Adventures in teaching, apartment dwelling, and (more) Southern Cooking

OK, so you know how they say bad things come in threes? Well, if this week is any indication, it's totally true....

First, on Thursday, I attempted to teach the audit risk model - it did not go so well. For all you non-auditors out there, I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say that the audit risk model is to auditing what the abc's are to reading. Anyway, it's truly a terrifying moment when you finish teaching something so foundational to the rest of your course only to look up and see 44 of these staring back at you

(A reference that the vast majority of my students have no hope of understanding, since they were all born in like 1990...) Yeah, back to the drawing board on that one, we'll be having more fun with the audit risk model in tomorrow's class.

Then, on Thursday night, I came home to find a vibrant deep pink liquid running down the side of the refrigerator and pooling on the kitchen floor. My much-maligned fridge (which has been a thorn in my side from the moment I moved into this apartment 18 months ago) finally gave up the ghost, causing everything in the freezer to completely defrost (including a large bag of frozen berries, hence the deep pink liquid). So I spent Thursday night mopping the floor and throwing out lots of food, like this:

Yes, I took pictures and made an itemized list. I'm pretty sure that "appliances in good working order" is a clause in my lease, so I am totally requesting reimbursement. However, as of late Friday afternoon, I am now the proud possessor of a late-model refrigerator that actually seems as though it was manufactured within the last decade (trust me, it's a huge upgrade). Some days it is really hard not to think longingly of my lovely late model home currently being occupied by my renters... one of the many joys of grad student life.

Now, I'm not going to discuss the third thing specifically here, but I will say it was a serious bummer also related to teaching and has something to do with that healthy stack of papers on the left (in the event that you're dying to know the details, call, text or email me and we'll chat):

But, since you can't keep a good man down (which must also apply to women), I decided to use the necessity of replacing all perishable goods as an opportunity to purchase ingredients needed to try a new recipe (my goal is to try one per week). I found this recipe for Red Beans and Rice in a cookbook that my mom got for Christmas, and it seemed fitting to continue in the theme of Southern food (I actually made a very long list of loads of recipes I wanted to try from that cookbook, thank heaven they have a blog....)

You need all of this, and loads of spices:

And after about 5 hours in the crock pot and some help from my trusty potato masher (yes, I totally cheat and use slow cooker liners - thank you to the good people at Reynolds for inventing such a handy item):

Here is the finished product (so yummy!)

Another smashing Southern "comfort food" success, not to mention a total bright spot in an otherwise distressing week! Also, in case anyone is interested, according to the handy-dandy weightwatchers.com recipe builder (because, as of today, I am officially back on the WW bandwagon), this dish clocks in at 7 points plus - including half a cup of rice (woo-hoo)!