Come to Ms. D......

Today has been my first real day of class.
Wednesdays are our Comprehensive Review Day, or Comp Review as we like to call it, and all we do is take tests all day long in one subject.
Unless we get behind and fail the test from the week before and then we have to take that test on top of this week's test.
Such was the case for several folks, including myself.
Most all of us had a Come-To-Jesus meeting with Ms. D on why we weren't doing good and where we could improve and she let us voice our worries.
I am worried.
How in the world am I going to pass Boards?
These two tests are the biggest tests I have ever in my life taken and probably will ever take.
I have two years/five semesters of knowledge that I have to pull out of my head for two tests that are 170 questions each!
That my friends is a huge amount of material to cover.
Ten weeks from today I will take my Arts Boards.
I have ten weeks to prepare.
I have already cut out watching tv and dis-whatevered my facebook.
I've even given up drinking!
I haven't had anything to drink since Christmas Eve!
I think I'm going to have to give up reading blogs (Goodbye, Pioneer Woman!  I'll miss you!), catching up on my reading list, and put aside my wedding magazines.
I really have to push all of that wedding crap out of my head.
My exercising efforts are going to fall off as quickly as they began and my cooking practice is going to have to take a backseat to eating cereal because it doesn't require much time.
I really hate cereal.
I'm really upset about having to give up sleeping 8 hours a night.
I think I could cut back to six and maybe get all my work done.
But I'm already a terrible automobile narcoleptic.
How much worse can it get before it kills me?
I've got to start spending my time at work more efficiently, studying every free second I have.
I'm not going to give up going to church (I only go one hour a week), and I'm going to have to make time for my daily not-quite-so-daily Bible reading.
I'm not giving up blogging.
Blogging is my outlet and without it I may implode.

I will probably cut back though and maybe this will mean I have better things to write about.
Maybe I won't gripe about the unfairness of Boards the whole time.
I'm upset right now but not as upset as I will be if I have to pay $400 again to take the stupid Boards again.
This is doable but its not fun or easy.
Would someone remind me why I'm doing this again?

Last night was another one of my adventures in baking.
But this wasn't a misadventure for once.
I didn't make cupcakes, pies, or even another one of my cheesecake flops.
I made "Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin," one of PW's latest food blog recipes.
Cheesey, gooey, garlicy potatoes.
If you don't like garlic, you will not like this.
Smelled like heaven in my house.
When I came back from working out it smelled like I'd died and gone to Garlic.
At least we'll be safe from those Twilight boys though.
Here's the recipe I used.
One thing PW forgets to mention when she teaches you how to smash garlic properly is exactly how much force to use.
You don't want to slam! the can down on top of the garlic but gently press or else you wind up with garlic cloves on the floor, in the sink, in the living room......you get the idea.
Not too much pressure on the garlic, folks.
(And I hope that the Chihuahua lady could smell it!)
Next time I believe I might go a touch lighter on the garlic and a touch more on the cheese.
Actually, a lot more on the cheese.
And maybe cook it a bit longer so that the potatoes are softer.
Needs tweakin'.
On second thought, was this a misadventure in baking?

The only thing I've done remotely blog-worthy today is make another one of Bakerella's cheesecakes.
Here's her recipe.
And some fabulous pictures she took with her fabulous camera.
Here's my latest disaster, I'm not just talking about the quality of my photography skills.

Ugh.

It cracked again, just like the first one did even though I didn't bake it as long.

Perhaps I should have named it "Grand Canyon Cake #2)

See?

But looks aren't everything.

I know, I know!, that this cheesecake is going to be the most awesomest, wonderful cheesecake I've ever eaten if it tastes anything at all like the first one I made. 

I cannot wait to take this bad boy to work tomorrow (those nuts think I can cook!  Ha!) and devour it with my coworkers at lunch!

Its going to be a cheesecake slaughter!

Thank you Bakerella for providing me and so many others with this wunnerful, wunnerful recipe.

I only wish I had your camera my stuff looked as good as yours.

Traditions/Superstitions

Here in America (or maybe I should just say "Here in this South" since I can't really speak for the rest of the country) we believe in eating black eyed peas, cornbread, greens, and hog jawls on NYD.
Why?
Because its a long standing tradition.
Because they say its good luck.
Because they say it will bring you money in the new year.
Whatever.
I ate two ham and cheese sandwiches with mustard for lunch. 
We'll see how my luck runs this year.

My Procrastination About My Birthday Post

Its been over a week since I've posted anything and I feel terribly guilty about that.
I don't know if anybody reads this or not but for some reason I feel as though I have an obligation to write the interesting things of my life and put them out there for the world to read.
(Holler if you read this!)
As you may know, or you may not know, I've been dating this super awesome guy I like to refer to as "Boots" for about six months now.
Boots is the greatest guy I've ever dated.
He's so well rounded and is right up my alley in every way.
He really went all out for my birthday last week.
It was amazing.
I was the most surprised I have ever been in my life.
I ain't even playin'.
******
The Birthday" started off quiet.
Went to bed late the night before, got up early that morning, cried my eyes out for a good 15 minutes (it always happens, I can never not cry on my birthday.
Except last year.
I should have cried watching the vet stick that electrode up the bulls' rear ends so that he could check out their sperms.
That was an experience I hope I don't ever have to repeat, especially on my birthday.), went back to sleep for a small nap, did some cleaning in my aunt's house, got a phone call from my uncle to "get dressed and ready to go flying", did the whole flying thing, it was a leeee-tle turbulant due to the weather and various airplane-y things such as that, but, whooooo what a rush!

Boots came to pick me up to take me back to his house because he cooked dinner for me for my birthday.
Gave my aunt and girl cousin a rose, gave my boy cousin a metal "to-scale" copy of his work vehicle, gave my uncle and The Marine an information sheet about where we were going and what we were doing which was absolutely hilariously ironic but I can't post that because it has some personal information on it.
I know you're confused but trust me when I say it was hilarious.
Drove me to his house.
I got distracted by a cloud that, to me, looked like a horse, some people say a poodle, and somebody else thought it was a rabbit.
What do you think?

He told me I had to wait outside for 3 minutes before I could come inside so I took that opportunity to snap a picture and make my dog pee all over the ground because she was so excited to see me.
(She stayed with him for a week, since I was at my aunt's and couldn't keep her with me.)
My 3 minutes is finally up and I get to go inside.
He makes me face him as he backs me into the house.
Its dark.
I can see candles lit as I look over his shoulder into the mirror above his couch.
Candles.
He's a candle freak.
I'm not surprised yet but this is cute.
Before he turns me around he gives this little speech, "Any Tom, Dick, and Harry can take you out to eat for your birthday but I wanted to cook for you and I wanted to make it special."
He turns me around and there's no better word to describe my reaction than shocked. Where there once was an ironing board and his detached bathroom door, there's a table.
A new table.
With two beautiful chairs.
The table is covered in a tan table cloth with crimson place mats, folded crimson linen napkins, new tan plates, new beautiful glasses (I love glass!), two tapered candles, and a rose in a vase.
The man bought a friggin' table for my birthday!
Talk about surprised!
I turn around and have the biggest smile on my face, I know.
I can't help it.
Nobody ever surprises me and this was the nicest thing anybody could have done for my birthday.
He guides/pushes me to my chair.
There's a card beside my plate and I read it while he fixes my plate and pours me a glass of tea.
The card is so sweet.
I love words and I've read it over and over many times since he gave it to me.
I think the card may have been my favorite thing of all.
We eat, in the dark, in the candle light and talk about all the normal things we always talk about.
After we finish eating we go outside to his designated fire area and sit and watch the fire burn and look at the stars.
After the fire dies down we go back inside and he gives me a present.
Wrapped in newspaper and secured with duck tape.
The present is an inside joke between us but its hilarious and I love it.
Then he pulls out another present.
More newspaper, more duck tape.
Love his mad wrapping skills!
I'm a sucker for things people do themselves, i.e. cooking dinner, writing me a card, wrapping things himself.
This present is a hard drive that I had mentioned I thought I needed.
This man listens to me!
He feeds me ice cream sitting on his couch watching TV.
When I say "feeds" I mean that literally.
Its kinda silly but kinda cute and now its sort of a thing we just do.
He takes me home to my aunts and for at least two days after that my feet don't touch the ground.
I'm floored.
Flabbergasted.
Blown away.
Swept off my feet.
Whatever you wanna call it.
I couldn't imagine a man doing something like this and being this sweet and romantic.
I certainly never expected it from Mr.-Tough-Guy Boots!
It was great.
The whole thing was just........great.
And to quote Forrest Gump, "That's about all I have to say about that."

Bacon

It wasn't what I thought it'd be but at the same time it was everything I expected.
I guess I can thank TV for that.
I've been desensitized.
It was so much for somebody but it was nothing for me.
TV may have prepared me for the sight but other people and their warnings didn't prepare me for the smell.
They said it'd be the worst ever.
I disagree.
It was warm and woodsy, Southern and comforting, greasy and unhealthy.

Dear Pioneer Woman

Dear Pioneer Woman,
I love you but you almost killed me tonight.
I love your blog.
I read it several times a day.
I've tried several of your recipes, my latest being your Fried Zucchini Strings.
Uh-huh.
I think you know where this is going.
I don't know how to fry!
But I'm a pyro and I know how to start fires!
I waited until the grease (I'm from Alabama, we don't call it oil) was very hot.
I plunged in my first batch of Zucchini Strings, just like you said, and let them brown.
They turned out OK. A little smaller than I thought they'd be but maybe I julienned them a little too much.
This was my first time using a mandolin before; I'm a beginner.
Salted them, devoured them, forged ahead.
The second batch turned out about the same as the first.
Still liking this project, we (Melanie and I) kept on.
This time, I put in too many.
And our pot was too small.
And the grease spilled over the side.
And the eye caught on fire.
And I screamed muddy blurder.
And Melanie screamed muddy blurder.
And Nikki (that's my dog) went berserk.
It was a very dramatic few seconds, you should have been there.
Really, you should.
The flames were only about a foot tall and licking the bottom of the microwave.
Me, in my infinite wisdom, threw two of Melanie's favorite kitchen towels on the flames to smother them.
I learned this in all those stupid courses I've taken that I thought I'd never have a use for.
Melanie was afraid the towels would catch on fire and I barely managed to stop her from pouring a cup of water all over our electric stove!!!
But, the situation was taken care of.
The towels were thrown away.
I decided I'd had enough of danger and Zucchini Strings for one night and poured us both a stiff drink to calm our nerves.
Maybe another night, probably tonight, I'll try the Fried Zucchini Strings again.
But this time, I'll be armed with baking soda and a fire extinguisher.
And possible a fire truck.
I really need to get some Renter's Insurance.
Today.
Love,
Your Friend You've Never Met,
Rachel.
P.S. There are no pictures to go along with this post.
I find it very difficult to take pictures while cooking and not fighting fires.
I don't know how you do it.
But, that's why you're my hero.