Kathiey's World

  Have you ever noticed that one recipe calls for olive oil, another says to use avocado oil, and a third swears by coconut oil? It can feel overwhelming, or even like it doesn’t really matter. But the truth is, the oil you choose can make or break a dish. It affects flavor, texture, and even your health. Let’s break it all down. As a member of Home Chef, I’ve had the pleasure of cooking an incredible variety of meals from their rotating menus. One thing I noticed pretty quickly: almost every single recipe calls for olive oil. It got me thinking. What happens when I run out? Can I just grab whatever is in the cabinet? That curiosity is exactly what sent me down the rabbit hole of cooking oils, and I’m glad it did. Here’s what I learned. The Key Concept: Smoke Point Before we get into specific oils, you need to know about the smoke point . This is the temperature at which an oil stops shimmering and starts to smoke. When an oil hits its smoke point, a few things happen:   It be...

Monday Morning Motivation:Fear of the Unknown Brodie and the Grocery Bag On your typical day, my dog Brodie is not afraid of bags. He is not fearful of handbags, grocery bags, or trash bags. He is not even scared of tea bags. But this was not your typical day. It was cold, and the sky was gray. There was a slight breeze, just enough to transform a plastic bag into an object of fear, at least for Brodie. We were taking one of our multiple daily walks when Brodie’s confident gait altered. His tail went down, his fur began to stand on end, and I heard a low guttural sound that I only heard when the UPS truck stopped in front of the house. I scanned the horizon in search of the cause of this behavior, and there it was, a small plastic grocery bag in a bush swaying in the breeze. I knew what it was, and because of this, I felt no fear. On the other hand, Brodie saw something that he could not interpret, and because it was an unknown, he was struck by fear. Do I think that we will never expe...

  Post 1 of the Joy Series The day my husband of 37 years walked out, joy didn’t just fade. It vanished. Completely. Like someone had quietly switched off a light that I had no idea how to turn back on. I had no idea it would take me more than a decade to find the switch again. I want to tell you that story, because if you are reading this and joy feels like a distant memory right now, I want you to know something before we go any further: the fact that you are still looking for it means it is not gone. It is waiting. And the fight to get it back, as long and as hard as that fight may be, is absolutely worth it. What Joy Actually Is The Oxford Dictionary defines joy as “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” But here is what I have learned from living inside the absence of it for years: that definition is incomplete. Joy is not just a feeling. A feeling is temporary. A feeling comes and goes with your circumstances. What I discovered, through a long and painful journey, is tha...

  When the Heat Index Hits 100: A Practical Guide to Staying Safe This Summer in NC Y’all, it is   hot . And I am not talking about a regular North Carolina summer kind of hot. I am talking triple digits, humidity so thick you feel like you are walking through warm soup, and a heat index that WRAL meteorologists are warning could push close to 110 degrees over the coming days. Tomorrow, my daughter and I are taking the grandkids to a museum with both outdoor and indoor activities. And honestly? I almost rescheduled. But then I thought, no. Life does not stop because of a heat wave. We just have to be smart about it. So here is everything I have learned about staying safe when the temps go extreme. I hope it helps you and yours too. Plan Your Day Around the Heat, Not the Other Way Around This one is simple but powerful. If you are going somewhere with both outdoor and indoor options, do the outdoor stuff first thing in the morning, then move inside when the heat peaks between 1...