We all float on anyway

I am so excited guys! I just saw that we advanced to the next level of Project Food Blog! We couldn't have done it without your votes, thank you so much. I never thought we'd advance. I can't wait to see what the next challenge has in store for us. Love you all.

Why isn't school like Glee? It's just not.

I had my first Back to School night last night and it was great. I was so nervous about meeting parents last night but once I met a few of them I felt confident and okay. Granted, I'm student-teaching and not alone in the classroom but still.

I am doing something amazing. I am still in that "I'm a teacher and I can change the world one student at time phase." Bear with me.



The other day, I went to lunch with my sister and got Thai food. I frequent a local place called Thai Cottage. It's delicious, decently-priced and I am the mayor on foursquare. (LOL)

I always order panang chicken with extra veggies. I wish brown rice was an option but I don't think it is. I'll forgive them though because the panang is always spicy. Plus, seeing rice in the shape of a heart kind of nerdily makes me happy.

Curry is an obsession of mine.



Another obsession is fairly new. Cranberry orange nut bread Clif bars. SO GOOD.



Not with the PB although I'm sure that'd be good. These bars almost trump the pumpkin pie Clif bars. Almost.



The Justin's almond butter is so good. I had it on a piece of wheat toast on the way to work. I need to try it on a honeycrisp apple next.

Please send honeycrisp apples and pumpkin pie Clif bar thoughts directly to me. I need them both in my life.

Flashback Friday!!!

I keep forgetting to do flashback friday posts.



Oh how I love Oahu. Oahu was the first Hawaiian island that Andy and I visited together. I went to Oahu in 10th grade with band (yep, I was a band geek) with my parents in 2004 and with Andy, Tiffany and Gary in 2007.



We shopped at the International Marketplace.



Hiked Diamondhead.



Went to a Luau.



Rode horses on the North Shore.

Oahu definitely isn't my favorite island but that doesn't mean it's not beautiful and full of awesome things to do. The Turtle Bay resort on the North Shore is unlike any place I've ever seen. It's so pretty. We rode horses there for an hour or so and fell in love. I want to go back to Oahu and stay on the North shore instead of Waikiki.

Did you flashback friday today?

Have you been to Hawaii? Which island (s)?

Kauai Part 2: The Revenge

So, as seen in the previous post, we went to Kauai for our 1 year wedding anniversary. It was amazing. Here is some more proof.

Somewhat near the condo we were staying at was a little marketplace. At the market place, they had two amazing treats. Hot dogs and gelato. But they were not mixed. That would be gross.

First the Hot Dog Stand

I don't know what Puka means, but it must mean heaven in tube form.

If you were eating one, this is what it would look like

So basically, they are incredibly phallic even for hot dogs. You can order them original, spicy or hot. And then had any number of tropical relishes and mustards. We tried a few different combos and they all taste the same, but its all good.

Good and enormous.

Next to heaven in a bun was a gelato stand. We went to Italy for our honeymoon and ate gelato at least twice a day for about 2 weeks, so we needed some island inspired gelato. So here is Amanda outside of Papalani Gelato.

She is snacking on POG gelato, which is Passion, Orange, Guava. Amazingly tasty and refreshing, as you can tell by looking at Amanda. PS, compliment her on that shirt because it is ridiculously cute.

I am eating the Kauai pie, which was a combination of coconut, mac nuts, and chocolate. Good. Amanda's was better. Don't compliment me on my shirt. Or the random wet spots.

So now we are properly nourished, we hit up a farmer's market!

Lots of good, fresh fruit. However, most of the fruit is...well I'm not sure how to say it. I suppose it is somewhat foreign to us. We have mangos at home, but not this vareity. They had papaya, which we never have. Apple Bananas, which are small, sweet bananas. We bought a few things, but sadly we didn't really love any of it. Might as well try, right? Well we also tried coconut water. For $2, a rather surly woman will take out a machette, whack a coconut twice to expose it's goodies, give you a straw and tell you to have a nice day. Coconut water, ice cold and fresh. Delicious!

Any time machettes are involved, I am fully invested.

And now for some wildlife. Kauai is fully of feral chickens. They are literally everywhere and they are really stupid. They just hang in the street, they do the little "cock a doodle doo" all the time, constantly, and from what I gather they procreate a lot because their are chicks everywhere...or as Amanda says "CHICKEN BABIES!!!!"

Chicken babies, to me, sounds like a small chicken sandwich that McDonalds sells, but I don't want to put it in my mouth.

Far more cooler than Chicken Babies, are Monk Seals. They are endangered and beach themselves often. When they do someone(not entirely sure who, or where they come from) ropes off about 100 feet around the seal so tourists don't harass the seals. Occasionally the seals will maul you, which I wanted to see, but didn't. In any event, way cool. There are only around 1000 of them left...I think.

And to end, some beautiful beach scenes.

Remember, you can't have rainbows without a little rain.