My First Kiss and Lighter Sesame Chicken with Broccoli

After spending some time on Real Simple magazine’s website this morning, I saw that their question of the day asked if you remember your first kiss. Sadly, I do. I’m pretty sure it’s the opposite of magical.

I will expound upon this later. First, I wanted to mention that Real Simple has a member’s area for those that register with questions created every week; my interest was in meeting like-minded individuals (I haven’t but I read through profiles and I know it’s possible). Some of the entries are hilarious and some are deeply profound as if it were a trial to become the next Deepak Chopra. If you like these kinds of things, this member’s site isn’t annoying and asks some great questions (don’t get me wrong there are a few bad ones too).

This is for those of us that like filling out questionnaires about getting to know ourselves and each other, such as, your favorite color, band, quote, etc… I know you’re out there people like this because you send me the info about yourselves on facebook and email telling me 20, 50, 100, 1 million things to get to know you better. I have and I know people enjoy that but I bet if asked, you might fear you will look lame or something. Let your freak flag fly.

Anyway, my first kiss. Most of the entries were blissful and obviously brought people back to their young adulthood/childhood and then, there was mine.

I wasn’t someone that desired to date until later in highschool. Somewhat thanks to my horrible acne and bad hair through sophomore year and partly due to being rejected by the few guys I liked. They always liked the “next level girl” and this girl was a friend of mine so I kind of understood and accepted it. She was pretty wonderful. I didn’t chase guys out of my league; I liked guys in the band…mostly marching band. I liked guys involved in the behind the scenes drama area as well.

No matter who it was, they always had that girl stuck in their heads. That was fine until I had a crazy best friend (added to the other ones) that convinced almost any guy I talked to that I liked him to embarrass me and even if I did, it was never to the extent that she played out. She would even imagine that I liked someone and then go over and talk to him because she thought that would really get to me but she was also in a very vulnerable state so I let it go on (for way too long). Did I mention she was crazy? I had a number of those in my life.

Wow, these questions really do bring you back.

So the first kiss- I met my first official boyfriend the summer that I became a junior in highschool and he seemed all kinds of charming. He asked me out after knowing me for a few months and I said ok because I had never been asked and he seemed like a good first boyfriend. Little did I know, for a short period of time, that he bragged about dating over 50 girls and that one caught his attention and he intended to marry her and she was for it until a few months before I met him when she broke it off. I had no idea. I was dating a heartbroken guy-great start. He was also a blond and I don’t go for blonds-just my preference.

A few weeks went by in our relationship and I was nervous about the first kiss, tension mounted until one weekend, we were over at my other friend’s house, watching movies. I was sitting on the floor and he was behind me on the couch. My friend left the room and he bent over my head (upside down), sneak attack and gave me a light smooch. I was surprised, didn’t see it coming and didn’t have time to think before he said “I’ve had better.” Awesome. I sat there embarrassed, as if it were my fault, and hurt.

Maybe if he had let me know or didn’t attempt to kiss me like Spiderman it would’ve gone better. We broke up a few weeks later and it didn’t help that he admitted to cheating on me with a few other ladies (in 5 weeks) and was desperately trying to get back with the one that broke his heart. I wasn’t that upset about it because I noticed that he wasn’t at all as cool as he let on but I was upset that he went out with someone very loose a few days after me. Nice. That was my first kiss. My second wasn’t any better but at least the guy really liked me, stalker liked me.

How about yours?

I need to lighten these heavy thoughts bringing me back to a time where everything was pretty awkward. Let’s do that with a recipe from Martha Stewart (I bet she has some good stories about men): lighter sesame chicken with broccoli.

Lighter Sesame Chicken with Broccoli
Serves 4

Ingredients:
¾ cup steamed (or cooked) brown rice
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into small chunks
salt/pepper
1 to 2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 ½ lb. broccoli, cut into large florets, stems peeled and thinly sliced

Steam or cook rice as directed. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine honey, seeds, soy sauce and garlic. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and cornstarch. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper, toss to coat.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of oil over medium heat. Add half of the chicken and cook until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Do the other half the same way. You might need to add more oil. Return the chicken to the skillet, add the sauce and scallions, toss to coat. Lower the heat to low setting.

Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan and add 1 inch of water over high heat. Bring to a boil and add the broccoli, cook until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Toss with the chicken and serve over the rice.