here is unreal. I don't know if I can ever life up North again.

Frequently asked questions

As you know, Zina Carolina is one of the most popular blogs on the interwebs. I get a LOT of fan mail but due to the sheer volume, I'm not able to respond to it all. Instead, I've decided to answer the questions that I receive most frequently.

FAQs

Does Chris have a job? Yes. He recently obtained his South Carolina real estate license and works for  for a brokerage firm. Basically, he helps people buy and sell restaurants. He also waits tables at a local brewery for extra cash.

How do you get by without a job? For the last eight months that I lived in New York, I put 700 dollars a month towards saving while paying 800 towards my credit card balance. By the time I moved here I had no debt and enough money to pay my rent for a year plus my other savings. Life down here is also a lot cheaper than up north. My half of the rent for our 3 bed  room house is 350 dollars and we cook most of our meals. Of course, I don't want to live solely off my savings and I am actively job hunting. But I'm also actively working on figuring out what I want to do for my next career. That's a full-time job in itself.

Does your house smell like cats? No. I clean the litter box obsessively and it's in a closet in the guest room.

Could those kittens be any cuter? No, they couldn't.

Does Brutus like the kittens? He was initially scared of them and still sometimes is. He lets them play with his tail and sleep on top of him which is adorable. He has come a long way. The fact that he was terrified of 2 week old kittens (and fly swatters, brooms, and nail clippers) makes me fear for my future sons.


Is Brutus gay? That's his business.

Are you engaged? No.

Are you pregnant? No, just eat too much pizza.

What are you doing with your life? Currently, I'm planning to go back to school to get my Masters in Social Work and eventually become a relationship counselor, specializing in LGBT couples. I haven't worked in a human services since 2005 so I'm going to be volunteering to get more experience to put on my application. I also need to figure out what schools to apply to, write essays, request transcripts and references and take the GRE. This is all subject to change, of course, as most of my life plans do

Is South Carolina just a buncha' crazy rednecks? No. There are a ton of people from all around the country, and even the world living her. People move down here because the economy is good and the weather is mild. Of course there are rednecks. But there are also plenty of rednecks up North. I haven't had any issues. It's a very surprising town. You expect it to be one way, and when you arrive it's completely different.

Do you miss New York City? No. It was time for me to move on. I was exhausted from the stresses of living and working in Manhattan.  I loved the experience and I have no regrets but it was time to move on. Some people just aren't meant to live in New York and I am one of them.  I had a LOT of fun but a year and a half was enough for me. Actually, I do miss one thing about NYC: Gay men EVERYWHERE. And of course my lovely friends.

What do you do all day? I wake up whenever I want, let the dog out, feed the animals, do research online (schools, jobs, volunteer ops. facebook etc.), play with the kittens, watch tv, clean the house, play with the cats, have a beer. I basically just do whatever I feel like. I never know what day of the week or month it is. Everyday is like a Saturday.

Do you miss working in pharmaceutical advertising? There is nothing I miss less. Nothing.

Presenting...

One more hair transformation to mention before I head to bed. My mother accompanied me to the salon yesterday for a hair change of her own: dying her salt and pepper locks back to dark brown. She stopped dying her hair when she retired 6 years ago but with all the exciting changes happening in her life (new house, divorce finalized etc.) it's time for a new look!

Before

 She was a hottie before but looked older than her undisclosed age.

After

What a transformation! Like they say, black don't crack. 

All About Greenville

In this blog I've talked a lot about my life in Greenville but I haven't described the actual city. So here goes...everything you did or didn't want to know about Greenville.

Location

With a population of almost 62,000, Greenville is the largest city in northwestern South Carolina, known as the Upstate. The city is located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, about 1.5 hours from Charlotte, North Carolina and 2.5 hours from Atlanta, Georgia. It is is four hours from the coast of South Carolina.

Climate

Greenville's moderate climate offers a full change of seasons with generally mild, short winters, hot, humid summers, warm springs, and crisp autumns. The average January temperature is  40 degrees with highs in the 50’s.  The average May temperature is in the 60’s with highs in the low 70’s.  August is normally the hottest month with averages in the 80’s and high in the 90’s.  

People

Southern hospitality is not a myth. The people of Greenville are a warm, polite, and friendly bunch who wave to strangers when they drive by. They are an eclectic mix of locals and northern transplants, conservatives and liberals and everything in between.

Transportation

There are several airports servicing the Greenville area. The Greenville Downtown Airport is the busiest general aviation airport in South Carolina. The largest in the region, Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP), is the second busiest in the state and is served by most major airlines.  Unfortunately, flights to and from Greenville tend to be pricey. But there is good news for those who want to visit  Zina Carolina. In March 2011, discount airline, Southwest Airlines will launch a hub at GSP which will potentially make air travel more affordable.

For downtown drivers, finding a parking spot is usually not a challenge as the parking system provides over 7,000 parking spots. As an added benefit, the city offers a trolley service that traverses downtown free of charge. In addition, the Greenlink bus system offers 11 (ha) routes all across Greenville County.

Downtown 
In the last 40 years, downtown Greenville has been transformed from a mostly vacant ghost town to a bustling mini metropolis. The downtown area is clean and safe with a variety of bars, restaurants, boutiques, specialty shops, museums, hotels, corporations and galleries

Greenville loves hosting festivals. There are nearly 200 festivals and events per year. From April through September, weekly concerts ranging from folk to jazz entertain visitors three nights a week while larger downtown celebrations mark the coming of each new season.

City Hall

Downtown: The Arts 

Greenville has a thriving arts community, with a number of venues to support it. The Bi-Lo Center, a state of the art entertainment venue, brings national tours of many popular artists to downtown, including Justin Bieber, Janet Jackson, Eric Clapton and Kiss along with sports programs and special events. Another downtown staple, the Peace Center, is a performing arts center that hosts touring Broadway shows, symphonies, civic events and concerts. I'm still pissed I missed seeing Clay Aiken perform.

Bi-Lo Center

Peace Center

Downtown: Falls park 
One of the most beautiful parts of downtown is Falls Park on the Reedy, a 32-acre park in the historic West End district. The park's most striking feature is a unique 355 foot long pedestrian suspension bridge that curves around a waterfall on the Reedy River. 

A river runs through it

Curvacious

Great Outdoors 

Greenville County has three state parks, comprising over 12,000 acres, offering traditional outdoor adventure ranging from hiking to camping and mountain biking. Several nationally recognized mountain lakes are less than an hour away and offer various recreational possibilities. 

One of many lakes

Paris Mountain

Overall, Greenville is a friendly, laid-back town with tons of southern charms (and quirks) and I'm happy to call it home.

Carolina Cooks: From the kitchen

I have the good fortune of living with a cooking fanatic. Chris loves to brainstorm what our next meal should be and how he can make it as delicious as possible. And I love to eat it. 

I've gotten hundreds, maybe thousands of letters from fans of my blog asking me to post pictures of what delightful dishes he's been cooking lately. Who am I to go against popular demand?

Chicken nachos

Yellow curry, rice and naan

Fish sticks and buffalo fries

Chicken chili

BBQ chicken and bacon pizza (with homemade bbq sauce)

Shepherd's pie

Carolina style: BBQ chicken, Baked beans, Cole slaw and Corn bread

Buffalo chicken pizza

Thin crust BBQ chicken and bacon pizza

Bacon, cheese and bison burger with spicy roasted potatoes

Beweave it or not

I love long hair. Unfortunately my hair grows at the speed of an injured turtle. So when I feel like having long hair I get a weave. In the past, many (ahem) people have asked me how a weave works (after an unsolicited stroke of my hair). So today I'm providing a tutorial.

This is my hair when wet, in it's natural curly state.

This is my hair after being air-dried

This is my hair when straightened. I have been extremely lazy about hair care, hence it's bone dry, split ended, poofy appearance. This picture was taken yesterday on the way to the salon. I forgot that you're not supposed to smile in before pictures.

"Before"

This is a Dominican salon. I love Dominican salons because they're friendly, cheap and the stylists speak little English. No small talk necessary.

First, the hair is washed thoroughly.

Then, the stylist puts the hair into rollers and sits you under a hooded hair dryer for 45 minutes to an hour.  The heat is very relaxing.

Once the hair is dry, the stylist removes the rollers and combs out the hair. Then it's weave time. There are many techniques for applying a weave. I prefer the sew-in technique in which the stylist braids cornrows (known as tracks) into the hair, leaving some hair out between each track.

Not me

I only get the back half of my head braided and have my real hair out in front for a layered look. Once the tracks are all braided in, the stylist sews a hair extension onto each track using a needle and thread designed for hair weaving.

Sewn in extension

Sidenote: Hair quality is very important. Synthetic hair is cheap (and often looks it). Human hair looks better and costs more. In general, the more expensive the hair, the better it looks and longer it lasts. I once spent almost 200 dollars on a bag of hair. The hair was custom blended, washable and could be reused for years. But you can also get a good bag of hair for 40 bucks. You just have to keep buying a new bag every time you get your hair done.

Hair in packaging

Close up of root

When the extensions are all in, the stylist blows dries then straightens the whole head of hair.

And voila: 

"After" : It's unbeweavable how fast my hair grew

I'm loving the long hair. I feel more attractive, more confident and more motivated to lose some weight to complete the package. I even almost bought a mini-trampoline.

The whole weaving process takes about 2-3 hours and is pain-free (unless you consider boredom a form of pain). Proper upkeep involves wrapping the hair in a silk cap each night so that it doesn't get dried out on cotton pillows.

Sexy and stylish

It also requires washing your hair every week or so. Some (ahem) people are horrified when they discover that I don't wash my hair everyday. I've even gone a couple of months without washing (shh!). But the fact is, my hair is very fine and it gets brittle and dried out the minute it touches water. Home hair care products only add to the problem.  Even the ones that promise EXTREME MOISTURIZING SILK INFUSION TECHNOLOGY. So if my hair smells, it's time for a wash. If my scalp itches, it's time for a wash. If my roots look like they've been through a miniature snowstorm, it's time for a wash.

Before that, what's the point? According to the New York Times, I'm not alone. And if it's in the Times, it has to be true. Try it out, you might be surprised.

Well, that wraps up the weave tutorial.  Please consult this blog post before asking me (again) if the hair is sewn into my scalp (??).

And please, never touch my hair.