Supper Club Goes to Olathe

The New Year's Resolution to try a new restaurant every month is still going strong!  And heading south... to Olathe. 

I was driving home one day when I saw Haru's Steak & Sushi.  I laughed and told Drew about it because "haru" is what Ari says when he is talking to us.  Or maybe it is "ha-roo".  Ever since then we've joked that he works there as a hibachi cook.

What?  Your dogs don't talk to you?  You think I'm a crazy dog lady?  Nevermind... let us never speak of this again...

Anyways, a gal at work told me she really likes this place... so we added it to our supper club list. 

It was your typical hibachi style steak house... tasty, but nothing special.  Well... not nothing...

Our dinner-mates.

This gal visually assaulted me all night long with her ridiculously bare breasts and her horrifying bitchy-ness.  I took about a thousand pictures "of the guy cooking" just trying to get a good shot of her flashing me.  She must have thought this was my first time and I was super impressed with all the shrimp throwing and onion flaming. 

Not so much.

The flaming onion volcano!!!

 I never got a good shot, but trust me, it was offensive.  At one point I think I saw nipple. 

And that wasn't even the worst of it!  She kept talking nonsense all night and saying ridiculous things.  When our cook tried to give her the chicken she ordered, she made him put it back on the grill and cook the hell out of it because, "all chicken has worms in it and you have to cook it enough or it will kill you instantly." 

I teach food safety, people.  I wanted to smack her.

I did not.  I enjoyed my food and the company of my husband... who decided that if we were ever to go on the show Wife Swap, this would be the couple we would be swapped with.

My food was delicious.  I ordered the standard hibachi meal with vegetables and rice.  

Veggies

We also ordered the Tempura Shitake Mushroom Roll... it was just okay.  The guy next to us (not the crazies across from us) seemed to be a regular and he suggested I order some spicy yum sauce.  It was very yummy!  I don't think it was for sushi, but I dipped mine in there anyway. :)

So... I don't really have good or bad things to say about Haru's.  If you're in Olathe and get a jonesing for some hibachi-style steak... it's probably as good as the next hibachi-style steak house.  I can only hope you don't get stuck across from the Girls Gone Wild gal like we did.

Is Your Muffin Buttered?

You would think that being the big Mean Girls fan that I am, I would have expected the backlash that I received after sending out an email to our entire staff requesting judges for the MUFFIN MADNESS contest that we held in the FACS department. 

I did not.  But it sure came.

First let me tell you about the super awesome and incredibly fun activity that we did as a class.  The kids have been learning about quick breads so we decided to have a fun competition to go along with March Madness... and Muffin Madness was born. 

The kids started out with a basic muffin recipe.  They were allowed to do 3 add-ins, flavorings, or spices.  Then they had to make 1 substitution to make the muffin healthier.  Lastly, they had to name their muffin. 

The kids got so into it.  They loved it.  And surprisingly, the muffins turned out really well! 

Then we made a bracket:

Bracketology.

My classes went up against each other:

The Gibson Division.

Note: when students name their muffin BAM and tell you that it stands for Blueberry Awesome Muffin, it does not in fact stand for that.  It stands for something much less school appropriate.

My teaching partner's kids all went up against each other:

The Bean Division.

Note:  do not put gummy worms in the oven... even if it leads to a hilarious muffin name like The Wormanizer.  Lesson learned*.

And yes, one of her teams named their muffin Why Do You Care?

Then the winners from my classes went up against the winners of her classes and... the Muffin Madness Champion was crowned!!!  They were from my group... duh.  My kids are winners.

The winning group asked for their prize that they be allowed to come into my room during study hall to make more muffins.  I almost cried out of pride.  I'm almost crying now just remembering how happy this made me.  I love my kids.

I also love my co-workers... even despite the hazing I received after announcing our need for judges to taste-test muffins.  I received many the inappropriate comment... and someone went so far as to write a play-by-play of the championship game where the Beavers were up against the Tacos.  It was horrifyingly descriptive.

Then I started receiving what I imagine were the Google Image results of searching Taco Muffin.

The school secretary assures me that people giving me a hard time means that they like me. 

These people must freaking love me.

Regardless, I will be doing Muffin Madness every March from here on out.  The kids loved it way too much not to.  I'll just have to assign someone to butter the muffins.


*Seems like we should have already assumed this.

Brocc-o-love

My eighth graders just started a vegetable unit this week.  They freakin' lost it when they found out.  See, I had told them we were going to do a cake unit when we got back from Spring Break.  But then almost half of them told me they were Catholic and had given up sweets for Lent.  And I am not going to have Cupcake Wars if no one is going to get to enjoy the cupcakes. 

So vegetables it is.

Today we were planning our lab for tomorrow.  They are making cheesy broccoli rice casserole.  Tasty, right?  They don't think so.  They hate broccoli. 

Hate.  Broccoli.

You know I love vegetables.  Especially broccoli!  So I had to keep telling myself that them hating broccoli doesn't mean they hate me.  I love broccoli, but I am not broccoli.

I am not broccoli.

So there we are, talking broc.  They are reading aloud all these super fun important facts about how great and awesome broccoli* is and we get to one about how broccoli is so great for your bowel health.  Ha.

Let me tell you... if you ever get the chance to talk about bowels with 12-year olds, you totally should.  It's a great way to get them involved in the conversation.  I mean, it was like a snooze fest in there until bowels came up.  Then all of a sudden everyone had something to say.

Anyways...  later in the day I was in the hall with my 6th-graders when one of my eighth grade gals walked by and said hi.  I asked what she was up to and she responded:

"Just going to the bathroom.  Ya know... probably from the broccoli."

Okay, so I may not have convinced them to like vegetables** but at least they now know why they should eat them.  That's called learning.  My kids are learning.  I'm a teacher.

*I am not broccoli.
**Yet.