Yesterday I made the most yummy chicken recipe....
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/pat-and-ginas-oven-fried-chicken-recipe/index.html
I'm not a huge fan of this couple's show.... but Momma likes their Chicken! I will say for my taste the recipe calls for a little too much salt- Dave (the anti chicken man) liked it.... My kids felt it was a little too spicy.... I thought it was perfect. I love the alternative of spritzing olive oil to frying. Yummy! The chicken at 45 minutes was completely tender!
Today, I made shirley temple slushies for the kids.... They were in heaven Soda that was a slushy and red!!! Could it get better?
Then, I made an odd missstepped attempt at fried rice for dinner.... my pan is still soaking!
The kids have been learning so much on their summer project of learning by continent. We are now on Asia which has been tough because the cultures are so thoroughly different. But we have done projects within each continent that reflect pictures and stories about the continent. While continuing to teach the same principal methods of reading, math, science, phonics, language. The kids have liked the math portion so much they are now counting and adding each page in English than Spanish. I too, have been learning with them trying to pick adult books that go along with the continent we are learning about. It is teaching me to think outside the box.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Married to the movies
Summer Movies
Grown Ups
WThis movie had me sitting on the edge of my seat giggling and generally feeling like the extra guest in the room. I laughed so much. I actually have to admit my own nostalgia grew so strong at points it almost chocked me. It has a premise similar to Indian Summer, Hubby says yeah if Indian Summer was hilarious. The characters were real, people you know, people with humor and personality. It was the every guy’s Beautiful Girls. The humor in it was every other minute. The ability of these five men to make you think of your own childhood friends, and know someone who would fit in that role. I couldn’t help but think of pranks we played as kids, of being one of the guys, of swinging from a tree in a rope. I watched while wishing with them that my kids would get moments of stupidity instead of moments of Wii to remember their lives by.
I laughed as I thought of my own Uncles who acted like they were 12 whenever they were around each other. I laughed as I thought of the last time I saw old friends at reunions and funerals and how to you that person would always be the same caricature of the person who once was 10. I couldn’t help but relive my own childhood, and the awkward reunions we had through the years. None of the people I was friends with got rich in Hollywood, but that idea that you were all in different places, your life had taken you and you all were still worthy. I can’t wait to see it again; maybe we’ll get the old gang together, rent a lake house and watch it on the ancient TV, but probably not. Probably, the old gang will continue to be in my memories.
Toy Story 3
I am all about Disney and was super excited to see this one. The things I love best about Toy Story 1 and 2 were the nostalgic details; Mom in flowered stretch pants, Sid’s house being decked out in 70’s wallpaper, poor little Jesse under the bed as the room turns from Horses to teenager room. Andy is going to bring any of his toys to college. I just don’t buy it. I have a few things that I saved from my childhood and not a single one of them was in my dorm room. Then the whole daycare thing it was a great idea but never rang as true as the original Toy Story. Ofcourse, none of that matters because I got to see my old Barbie Dream House and Ken dressing up in all the clothes he wore back in my childhood. I suggest Toy Story 4, Barbie goes for GI Joe- like she always did at my house then maybe they could adopt Rainbow Brite and open a My Little Pony ranch. Woody needs to find a Bo Peep replacement since she seems to have been lost sometime over Andy’s childhood…. May I suggest Mrs. Nesbit?
Knight and Day
This to me is the perfect date movie. This is the Tom Cruise we know and love to hate. First of all, Tom Cruise as somewhat crazy, yes we buy that, Then Cameron Diaz, plays June who is a little bit follower a little bit kick ass. One scene sealed the deal for me. Roy Miller compliments her and she gets all girlie. Two things, there are men out there just like Roy they will look at a woman in the eye talk to her stay calm and connected often they work in emergency services. Second, there are women just like June generally skeptical but really wanting the cute guy to be the one she trusts. It was really just a fun movie not a stretch not a puzzler but a fun little movie.
Cats and Dogs the revenge of Kitty Galore
I found this endearing and sweet. Enough on the kids level while throwing a few jokes in for the parents. It was a mission impossible action story with animals. Would I have gone to see it without a child, absolutely not but it amused me. It was Toy Story with Live Animals. What we expect is going on with animals when people aren’t watching. I suggest the next children’s movie what the parents do when the kids are sleeping. A world where all parents play with the kids toys, eat chocolate covered cereal and teachers rollerblade around their houses to the music of Lady Gaga. I personally would love to see Nana skateboarding with her ipod blasting some Snoop Doggy Dog.
Favorite summer snacks
Cherries- pitted stuffed with almonds and dipped in chocolate
Pretzels and Nutella
Ice cream with fresh berries or cherries
Peaches and cottage cheese
Favorite Salad this week:
Italian seasoned Chicken, tomato, basil, olives, garlic, onion sautéed in olive oil deglazed with red wine and tossed over a bed of Spring mixed salad and raw mushrooms and croutons. Yummy!!
Hot Diggity!
If your grill is broken pan fry your Hot Dogs in a little bit of butter on low heat and you will be instantly back to the roller skating rink of your childhood!
Tricking the kids
My kids eat any veggie… dipped in Ketchup
My favorite trickster meal is spaghetti. I chop finely a ton of peppers, carrots, celery, and add it to turkey meat sauce it adds a ton of flavor and the kids are getting lots of nutrients. I season with Italien seasoning and tons f fennel to transform the turkey into a sausage taste. To get one more veggie in them, I mix cooked spaghetti squash with spaghetti, even the hubby who is Anti-Veggie Man loves this dinner.
Desperate Cleaning Momma!
When you can’t get Chrome clean try Newspaper.
Marks on walls invest in Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. This thing is more than magic!
Grown Ups
WThis movie had me sitting on the edge of my seat giggling and generally feeling like the extra guest in the room. I laughed so much. I actually have to admit my own nostalgia grew so strong at points it almost chocked me. It has a premise similar to Indian Summer, Hubby says yeah if Indian Summer was hilarious. The characters were real, people you know, people with humor and personality. It was the every guy’s Beautiful Girls. The humor in it was every other minute. The ability of these five men to make you think of your own childhood friends, and know someone who would fit in that role. I couldn’t help but think of pranks we played as kids, of being one of the guys, of swinging from a tree in a rope. I watched while wishing with them that my kids would get moments of stupidity instead of moments of Wii to remember their lives by.
I laughed as I thought of my own Uncles who acted like they were 12 whenever they were around each other. I laughed as I thought of the last time I saw old friends at reunions and funerals and how to you that person would always be the same caricature of the person who once was 10. I couldn’t help but relive my own childhood, and the awkward reunions we had through the years. None of the people I was friends with got rich in Hollywood, but that idea that you were all in different places, your life had taken you and you all were still worthy. I can’t wait to see it again; maybe we’ll get the old gang together, rent a lake house and watch it on the ancient TV, but probably not. Probably, the old gang will continue to be in my memories.
Toy Story 3
I am all about Disney and was super excited to see this one. The things I love best about Toy Story 1 and 2 were the nostalgic details; Mom in flowered stretch pants, Sid’s house being decked out in 70’s wallpaper, poor little Jesse under the bed as the room turns from Horses to teenager room. Andy is going to bring any of his toys to college. I just don’t buy it. I have a few things that I saved from my childhood and not a single one of them was in my dorm room. Then the whole daycare thing it was a great idea but never rang as true as the original Toy Story. Ofcourse, none of that matters because I got to see my old Barbie Dream House and Ken dressing up in all the clothes he wore back in my childhood. I suggest Toy Story 4, Barbie goes for GI Joe- like she always did at my house then maybe they could adopt Rainbow Brite and open a My Little Pony ranch. Woody needs to find a Bo Peep replacement since she seems to have been lost sometime over Andy’s childhood…. May I suggest Mrs. Nesbit?
Knight and Day
This to me is the perfect date movie. This is the Tom Cruise we know and love to hate. First of all, Tom Cruise as somewhat crazy, yes we buy that, Then Cameron Diaz, plays June who is a little bit follower a little bit kick ass. One scene sealed the deal for me. Roy Miller compliments her and she gets all girlie. Two things, there are men out there just like Roy they will look at a woman in the eye talk to her stay calm and connected often they work in emergency services. Second, there are women just like June generally skeptical but really wanting the cute guy to be the one she trusts. It was really just a fun movie not a stretch not a puzzler but a fun little movie.
Cats and Dogs the revenge of Kitty Galore
I found this endearing and sweet. Enough on the kids level while throwing a few jokes in for the parents. It was a mission impossible action story with animals. Would I have gone to see it without a child, absolutely not but it amused me. It was Toy Story with Live Animals. What we expect is going on with animals when people aren’t watching. I suggest the next children’s movie what the parents do when the kids are sleeping. A world where all parents play with the kids toys, eat chocolate covered cereal and teachers rollerblade around their houses to the music of Lady Gaga. I personally would love to see Nana skateboarding with her ipod blasting some Snoop Doggy Dog.
Favorite summer snacks
Cherries- pitted stuffed with almonds and dipped in chocolate
Pretzels and Nutella
Ice cream with fresh berries or cherries
Peaches and cottage cheese
Favorite Salad this week:
Italian seasoned Chicken, tomato, basil, olives, garlic, onion sautéed in olive oil deglazed with red wine and tossed over a bed of Spring mixed salad and raw mushrooms and croutons. Yummy!!
Hot Diggity!
If your grill is broken pan fry your Hot Dogs in a little bit of butter on low heat and you will be instantly back to the roller skating rink of your childhood!
Tricking the kids
My kids eat any veggie… dipped in Ketchup
My favorite trickster meal is spaghetti. I chop finely a ton of peppers, carrots, celery, and add it to turkey meat sauce it adds a ton of flavor and the kids are getting lots of nutrients. I season with Italien seasoning and tons f fennel to transform the turkey into a sausage taste. To get one more veggie in them, I mix cooked spaghetti squash with spaghetti, even the hubby who is Anti-Veggie Man loves this dinner.
Desperate Cleaning Momma!
When you can’t get Chrome clean try Newspaper.
Marks on walls invest in Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. This thing is more than magic!
Monday, July 5, 2010
We had a great 4th of July Weekend. We went to my cousins High School Graduation Party on Saturday and The Cove beach at Brigantine on Sunday. We had a jam packed good weekend. For my Cousin’s Party we brought cupcakes. My daughter who is 3 made them. I will say this over and over in my blogs. Cook with your kids. We do the box cakes we aren’t from scratch kind-of bakers. The thing that is great about it is she can count how many eggs she needs from the back of the box and tell me how many she needs to put in. She is also using those fine motor skills when she is cracking the eggs and fishing out the eggshells.
She adds all of the ingredients (with help from Mom on the measurements). She then spoons out all of the batter into the cupcake pan. Mommy bakes it then Baby girl gets to help decorate. This time because my Cousin is going to Temple University in the fall we decided to go with these adorable owl cupcakes we found the idea online at : www.annies-eats.com/2009/04/29/owl-cupcakes/ . She pulled them out of the Hello, Cupcake book. We also made some plain cupcakes with Temple’s – T logo out of Twizzler’s Pull apart. The best part for my candy girl was that she got to cook with Oreo’s, Junior Mints, M&M’s, Runts and licorice. She went through and sorted out what she needed counting the right amount of Banana runts for his beak, She sorted all of the M&M’s by color.
It takes time to bake with your kids and it certainly isn’t a life necessity. What is important is teaching your children to be self sufficient adults. That is the job of parents. When Candy Girl brings her treats to the party, everyone makes a fuss over her. Encouraging her, telling her she’s smart, telling her she’s special. Kids need to hear this from other people besides their parents. She gets so proud of herself.
The next day we spent the day at the beach. The thing I love about going to a bay beach is the experience of actual sea life that you don’t get as often at the ocean barrier island beaches. We swam with turtles peaking up over little ruffles of waves. We could pull sea snails right out of the water and it became a biology lesson for the kids. Boys pulled in fish with nets.
Today, we lounged in PJ’s most of the day and we had variation grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Kids wanted regular grilled cheese. Daddy preferred grilled cheese with Pepperoni. I devoured my favorite grilled cheese with sliced tomato and basil. Than we had dinner at the in-law’s house!
Favorite Tools:
Arcoa Pro Easy Reacher Tool. I have owned dozens of grabbers. I use them to pick up toys every day, to do my quick little clothes pick up, shoe straighten after the kids or to get something from Hard to reach spots. Usually, I break these after 6 months but these specific Grabbers I’ve had for over a year. I have really worked them hard and they have stayed reliable.
Free Day Out:Check out your library. They are always having free programs. Also, check out your town’s website.
Food Stuff:Today’s favorite my culinary vision for today would have to be my new favorite snack. Cherries pitted stuffed with an almond. I like that the almond mimics the cherry seed but is edible. It is even yummier dipped in chocolate.
She adds all of the ingredients (with help from Mom on the measurements). She then spoons out all of the batter into the cupcake pan. Mommy bakes it then Baby girl gets to help decorate. This time because my Cousin is going to Temple University in the fall we decided to go with these adorable owl cupcakes we found the idea online at : www.annies-eats.com/2009/04/29/owl-cupcakes/ . She pulled them out of the Hello, Cupcake book. We also made some plain cupcakes with Temple’s – T logo out of Twizzler’s Pull apart. The best part for my candy girl was that she got to cook with Oreo’s, Junior Mints, M&M’s, Runts and licorice. She went through and sorted out what she needed counting the right amount of Banana runts for his beak, She sorted all of the M&M’s by color.
It takes time to bake with your kids and it certainly isn’t a life necessity. What is important is teaching your children to be self sufficient adults. That is the job of parents. When Candy Girl brings her treats to the party, everyone makes a fuss over her. Encouraging her, telling her she’s smart, telling her she’s special. Kids need to hear this from other people besides their parents. She gets so proud of herself.
The next day we spent the day at the beach. The thing I love about going to a bay beach is the experience of actual sea life that you don’t get as often at the ocean barrier island beaches. We swam with turtles peaking up over little ruffles of waves. We could pull sea snails right out of the water and it became a biology lesson for the kids. Boys pulled in fish with nets.
Today, we lounged in PJ’s most of the day and we had variation grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Kids wanted regular grilled cheese. Daddy preferred grilled cheese with Pepperoni. I devoured my favorite grilled cheese with sliced tomato and basil. Than we had dinner at the in-law’s house!
Favorite Tools:
Arcoa Pro Easy Reacher Tool. I have owned dozens of grabbers. I use them to pick up toys every day, to do my quick little clothes pick up, shoe straighten after the kids or to get something from Hard to reach spots. Usually, I break these after 6 months but these specific Grabbers I’ve had for over a year. I have really worked them hard and they have stayed reliable.
Free Day Out:Check out your library. They are always having free programs. Also, check out your town’s website.
Food Stuff:Today’s favorite my culinary vision for today would have to be my new favorite snack. Cherries pitted stuffed with an almond. I like that the almond mimics the cherry seed but is edible. It is even yummier dipped in chocolate.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Jersey Global Momma
OK so I'm taking the plunge and making the commitment to writing a blog. I've wanted to do this for years... So here she goes. What I have to tell you is it is easy to be the Global Momma in Jersey. It is my goal to teach my kids about the world we live in and there are a lot of great resources here in Jersey.
For example this week we learned that searching for a new playground doesn't always mean a better playground when we went from one my kids told me was "BORING" to one that I would have thought was better but was still reported as "Lame". Please someone explain to me where my 4 year old picked up the word Lame it is.... Lame!
Out and about in NJ:
We have had a fun packed summer so far so my plan is to write a little bit about everything we've done.
Clementon Park- Liked it, priced fairly, we got the membership. Crowds are minimal, the water park is great for toddlers and small children. It is a bit run down, the food is over priced and the bathroom with the changing room is not up to par. The kiddie riders are great and again, the price can not be beat. This is a great thing for a family on a budget, instead of rides on the boardwalk you can do Clementon Park over and over again for around the same price.
My sister and I took the kids last weekend to Coco Keys water Resort. All in all it was a great day. I will say we were lucky we had an aunt who won free passes because at $27- $32 a person that makes one expensive day. It was very clean, the staff very attentive, the pools well kept and in working order. The food was Nathans or Pizza Hut and a great value. Parents of older children could enjoy the adults only hot tub or bar. Me, being obsessively worried Momma that I am, was right there with the kids. The only down side of our whole day was that many parents left children too young to be unattended to "fend for themselves". We befriended a 2 year old in a 3 foot pool whose mother seemed never to even notice him even after he came upstairs with us to where she was reading her book. The water park was warm with very clean water. The Lazy River was fast moving. The kids have been begging to go back.
Favorite Tools:
The last few days I have been cleaning! Trying to get 10 tons of laundry done! Honestly, where does it all come from? I also did the crazy clean out the couch thing. I have to say for the millionth time I love my Dyson. We bought it pre-kids when I was really just Lint obsessed. Now, I know how good it is. This vacuum sucks! Just like it's supposed to! I loved it when I bought it but now several thousand miss-sucks later I love this thing! When you have kids things are places they never were before so imagine my surprise when sucking up right near the edge of the couch when I got a whole marker sucked up. But it is a Dyson so you can take it all apart and get to it. Finally, someone made a vacuum that is like a copier. If it jammed check here, then here, then here, then voila- unclogged. I actually ran over a toy and had a mini melted thing stuck in the brush once. All I had to do was quickly pull the brush out from the side compartment and it was cleared. The other day I noticed a new feature. I have a hole in the seat of the of and all kinds of things get down there remote controls, toys, pretzels, can't find the phone, it's probably down there. Anyway I took all the attachments off and I could stuff the hose like a soft snake down in there sucking up all the debris. These are the things that make me happy!
Free Day Out:
Check out Red Bank Park and Battlefield. We went again the other day and it is such a nice place. Throw rocks in the Delaware from the beach. Walk out on the pier. Take a nice little stroll along the river. See the Cannons. Watch ships pass by and planes land. Play in the cute little play ground. If you are particular you may want to bring wipes to wipe down picnic tables. Make sure you have tissue in case they are out in the bathroom because sometimes that happens in parks.
Food Stuff:
Tomatoes are so beautiful this time of year. I eat them with everything. I have here included some of my favorite Tomato recipes:
Tomato salad
2 pts. of grape tomatoes
1 red onion
6-7 leaves of basil
1 clove garlic
½ cup Marsala wine
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
Dice red onion and finely chop garlic
1 saute red onion and garlic in olive oil
When browned throw in chopped tomatoes, shredded basil, lemon and Marsala wine
Allow to simmer 3 minutes
Tomato Mozzarella salad
Leave most tomatoes whole chopping only the bigger ones chop onion instead of dicing it toss in round fresh mozzarella. Serves nicely as a side dish or over a bed of greens, also add croutons or olives if wish.
Tomato Basil Pasta
Prepare tomato salad above and top your pasta with it.
Regina’s Chicken Parmesan
4 boneless chicken breast
Packaged Oven Fry (near breading)
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
Tomato salad- see above
Whole Milk Mozzarella (I prefer Sargento Artisan Mozzarella)
Butterfly (slice through it to make it thinner) chicken and cut each breast into 2 pieces.
Wet chicken with egg and dredge through oven fry. Coat pan with olive oil. Cook 20 min on 400. Pull out of oven top with tomato Salad (Tomatoes and onions should be diced for this) and Mozzarella- cook a few more minutes until cheese melts.
Tomato Appetizer
½ lb package Panchetta
1 lb Fresh sliced Mozzarella
1 loaf French or Italian bread
Prepare tomato Salad with chopped tomatoes and onion. Spray or lightly drizzle olive oil over thinly sliced French or Italian bread. Toast in oven at 400. Lay Panchetta flat over a baking sheet and bake in oven about 5 minutes until crispy. Layer the toast with Panchetta, tomato salad and Fresh Mozzarella. Serve open faced. Or allow guests to assemble (especially nice for Meat & Vegan dinners).
For example this week we learned that searching for a new playground doesn't always mean a better playground when we went from one my kids told me was "BORING" to one that I would have thought was better but was still reported as "Lame". Please someone explain to me where my 4 year old picked up the word Lame it is.... Lame!
Out and about in NJ:
We have had a fun packed summer so far so my plan is to write a little bit about everything we've done.
Clementon Park- Liked it, priced fairly, we got the membership. Crowds are minimal, the water park is great for toddlers and small children. It is a bit run down, the food is over priced and the bathroom with the changing room is not up to par. The kiddie riders are great and again, the price can not be beat. This is a great thing for a family on a budget, instead of rides on the boardwalk you can do Clementon Park over and over again for around the same price.
My sister and I took the kids last weekend to Coco Keys water Resort. All in all it was a great day. I will say we were lucky we had an aunt who won free passes because at $27- $32 a person that makes one expensive day. It was very clean, the staff very attentive, the pools well kept and in working order. The food was Nathans or Pizza Hut and a great value. Parents of older children could enjoy the adults only hot tub or bar. Me, being obsessively worried Momma that I am, was right there with the kids. The only down side of our whole day was that many parents left children too young to be unattended to "fend for themselves". We befriended a 2 year old in a 3 foot pool whose mother seemed never to even notice him even after he came upstairs with us to where she was reading her book. The water park was warm with very clean water. The Lazy River was fast moving. The kids have been begging to go back.
Favorite Tools:
The last few days I have been cleaning! Trying to get 10 tons of laundry done! Honestly, where does it all come from? I also did the crazy clean out the couch thing. I have to say for the millionth time I love my Dyson. We bought it pre-kids when I was really just Lint obsessed. Now, I know how good it is. This vacuum sucks! Just like it's supposed to! I loved it when I bought it but now several thousand miss-sucks later I love this thing! When you have kids things are places they never were before so imagine my surprise when sucking up right near the edge of the couch when I got a whole marker sucked up. But it is a Dyson so you can take it all apart and get to it. Finally, someone made a vacuum that is like a copier. If it jammed check here, then here, then here, then voila- unclogged. I actually ran over a toy and had a mini melted thing stuck in the brush once. All I had to do was quickly pull the brush out from the side compartment and it was cleared. The other day I noticed a new feature. I have a hole in the seat of the of and all kinds of things get down there remote controls, toys, pretzels, can't find the phone, it's probably down there. Anyway I took all the attachments off and I could stuff the hose like a soft snake down in there sucking up all the debris. These are the things that make me happy!
Free Day Out:
Check out Red Bank Park and Battlefield. We went again the other day and it is such a nice place. Throw rocks in the Delaware from the beach. Walk out on the pier. Take a nice little stroll along the river. See the Cannons. Watch ships pass by and planes land. Play in the cute little play ground. If you are particular you may want to bring wipes to wipe down picnic tables. Make sure you have tissue in case they are out in the bathroom because sometimes that happens in parks.
Food Stuff:
Tomatoes are so beautiful this time of year. I eat them with everything. I have here included some of my favorite Tomato recipes:
Tomato salad
2 pts. of grape tomatoes
1 red onion
6-7 leaves of basil
1 clove garlic
½ cup Marsala wine
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
Dice red onion and finely chop garlic
1 saute red onion and garlic in olive oil
When browned throw in chopped tomatoes, shredded basil, lemon and Marsala wine
Allow to simmer 3 minutes
Tomato Mozzarella salad
Leave most tomatoes whole chopping only the bigger ones chop onion instead of dicing it toss in round fresh mozzarella. Serves nicely as a side dish or over a bed of greens, also add croutons or olives if wish.
Tomato Basil Pasta
Prepare tomato salad above and top your pasta with it.
Regina’s Chicken Parmesan
4 boneless chicken breast
Packaged Oven Fry (near breading)
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
Tomato salad- see above
Whole Milk Mozzarella (I prefer Sargento Artisan Mozzarella)
Butterfly (slice through it to make it thinner) chicken and cut each breast into 2 pieces.
Wet chicken with egg and dredge through oven fry. Coat pan with olive oil. Cook 20 min on 400. Pull out of oven top with tomato Salad (Tomatoes and onions should be diced for this) and Mozzarella- cook a few more minutes until cheese melts.
Tomato Appetizer
½ lb package Panchetta
1 lb Fresh sliced Mozzarella
1 loaf French or Italian bread
Prepare tomato Salad with chopped tomatoes and onion. Spray or lightly drizzle olive oil over thinly sliced French or Italian bread. Toast in oven at 400. Lay Panchetta flat over a baking sheet and bake in oven about 5 minutes until crispy. Layer the toast with Panchetta, tomato salad and Fresh Mozzarella. Serve open faced. Or allow guests to assemble (especially nice for Meat & Vegan dinners).
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