Tonight's Amazing Dinner

It has been absolutely forever since I have posted last!  I am so sorry for that one...

Anyway, I totally had a crumby Monday today and had several errands to run after work (one of which was my all-time not favorite place).  During my Walmart trip, I knew I did not want to go home and cook.  You should have heard me on the phone with Scott:

"I don't know what to eat," me.

"Why don't you get a rotisserie chicken?," Scott

"Ugh no," me

... and it went on for 5 minutes...

"Get some chicken, veggies and that cooking cream stuff and make pasta," Scott

"uhh ok," me - reluctantly

Well, I bought the ingredients:

- Garden Rotini Pasta

- Philadelphia Cooking Cream - Italian Herb and Cheese

- 1 can of artichoke hearts

- 1 bag of spinach

- I had some canned chicken at home

I got home, boiled the pasta and put all the other ingredients in the skillet.  Once the pasta was done, I put it all in the skillet.  Voila...

Spinach and Artichoke Pasta

Ha!  Ok- yeah, that's what it looked like when I was finished devouring it!  Mind you - I did this blog after the fact.  I was so surprised by this meal.  Here's the real picture:

Pumpkin Muffins with Greek Yogurt Icing

It's finally fall y'all!!!  I am so excited about the cool weather, clothes and (most importantly) the food fall brings.

This morning I made pumpkin muffins... FROM A BOX!!  The Krusteaz boxed mixes are absolutely amazing.  If you are like me and normally pressed for time, boxed muffin mixes are a must.

But of course, I can't just leave the muffins from the box the way they are.  NO - That would not be me at all!!  So here is what I did:

I made the muffins just as directed by the package.  Then, I took one container of plain Greek yogurt and added 1 tbsp of maple syrup, 1 tbsp honey and a sprinkling of cinnamon  sugar.  Ta Da!  I topped each muffin with a spoonful of the "icing" and a little bit of granola.

Enjoy!

Cheesecake Pie

As promised, here is the recipe for the cheesecake pie.  Oh my gosh, it was so good!  I did have a bit of a problem...more on that to come.

First, start with the following ingredients:

- a tub of whipped topping (I used light)

- a box of cheesecake pudding mix

- a reduced fat graham cracker crust

                                                            - your favorite cheesecake topping

This is so easy!  In a mixing bowl, fold the cheesecake mix into the whipped topping (thawed).  Refrigerate 1 hour.  Transfer the cooled pie filling into the graham cracker crust.  Top with anything (berries, caramel, chocolate, etc.)

Ok - here's my problem.  YOU NEED TO FREEZE THIS for a while to get the filling to work right.  Well, the berries froze too and that was not great to eat.  Though it looks pretty, I wouldn't put berries on it unless I were to top each piece individually upon serving.

I am going to try this again for the fall and add caramel!

1 Night + 6 Meals and a Pie

Labor Day was filled with rain, relaxing and food! 

Scott and I decided to try out the "cook and freeze" routine.  Here is what we made.

We spent 3 hours and made:

- Lasagna

-Beef Stew

-Chili

-Chicken Enchiladas

-French Onion Soup

- Cannelloni

AND

-Pie (it's already gone though)

The Lasagna, Beef Stew, and French Onion Soup are from Kraft "Food and Family" magazine.  The Chicken Enchiladas recipe is a Campbell's recipe in the "Southern Living" magazine.  And well, the cannelloni and pie were made up.  Recipes to come soon.  Take a look at the action!

And PIE!!!!!!!

Cheese Biscuits

This morning I made cheese biscuits with apple molasses. 

Enough said... let me get to the recipe.

Cheese Biscuit

2 cups biscuit mix

3/4 cup milk

1 cup Cheddar cheese

Mix.  Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet.  Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Meantime, make the Apple Molasses

Apple Molasses

1 apple, minced

2 tbsp molasses

2 tsp cinnamon sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp maple syrup

Blend in a food processor.  Refrigerate until serving.  Can leftovers.

Tequila's Mexican Restaurant

Last night I got to do one of my favorite things - Try a new restaurant. 

We decided to go to the brand new Tequila's Mexican Restaurant on Old Canton Road in Ridgeland.  It looked so nice!  You can tell they tried really hard to make a Mexican restaurant that looked quaint and upscale.  It was a bit loud and warm in there but they did a wonderful job on the atmosphere.

I believe we went on the restaurant's second day open.  So I expected the poor service.  But not like this.  Everyone was walking around confused and with blatant disdain on their faces.  The bar tender was in the absolute worst mood ever and she took it out on the patrons.  And our server just didn't know what was going on.

Since it was the first weekend, I gave them the benefit of the doubt.  I had a ton of patience and gratitude knowing the staff was doing the best they could. The salsa was absolutely AMAZING!

But that is where the good stops.  My food was horrible!  I am usually not one to hate food.  I got the Pollo Chipotle.  After waiting 45 minutes to get our food, I got a plate with a piece of grilled chicken with sauce on top, rice and grilled vegetables.  It looked great...

Well, the chicken tasted pretty good.  I took 2 bites and my stomach started to hurt.  Then I took a bite of the grilled zucchini on my plate.  YUCK!!!!!!!!!  It had the worst taste.  I didn't know you could mess up vegetables.  I don't know if the grill had something on it but it was awful!  I described it to Scott saying, "It tasted like propane."  I don't actually know what propane tastes like but I had to associate it with something.

The rice - it was like eating that crummy rice pilaf accompanying chicken cordon bleu when you have to go one of those hotel banquets. 

Scott and the rest of the party didn't have quite as bad of an experience but all of them had complaints about their meal.

While we were there, Scott's sister, her fiance and his brother came in.  They had to leave.

Four of us had upset stomachs last night when we got home.

Tequilas - Bad idea!

Party Part 2

As promised, here are the recipes for the desserts at the party.

Key Lime Tartlets (top left corner)

I got to use my anniversary present for the second time for the party!  I used The Junior League of Houston's, "Stop and Smell the Rosemary" cookbook.   These were a total hit!  They were absolutely delicious.  I don't know if I can publicly share a recipe...? Plagiarism?  Can I?  If you want the recipe, get in touch with me and I will give it to you.  I need to find out about that.

I will say - These are a bit time consuming.  Also, I followed the recipe exactly and the amount of filling greatly exceeded the amount crust.  I was left with enough filling to fill and entire pie crust!  So, I suggest halving the filling recipe.

Mini Cupcakes

My sweet mama made this cute little cupcakes.  I have tried and tried to get the recipe from her but she is too busy!  I believe she got the recipe from either Southern Living or  Better Homes and Gardens.

As I type this, my mom is having an MRI on her knee.  So as soon as I see her, I will get the recipe from her.  Perhaps, my next blog will be a post for a guest blogger, Mom!

Oreo Pops

I'm sure you have seen the quite simple and delicious Oreo Truffle.  - I have seen this recipe so many times and don't know where it originated but to give credit where credit is due, I chose Kraft Recipes.-  Easier than pie:

1 package Oreo cookies (can I say Oreo or should I say "chocolate sandwich cookie"?)

1 package of cream cheese (low fat works just as good), cubed

melting chocolate

Directions

This is the fun part. Take the Oreos and blend them in a food processor until they are crushed and blended.  Then, add the cream cheese (cut into squares).  Voila!  You have the center.  I can just eat that and be happy.  Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Now, this is where I differ from the recipes.  I am not good at making the truffles pretty.  How people can make perfect round truffles with no flat spot where you lay it down, I'll never know!  My remedy - take a mini muffin pan and layer the bottom of the cups with a topping.  In my case I layered cups with either white chocolate, chocolate chunks, coconut or thin mints.  You must work fast, so make sure half of your truffle batter is already in balls (keep the other half in the refrigerator).  Once you have the truffle centers and toppings ready to go dip a few truffles in the melted chocolate and coat with 2 forks.  Quickly transfer to a muffin cup.

Once you have done this with all of the truffles, coat and empty spots with remainder of chocolate.  Then, melt white chocolate and drizzle.  Finally, place lollipop sticks in the truffles.  Place in refrigerator until chocolate has hardened.

When you are ready to serve the pops, use a knife to trim along the edge of the muffin cup and gently remove the pop.  Please keep cool or it will get really messy.

*For a party of this size I doubled my recipe but had I Oreo center goodness leftover, so I froze it.  This past weekend, we went to a cookout and it was National Cheesecake Day - yes!  So, I thawed the truffle center and used it has a pie crust. Then I took a package of cream cheese and blended it in the food processor with a little milk (whipping cream would have worked better).  I spread a thin layer over the Oreo mixture and topped with chocolate chips.  Freezing for an hour.  Scott said this was the best dessert I have ever made.

Sara and Andy's Engagement Party

This past weekend, my mother and father-in-law, Scott and I hosted an engagement party for my sister-in-law, Sara, and her fiance, Andy.  It was a blast!

Where was it?
Brent's Drugs in the Fondren area of Jackson.  Brent's is so cute!  It is an old-fashioned soda fountain drug store.  It was actually mentioned in the book and featured in the movie, "The Help."

What did we eat?
Oh my.  Brent's provided us with exceptional sliders, french fries and their famous old fashioned milkshakes!

But that's not all...FOOD PART 2!
We also made food.  We had Chick-fil-A chicken strips, spinach and artichoke dip, Captain Rodney's dip, fruit and veggies (to make it healthy...ha!), mini-cupcakes, key-lime tartlets and Oreo-pops.

Recipes to come in the next blog!  Stay tuned!

Decorations
Sara's colors and aqua blue and green.  And Brent's worked perfectly because their entire decor is that aqua color she loves (not to mention my favorite color as well!).

Most Importantly - The People!
Here are a few pictures of the couple and guests!

 

What a great night!  I'm going to leave you with one last thing.  I took Sara and Andy's engagement picture the day before. Yep, planning events and taking pictures... that's my thing!  I hope Sara and Andy enjoyed themselves!

Chicken Dinner

I just wanted to share a delightful dinner Scott and I had recently.

For our anniversary, Scott got me a new cookbook.  As with a vacuum cleaner, some ladies may get offended if their husbands get them a cookbook, but I was quite excited.  He gave me the Junior League of Houston's, "Stop and Smell the Rosemary".

Until receiving the cookbook, I had never made a roast chicken.  The cookbook had a very wonderful recipe.  I will admit, however, some of the instructions were a bit vague.  I figured it out though.  Here is what came about (I think I'm supposed to tie the legs some way - but the directions did not say.  So I'm not sure): 

It was quite delicious.  Scott was in heaven.  We saved a ton of money by buying a whole fryer chicken (about $5.00-$8.00).  We had this meal, as well as, chicken salad from left over breast meat and  BBQ from dark meat.

Our side was marinated summer vegetables:

Here is the recipe:  Start by using whatever vegetables you have.  I used cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, yellow and orange peppers.  The following is the marinade:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup lemon juice

salt and pepper

lemon slices

Mix first 4 ingredients in a bowl.  Pour over the vegetables.  Place lemon slices on top (covering the vegetables with the slices).  Cover with plastic wrap.  Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Remove lemon slices.  Stir.  Keep in refrigerator until serving.

*If you have leftovers, drain vegetables before serving again (the marinade gets strong).

Scotty the Handyman

This post is actually not about food. ha.  Sorry, food is just what I like to do.  I am also quite into photography and all art (I promise a blog post soon about what I'm up to with that). 

But today, I am dedicating this post to my husband Scott.  He puts up with me and my crazy ideas.  When we moved into our house, we were left with a completely blank slate in the back year.  When I say blank slate, I mean BLANK SLATE!  We had no trees, no bushes, no porch and the back of our house faces the west!  Can I say HOT! 

In the past 2 years, we have planted 2 trees (more next year for sure), a garden, a hydrangea bed, and plants along the fence.  Scott and his dad, at 11:30 pm last summer put together a gazebo I found at Target for $98.00 (I love Target end of season sales).  This gazebo doesn't replace the fact that we don't have a porch, but it sure does help to give shade along with our great black and white striped umbrella.

Under the gazebo, we have tried to make a sitting area.  My parents gave me an old pier 1 wicker loveseat.  I painted it lime green and got a new cushion.  We also bought 2 turquoise plastic Adirondack chairs.  But of course, that was not enough for me.  It didn't feel homey enough.  So yesterday I bombarded Scott with the idea, "Let's build a coffee table for outside." 

To be honest, I expected Scott to not only say no, but "HELL NO," considering it was a cool 102 degrees outside with a heat index of almost 110 degrees.  I don't know if he was delirious from the heat or just decided to go along with my craziness, but he said yes.  We went to Home Depot bought the wood and an outdoor rug I saw on clearance.

Here is what we/he made.  After a few oppsi-daisies while cutting wood, a couple squabbles and me being told I wasn't holding it still enough, this is what we came up with.  I can't take any credit actually:

I think I am going to white-wash it.  It looks great the way it is!  I love it!

Brownie Pops

In honor of National Chocolate Day, I made Brownie Pops. 

I wish I could say that I am the originator of this recipe, but I saw it on the Food Network.  At my house, if nothing is on TV during the day, the Food Network is on.  A few Saturdays ago, I was watching Dessert First with Anne Thornton.  I hate to admit it, but I sat down and watched the show and then rewound it on my DVR to watch again. 

On this particular show, Anne Thornton was making 3 different desserts from her fudge brownie recipe (and, yes, the brownies alone would make an amazing snack).  The desserts consisted of:  Brownie Pops, Fudgy Salty Peanut Butter Brownies and Death by Chocolate.  I was most intrigued by the pops mainly because they were very similar to the infamous cake pops that everyone enjoys.
 

From the Food Network Website

Here is Anne Thornton's Recipe:

• 2 (11 1/2-ounce) bags milk chocolate morsels (recommended: Nestle or Hershey's)
• 1 recipe Decedent Brownies, at room temperature, recipe follows
• Various toppings: chopped peanuts, coconut flakes, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc.
• Special equipment: 30 to 40 (6-inch) candy/lollipop sticks

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Dip 1 candy/lollipop stick into the melted chocolate (this will help the brownie adhere better to the stick). With clean hands, or wearing rubber gloves, scoop out 1 heaping tablespoon of brownie. Mold the brownie onto the stick, making sure the brownie is somewhat secure. Carefully dip/paint each stick individually with melted chocolate with the help of a spoon, allowing some of the chocolate to get onto the stick. This will act as glue and keep the pop from falling apart when you bite into it. Dip into different toppings, as desired. Place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Once all the pops are finished, place into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to set.

Cook's Note: Try to get someone to help dip the brownies into the chocolate while you are molding. The heat from your hands helps the brownies stick better to the pop and is better to dip quickly, rather than the brownie drying out and falling apart in the chocolate.

Decadent Brownies:

• 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, plus more, softened, for pan
• 1 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

For your brownie batter, melt your butter in a medium (or large) heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water.

While the butter is melting, whisk the cocoa powder, sea salt and sugar in a separate bowl. (The sugar and salt will work as abrasive agents to get any lumps out of the cocoa.) Whisk the cocoa/sugar/salt combo into the melted butter until the sugar has dissolved fully. The mixture should look like fudge and pull away from the bowl into a ball. Take off the stove and set the pan on a dishtowel on your counter. Allow the fudgy mixture to cool down until it's warm, but not hot anymore.

While that is cooling, line the bottom and sides of your 9 by 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper or foil. You want to leave about 4 inches of overhang on the 2 opposite sides. These serve as your handles to remove the brownies from the pan in 1 piece, so make sure that there is enough of the overhang for you to have a solid grip. Grease the parchment or foil well.

Stir in the vanilla into the cooled fudge mixture to loosen it up. Add the eggs into the mixture 1 at a time, adding the second egg after the first egg is fully incorporated. The batter should look shiny and well blended. Add in your flour and stir it until it's fully incorporated. Once it looks fully blended, beat the batter vigorously for at least 45 strokes. This'll not only get out any pent up stress, but it will make the brownies chewy. Fold in your chocolate chips. Spread the very thick and fudgy brownie batter evenly in the lined pan with an offset spatula or your greased hands.

Pop the brownies in the oven and bake until they get a nice crust and your house smells like brownies, 30 to 35 minutes. Let them cool completely on a rack or a dishtowel on your counter.

 Here is how mine turned out:

Here's how mine turned out.  I am not much of a rules follower. So, in keeping with my normal self, I had a brownie mix and decided to use that instead of making the Decadent Brownies (even though they look AMAZING and I will have to make soon). Well, it sure tasted good, but I had some trouble with the brownies.  They fell apart and would hardly say on the stick.  I wonder if my brownie wasn't "fudgy" enough or if it just didn't work. 

I learned my lesson - no short cuts!  I will definitely have to try this again but actually follow ALL of Anne Thornton's directions!


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-thornton/decadent-brownie-pops-recipe/index.html

Baking

I don't know if I have been bored or just really engulfed in reading "The Help," but I have been in a baking mood. 

Here are two of the recipes I have come up with recently.

Apple Breakfast Cake

2 Large Granny Smith Apples, cored and chopped into small pieces

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 cup oats

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup applesauce

2 tsp cinnamon or more, if desired

2 tsp wheat germ (optional)

1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, mix together the liquid ingredients.  Add the apples.  Set aside.  Meanwhile, mix together all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring.  Pour mixture into a greased 13 x 9 pan.  Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Double Chocolate Muffins

 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup chocolate chips 

2 tbsp coffee (preferably espresso)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together.  Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter into cupcake cups.  Bake 15-18 minutes or until done.

YUM.  What's next?  Currently, I am making brownie pops.

The Godfrey's Adventure: Baby Boy or Baby Girl?

Two of my very best friends are having a baby in November.  Yesterday, at their 20 week doctors appointment, Brad and Kaitlin Godfrey found out if they were having a girl or a boy.  The new thing is to let friends and family learn the gender of the child by having a Gender Reveal Party.

This is a precious idea and I couldn't wait to help out.  This is what we did:

Brad's parents hosted the party at their lovely home.  The party was complete with pulled pork sandwiches, Terry's home made baked beans, potato salad and CUPCAKES!  Here's the things about the cupcakes - Brad and Kaitlin went to Gigi's Cupcakes in Flowood after their doctor's appointment and had them make cute gender-neutral cupcakes filled with either blue or pink icing.  Mind you, no one knew the gender of the child expect Brad and Kaitlin.

The anticipation was high!  I also brought some food.  I was in charge of the appetizers.  To go along with the whole pregnancy theme, I did a table called, "Kaitlin's Cravings."  Her cravings are:  pizza, hummus and watermelon.  The table also had punch accompanied by pink or blue stirs for the guests to use based on their gender guess.

To add to the anticipation, all of the guests were ask to vote if they thought boy or girl and give a name suggestion.

After the ballots were cast, the final tally was 15-boy, 10-girl.  Were they right?  The answer was in the cupcake...

It is a boy!  Congratulations Brad and Kaitlin!

The Mystery of the Blue Margarita

Have you ever been to a Mexican restaurant and the margarita list looks something like this:  Lime, Strawberry, Mango and Blue?  If you haven't, trust me, you will notice now!  Well, what the heck is blue?  I have always wondered about the exact flavor of the infamous blue margarita.  Is it blue raspberry?  Bubblegum?  The mystery got the best of me.

This past weekend, I am happy to announce, I gathered up enough guts to order the margarita.  And...

 The flavor?  Literally Blue!  It was nasty.  It had not taste at all.  If I were to explain the flavor, I would say bubble gum.  I do not suggest trying it.  As with a lot of things, the suspense was better than the reveal.

Adventure to the Gulf Coast

On Tuesday, Scott hosted an event at the Beau Rivage for his work.  The Beau Rivage is a resort/casino on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  I honestly had never been to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I was born and raised in Mississippi.  Usually, when Scott has work events I don't go because it is during the school year.  I was so excited.  So we had a mini-one-day-vacation.

We left earlier than need to in order to stop by the legendary restaurant, The Shed.  I am a huge Food Network/ Cooking Channel fan and the owners of The Shed were on a reality cooking show called, Best in Smoke.  Of course, I was hooked and pulled for them along the way.  The Shed is just one of those restaurants you must stop by when you go somewhere and I had known of it, but of course, never had it.  Needless to say, I was excited to go!

Scott got the pulled pork sandwich and I got the chicken plate.  Here is what I got.  Bad picture but great food!  Oh man... it was good!

Once finished eating EVERYTHING on our plates, Scott and I made our way to the Beau Rivage.  I was pretty excited about it because it is just one of those places you need to experience in Mississippi.  When we walked in I immediately was hit with the smell of an ice cream parlor and a coffee shop!  Oh my!  Ice cream and coffee are my two favorite things in the world.  Give me those and I am a happy camper.  And to make the ice cream on this hot day even harder to resist; it was gelato.  This is it.  Yum.

We attended the parties thrown by Scott's company but the highlight of the trip was not the food, believe it or not.  It was B. B.  King.  I got to see B. B. King!  I was thrilled.  He has always been one of those people that I just love!  I do not get star-struck at all, but I have to say, I was quite star-struck to see him and be so close!

Pina Colada Cake

All I can say is YUM and I don't even like coconut!  You must try this.  Enough said!

Cake:
1 box of Angel Food Cake
1 1/4 cups of Pineapple Juice

*Pour into angel food cake pan and bake according to the directions on the package.

Icing:
1 carton of Fat Free whipped topping - thawed
1 carton coconut cream pudding mix

*Gently fold pudding into whipped topping.  Refrigerate a minimum of 30 minutes.  Once cake has cooled completely, top with icing.

Done!  So easy and so good!!!!

The Anything-But-Green Thumb's Garden

This is my second year to do a garden.  Last year was the first try.  Let's just say it was an utter disaster!  Scott and I made a huge garden with lots of different yummy things.  Well, first mistake:  we didn't label anything.  We just figured we would remember which row was which.  Yeah right!  Second mistake:  WEEDS.  Third mistake:  Our beautiful, wonderful, loving, and absent-minded Golden Retriever, Meg, ran through the dang garden so many times I lost count.  Final mistake:  You know that thing called water.  Yeah...

Well this year, I decided I didn't want to deal with the hassle of a huge garden.  Thanks to a article by Martha Stewart, I am trying to do a container garden.  So far so good.

We have onions, squash, zucchini, spinach (not doing so hot...), tomatoes, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, green beans, cucumbers, artichokes and broccoli.  I want to get another long, rectangular pot and put rosemary, basil and parsley in it.

Now, I just don't know when to pick everything.  Obviously, I can figure out when to pick the bell peppers and the tomatoes.  But what about the things that grow in the soil?

Adventure 1: Chip Chicken

Tonight, Scott and I made Chip Chicken. I do not fry and Scott LOVES chicken strips...

We cut boneless skinless chicken breasts into strips. Then, we marinated them in BBQ sauce and LOTS of spices (make the marinade spicier than you think it needs to be).

Next, make an egg wash (2 eggs beaten with a splash of milk and seasonings ). Meanwhile, crush chips in a freezer bag. We used BBQ Pringles because they are a thicker chip and not as greasy as others.

Dredge chicken in egg wash and coat with crushed chips.

Bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until done.

This was really easy (and good!) and offers a break from more boring chicken recipes.

Here We Go....

Well years behind schedule and after much thought about the concept,  I have started a blog.  I am a self-proclaimed foodie and a lover of unusual things.  So this blog will be about the culinary adventures of Scott and myself and whatever else we get ourselves into.