Hormel Natural Review

This month I was lucky enough to win some great products from Hormel, at another blogger's giveaway.  I won a Wii bundle, a game, and an assortment of meats from the Hormel Natural line.   Everything came separately in various packages, and the last to arrive were the Hormel meats.  I was so excited to open the package of Hormel from FedEx, and  It was packed nicely in a Styrofoam container, kept nice and cold for the trip to my house.  I think that we tore open the box and everything felt like Christmas all over again.

All together I think there were twelve different varieties of ham, turkey, and various sausages.   I suspect that our favorites were the sausages.  There were Jalapeno and Cheese, Apple Asiago, and original smoked.  Of the sausages that we had received, the Jalapeno and Cheese hardly made it to the table.  It was almost eaten completely after we took it out of the oven.  I swear to you all It was just that good.  If you like a like cheesy sausages with an extra kick, then this is the one for you.  I found that the Apple Asiago was a bit sweet but still good.  I tried to put it into a homemade Alfredo sauce;  However, I feel that it would go better with a red sauce instead of cream.  One last note about Hormel Natural Choice.  It does not contain any preservatives and 100% all Natural.  This is directly from their package:

• No Nitrates or Nitries added
• No artificial Ingredients
• Minimally Processed
• No MSG added
• Gluten Free.

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How I played tourist in New Orleans

Have you seen New Orleans during the day?  Well, it has been awhile since I had played tourist in my own city, and so I noticed how pretty and quaint it really is.  I have gone to all the parades during Mardi Gras and so it is rather a normal thing to watch the city get really trashed.  However, the beauty of the old buildings still captivates me.  These pictures were taken during a recent errand run downtown, and yet I had never notice the movie theater that was converted to a CVS.  The police officer in this photo must have thought that I was rather strange.  If you look carefully, you will notice long mural of Louis Armstrong in the window with his trumpet.  Music is so endeared to the people of New Orleans, and if you love the series, “Treme”, you will understand why.  It is a part of our heritage. 

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How to eat Vietnamese Food

If you know anything about Vietnamese cooking, you will realize that overall we do not put many herbs into our dishes while it is cooking.  Rather, most herbs are eaten or garnished at the table.  Soups like Pho, Bun Bo Hue, and other hot soups will have basil, cilantro, mung beans, and lime garnishments in another dish.  Simply, the reason is that fresh herbs impart more flavors to the soup before they start to wilt.  Here is a picture of my mother with her usual favorite herbs grown from our backyard.  She will accompany any dish with the garnishments, and sometimes I feel as if the herbs are really the main and the dish is the side.  LOL!

Ciao Kit Kat

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Late Night Ramblings

You may have been looking for more posts from me, but unfortunately, I have been rather sick, to say the least.  I apologize for my recent absence, but I am trying to get some personal things done.  Unfortunately, I seem to move at a slower pace than usual, and I really don't understand why.  It just seems that if one is used to a routine, then one must stick to it as much as possible, or else the internal equilibrium will deteriorate and become not synchronized with the whole.  Lately, I have found that one of my roadblocks have been motivation.  I don't seem to have much motivation lately, even once simple tasks of cleaning the house seems to be really difficult lately.  Well, hopefully I get this job that I am a good fit for, then maybe I will get out of this slump.  If I have typos please disregard.  I am rather sleepy, as I am trying to put this post up as well as tweaking the blog.

Ciao Kit Kat

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Starting a business during a recession

Steven started Spiller Kustoms during a very difficult time, and financially we are still unsure of our future.  Thus,I can't speak for everyone, but for us it has been a long downhill roller coaster ride.  We are finally stable enough to cover bills, but our overhead is still a nightmare.  I went into this knowing that it would be difficult in regards to starting any new business.  However, I did not foresee how much it would take to start a business with little capital.

Last year during this month, Steven was freelancing out of another shop, and we officially registered Spiller Kustoms.  However, working under someone else's business is still challenging, because you are responsible for half of the overhead, but our ability for expanding the customer base was almost impossible.  However, we were able to start the company and was operating as a mobile service with a satelite location to operate out of.  Eventually, we realize that it was not a proffitable continue our business with the other person, and so Steven went back to work at a local dealership.  The dealership was steady work, but that ended when he was laid off right after Thanksgiving.  If you don't already know, work slows down during the winter for the automotive repair industry.  It won't pick up again until the next spring when everyone is done recovering from spending during the holidays.  Well, we survived and business picked up around February. 

It has been an amazing year so far for Spiller Kustoms.  We are now renting part of a shop in beautiful Marrero La.  There are some things in the works, which I can't speak of immediately.  However,if it does go through, it will be a positive step for our business.  One thing that I have learned so far, is that hard work will give positive returns.  Spiller Kustoms operates seven days a week, and Steven's phone rings off the hook all the time still.  But, I am used to it now. 

If you have the time check out my facebook page and tell me what you think of my banner.  I designed it myself out of Photoshop.  I would love to hear what you think of our sites on facebook and twitter.  I stayed up late one night until the wee hours to get it done.  It may not be the best, but I put a lot of effort into it.  So if you have pointers for me to work on let me know.  I am still teething on blogging and creating our Brand.

Ciao

Kit Kat

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Introductions

Introductions

As you can see Spiller Kustoms and Ask Super Steve are coming along nicely.  We are in middle of ramping up our main sites as well as our social profiles.  My name is Kit Kat, and I am one of the contributors for Ask Super Steve.  Currently, I am a SAHM, our family consists of four boys, which you will probably hear me mention more in the nearby future.  Our main goal here at Ask Super Steve is to share with you our expertise on everything automotive, daily life adventures, parenting, and living in New Orleans.  Therefore, if you have the time browse through our site and share our thoughts with us.  I really would love feedback on how to make this site better for our readers and followers.

Ciao Kit Kat

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Driving while you are upset..

Just don't do it!!!!

Today's lesson for today is brought to you by a little Asian woman in a green Honda, Civic.  Mrs. Wu has been been rather distraught,  in regards to her husband's fender bender from earlier this week.  Mr.  Wu was coming home from driving his daughter to school on Monday.  It was a clear sunny day and he was jamming to his Vietnamese oldies while stopping at a red light.  All of the sudden, he was rear ended by the car behind him.  Calmly, he turned off his radio and got out of the car to inspect the damage.  Unfortunately for him, the offender could not produce a driver's license and car insurance, but still he felt bad for the driver and decided not to call the police.  Later that night, Mr. Wu went home to inform his wife of the fender bender.   Mrs. Wu was rather upset that he did not call the authorities and proceeded to 'light-into' her husband, to which his response was, "Well what do you want me to do?  I could not let him go to jail!"

Okay, let us go back to the original story of  Mrs. Wu.  She was driving this morning to go to work.  At that moment, all that she could think of was about her husband's fender bender.  She has a bad habit of not paying attention when driving upset.  Somehow,  Mrs. Wu was driving too close to one of the cars parked on the street, and so she accidentally swiped its rear with the side of her car.  She drove off in horror praying to God (literally) that no one had seen her and went back home.

Well, there are a couple of lessons about this story:
First, there is a very good reason for someone to not have a driver's license and insurance.   Either that person did not pay to keep their insurance, or more likely, he or she had such a bad driving history that they could not afford to keep insurance.  You are now taking chances if you believe that other person will pay as he or she claims.  Chances are good that you will not be able to get them to pay for your repairs.  If you do choose to let them pay out of pocket, make a demand on the spot to see if they are really good on their intentions.  At this point you have nothing to lose, so get them to sign an IOU and get it notarized.  Sounds formal?  Well, it is a legal document that you can take to small claims to help you recoup your repairs.  Make sure that you have pictures and written statements of everything.  You are now your own claims representative.

Second, you are more likely to get into a fender bender when you are upset.  Realize that you  are stressed out, and do whatever you need to do to unwind.  Here are my all time favorite ways to de-stress.

1.  Drink (coffee, tea, soda....____)  Use your imagination and fill in the blanks.
2.  Eat (chocolate, ice cream, what is your comfort food?)
3.  Read a book or watch a movie.
4.  Work on your car, or any other projects around the house.
5.  Spend some quality time with your significant other (hint..hint.)
6.  Blog about it

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