Off the Clock

And that's all I have to say about that. :)

Yup; sad but true. This is the book she just bought me. You wouldn't think such a little book could be so much fun! Or cause so much trouble! On a related note I've just discovered Zappos {evil grin} On another related note, I just ran across this video clip about a woman who can't find shoes that fit. I must be getting old and sappy because this brought tears to my eyes!

My local union had a chili cookoff fundraiser last weekend. Now I don't generally make very good chili, but I felt that I should at least make an effort. This was my first year, but those that have done this before get right into it. This is my friend Cathy with her version of "colon cleanser". She definitely had the best display going on. I usually just buy one of those chili packages and add a pound of ground meat (beef or chicken), a can of beans and a can of tomatoes and call it a day. I decided to look online for some help to come up with something a little more imaginative. I went to allrecipes.com because I get a lot of recipes there, but when I did a search for chili what seemed like about a thousand recipes showed up. I looked through a few but I was baffled; I don't know what makes a good chili from a bad one. So I did the next logical thing; I sorted the recipes by review and just picked the one from the top of the sorted list with the best reviews.

When I was in the states visiting my brother last month I bought myself a new waffle iron. It was definitely an impulse buy. I already had one, but it was one of those small ones that makes two small square waffles. Frankly I'd never quite mastered it. I never seemed to pour the right amount of batter in, and more batter ended up on the counter than on the plate. Then there's the little matter of the clip that locks it closed that I later realized had been broken off right from when I bought it. So this is the new weapon. It beeps to let me know that it's at the right temperature. Then you fill it up with the little measuring cup that comes with it so that just the right amount of batter goes in. Then you close it, rotate it 180 degrees to lock it and distribute the batter evenly, and then wait for the beep to tell you that your waffle is done... to perfection! Just look at that ooey gooey golden goodness. I think I'm in love!