You got it. I’m Level III Certified, but it doesn’t matter in my new job. Still, I got 2 weeks in Moline!
I was certified, too, but it’s been so long that I forget at what level. Right after the training, I was BRACed, and NASA doesn’t require DAWIA certification.
The weirdest part about the Machine Shed was I got turned on more by the freshly scrubbed waitresses in flannel shirts and overalls than the strippers in the one nudie bar in town that I went to the next night.
I thought about mentioning that to Swampie, but I didn’t think it would matter to him…
So, Iowa farm girls do it for ya, eh?
Swampbear my email addy is in my profile, too!
Haven’t gotten around to pancakes yet. Maybe for lunch. After I finish the laundry.
Bellydance is fun. Everyone should take bellydance! Well, mostly everyone.
Lissla(bellydancer)
you bellydance? COOL! Did you take classes? Are you still taking them? Can you give me some pointers?
-earthpuppy (wannabe bellydancer)
I haven’t taken classes in about a year, but I took about five years before I ran out of money. My very lovely in-laws bought me three more months of classes for Christmas but I haven’t had time to take them yet. In September? When I’m not working 6 days a week? Sounds great.
First off, I hope you like Arabic music. Arabic pop is fun and bouncy. Do you know what style the local teachers do? There’s all sorts- I do classical Egyptian. Please, please don’t do American Tribal. People from the Middle East think it’s hysterical because American Tribal is almost totally made up and the dancers wear camel ornaments. It also looks very stiff to me- no arm movements and layering.
Lebanese and Classical Egyptian are great. I haven’t seen much Greek but it seems to be less isolated- Egyptian bellydance is all about fluidity and moving the same body part in three different directions at once. Not as hard as it sounds, really. There’s lots of websites with great info.
Mmmmm, pancakes. With real maple syrup. Or peanut butter. Or both, with the maple syrup on the first stack so you can mop up the dregs with the PB’ed second stack. Leftover pancakes are good for making PBJ sandwiches, too.
On a completely different note, I went to a birthday party for my niece and my brother-in-law on Sunday, and got to watch BIL arrested for murder. Yep, with the whole ‘holding his head so he didn’t bang it getting his handcuffed sorry ass into the cruiser’ bit and all. Got to watch him booked and fingerprinted, too. He didn’t look very happy about the whole thing, even though it meant he got to be on TV. Everybody laughed and had a good time.
Of course, this was because we were watching an RCMP fingerprint training video and he was about a dozen years younger in the video, with long, shaggy hair and a bandito mustache, and really looked the part of the villain. [looking around the office] Right, I want Sam, Kate, and Bill for the examining the prints scene, and, Mike, you can do the dramatic matching of the prints from the knife to the suspect’s prints in the database scene, and, BIL, you’re gonna be the criminal, of course. [/looking around the office] 
Oooooohhhh yeeeeeeeaaaaahhhhh ! 
In my callow youth I had many opportunities to belly dance. In fact, one of the top belly dancers in California told me I had the perfect “classic” body for belly dancing. Nice to know those hips were appreciated somewhere. Actually, at that time, I had a mostly flat stomach, with just a little roundness (plus bodacious boobies, which I still have), a well defined waist and, as mentioned, hips rarely appreciated in those days of the “boyish waif” style. However, I never took up belly dancing, because I was much more interested in drumming for belly dancers. I even have my own dombec (a middle eastern drum). I miss drumming. I didn’t miss it, until I remembered it, and now I do miss it.
Still don’t like pancakes. Or cornbread. But I do like frittatas. With cheese and ham and mushrooms. Ar asparagus or broccoli. I even had one that had pecans in it. Crunchy. Or another thing I like is an old fashion scramble or skillet meal–cubed potatoes with onion and green peppers, ham, cheese, and eggs all cooked together–well, kinda together, or in layers. Or try this–boil some new red potatoes in salted water until just fork soft (my Mother’s term, you either know what it means or you don’t, if you don’t, experiment with this recipe until you do). Let them cool, peel off the skins, cut them into cubes (if you boiled them for too long, they will be mushy, you want them firm, but not crisp) and then fry them up in a lot of butter. These may be the only food item my sisters and I would come to blows over–I once hid a few of the leftovers in the back corner of the fridge, and when my sister found out, she didn’t talk to me for a week.
I love any and all forms of dance - love, love, love. I also would love to try belly dancing. As for why hula, it’s because my dad’s business partner does it, so I joined her hulau. It’s very fun - I’m learning one song right now - very slowly. But at the same time I am learning how to count in hawaiian, and the body parts (no quizzes yet, I’m just starting!). Our kumu (instructor) is very into teaching the entire experience - not just the dance, but the history & culture of hawaii. She’s even got a project - we pick a king/queen of Hawaii and do a report. Haven’t picked mine yet.
No hula pics yet - and sorry to quash fantasies, but when I do get pictures, they won’t be grass skirts and coconut bras. We wear skirts that end just above the ankle - our hulau’s color is purple, which is my number one favorite color in the world. Forget wearing it when I get old - I’m wearing purple now. Actually, literally now - purple knit tank top.
Anyway, my dad has said multiple times that the one thing he wishes I had stuck with from when I was a kid was the dancing - that I am an amazing dancer. Well, now I’m back to it - and it’s fun! And it’s funny - I’ve actually had people say I look like a dancer, which is cool to hear.
Susan
You have a dumbek, Kallessa? Cool! Doom doom tak-a-tak doom tak-a doom (saiidi rhythm. Gets stuck in my head a lot)
New potatoes are a perfect food. Fried in butter, or with sour cream and cheddar, or in a fritatta. Yum.
I have made and eaten pancakes. Now, because of lissener’s thread, I will have to make chocolate pudding with whipped cream. I will become very fat very soon. Oh well. It’s more to shake, right?
Now that we’re far enough away from the post by someone who actually knows what she’s talking about, here I go:
- Wear genie pants. Maybe a veil or two.
- Wiggle. A lot.
- Pictures, pictures and more pictures (of course). Plus send 'em this way. I’ll tell you what you’re doing wrong. (Maybe.)
You guys are just a bunch of big ol’ poopy-heads to taunt me with pancakes while I’m on Atkins. 
Just for that Kallessa I crawled back inna archives and I’m gonna post, verbatim, most of a post I originally posted in Zenster’s ultimate recipe thread
Here 'tis:
gather together, for each person:
1 medium red potato (tennis ball sized)
2 generous cloves of garlic
2 eggs
2 Tbs butter
(when I say butter, I mean butter or margarine. You probably do too.)
salt
pepper
Wash and prepare your potatoes, and cook them in the microwave until they are just cooked through. (Pretend you’re making potato salad.) This is why I specified red potatoes, they don’t get as flakey as russets, for instance.
While your potatoes are cooking, peel and chop your garlic.
Crack your eggs into a container and whip with a little salt and pepper. (I know you’re not supposed to salt your eggs before you cook them, I don’t care.)
When your potatoes are just cooked enough, gingerly cut them into 1" chunks.
Now melt about 2 Tbsp butter in a frying pan and sauté the garlic very briefly. Add the potatoes, stirring very gently, and add pepper and a touch of salt.
When the potatoes get kind of yellow from the butter, pour in the eggs. Do not scramble madly. Rather, stir occasionally, so as to allow the eggs to form large chunks.
When the eggs are cooked to your liking, you’re done!
Now that you have a basic understanding of breakfast potatoes, elaborate!
Back off on the garlic and add left over corned beef (lean please) cut into 1" chunks.
- OR -
Start with 1/4 lb. sweet Italian sausage and onions, sautéed. Season with oregano and Parmesan, serve with grated Mozzarella on top.
- OR -
Start with 1/4 lb. hamburger, onions, and diced jalapeno sauteed with salt, pepper, chili powder and cilantro, serve with Cotija cheese crumbled on top.
Yes, I really am a gourmand. 
Confession Time: All the posts about regular, flavored and specially shaped pancakes have not laid siege to my appetite. None of the sweet stuff does. But now you’re talkin about taters and suddenly my tum-tum is dreamin up all sorts o stuff…like, like…tater pancakes!!! :eek: Now that would be yummy! Slather some crispy medallions with a dollop of sour cream. Mmmmmmmmmmm! Or some artery cramping Tupug style homefries where I fries up some bacon and then saute minced onions in the bacon drippings, top with cubed taters, salt and pepper, and cover for a few minutes till the taters and onions get brown and crispy, flip, repeat, serve. There, all you pikers!
I was thinking about doing something potato-based for dinner. Scalloped with ham, maybe? With lots of cheese? Maybe sour-cream-ham-potato-bake thingy. I know it’s hot, but this is why I have an air conditioner! So I can cook ridiculous things in August! And pot roast for tomorrow.
My co-worker’s girlfriend can hula. She’s visiting from Hawaii. I’m trying to get her to teach me but she’s shy. Hula is cool.
I do like sweet desserty things, Tupug, but my primary weakness is french fries and barbeque. Or anything made with meat, potatoes, and fat. Havr you ever had potatoes roasted in duck fat with garlic? :eek:
Where’s that drool emoticon??? 
When I was first wooing Astrogirl I made her pancakes one morning… she had never had pancakes before, Kim-Chi and leftovers from dinner the night before being the most common Korean breakfast. Anyways, as I said, I was wooing her, so I made teddy bear shaped pancakes (I was desperate… as my previous attempt at wooing her [IE: running up to her and yelling “WOO WOO!”] hadn’t worked.).
So now every time I make pancakes, I have to make teddy bear pancakes for the wife… which is a pain in the butt.
And which I can’t do nowadays anyway.
Which brings me to my point: I curse all of you pancake-eating carb junkies! And I curse Dr. Atkins too!
I’m gonna go gnaw on some raw meat…
Ya know what I had for brekkist? Crumpets. To me, crumpets are like the best part of waffles in a crooky english muffin shape. Thank you Brittain. I even put some double Devon cream on them with golden syrup. I don’t know if that’s proper but it tasted wonderful.
Can a ham be made out of anything but piggy? I mean, can you cure beef or chicken? There’s beef and turkey jerky which is an extreme form of curing right? You see, this is the sort of stuff that runs through my mind when I have too much time on my hands. That, and sudden desires to make sourdough starter. It’s getting bubbly in my closet right now.
You know FairyChatMom, my cousin moved into his house a full two months ahead of schedule, so miracles in the world of construction do occur. Of course, there’s only one allowed each millenium and that was it.
I know what you mean about the color thing Bibliocat. After a while I just said to heck with whether it looks best on me, I want blonde highlights in my plain brown hair. So far no small children have run at the sight of me.
Poor Bumba on your Atkins diet. Don’t suppose it’ll help to mention that lowering your carbs will really make you feel more peppy eventually? At least for me it did, turns out too many carbs make me logey. Just for you I will mention I had steak for lunch, no potatoes.
And upon reading your post Astroboy14, one has to wonder at the neccessity of teddy bear wooing if you were making her pancakes for breakfast. Unless that sheet she hung up between your beds had razor wire edging.
Awww . . .This is just so sweet. The most I’ve ever had a boyfriend “have” to do is to put a straw in anything with ice in it–that is, one boyfriend always remembered to do this and specifically bought straws for me. Does not meet the teddy bear pancake standard.
Bumba, your variations of the fried new potatoes sound yummy. Like Lissla, I may have to have a potato-based dinner tonight. Oh, who am I kidding. I almost never cook when I get home from work. If I don’t have leftovers waiting I’ll eat yogurt or tuna and crackers for dinner. I didn’t cook the pork chops or the steak last night, and if I don’t cook them tonight, I’d better get them in the freezer, the chops were only a few dollars, but it’s a ten dollar steak and I’m supposed to be on a budget. I’d gladly cook for someone, especially if he cooked for me, or vacuumed and dusted. In fact, let’s make a list:
Cooking – I’ll do most of it, unless he loves to cook, or we can trade off
Laundry – I got no problem with laundry, I’ll even take/pick up things from the dry cleaners
Vacuuming – I want him to do this. And I won’t tell him how to do it, or do it over once he’s done it, because I really hate this chore and having anyone do it is worth about anything.
Dusting – goes with vacuuming, but I’m willing to do it as long as he doesn’t need it done any more often than I need it done. In other words, it can get pretty dusty before it bugs me.
Changing sheets – I’ll do it, I’ve never seen where this is such a chore.
Grocery shopping – Not my favorite, so it would be nice to trade off, or do it together.
Garbage – Who cares who takes it out? It just needs to go out before it smells.
Yardwork – I’m content to pay to have it done. If he wants to do it, great, I’ll even help sometimes.
General minor house repair – I kind of like being able to do this stuff, but I rarely know what I’m doing, so he can do it is he needs the ego points.
Bathroom – Okay, this is the big one, this shows how much I could love someone. By way of information, I grew up in a household of women, so my experience with cleaning the bathroom (esp. around the toilet) are based on that. I have since learned that cleaning the bathroom when there’s a man in the house can be a completely different experience. However, I’m still willing to do most of the bathroom cleaning, but I might have him scrub the grout once in a while (not related to the regular reason why cleaning the bathroom can be a daunting task).
So, in addition to my other talents and graces, the man who falls in love with me won’t even have to be a housework drudge. he only has to do housework that involves a machine–the vacuum, everything else is negotiable. What’s not to love?
No, really, what’s not to love? I need to know before I give up and just start collecting cats.
The potato thingy is potatoes, sour cream, rosemary, garlic, feta, and olive oil. It’s layered like scalloped potatoes. Would you like me to push some through the disk drive for you, Kallessa? I was going to put ham in it but I forgot. I’m trying to think of something else dinner-ish to bake while the oven’s going. Maybe I’ll just use the ham for grilled ham and cheese.
I guess I could make a ham and cheese strata. That would reheat well. Back in a few minutes.