sweet potatoes ...on crack

for thanksgiving this year i wanted to replace my usual pureed butternut squash. so i bounced around all the food blogs i usually creep on, and got my inspiration for these. basically... a monkey could make these. as long as that monkey has a sweet tooth.
what they are basically.... is a twice baked sweet potato topped with a pecan cookie batter.
hoe
lee
chit.

simple as all hell:


ingredients:
sweet potatoes: i did 6... (you do as many as you plan on eating,,, duh)
butter (1 1/2 sticks for six so you figure that out) room temperature.
brown sugar (a GOOD solid handful. small hands? do one and a half)
flour (i used a 1 cup)
cinnamon ( dump in as much as you want)
i shook in a liiiiiiiiitle ground ginger
i sprinkled in a smidge of ground cloves
i squeezed in a little maple syrup
i added a splash of vanilla
salt/ pepper (just because its sweet doesnt mean it needs this stuff... to taste)
mini marshmallows (a good handful)
toasted pecans (i used about a cup) all chopped the hell up.

how to make the best sweet potatoes you ever ever had:

- turn on your oven to *375
- poke your sweet potatoes after washing the dirt off them with a fork. dont wash them with the fork... wash them first, then poke them. just so were clear.
- plop your potatos on a foil covered sheet tray.
- on a different sheet tray toast your pecans if theyre not toasted yet. 7 minutes in the oven should be good. dont over do it, burt pecans really blow.
- in your mixer with the paddle, throw in the butter. overhand like CC Sabathia.
-add the spices , and the syrup, and the vanilla.
- turn on mixer.
- mix,, not too long.
- slowly add flour. i added enough flour to make this butter concoction look like cookie dough.
- throw in your marshmallows. i mixed them by hand, because, honestly, i felt bad for them. the mixer versus the marshmallows wasnt a fair fight.
- after an hour to an hour and a half, remove your potatoes.
let them cool a little bit.. 20 minutes? ok!
- cut a slice down the length of them...
- push them, forcing that slit open.
- pile a mound of the marshmallowey stuff on top .... *see above*
*** you can let them chill here if youre planning ahead... refrigerate them if you gotta*
- throw them back in the oven for about 20 minutes.
- take them out and go silly.

sparring is not really like riding a bike. unless you fall off and into a bunch of fists.

so heres whats up.

im back at my training 100% again, and when i say that, i mean, while i wasnt falling behind, i wasnt sparring once a week like i had been for the last 8 months.

fact: take 2 months off from sparring, get punched alot when you get back in there.

while i had been pretty satisfied with how my kicks have been coming along, zeroing in on details like never before...

generating more power through speed... lifting UP on my toes...etc.

and my hands, which, to be honest, technically speaking, have come a LONG way....

my hooks are tighter, punches more direct...

and my cardio....which is better than it's EVER been....

....youd think that youd have some sort of a clue as to how to keep it all together when you hop back in there and actually gear it up, and throw them things.

until you realize that timing is everything,

especially when dudes are throwing bombs at you.

last week i got in there with john, and for the first week back, i was happy...

happy i didnt get killed.

haha.

first round, i kinda ate some shots, and basically, tried to catch up with his timing.

let me tell you about john....

dudes a STRONG STRONG man to be testing waters with.

the worst way to catch up with timing after a sparring layoff is DEFINATELY not by seeing how well you can take shots from john gagnon, but i didnt really think that through, so thats just what i did.

johns really strong in the clinch, so knowing he enjoys him some clinch/pummel/knee work, i kept that in my mind as i tried to make it through that first round without getting TOO rattled.

hes also real good at jiu jitsu, so i basically took him down after some clinching, and tried to close out that round with me working myself to a better position, which i feel pretty happy that i did.

the last ime i rolled with him, he caught me in a damn arm bar, so i used the advice he gave me afterward, and used it, and hats off to him, it was effective.

during the 45 second rest between rounds, i basically made my mind up to let my hands fly...

the entire next round i felt REAL comfortable, i was working my jab well, my footwork was loose, and the fact that i changed up gears was really effective and kept him a little off balance.

moving forward, and letting the combos lose, i set him up for...

my superman punch.

and i landed it well.

*if youve ever sparred with me, you know you can expect that i will be throwing one superman punch, its a given. i may spend the entire round setting it up, or, i might throw it first, but,,, i will throw it. predictable? yes. fun as hell? yup*

i wobbled him up a little bit, and then, worked my way in , clinched some, then took him down again, where we grappled till the timer went off.

overall , i think that it was a good couple rounds, and since he had his BJJ class next, we called it quits there, which was fine, because i was pretty tapped.

my cardio was ok, but needs to be better, i need to relax more...

but,

its hard to relax when you have a bull in front of you.

a bald headed heavy ass handed jiu jitsu knowing mofo.

john is a true student of all the arts, and i can tell all hes going to do in there is make me better.

i hope to bring the same to him.

2 old dogs teaching each other new tricks is an ok thing.

a really ok thing.

now, my cousin (more like nephew) dustin has jumped ship over from the BJJ to the muay thai exclusively...

and this is awesome.

what else....?

steel sharpens steel.

im surrounded by steel in this dojo.