She had a Q. Look

My new sneakers are still awesome. By the way. I didn't want to buy 'netball' shoes on principle (I ain't no netballer) but it may have been a good recommendation by the pushy shop lady. My team-mate even commented on how bouncy they looked. (At first I thought she was only pointing out how new and white they looked, which was a fair comment - they glow like Michael Jackson's socks!)

I like my team this season - I'm mainly playing high post so I've become a jump-shooter again. In this grade they don't really defend high post too closely so I get heaps of open shots. One time I even shot a turn-around shot in rhythm (though that was in the low post.... but came from my increased shooting zen). Haven't done that in ages! The grade we were in last season was way too good - I was pressured and double-teamed pretty much every time I got the ball and hardly shot at all.

Now I'm a lazy-ass elbow-shootin' high-post again. The way I like it. I'm really quite a terrible low-post player.

We played a Chinese team tonight that had three ex-students of mine in it. I coached two of them in the Senior-B when they were at school. In the end we beat them pretty soundly with only six players..... That could partly be a sign of how rubbish my coaching was :)

* * *

I was all set to finish marking the drafts my students emailed me after school, and then go watch X-Factor....

.... when the last one I read through was full of stuff I suspected was plagarism. Grrr. Takes ages to try and prove plagarism if it's even reasonably clever. There goes my TV watching time.

DAMN YOU, GOOGLE! ONE DAY YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND, THE NEXT DAY YOU'RE MY ENEMY.

* * *

My cooking experiment has continued.

I made a chicken pilaf thingie with cranberries and pine nuts and white wine.

The first attempt tasted fine, but the rice was a gluggy mess (apparently not quite the texture I should've aimed for - it had perplexed me when the recipe said to 'fluff it up' and mine was a gluey hunk ..... and the chicken was bleeding a bit when I first cut into it.....). It passed for a bad risotto better than it passed for a pilaf.

The next attempt, however, was pretty awesome. I forgot to take a photo though, so you'll have to take my word for it. Good texture in the rice, I added the cranberries sooner so they plumped up better and the chicken was cooked just right.

See, my strategy is to buy enough for the whole recipe but only cook a half-dose each time. Gives me a chance to improve. Does mean I have to eat the same thing three or four nights in a row.....

BUT TAKE THAT, PILAF! You are now in my repertoire.