Since I have a few free days before heading up North for the 4th of July, I decided to do some baking. I've had a few recipes sitting out that I have been wanting to make for quite some time. I had Hollywood Squares, Honeycomb Candy, and Dark Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Toffee Bark on my list. After a quick trip to the market for some butter, I got started on the Dark Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Toffee Bark. Since I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on macadamia nuts, I decided to replace them with sliced almonds and rename the recipe. I didn't make any other changes to the recipe since I had never made it before, but I was a little nervous that it would be just a bit too humid for the toffee to harden properly. Everything seemed to work out okay, and since the toffee is actually baked in the oven, I think that helped dry it out.

Dark Chocolate and Almond Toffee Bark

1/4 C. brown sugar
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)
1 12 oz. package dark chocolate chips
2 cups sliced almonds (or other nut if you prefer)
1/2 box honey graham crackers

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a lipped baking sheet with tin foil, covering all edges. Arrange a layer of graham crackers in the pan; do not overlap crackers. In a saucepan, melt the butter and sugars. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes. Then, carefully pour the butter and sugar mixture over the graham crackers. Using an off-set spatula, spread the toffee evenly. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, spread the chocolate evenly over the graham crackers, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Once the chocolate has softened, smooth it evenly over the top of the toffee. Then sprinkle the nuts over the chocolate, and press them in. Let the candy cool on the counter, then refrigerate until set. Carefully peel from foil and break into pieces.

Yield: 1 lb

The graham crackers are all lined up on the pan ready to go.

Melting the butter and sugars.

Ready to pour over the graham crackers. It was the consistency of a soft praline, and not at all sticky.

Baking away in the oven.

Ready to come out now that the toffee is all bubbly and starting to brown. Chocolate chips melting, waiting to be spread out. The finished product!

Does anyone know how to get that Undefined tab to go away? Or do whatever it is supposed to do?

Yes, I realize I haven't posted anything since the Oscars. My bad. It's been a busy spring?

Anyways, school is finally done for the year, and I am very excited. The last week it took all I had to get there and get things done. When I hit the wall, I hit the wall hard. Luckily it was the last week of school this year. In the past it's been the entire last month, or the last few weeks, or longer. It helped that I chose to have all of my classes read a novel instead of continuing on in the textbook. That change of pace was very welcome, both to me and my students. I think I will do the same next year.

One of my students who graduated last year stopped by to see me during workshops. She is going to minor in Spanish, and is going to spend part of the summer in Nicaragua. How cool is that! I can't wait to hear about her adventures.

Hugh Jackman nailed the opener! I think it was right up there with the best of Billy Crystal's openers. I'm keeping my hopes high that the rest of the show will be as entertaining.

Fashion-wise, I thought it was a bit disappointing. I really like Anne Hathaway's gowns, along with Miley Cyrus', and Marisa Tomei's. But what were Beyonce, Freida Pinto, Whoopie Goldberg, and Heidi Klum thinking? Yuck, yuck, and double yuck. And how much does the necklace Amy Adams is wearing weigh?

Since when do we get spring weather in February around here? It's been raining off and on since midnight-ish, and we are even supposed to have a chance of thunderstorms tonight. Crazy stuff. Due to the fact that winter and rain are like oil and water, and therefore do not mix, the roads weren't very nice before it warmed up this morning. That meant that I got to sleep in an extra couple of hours due to school being 2 hours late, and I only had to teach one class due to the other school canceling completely. It was a great day. The only part I wish I could have skipped was almost sliding into another car in the parking lot. I managed to stop with an inch or two to spare. Perhaps they could have sanded or salted, eh?

I am also excited to say that I have done my taxes and already received my refunds! I typically do them the end of January/beginning of February, but this year I did them extra speedily because I need the cash to pay for my x-rays a few weeks back. I'm also happy to say that I've met my deductible for the year. That usually takes until July, so I'm sure BCBS is happy with me... Not! I'm not looking forward to seeing what my rate increase is going to be.

1. Sofas that appear a dark moss green in the fluorescent light at the furniture store may arrive at your house brown. It's a good thing that it's a nice brown, and it goes perfectly with my curtains or it would be going back to Loren's!
2. Prednisone makes me bitchy, puffy, twitchy, and able to gain 5 pounds in 2 days. Boo!
3. Kids who you think will flake out on you at the most inopportune time for a meet, will. Double and triple Boo! I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown when 2 of my 8 team members decided to just skip our meet (and then have the gall to go to school the second half of the day when they were so "sick" that morning). We only had one understudy, so we had to poach from another organization on the fly. It was not pretty. I rewarded the kids with ice cream after it was all done for being so willing to step up to the plate.
4. If my 6th hour students arrive to class in a good mood, class will go well. If they arrive in a pissy mood, class will not go well. I wish that I could have lots of candy in class to bribe them with. Darn new healthy food laws!
5. The color on the box is not always the color your hair will turn. One would think that with as many years of coloring experience, I'd have remembered that when it comes to choosing a good shade of red. Now I'm more of a purply red. There's always next month!

I loved watching Reading Rainbow when I was growing up, and I had a chance to watch it again this weekend. It was just as great as I remembered it. I watched this really short clip today, and it kind of brought tears to my eyes. Will any truly educational children's shows of today be as well regarded and loved so many years into the future as Reading Rainbow?