Today I’m doing a happy dance as my seemingly never ending semester is finally.. FINALLY over! 💃💃💃

Yesterday was my last class on campus and we had pizza did a fun little exercise where everyone writes a line of a poem on a piece of paper and then fold that over and pass it to the next person who can’t see the line and they write another. And so on around the room until your original paper comes back to you and taa-daa!.. instant poem!!

Then we went around the room and read our masterpieces. It was fun. And it was kind of cool to see how the different minds could be melted into a cohesive unit, especially when read with dramatic emphasis. You can make any silly thing sound impactful if you put some force behind it.

As I said the professor brought pizza for the occasion and I spent a little time in the kitchen making one of the sweetest treats of the holiday season.. my universal favorite, Almond Roca. It’s basically a layer of toffee fused with a layer of chocolate and some other finishing ingredient sprinkled on top. Almonds are the most common (hence the name), but I split this batch into thirds.

A third was almonds, a third was crushed peppermint sticks, and the final third was plane Jane. Just the toffee and chocolate for those people who don’t like nuts and also don’t like peppermint. It’s a big hit, but it’s not surprising as it’s another one of those treats that’s mostly just sugar. Truly

People think it’s got to be tricky to make the toffee but it’s a snap. Melt equal parts sugar and butter plus a small amount of water and just let that boil until the goopy, bubbling syrup reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit (hard crack stage on the candy thermometer). Pour the hot mess onto a nonstick cookie sheet and tilt until it’s an even layer across the pan. It’s so hot that it melts chocolate chips sprinkled on top and then those can also be spread into an even layer. Then, as I said, finish by sprinkling your topping of choice on top.

Good gravy.. I did not intend for this to be a recipe post, but oh well. I’m just happy to have something I can share with folks I’m meeting up with this last week before Christmas.

Today I got roped into driving to Blair which I think is about 30 minutes from here to help someone with some technical difficulties. Some people assume that since I’ve worked in IT that I’m a pro with PC stuff, but honestly it’s not how that works. When it comes to most IT things, I’m just googling the question or task I need to get done. Whatever it is, the internet probably knows the answer.

I really don’t know what issues I’m up against today as the person I’m helping was really vague about her problem. I know it’s not a good sign when a person doesn’t even know how to describe their issue. Something about PowerPoint but that doesn’t reveal much. Without more info, It could still really be almost anything. I did confirm with her she has good internet so hopefully whatever it is, I can help.

Part of me is inclined to think she just wants me to visit her, but we’ll see. Before I head out there I’m going to to Jazzercise and maybe a quick stop into a store to get some info about a gift I’m planning to give my son at Christmas.

All of that will likely eat up most of my day and then tonight??!!… tonight I’m free and clear to spend some serious and much needed QT with my fiancé.

(47 days to go ya’ll 🥂 💍 👰)

Time to Jam,

~Miss AlmondRoca