Tired Puppy

I've said before that we send Henry to doggy daycare once a week. Well I guess yesterday was a BIG day at the Watering Bowl! This was Henry in the backseat within five minutes of leaving.

Gotta love a tired puppy! He turns 1 this weekend, so I guess I'll have to start calling him a dog.

Mac'n'Cheese

Yeah. I think mac'n'cheese qualifies as my favorite food. Maybe ever. Seriously. In high school, I even went through a phase where I ate it for breakfast. When I was a kid, you couldn't get me away from the boxed stuff. Homemade just wasn't going to work for me. Nowadays though, I'm all about the gourmet variety. In fact, I make a killer mac with smoked Gouda.

So, when I heard that there was a new place opening up that would just be serving mac'n'cheese, I knew I had to go there. I became Cheese-ology's fan on Facebook and began watching of news of their opening. Today was that day, and, I'm embarrassed to say, I was the first customer through the door. I went with my friend Joline, and the food was great! Here's the menu.


We decided to stick with the standard choices. Joline got the Classic and I got the Four Cheese. I was the clear winner in the menu battle. Her dish was good, but mine was much better. The goat cheese really added a nice tang to the whole thing. Plus it had long stringy pieces of real cheese in it. Her's was more creamy and the American cheese made it very mild.

Notice that you get your food in a real, cast iron skillet. It makes for a nice crunchy layer at the edges. I asked for breadcrumbs, but they forgot them. Oh well. Anyway, I ordered a large because the small was going to be too small for me, but I knew the large was too big. (I ate it all anyway though.) Overall, I'd give my dish an 8.5 out of 10. If you know me, this is a very solid grade. In terms of mac'n'cheese, I'd give it a 9 out of 10. I think it would have been perfect with breadcrumbs and curly noodles instead of elbows.

Now, like I said, today was opening day. If you've ever worked in restaurants, you know that this means that things are guaranteed to be a little bumpy. First of all, the girl at the front was still learning how to use the register. She also didn't have a pen for CC receipts. Ooops. Then, the food quite honestly took quite a while to come out. Because they make each dish individually, they put all the pasta and toppings in the skillet then run it through one of those conveyor belt ovens like at Quizno's.

Our food took about 10-12 minutes to come out. So less time than at a sit down place, but not what I would call fast. It looked like they did do call in orders to go though, so you could probably call ahead to pick up if you were in a hurry.

I suspect that things will run more smoothly as they stay in business longer. It's also probably good that they opened on a Tuesday so they can work through some kinks before the weekend. I'll be back, but I'll probably wait a little while for them to hammer out some details.

Story Time

When I was growing up in Texas you couldn't shop on Sundays. I think maybe the grocery store was open, but certainly the mall was not. Well, when I was in middle elementary school (maybe third or fourth grade?), the blue laws were lifted and the mall was open on Sunday. So, that first Sunday, I went shopping. What did I buy? This funny little family of toy rabbits. There was a story that went with them, and there were many accessories to be purchased as well.

What brings up this story? I was at the teacher store buying paper for a bulletin board (more on that later,) and what did I see? Those same rabbits! Ah, memories.

Confession

I am a teacher. Everyone thinks teaching must be so great because you get summers off. Guess what. I've never taken a summer off. For years I ran a horse camp. That was fun, but I just got tired of all the drama.

Now I run the summer school, and I am loving it! I was thinking about that as I drove to work today. What would I do with three months of vacation? I honestly can't say. I would like to think my house would be spotless, my husband constantly treated with gourmet dinners, and my butt finally kicked into shape because I spent hours at the gym each day. In reality though, I think I would probably just end up blogging a lot and watching many episodes of the original 90210. I'm such a loser. I just get a lot of pleasure out of my work. It really is a career for me.

The pace of summer school is definitely different though. Way more laid back, no grading, etc. Plus this week I've been working on getting all moved in to my new office. I'll take lots of pictures in the coming weeks to show you the finished product. I wish I had taken a few of the original state of affairs. It was disgusting. I bet I spent 12 solid hours just cleaning the place. ::shudder::

Summer Food

Anyone else love summer food? Man, if I could eat like this all year, I would be so happy. Well, maybe not. I do love my winter squashes (butternut, acorn, pumpkin.) Anyway, right now I am obsessed with yogurt and fresh fruit. I used to think I hated pineapple because I only ever ate the stuff in a can. Fresh is a totally different story though! So good! I hate cutting up whole pineapples though, and buying the stuff that's already chopped up is kind of pricey. I'll enjoy it as a treat though.

Mix that with some blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries. Yum!

I also tried a new flavor of yogurt today. I never buy the original stuff, but I had to try a couple new flavors.

Cherry Pomegranate. OMG! It's incredible. Next up are Blueberry Acai and Red Velvet Cake.



My goal for this summer though is to check out one or two of our local Farmer's Markets. Maybe I can get some more great produce for a little less than I'm paying at the grocery store. I'm also thinking about getting a Costco membership. My mom gets great deals on fruit there.

Another Reason I'm Not Catholic

Have you read this? It is St. Louis Archdiocese’s Position Statement on Susan G. Komen for the Cure. What possible position could they have you ask? Well, they officially do not support the race or encourage participation. Really?! Their reasons are that some Komen money goes to Planned Parenthood for breast health, they support embryonic stem cell research, and they don't believe that abortions CAUSE breast cancer. I'm sorry, no one believes abortions CAUSE cancer. Correlation is not causation friends. Ugh.

Say Yes to the Dress

I don't watch this show very often, but tonight there is a marathon, and I find myself hooked! This one girl just fell in love with this dress.


In case you can't see from this picture, the entire bodice is mesh netting. Also please notice the VERY plunging neckline. Eeek! I'm all for people showing their own style, but can you imagine wearing a dress that revealing in a church? Not my style at all and I question that it should be anyone's.

Sorry if I offended anyone.

Friday Funny

Do you watch RHoNY? Oh yeah, I do. Really though, this says it all.

In the words of Andy Cohen, while money can't buy you class, it can buy you auto-tune (and a weave.)

::sigh::

I feel like crap. My throat has been hurting for days. I went to bed at 8:00 last night, and I'm still tired. (And my throat still hurts.) Today is our Day of Caring at work. I never mind doing community service, but honestly, I just want to sleep. There is supposed to be a BBQ this afternoon, but I have serious doubts about making it that long.

My e-mail account also got hacked over night and was disabled when I woke up this morning. This day really is not shaping up to be amazing.

SATC 2

So I tried to organize a girls' night to go see the new Sex and the City movie. Unfortunately, all but one person who got invited were unable to come. (I felt especially bad for my friend Jane whose daughter got hit in the head with a Nerf gun at a slumber party.) Oh well, Ame and I had fun at least.

On to the movie. Much like I said in my review of Prince of Persia, the plot was quite thin. Carrie is feeling bored in her marriage, Miranda's new boss is a tool, Charlotte's kids are a handful and her nanny is a little too pretty, and Samantha is still Samantha though she is going through menopause and taking 40 pills a day. Anyway, Samantha is invited to go to Abu Dhabi on a PR trip, and she invites all the girls to go with her.

The movie was actually shot in Morocco, but the scenes were beautiful. Of course the clothes are out of control, and we had to laugh at some of the ridiculous outfits. Here are some examples.





In case you haven't heard, there is also a flashback scene. I would suggest that those scenes might have been some of my favorites.


I only wish I could find pictures online of the wedding scene. Let's just say that SJP wears one of the most ridiculous accessories in this scene and Liza Minnelli is involved. Overall, it was a mediocre movie. Definitely don't pay full price, but if you want a fun day with the girls, it isn't a total waste. We went to get drinks afterward and had a great time talking about life and friends. All in all, it was a nice end to the holiday weekend.