Just Another Day With Me

Yum

Rich, decadent 

red velvet cake, 

slathered in

 rich

 sweet cream cheese frosting.   

Good Eats

Today Row chose his favorite restaurant for his 12th Birthday.   We went to a movie, went shopping (Game-Stop of course) and then to see How To Train Your Dragon (very cute, made me cry because I'm old and emotional).   A good day with Row, Hub and I.   Enjoyed it....
 And this boy can EAT. 

He really likes the oysters (yuck....) and he REALLY wanted me to try them...

Dad... I like this pic.  

    

Really Awesome Ribs....

Who needs a woman... there are restaurants.   Let me just say... The Ribs at the Chuckwagon restaurant in Velma, Oklahoma  are amazing... just amazing.   Thanks to my Husband for taking me out to eat tonight, it sure beat that bowl of Quaker Instant Oatmeal that I was going to have.   Now, I'm tired... I'm trying to read the news before my show comes on.  

Our 11 year old son went with us and made the comment that he needed a hair cut soon: "My sideburns are completely attached to my face." He's funny.  Funny a song came on my iPod in the car and I realized that it was off of a cassette I'd gotten for my 12th birthday (I'd recently downloaded it on iTunes) and I was thinking wow... my Son will be 12 in a couple of weeks and I can still remember my 12th birthday.   

Red Velvet and a Run

Despite being kind of emotional this morning.  I am not now, This has been a pretty good day. I cleaned the living room and the kitchen, worked on laundry *yet unfinished.  I watched part of a movie with my husband (it was good - I made it halfway through before I had to get up and do something- but Tivo'd the rest just in case I might watch it (unlikely). Yet, another day without circa 1970 Clint Eastwood movies (I have a feeling that I'll find that I get Clint Eastwood movies for my birthday if I don't shut up about it).  

Around three I had a nice plate of cheese-fries.  I think I had more cheese than fries.  I bake the fries then nuke the cheese on top of them and dip them in ranch dressing.  Very nice.  

Yeah, so after these I decided that maybe I should go exercise...  

I went out and it was beautiful (I'd medicated for asthma previously).  Perfect day,not too cool, not hot, but all green and sunshine.  So, I went two miles, stopped at house for ten minutes and went back out for four more miles.  Not a speed record, but a start.  I feel better.  Exercise is good for you by the way. If you don't exercise you should know that, you can eat crap like above (and below) - and well, I can still wear sixes and smalls.  I know genetics and metabolism impact weight.  But, really before I began exercising I was unhappy with my weight (for me), and this has really helped.  It also helps with my anxiety, which is a big deal...a less anxious me, is a better me.  

I also decided I'm registering for a marathon (a full one) I want to run a whole marathon in 2010.  It may be in the fall, but I'm going to do it, or I will regret it.   I wanted to run the full OKC Memorial Marathon but this winter set me back. I also need a goal to work on, continually, or I feel - like I'm not doing anything worthwhile, and running helps fill some kind of void for me.  

So, I'm going to post one more picture of food porn (stolen term- I like it).  I came home from my run, fixed ham and cheese (grilled) swiss and ham on wheat.... and a red velvet cake with home-made cream cheese frosting (oh.... definitely mouth watering).   

You know you want it....  :-D  

 

Run (End)

Last Updated by Joy 1 hour ago

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 9.78 km (6.1 mi) <---not bad- need this daily
Total Time: 1:40:10 <---Had to stop in the house for a few minutes after two miles...  
Moving Time: 1:30:42
Average Speed: 5.86 km/h (3.6 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 6.47 km/h (4.0 mi/h) <---SLOW 
Max Speed: 14.26 km/h (8.9 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 312 m (1024 ft)
Max Elevation: 367 m (1202 ft)
Elevation Gain: 244 m (801 ft)
Max Grade: 0 %
Min Grade: 0 %
Recorded: Sun Apr 11 17:03:03 CDT 2010
Activity type: running

Sour Cream Fudge Torte

This cake is AWESOME, and it too is so easy a man could make it.  

1 Devils Food Cake Mix 

(prepare as box says... but I always use milk instead of water in the cake mix because it makes for a moist cake).

bake in 2, eight inch pans 

Cut each cake in half you will have four slabs of cake (as it is a torte after all) 

Filling... (it is like, OMG.... soo good) 

2 cups of dairy sour cream (one container) 

1 cup of sugar (granulated sugar) 

3 cups of coconut (I just use one bag) 

3 cups of whipped topping.... (fold in last) 

So good it should be illegal...

omg... sooo good its like the best taste on earth...  its... just, well you need to try it! 

This has been my favorite cake since I was a little girl.  I remember begging Mom to make it, I loved it.  This is my choice of Birthday Cakes...  omg... it is, well OMG...  Awesome.  Super easy to make there is no excuse.        

A Foodie Blog...

Here is a foodie blog to check out:

http://thefoodieandthefamily.blogspot.com/

Tonight, I am attempting Cream of Mushroom (or spinach) soup.   We shall see if it will be good or not.  

The "Best" Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I've been meaning to write this one down because I can barely read the recipe off of the page that is torn out of my old recipe book.  The recipe is tattered, torn and broken.  It will be lost if I don't write it down.

  Don't mess with the best, if you try this recipe you won't ever use another one.   You can halve this recipe, I always make double batches with cookies.  I also use M&M's.   I, not being a chocolate lover, tend to only put half the amount of chocolate chips in and always use milk chocolate chips.  Tonight it is M&M's, in honor of Santa's visit! 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

1 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
2 cups of BUTTER (you know the kind from a cow)
2 large eggs (umm..of the chicken variety)
4 1/2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
2 C. nuts (optional)
1 bag of milk chocolate chips (or two if you like them that much)

Oven temp 375 (I use 350 in a convection oven)
Mix softened butter, sugars and egg, then add dry ingredients.  Drop by tablespoonfuls and bake 8-10 minutes. 

Granny's Chocolate Fried Pies

Tonight the kids demanded that we make chocolate fried pies, led by my thirteen year old getting out the ingredients and starting to make them from scratch, which meant that I had no choice but to supervise and teach. This is one treat all of my children love (which is hard to find) and its my Maternal Grandmother's recipe.  Old southern tradition... FRY IT and it will be good.  So, this is my contribution to the "foody" section of my blog. I'm still enjoying my new camera and the awesome shots that I get even of frying pies.  These are time consuming to make but worth it..

For Dough:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp of Salt
Flour- to thickness for rolling *wing it!


Chocolate filling:
2 heaping tablespoons of flour
2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa
6 tablespoons of sugar
Milk to make PASTE (important if its too runny it makes very interesting pies)

skillet of oil..to fry...

Reading the Fat Blogs

As I sit here reading the fat blogs, while I eat a plate of mashed potatoes (mashed with real butter, and loaded with sodium) and a pork rib (also well marbled with fat and coated with sugary sweet barbecue sauce)  along with canned corn (yeah, canned corn doesn't suit my clean food preference but it will do).  I think because its easier to find fat blogs on the web than the skinny bitch blogs and skinny bitches just annoy me.  Fat blogs seem kind of whiney and hungry in a way. I like runners blogs, but they make me feel slow and inadequate, and political blogs make me feel kind of stupid sometimes because politics are not my primary obsession.  Foody blogs are fun, but I don't spend a lot of time on those. 

They go on about fat people and social justice, blah, blah, blah.  Most of these blogs are written by women, so  honestly fat women discriminate against skinny women (you want to be hated, try losing 15 pounds)  and vice versa.  The healthy people discriminate against the alcoholics and druggies, while the religious people look down upon the non-religious people.  The educated feel superior to the un-educated.  That is how the world works.  Deal with it.  I do like them, they are good blogs and I agree with a lot of what they say, I empathize, but maybe I'm lacking in sympathy.   But, I've never been in that situation.  

Seriously though... dinner was good.....  and I'm going to make a cake now.   After soaking my sore muscles in the tub after my four mile run, the colder it gets the faster I go. 

Charlie Brown and Chocolatinis

I actually began my day today in a very good mood.  But, its funny how that goes.  I'm not a huge fan of Monday anyways.  So, I spent the day working on a report for the boss.  Long, tedious data entry.  Oh, I might add much of the data entry should not have to be done by myself, it should be something that should be pulled directly from the system.  So, all day long.  

So, by the last hour of the day I finish this report (thank god).  I am getting ready to leave and I find out that a co-worker, actually both coworkers next door to me are having smart-boards installed.  Smartboards that were promised to all secondary folks last spring at the great "stimulus money" meeting.   So in four years I've never had anything bought for my classroom, teaching tools etc,  I don't have a bad setup to begin with, but when my students are using the old texts and the non-special ed kids have new texts it just isn't fair, now is it? Anyways, it just feels like once again I am left out.  The story of my life.  The person forgotten and not thought of when things get pushed through and it is something I honestly would use often.  I left crying and upset and downright frustrated and unhappy with this job.  This job that I'm in that doesn't have any room for growth.  I can teach, but I feel like I'm stalled out in this job.

So, I left, and I whipped my little car into the liquor store parking lot and proceeded on in.  Now, this is outside of my element.  I am not the liquor store visiting type person being raised by a very anti-alcohol mother.  As a kid we never had alcohol in the house, so I still feel like a "bad person" when I go into buy alcohol.  This was my biggest haul to date.  Since I am attempting to learn how to be a better cook, I needed red and white wine and cognac for some recipes, but then I decided that send my day ended like crap I needed the fixin's for chocolate martinis.   Yeah,  of course, I only like the good stuff, so out of there with Grey Goose and Godiva.   The white wine is for trial, since it is supposed to be a sweet white wine, we shall see how it tastes.  Plus we can lock it up with the guns.  Who needs a liquor cabinet?

After I went to Walmart to get what I needed for my soups that I will be cooking this week.  I arrived home and had to go run off my frustrations.  As much as on days like this that I'd like to curl up in bed and do nothing but feel sorry for myself I didn't.  I know I feel better if I go run.  So I went out for my four mile journey.  It gave me time to think  that well, my life isn't so bad and I doubt that the people who decided whether or not who got the smart boards probably couldn't run a mile in under 10 minutes, so I guess its not so bad.   I was happy this morning, well relatively for a Monday morning.  It could've been a great Monday, but I went to work like an idiot.  

The running was good,  it felt good to be outside and the weather was perfect, the air was cooler and dry.   I got home and began making my soup and it was wonderful, potato and leek soup, with creme,  ah it was good especially after I layerd swiss cheese on top of it.  It looked kind of greenish and gross but tasted quite nice.  Then I had a chocolate martini, which I must share the recipe.   Relaxed a little bit and played online. 

1 1/2 shots Godiva® chocolate liqueur
1 1/2 shots creme de cacao
1/2 shot vodka
2 1/2 shots half-and-half

 

A week from tonight, I'll be watching Rob Thomas in concert, I'm so excited, I think that should get me through the week.  I've only wanted to see him since 1997, so 12 years later I get to see the "Great One" - only one step down from Sting (and son) in music Idolness.   OK, well, maybe I'm overstating this, but I am excited! 

So, maybe I'll quit feeling sorry for myself, but I'll certainly bitch about it tomorrow.  I'm tired of feeling like Charlie Brown at work when I will go above and beyond what others do to improve myself.   Is it Fall Break yet?  Thanksgiving? Christmas?  Spring Break?  How about next Summer?