The Bachelor (Drinking Game)

Time for a new Bachelor...with the cat fights, tears and roses. Now, while I'm a complete and total love junkie, this show is all about the crazy. Therefore, I would like to share with you the drinking game Danielle and I have made up to play while watching this show. I give you:

The Bachelor Drinking Game

• Every time they say the word "Rose".
• Anytime Chris is Captain Obvious. (ie, "This is the final rose of the evening.")
• Anytime there's tears or crazy.
• Anytime some one claims to "be in love" or that they're "not here to make friends".
• Whenever the Bachelor is confused about his choice.
• Any time someone does or says something that could be used for a future restraining order.

Please, feel free to join us on Monday nights, because this is a prime example of the Hot/Crazy Scale. Enjoy!

Long Lost Froggies

Hello Readers! I have some bad news and good news.

The good news is that I've started dating someone (Yeah for me!). The bad news is that we'll be loosing the Frog Chronicles (unless the boy does something stupid!). I do have some back posting to do, so there will be a few more entries. I also welcome the option for guest posts (come on ladies, share your pain!). But for the most part, there will be drastically diminished froggie posts.

Fortunately for you, I did have a froggie issue today.

I got home from work and was just checking my email when I got a text that read "New Years at my place hope you can make it."

I did not recognize the number at all. I sent a response explaining that phone had been damaged in last weekend's marathon and I lost a bunch of numbers and inquiring who sent this text. (Yes, my phone was damaged, but I don't think I lost any numbers.)

Moments later, I received a return text with a name.

It took a few minutes for me to place it. I had been talking to this guy back in June. That's right JUNE--six months ago. This froggie got my digits, exchanged a few texts and then disappeared. And now he's texting me to go out with him on New Years Eve? WTF?!

I don't even know where this guy lives. Even if I did and wasn't dating someone, why on earth would I think it's a good idea to go to some random dudes house after he disappeared for half the year for a holiday that revolves around drinking? I certainly have no desire to have the roofie special, thank-you-very-much!

Second, why on earth would a guy want to go out with a girl who didn't even remember them until prompted? (And even then, it took me a few minutes to figure it out!)

I have to admit there's a tiny part of me that wants to stir the pot, but I decided not to. I can't decide if this guy is ballsy or just plain stupid. You've really gotta wonder what these frogs are thinking!

Oops!

I've gotten behind in my blogging. I haven't even kept my training log up to date. I think it's that whole switching classrooms thing.

...maybe my New Years Resolution should be to blog more!

A Fruit Situation

My school has gone to a Universal Breakfast program where all students are to eat breakfast in the classroom. While there is some personal commentary on what these students are being fed, for the most part I find this is a good idea.

Unfortunately, some of my students are throwing away their food. Things that are packaged or have a thick peel (bananas and oranges) can be "recycled". I'm not sure if this means they're put back in a lunch at a later date, or if they're donated to a food pantry. Any who, partly eaten items or fruits with a soft peel are to be thrown away.

While I understand why they can't reuse fruit with a soft peal, it breaks my heart to see so many pieces of fruit thrown away. I saw, on average, 7-10 pieces of perfectly good fruit thrown away. It completely breaks my heart to see such a waste. I decided that collecting the fruit and eating it myself wasn't the answer. I mean, how much fruit can Danielle and I eat? So, what I will be doing is collecting the fruit and baking the fruit in to something.

Why do you care? Well, it's my blog and I haven't posted in a while (no worries, I have some froggie stories to share too!). And I figured you might be interested in some fruit recipes, or have some recipes for me to use. I'm fairly certain that I'll get sick of the fruit pie rather quickly, so I'm going to get creative and let you know how it works.

My first attempt was your basic apple pie--

I rolled out the pie crust using flour and butter.

Next, I washed, peeled and cut the apples. I mixed about a 1/4 cup of lemon juice to keep the apples from turning brown and to make the pie more tart (I like tart rather than sweet). Next I mixed the apples with a tablespoon-ish of cinnamon (I don't really cook with measuring implements unless it's a new recipe) and about a 1/2 cup of brown sugar. I threw some flour in the mix because I was out of cornstarch to thicken it along with some vanilla and some butter.

Put the mixture in a pie plate between the two layers of pie crust. I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to vent the top layer and then made a design with the left over pieces in the center. I also brushed some egg whites on the top crust to make it shine and brown. Finally, I baked in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes and I got this lovely pie.

Isn't it pretty?

Not So Fine Dining

I was at the gym this morning. I really do enjoy going nice and early. There's less people, I don't have to wait for equipment, there's less weirdos...

Oh wait. There's not less weirdos.

I was in the locker room and was going to swim a few laps. I was walking to the pool and sitting on one of the benches is a woman reading a book. I've seen people reading on bikes, ellipticals and treadmills, but never in the locker room. I also noticed that she was also eating a bowl of cereal with milk!!

I'm not saying that I've never eaten while exercising. But cereal and milk? That takes some serious planning. I didn't notice a thermos for the milk. I also didn't see the box of cereal anywhere. Who eats their Lucky Charms in the gym locker room?

Is it just me, or is this really weird?

Always Makes Me Laugh

Everytime I see this sign, it cracks me up!

TDC09--Lutz Bakery

Today's long run was hot, humid and awful. The one thing that got me through? I told myself I could stop and get a cupcake. So I finally finished (after bonking and walking the last 2 miles). I stopped at Lutz Bakery. I've driven past it hundreds of times, and never actually gone in; today was the day.

I walked in and ordered a basic vanilla cupcake with pink frosting. They had a limited selection of cupcakes but had many other pastries and cakes. Lutz also had a small cafe area with coffee, but due to the heat the coffee situation wasn't happening.

I ordered my cupcake, and brought it home to eat. This was the absolute worst cupcake, I've ever had in my life. This just might mark the first time I've ever not finished a cupcake. The M&M's had been in the frosting long enough to mar the candy shell. You can even see that in the picture below. The cake itself was very dense and just tasted off and possibly a little stale. The frosting might have been the best thing about the cupcake, and even that wasn't the greatest. It might have only been considered "good" because the rest of it was so bad.
I was worried about heading to this place with out Danielle, but after actually eating a cupcake, she's lucky she wasn't with me. I figured if it was even decent, we'd head back for another go. NO WAY! I'd never order any cake or anything else from this bakery. If you can screw up a cupcake so badly that I can't even finish eating it, I defiantly don't want to try anything else.

Lutz Continental Cafe and Pastry Shop--* 1 Sprinkle (Can I give negative sprinkles?)
2458 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL, (773) 478-7785