Man, You'd Better Hope So!

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I wasn't worried until they broke out the Earth Science questions. Go ahead, click on it and take the quiz yourself. I know you want to.

Last Chance to Boogie

Photo of my sister Dre in one of her many fabulous costumes.

It's 10"30pm on a Sunday and I just got home.

Tomorrow is my first official day of work with the San Carlos School District. It's an orientation, a day-long meeting for all their new hires, so it's no big whoop. Anyway, at 4:30 I was getting all settled into my normal, humdrum Sunday afternoon when I received a call of distress on my BatPhone.

My sister needed me, or someone, to shoot the vid for her dance revue. Ummmm....maybe I need to do some 'splainin'. My sister Dre is a professional bellydancer and the Tannourine Restaurant in San Mateo is one of her regular performances. Froody and I had been there before a couple of months ago for one of Dre's dance revues, where she and other local/national dancers perform throughout the evening. They are all very primo, and the food there is excellent. (OK-plugs are in, now on with the story.)

So, I get this call for help and I decide to go. After all, what else was I going to do but cook chicken for Froody and I and then sit in front of the computer working on school stuff and stressin' out over it. This sounded much better and it was so much fun! It was one of the few times this summer where I got to be social without the husband. I met some of Dre's friends, worked the video recorder, which really consisted of turning it off and on. I also got to eat some awesome food. For free. Man, I wish you all lived up here, 'cuz then I'd tell you to go there and eat.

Oh, and my glasses of wine were also free. Can you tell I've been drinking? Maybe a bit? Dre was the final performer and at the end of her set she and some of the other dancers got pretty much everyone in the restaurant up and dancin'. Even me. (It's been a long time since I took any belly dance lessons, but I remembered a move or two.) That was fun! I think the owner got dragged in for a song. It was like being part of "teh dance party" at the end of a movie. I must have been pretty good, because a couple of people came up to me and asked if I was a dancer, too, like my sister. Me! Can you imagine?

The perfect way to end the summer.

Crock Pot Belly

I've heard people say on the WeightWatchers boards and meetings that they've dug out their old slow cookers and have made many low-calorie meals. I've read blogs (OK- one blog) where people raved on about the glories of their crock pots. Even the FLY Lady recommends using a crock pot to make your life easier.

So I finally gave in to my curiosity and bought a crock pot. A Rival, which regards itself as the "original" crockpot. Right now, it's kinda nice to cook dinner out of the Joy of Cooking and serve it up to Froody, but the first day of school is looming ever closer and that usually means stir-fry for dinner. Now, don't get me wrong; stir-fry is great. But not every day. Five days a week. 36 weeks a year.

In my mind's eye, I see myself chopping up veggies and stirring up sauces on Sunday or Saturday. Then, sometime during the ensuing week all that is tossed into the crock pot along with some sort of meat and the baby is switched on. Lastly, I arrive home to the sweet, sweet smell of my dinner being cooked for me. *ahhhhh*

My first recipe for the CP was one from the WeightWatchers website for what they call Chicken Paprikash. I would call it Hungarian Inspired Chicken. It was OK, not bad, but Froody wasn't asking me to make it again. Tonight I decided to use a recipe from the interwebs- Apple Sausage with Onion and Mustard Sauce. I did a little switcheroo, replacing some bratwursts for half the chicken apple sausage called for in the recipe. I hope it turns out.