Please, save me from sophomore girls!! For the past 8 years I have been lucky enough to teach seniors. Only seniors with a few minor juniors thrown in just for the fun of it. It has been 9 years since I have had a sophomore in my class. Much less a sophomore girl. This year, I am lucky enough to have a classroom full of them. Oh, lucky me! Yesterday, one of the girls volunteered to take the class count down to the office. It was a different girl than had taken it the previous week. Well, as soon as she walked out of the room, the previous girl says, "Miss, If she doesn't watch it I am going to get her". To which I replied, "No, you aren't. If you do, you will be sitting in ISS for the rest of the semester for two hours a day and forfeit your credit for this class." To which she replied, "If she doesn't quit looking at me.. "
All of this because she is looking at her? Are you kidding me?
Then today, the different girl comes in and says, "Miss, if she doesn't quit dogging me, I am going to get her." Well, I replied the same and told this one that I had spoken to the other one yesterday and I was nipping it in the bud.
Thought that would put a stop to it. But, no. Later during the class I pulled them both out and gave them a talking to and let them have their say and you know what? It was all a misunderstanding about the way someone looks at you.
UGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
Lord, give me patience to deal with these girls this year! They are now alright for the time being, but let's see what develops.
Today I wore these cute pants that I had only worn 3 times, today being the third, and was getting ice out of the freezer in the garage and I caught them on the license plate and they ripped!! No more cute pants :( I immediately came up stairs and looked up my past order history, found them on the web-site and ordered me a couple more pairs. One in the same color and one in a slate color. However, I purchased these for $13 and now the pants are $26. Bummer! It's just been one of those afternoons. On the bright side? I got my lesson plans finished and turned in today.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Okay, new day and I am up and raring to go!! (6:20 a.m. - dogs wouldn't sleep any longer) Now, to start in on those recipes that I had planned for yesterday. First off the Butter Brickle Bread. A recipe I got from my sister via my mother. Apparently somebody served this bread at a party my sister went to and she begged for the recipe. Then my mother sent it on to me to try. It is an interesting recipe that is made using a cake mix, a pudding mix, hot water and 4 eggs. You mix it with a mixer and it incorporates a lot of air into the batter. I cooked it in my Pampered Chef mini loaf stone that makes 4 medium/small loaves of bread. they turned out pretty good. I think I need to shorten the cooking time, but other than that it looks good. Oh, yes, the recipe called for poppy seeds and I didn't want to use them so I put in pecans instead. Next time I will triple the amount of pecans. Here is a picture of one loaf.
and all 4 of them:
Next up was a recipe from the Tasty Kitchen, the Pioneer Woman's blog. Since peaches are so abundant right now, I copied off two recipes using peaches. The first was peach cups. It uses crescent rolls, marscapone cheese and peaches. Okay, if you read the previous blog you will know that I am subbing whipped cream cheese instead. The recipe says you can do this. I melted my butter and got my cinnamon and sugar ready and started dipping my dough and making cups out of them in my muffin pan. (yes, another Pampered Chef stoneware item. Love them)
Then I mixed my cheese with some sugar and mounded it into the cups. I slice up a large peach and decided that I may not be able to get those slices in the cup so I diced up that peach and put a bunch over the cheese mix. Sprinkle a little sugar on top of that and into the oven it goes.
After about 11 minutes (according to the recipe) I take them out and . . . and . . . the dough is not cooked much at all. I stick them back in for another 5 minutes and . . and. . . nope. I don't like this at all. Wait, I have another can of crescent rolls in my refrigerator. Let's try this one more time. I scoop out the filling and put it in a bowl. Peaches, cinnamon and all. Well, not all. I probably got some of the bottom of the peach cups into this mixture, but the rest of the dough went down the drain.
I cleaned the pan and started over. I decided that dipping the dough in butter was probably the problem. Also, getting the triangle shapes into a cup shape was a problem. So, this time, I spread out the dough from the can and pinched the perforated edges together to create one rectangle, cut that rectangle in half fat way and put that into the muffin cups. That works great. Then, I melted a little bit of butter and spread it into the cups with my fingers since I don't have or couldn't find a pastry brush. I sprinkled some Cinnamon and sugar mixture over the top of this and loaded them up with the new cheese and peach mixture. Put them in the oven, baked them the 11 minutes. Oops, needs some more time. 15 minutes total and voila
Peach Cups. They are pretty good. However, I will not be making this recipe anymore. They are just not worth it. However, I did scoop some of the cheesy mixture and put it on the brickle bread and that was very tasty. I might mix up some more of that and serve it with the bread. So this recipe wasn't a complete waste.
and all 4 of them:
Next up was a recipe from the Tasty Kitchen, the Pioneer Woman's blog. Since peaches are so abundant right now, I copied off two recipes using peaches. The first was peach cups. It uses crescent rolls, marscapone cheese and peaches. Okay, if you read the previous blog you will know that I am subbing whipped cream cheese instead. The recipe says you can do this. I melted my butter and got my cinnamon and sugar ready and started dipping my dough and making cups out of them in my muffin pan. (yes, another Pampered Chef stoneware item. Love them)
Then I mixed my cheese with some sugar and mounded it into the cups. I slice up a large peach and decided that I may not be able to get those slices in the cup so I diced up that peach and put a bunch over the cheese mix. Sprinkle a little sugar on top of that and into the oven it goes.
After about 11 minutes (according to the recipe) I take them out and . . . and . . . the dough is not cooked much at all. I stick them back in for another 5 minutes and . . and. . . nope. I don't like this at all. Wait, I have another can of crescent rolls in my refrigerator. Let's try this one more time. I scoop out the filling and put it in a bowl. Peaches, cinnamon and all. Well, not all. I probably got some of the bottom of the peach cups into this mixture, but the rest of the dough went down the drain.
I cleaned the pan and started over. I decided that dipping the dough in butter was probably the problem. Also, getting the triangle shapes into a cup shape was a problem. So, this time, I spread out the dough from the can and pinched the perforated edges together to create one rectangle, cut that rectangle in half fat way and put that into the muffin cups. That works great. Then, I melted a little bit of butter and spread it into the cups with my fingers since I don't have or couldn't find a pastry brush. I sprinkled some Cinnamon and sugar mixture over the top of this and loaded them up with the new cheese and peach mixture. Put them in the oven, baked them the 11 minutes. Oops, needs some more time. 15 minutes total and voila
Peach Cups. They are pretty good. However, I will not be making this recipe anymore. They are just not worth it. However, I did scoop some of the cheesy mixture and put it on the brickle bread and that was very tasty. I might mix up some more of that and serve it with the bread. So this recipe wasn't a complete waste.
New Glasses and a Bummer of a Day
I am trying to upload photos into this post, but it will only load the code. It used to load the picture itself so I could move it around. Let's try one now.
Nope, just code again. Bummer. Well, let's see if I can work with this.
Yesterday I made a trip to Wallie World. I know, what an idiot to go in the middle of a Saturday, but I really needed to order more contacts and since they work with 1-800-Contacts I needed to make one trip, at least. I have had my prescription for over a month and I have even been to Wallie at least once in that month, but it was early in the morning so I don't have to deal with the crowds and the vision center isn't open at that time. So, a trip in the middle of the busiest day of the week it was. I got my contacts ordered and even ordered a pair of glasses. I haven't had new glasses since 2002!! I can't believe it. I wear my contacts so much that I have just put off ordering the glasses. Now, since I am getting older and need bi-focals and it is embarrasaing to wear my readers over my glasses out in public, I forked out the money for glasses. Being blind, needing bifocals and wanting to not have coke bottle lenses, makes for some expensive glasses let me tell you. I hope I can wear these for 8 years and not need to replace them so I can get my money's worth.
Since I was already parked with a decent spot. I decided to do some grocery shopping. I needed a few items to try out some recipes this weekend and they had most of the items I needed on my list. WHAT? no marscapone cheese? Oh, well, I can sub in some whipped cream cheese. WHAT? no provolone cheese at the deli? Okay, I will buy this more expensive pre-packaged cheese and remember to go to HEB the next time. I was so totally worn out from all the people on the road and learning that my 86 cent cokes at dairy queen are going up on Monday that I didn't do any cooking at all on Saturday night. bummer.
Nope, just code again. Bummer. Well, let's see if I can work with this.
Yesterday I made a trip to Wallie World. I know, what an idiot to go in the middle of a Saturday, but I really needed to order more contacts and since they work with 1-800-Contacts I needed to make one trip, at least. I have had my prescription for over a month and I have even been to Wallie at least once in that month, but it was early in the morning so I don't have to deal with the crowds and the vision center isn't open at that time. So, a trip in the middle of the busiest day of the week it was. I got my contacts ordered and even ordered a pair of glasses. I haven't had new glasses since 2002!! I can't believe it. I wear my contacts so much that I have just put off ordering the glasses. Now, since I am getting older and need bi-focals and it is embarrasaing to wear my readers over my glasses out in public, I forked out the money for glasses. Being blind, needing bifocals and wanting to not have coke bottle lenses, makes for some expensive glasses let me tell you. I hope I can wear these for 8 years and not need to replace them so I can get my money's worth.
Since I was already parked with a decent spot. I decided to do some grocery shopping. I needed a few items to try out some recipes this weekend and they had most of the items I needed on my list. WHAT? no marscapone cheese? Oh, well, I can sub in some whipped cream cheese. WHAT? no provolone cheese at the deli? Okay, I will buy this more expensive pre-packaged cheese and remember to go to HEB the next time. I was so totally worn out from all the people on the road and learning that my 86 cent cokes at dairy queen are going up on Monday that I didn't do any cooking at all on Saturday night. bummer.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
What? 3 blogs in one night? I know, but I am on a roll and even though I was going to save a couple of these and post them later, I decided to just post all three tonight. At the fair on Saturday, I was just in time to hear the bag pipers. I listened for a bit and they were good. If I had planned on staying at the fair for much longer I could have stayed and listened to them. As it was, I was on a preset time limit. (preset by me)
Two of the lady drummers were having a great time and it was fun watching them get into it. This picture is of the three baggers. There were 7 or 8 people in their group with the rest of them doing percussion.
I really should have paid more attention to their plaids to see if I could determine what clan they were from. Maybe this year I will be in town and can attend the Scott-Irish Faire. I used to attend the one held at Odessa College and even made it to one at the Midland Fair Grounds many, many years ago. However, the down side of those, was that I would go early before the crowds start rolling in and things really get started. If I get the chance to attend this year, I need to decide which I consider more important: a small crowd (of none at all) or the middle of the whole shebang. Thank goodness I don't have to think about that for several months.
Two of the lady drummers were having a great time and it was fun watching them get into it. This picture is of the three baggers. There were 7 or 8 people in their group with the rest of them doing percussion.
I really should have paid more attention to their plaids to see if I could determine what clan they were from. Maybe this year I will be in town and can attend the Scott-Irish Faire. I used to attend the one held at Odessa College and even made it to one at the Midland Fair Grounds many, many years ago. However, the down side of those, was that I would go early before the crowds start rolling in and things really get started. If I get the chance to attend this year, I need to decide which I consider more important: a small crowd (of none at all) or the middle of the whole shebang. Thank goodness I don't have to think about that for several months.
If you can make it here . . .
Leaving the fairgrounds on Saturday I had to exit by a different road that I was not familiar with. Even though my Garmin was in the car with me, I didn't think I would need it in Midland. I knew that if I could keep traveling north I would eventually come to a road that I knew. So, that is what I did. Traveled north. I drove along, reading the street signs and low and behold!!! Look what I found:
I am famous!! My whole family is famous!! I really wanted to get out and take it down to take home with me, but that is stealing and just wrong, so I turned around, got out the camera and just took a picture. Actually, I took a couple of pictures. The first one I was way too far away and had to move up some more. Then I took another one and decided that I needed to macro zoom to get even closer. Because, you know, I wasn't about to get out of the car. Just roll the window down and click! voila! A street sign of my own. It just made my day to find that sign. Oh, yes, as you can tell with me being here and typing, that I found my way and made it home. (it wasn't hard at all)
I am famous!! My whole family is famous!! I really wanted to get out and take it down to take home with me, but that is stealing and just wrong, so I turned around, got out the camera and just took a picture. Actually, I took a couple of pictures. The first one I was way too far away and had to move up some more. Then I took another one and decided that I needed to macro zoom to get even closer. Because, you know, I wasn't about to get out of the car. Just roll the window down and click! voila! A street sign of my own. It just made my day to find that sign. Oh, yes, as you can tell with me being here and typing, that I found my way and made it home. (it wasn't hard at all)
Fair Winners
Last weekend, I went to the Midland fair and checked things out. Like I previously said, this was their first fair in over 40 years. As a result, they didn't have a carnival booked so there weren't any rides, not that I am into the carnival rides. Who knew that you needed to book a carnival at a minimum a year + ahead of time. These are a few of the items my friend and I judged. The top picture is of the Jalapeno Jelly the grand champion in the canning area. It was really great. Had the standard Jalapeno flavor along with a little sweetness and heat. The pie was our grand champion in the baked goods area. It was a lemon meringue. It had a great lemon flavor. It was the only one that we kept going back to to take another bite. So, we knew that it had to be our grand champion. The orange purse was made from hand felted wool. A lot of work went into the making of that purse. It definitely deserved the award of Grand Champion. The last picture was of a tricycle/recumbent bike that was made out of found objects. (or at least that is what it looked like to me) It really worked. We know this because we had a tester try it out. It looked like fun and I would have tried it out myself, but watching our tester try to get out of the bike totally changed my mind. I would have had to roll out sideways and then untangle my legs to get out of there. I am so glad that I didn't try it. It got our reserve champion award in the had crafted category.
while at the fair on Saturday, I purchased some Meyer's Lemon and Olive Oil, Fig Balsamic Vinegar and two varieties of linguine. I can't wait to try these items out in a recipe. I think I will make a lemon chicken pasta dish this weekend. Doesn't that sound wonderful? I would have made it tonight, but didn't want to make the trek to HEB at 5:00 with all the other people shopping for dinner. I am glad I didn't go because my Schwann's man came to my door and delivered dinner without me having to get back out again!! Sometimes I just love Schwann's.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Food and fun times
I promised I would talk about what I ate at conference. I still haven't unearthed my thumb drive that I saved my nightly summary of the foods I consumed, but here are some of the highlights of that week at conference. You know they were great things when 2 to 3 weeks later I can still vividly remember them. First off was the blueberry and granola pancakes. They were awesome. I deliberately took my camera with me everywhere so I could take pictures of everything and came home with no pictures. Terrible blogger!! Anyway, this pancake batter had homemade granola mixed into the batter along with a few blueberries. Then it was topped with fresh blueberries, fresh whipped butter and sprinkled with powder sugar. You could top it off with some warm maple syrup, which I did. unbelievable! Such incredible flavors with the oats and cinnamon and a touch of sweetness coming from the granola and the fresh blueberries. When I first tasted them, I knew right away that I would have to make some myself. (haven't' yet, but it's coming. first have to make the granola) The next thing that was awesome I didn't even order. Two of my friends had the short ribs. they had a coffee, cocoa, cinnamon rub on them that was to die for. The meat was so tender that it simply melted in your mouth and the flavors blended together in such a richness that . . umm it was incredible!! I wanted to pull their plate over and just consume what was left. It was very good. That is another one I will have to play with and make. Believe it or not, I have never cooked short ribs. Since I am now teaching the culinary arts, I am going to be experimenting more at home so that I can come up with interesting dishes to serve in our restaurant at school. Well, that is all I will leave you with for now. got to get to the midland fair and experience some goodness and fair foods out there.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Judging and all the rest
I can't believe I haven't been on here for almost half a month. Okay, over half a month! I have been very busy trying to get school started, traveling to conference, sitting in in-service meetings and unpacking boxes. Did I say unpacking boxes? just want you to know that I have been unpacking boxes!! Yesterday alone I unpacked about 35 boxes. I am probably half way through the 90+ boxes that I packed up back in May in readiness for this move.
Tonight, a fellow co-worker and I were judges for the Midland County Fair that is opening tomorrow night. This is their first fair in over 48 years so turnout for the entries was a bit sparse. We judged pies, jellies and jams, pickles and relishes, salsa, and canned black-eyed peas. I thought that was all we were going to judge and then I was informed that we were also judging the crafts entries. It was all very interesting and you will have to attend the fair (or wait until Sunday for me to tell you about it) to find out who the winners were. I will tell you that there were a lot of first places due to the low entry numbers in each category.
I have more to say, especially about the food at conference. I wrote down everything we ate while we were there and since I didn't pay for the Internet hookup and didn't want to use the public computers to blog, it is all on a thumb drive in my bag. My next blog will be about the food!!
Tonight, a fellow co-worker and I were judges for the Midland County Fair that is opening tomorrow night. This is their first fair in over 48 years so turnout for the entries was a bit sparse. We judged pies, jellies and jams, pickles and relishes, salsa, and canned black-eyed peas. I thought that was all we were going to judge and then I was informed that we were also judging the crafts entries. It was all very interesting and you will have to attend the fair (or wait until Sunday for me to tell you about it) to find out who the winners were. I will tell you that there were a lot of first places due to the low entry numbers in each category.
I have more to say, especially about the food at conference. I wrote down everything we ate while we were there and since I didn't pay for the Internet hookup and didn't want to use the public computers to blog, it is all on a thumb drive in my bag. My next blog will be about the food!!
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