Toffee

One of my favorite times of the year has always been March Madness. Good grief, I even use this in my seasonal decorations. Yep, I love being a coach's wife! This year, March Madness has taken on different meanings for me.

To begin, not only did UT not make it to the NCAA tournament, but they lost first round in the NIT! That's enough to make any orange-blooded fan mad, or at least sad. :(

Instead of dwelling on March Madness in the negative sense, I like to think of it in a more positive light: the excitement of facing new competition, pressure, sweat, exhilaration. I experienced my own kind of March Madness this year by taking a Project Management Bootcamp course. It's been years (who am I kidding. . . decades) since I've been a student. Gosh, how I miss it! Each day, I had the self-imposed pressure of having to pass timed quizzes. Each daily success felt like I was progressing tournament-style. Sweet Sixteen. Then, the Elite Eight. The week long course ended with my passing a 4-hour mock exam on the first try: my own equivalent of the Final Four! All of this work culminated in the "championship game" last night:  me vs. a 4-hour certification exam to become a Project Management Professional (PMP). I won! Wooooo hoooooo! New competition. Pressure. Sweat. Exhilaration. "It was all there for me, baby!" (spoken in your finest Dick Vitale voice)

To help ease some of the pressure of the week, one of the other students, Cyndi Rogers, made this amazing toffee for snacking. I knew immediately that we were kindred spirits. I'm so grateful that she was willing to share her recipe with me. I have always loved the flavor of toffee, but I usually avoid it because it is typically hard to bite. Not this. The texture is perfect. It went so fast that I was only able to take a picture of the crumbs!

I think it's the perfect game-day snack. I plan to make my own batch as I continue to cheer on my favorite teams this weekend.

As a new PMP, I'm already seeing things differently:

Initiating - Mom solicits participants for her tournament pool.
Planning - I plan my picks (which teams will win/lose each round) and plan for at least a few upsets.
Executing - Showtime! Cheer for your picks!
Monitoring & Controlling - Double check Mom's math to make sure that she has me in the lead, too.
Closing - Hopefully, I will be collecting some money in a couple of weeks.

Come to think of it, the instructor gave us a mnemonic device to remember the five Process Groups above:  I Prefer Extra Money in Cash. Boy, can I relate. So, at least for the next couple of weeks, GO KANSAS!!!

Toffee

Ingredients:

• 1 cup salted butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• chopped pecans
• 3-4 Hershey bars (The larger baking-size bars are better. Use 2 of these instead of 4.)

Directions:
Mix together melted butter and sugar. Cook until it is a medium to darker medium caramel color, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add slivered almonds and mix well.

Dump onto a cookie sheet and spread out to the desired thickness. Break apart the chocolate bars and quickly place on top. Spread melted chocolate evenly on top. Sprinkle with crushed pecans.

Break into pieces after it is hardened. To harden faster, you can place the toffee in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. If you do, make sure you let the toffee come to room temperature before breaking apart.