While in Central Park

During our trip to NY the other week, Nora and I did all sorts of touristy things like riding the Staten Island Ferry, taking our photos in front of the real and numerous replica Statues of Liberty, walking through China Town, eating hot dogs in Times Square and visiting lots of museums. We also went to Central Park and took in the zoo. While watching the ice skaters in the park, we were asked to participate in this little commercial thingy for Yorkshire Tea. Here's the clip:


I'll eventually get around to posting some pics of the trip, but I thought I'd share this since some of you are wondering what we look like these days.

Reflections On My First Week

This week was challenge in the new job. Zero introductions, zero training, zero orientation. Just "don't bring your lunch on Wednesday" and "here's your classroom". I was learning all my students' names, stumbling all over all sorts of procedures, trying to figure out a morass of paperwork, and trying to ignore a really, really, really horrible teacher person next door to me, who probably hates everyone, but unfortunately, that includes me.

But about the kids, since that's what you want to hear about. I've got English language learners and low literacy level native speakers. They are technically "young adults" but they come from places where they probably had adult responsibilities way too early without stable adult role models. Many of them have trouble with behavior, or trouble with their academics, or trouble with their social skills. Many of them have trouble with all three. But despite all of that, we had some moments this week.

One of the few things that I've been made aware of is that I'm supposed to confiscate all electronics that I see, but honestly if I do that I'd never get around to teaching (same thing with repeatedly waking up students). They try to keep them hidden and I try to ignore them unless it's really disruptive. Yesterday, I heard a little bit of music playing softly and then next thing I knew, first one, then two, then a whole group of my students were singing Wyclef and Mary J Blige's 911. I love that song, and their voices sounded so great. It really made me smile. They were writing, they were just also singing. There was no way I would've stopped them, we all needed a break. Making my day yesterday, one of my English language learners told me "I was a good teacher". I really don't think that I was this week, but I appreciate him telling me and even more I appreciate that he always comes to class on time and ready to work and participates even though he struggles with the language a great deal and he has to go against the flow of most of his peers to do this. He is a native Amharic speaker, from Ethiopia, so for him it's not just a new language, but also a whole new alphabet. He's been here for just a short while and in the program for a year. It will be a struggle for him, but he more than anyone makes me want to stay and stick this out. In my other class, one of my low level literacy students (actually, I think he should be in a higher level but he blew off the test and now he's stuck with me for 90 days before he can test again) has gotten me (and the class) into conversations on the following subjects this week: belief in Christ but not the Bible, ligers, street racing, redemption due to good works vs redemption due to confession, democracy, and the existence of 30 ft dolphins. He alternately cracks me up and infuriates me.

They all act so tough. They are tough. And they are really, really, young. But, then they also can be unexpectedly nurturing. There are four plants in my room (left from the previous teacher, because you all know I would kill them). The students love these plants though. They mist them, they water them, they talk to them. One of the guys even pulled over a desk and moved them all into the sun. Something about that just got to me. Maybe we'll make it though.

Adding to my happiness

On top of me getting a job the following thing are making me extremely happy lately:
1. Nora has outgrown her allergy to almonds and probably cashews - we're testing those next. This will enable several vegan dishes that I want to try.
2. And we can now drink Almond Breeze milk. My new addiction.
3. Which is especially good with TJ's new Maple Leaf Cookies
4. Oh, yeah, it's Maple Syrup season!
5. And the Sugar Shack is also serving breakfast
6. Speaking of local farms: I just signed up for my CSA - Red Fire Farms
7. It's March. And while, I don't really think this New England winter is over, I have hopes that the worst of it is.
8. I bought some plants, that I have so far, not managed to kill.
9. Chicopee Public Library continues to be a fabulous and helpful place.
10. We had a really terrific visit to NYC last week. Eventually I will get around to posting pictures.

Altogether I'm in a better place than I have been for the past several months. Now lets hope it holds.

I Heart My Immersion Blender

Stay at home moms bake. A lot. And stay at home moms of children with milk and egg allergies probably bake even more. So, as previous posts have mentioned I've been baking and experimenting. Today I took on two things I never thought I'd consider doing, due to the time involved. But it went much more smoothly than I ever thought it would. Way back before Halloween, I stocked up on pie pumpkins. They were cute, they were 5 for a $1.00. How could I say no? But then Halloween came and went and these things are still sitting around the house. Yeah, they are Thanksgiving-y too, but really, I needed to deal with them before they rotted. Soooo, I did something my mother recommended I not. When I told her what I had in mind, she said "toss 'em", and those of you who know my mother, you know she's a great cook and not one to shy at doing things from scratch. But her advice was: it's not worth the effort. She had tried it back when she was a stay at home mom and was Not Pleased with the results. But I hate waste. Plus, I hate paying over a $1 a can for pumpkin. And this time of year, we are all about the pumpkin waffles and and the pumpkin bread and the pumpkin muffins and the pumpkin casserole. And I'm surrounded by pumpkins. I had to do it. Today was the test run, I decided that I was going to be home and take on not one but two time intensive kitchen projects. I'll detail the other, making rice milk, here too.

I decided that I'd only start with two of the pumpkins because if I messed it up, I would want to try again or maybe they would go with us to Tree and PD's for Thanksgiving as decorations. I had been researching this on the internet for a while and I was disappointed to learn that I could not can these, since the acid level is not high enough (really, taking on my first canning project would have been a little ambitious for me anyway), so I needed to clear out freezer space, so I had this in the back of my mind for about two weeks, working on the freezer situation. I processed the pumpkin using these instructions. I think the key to this is an immersion blender, and the reason why this didn't work for my mother years ago. That and maybe she was using a different variety of pumpkins. Anyway, as many of you know, my mom is not a fan of immersion blenders. Basically, she feels she has a bunch of pureed food ahead of her at the nursing home and she's not going to start eating it now (no, she's nowhere near going into the nursing home, but she's a long term planner). If I had had to use a regular blender or a hand mill, this would not have been as fast, as fun, or as easy to clean up. With the immersion blender, it was all of these. While the pumpkin did take about 90 minutes to bake (I may steam it next time), the prep was really only about 10 minutes and the pureeing only took a few minutes too, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I got about 3-4 cups of pumpkin out of the two pumpkins and so that's about two cans worth. Not a great pay off, but if I had done all of them at once, it would have been well worth it. I also roasted the seeds while the pumpkin was baking. Yum!

While I was doing this project, I had another project on the stove as well. I have been considering a soy milk maker for some time. But it's about $100 - $200. Worth it for us, since we use a lot of soy milk and it would pay for itself in about 8-9 months, but we really don't have the cash for this kind of thing right now. Making soy milk by hand, sounds like a very intensive process, and honestly, I really prefer rice milk for drinking (although I love soy milk for baking some things and I'd also like to try my hand at making tofu since Nora is a complete fanatic about it). I've found several recipes on line for rice milk, which didn't look that hard to take on. Plus, I had a lot of rice bought up in bulk, so I thought, why not. I used this recipe, and while it doesn't have the supplemental vitamins like the ones we buy at the store, that's okay for us right now. Nora takes a mult-vitamin and I don't usually have a problem getting her to eat her veggies (she's a big spinach and kale eater!). I did use 4 Tbs of sugar instead of maple syrup mentioned in the article, but not the oil. I also used filtered water for the blending. This project also required the immersion blender, and again, I think it made it go very smoothly. It's chilling in the fridge right now, but my first sample tasted pretty good. Its a little thicker and rice-er tasting than Rice Dream or other commercial rice milks, but I think it will work better in baking than commercial milks do. I do like cow milk and will often drink a glass of it - I'm not sure that I will give up cow milk completely, but with enough tinkering with this recipe, I might. My efforts yielded about 3/4 of a gallon, which should last us for about a week and 1/2. For those of you who use non-dairy milks and feel like you are paying too much for commercial ones, it is well worth the time it took, it was easy, and I bet you have one cup of brown rice, water salt and sugar in your cupboard. I imagine you can use white rice too, but it wouldn't be as nutritious - but that may not be a concern. While I did have be at home for the 3 hours the rice cooked, it really only required minimal supervision of the stove and the processing took about 15-20 min, including clean up, so really this is not a bad project for a weekend afternoon. If it makes more than you feel like you can use in a week, I've found that rice milk usually freezes fairly well - of course that means that you have to have room in your freezer! I also like storing this in my fridge in glass bottles (I used a glass pitcher and a glass milk container that I never took back for the deposit). Like cow's milk, it just tastes better out of glass.

Food Craft

One of the things I've been spending a lot of time doing while home is baking. I've been working a lot on yeast breads, something that I never felt like doing when I had many things to accomplish in a weekend. Unfortunately, my experiments with sourdough starter were just not that satisfying. I started the starter from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook recipe, and while I did make about 4 loaves out of it, it just wasn't that sourdough-y tasting and then as it sat on my my counter longer, it sort of became a burden and then, eventually, a smelly mess. So I tossed it yesterday and plan to return to Sarah E-Y's wheat bread recipe and some of the white country bread loaves that I've been baking as well. I also bought some spelt flour, so I'll need to do something with that pronto.

I haven't been doing any sewing, which I thought I would be. Yesterday, I finally decided to make some french fries for Nora's play kitchen, so I did do some felt handsewing, and I've got a bunch of felted sweaters that need to be re-made, so perhaps I'll get something done with those. Anyone have any bread recipes they love and want to share? Send them too me! Especially those using wheat flour or spelt.

Here's the french fries complete with ketchup (I didn't make the ketchup bottle, it's from Melissa and Doug).

Out and About

This fall is flying by. Jason's parents were here for just over a week and we did a couple of excursions with them, including Plymouth and Boston. That's a picture of us in front of the Mayflower II:



We also went to visit Jason's cousin Christy at Wellesley to watch the Widows perform their fall teaser. It was really a lovely campus and we all enjoyed both the concert and the visit.


Finally, Nora and I have been wandering about the area, exploring while Jason is working. We try to make it to the library storytimes, and get out and about even if it's just in the back yard. I've also been cooking up a storm: cupcakes, trying new bread recipes, and returning to old favorites. Tonight is pizza night, but Nora has been begging for Mexican night. I attempted to satisfy this need with potato kale enchiladas, which she found lacking (Jason and I loved them), so we are going to have to find a Mexican restaurant. We haven't had much luck in that department so far, but we did spy a possibility that we need to check out soon. Let's hope for the best.

This final picture is from Skinner State Park and it was one of the most glorious days this fall - in the upper 70's and exceptionally sunny. The light was really amazing that day. Nora was immersed in finding more leaves to drag home. I was just enjoying the day:

New England Explorations

While my parents were here last week, we did some exploring of the area - finally driving north of Amherst (we still haven't made it to Vermont) and down into Rhode Island and Connecticut. In Massachusetts, we went to Shelborne Falls and Deerfield. Deerfield is an early settlement and a battleground in the King Phillip war which I knew nothing about until we visited. Many of the houses in Deerfield are restored to their colonial appearance; you can tour them or just walk around town and take in the early America vibe. We chose the latter since we had been touring both the Eric Carle museum and the Emily Dickenson house the days before and Nora was about in revolt (as was Dad, who enjoys historical sites, but isn't too fond of being part of a guided tour). Deerfield was lovely, especially the little meadow walk/nature path that finishes out right next to a very old cemetery. However, Shelborne Falls was a real jewel. It's in the Berkshires and while a very small town, has a thriving artist community and a really lovely floral bridge (this is much less touristy than the write up made it sound).

Over the weekend, we headed south. RI was the final state for my dad to visit so he can say he's been in all 48 of the contiguous USA, so it was fun to cross it off the list for him. And of course, Rhode Island has lots of beaches - a big draw for Jason, Nora, my mom, and I. Dad is not so much on the beach, but he does like state parks, so when both combined, we were all happy. We finished off this two day jaunt with a stop in Mystic, CT, which was very touristy and yet still felt relaxing and fun.

Old tombstone in Deerfield (1731?)

This is in front of some fancy smancy prep school where all the boys were blazers and Bermuda shorts. I liked the tree.

Our first day at the beach was really warm and lovely, but there were advisories up warning us out of the water, so we just built sand castles. Nora found an abandoned hole dug by another 4 year old to sit in.


This was later that day at a state park just south of Newport, RI. The kites were so magnificent, we had to pull over. The beach was much rockier and the waves rougher here, since we were facing the Atlantic instead of the bay.
We spent a long time checking out this big octopus kite, Nora ran right for it when we got to the park, and then she and some other kids ran in and out of its tentacles; it really was amazing.