Riot and Frolic

a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog

recent posts

about

I own and rock people’s faces off teaching ballroom dancing at Dancers Studio in St. Paul, MN. My husband and I compete professionally in American style and wrangle eight children in our spare time. I’ve been teaching and competing in ballroom dancing for over 25 years and have lots of opinions on it. I am an expert by any means, but there are quite a few dancers who are better than me and I have a solid knowledge of basic technique, so suck it.

Category: Uncategorized

  • I Ate A Pomegranate

    Apparently, I am the last one to jump on the pomegranate bandwagon.   Remember a few years ago when it was the new "it" superfood?  Yeah, yeah, antioxidants, vitamin C, fiber, cure for cancer, whatevs. Just like my dismissal of NKOTB in fifth grade (don't worry, I found the artistry of them in high school),…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – breakfast at La Cuc (click on the link to get their cheesy, and therefore, awesome jingle on their home page).  Mmmm, Mexican food.  The ladies loved it.  So did I.   – using the veeeeeery last bit of yarn in the skein for my rad hat.  The pattern said you need 150 yards of yarn.…

  • Internet Cookin’

    This year, I hosted Thanksgiving, and much to my ma's surprise, I can cook okay.   I give her a pass on her amount of amazement since I haven't been known to follow directions or have the greatest common sense in the past.  Note: years ago, I thought I could get to Duluth by heading…

  • Buttered Up

    Let's say you're awesome.   And, let's face it, you are. Because you're reading this.   Now let's say you're hungry. I'll go ahead and assume you are because I always am and we're friends. You should go ahead and make some popcorn.  And not the lame microwave kind.  Stove-Top Popcorn Ingredients – oil –…

  • Crazy Bread, Part Deux

    The other day, I made some awesome bread from this recipe.  It's this ridiculous recipe where you don't knead the dough, you just combine all the ingredients and then bake them.  Where's the technique?  The learning curve?  The skillz? This crazy recipe also says you can make pizza crust out of the same dough.  Nonsense,…

  • The Pinterest Project- It’s Not Gross

    I was really hoping this week's project was going to be a Fail because I am hilarious when I write those. I mean, it's cookie dough dip made out of chickpeas.  It has to be gross, right? I was so excited when I was mixing the ingredients in my blender.  Can of chickpeas, a little…

  • Crazy Bread

    No, not the delicious treat from Little Caesars.   I'm talking about this bread recipe that my ma-in-law and I were discussing a couple months ago and that she sent me a copy of after our visit.  She had seen the recipe in an issue of Mother Earth News magazine from 2009.  My question is, how did…

  • Clever Tart

    I've seen those little pop-tart presses (oh, sorry, toaster pastry press) at stores lately, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon (hopefully the wagon is carrying Elbow; they seem fun) and try to make my own breakfast treats. I had apples and bananas around, so I made apple pie and banana-chocolate-chip versions…  Because breakfast…

  • The Pinterest Project- Flapjack Friday Frills

    This week's project meshed nicely with the accidental adventures in pancakes that I have on Fridays.   To explain, I have successfully planned my cooking exploits for a few months.  My super-sweet chalkboard helps, plus it looks cool. The adventures in pancakes started when I found out it was easier to plan our eats when…

  • Salt ‘n’ Pepa

    Yo yo yo yo, not these ladies.  I'm talking about some salt 'n' pepa… fish. The only fish I've ventured to cook is salmon and I can dry out a nice piece of salmon like Tom Waits can smoke.   But for some reason, there was a bunch of tilapia fillets in my freezer that…