split hairs

student A has a drink in the classroom. this drink is not part of or provided by BCPS school breakfast program. student A puts the drink on a file cabinet between the teacher's desk and the trash can. this location is not recognizable as "near" student A's desk. an unknown number of other students may or may not have been playing with the drink, picking it up and pretending to drink out of it.

student B sees the drink next to the trash and throws it away. student B claims to not know the owner until after it was in the trash.

student A picks up student B's binder and throws it across the room. student A is sent to the office.

student B is called to the office. student B is given a 2-hour after school detention for touching another student's property by throwing the drink in the trash.

W. T. F.

1. drinks are not allowed in the classroom. student A was breaking the rules. student B should not have touched the drink. student B should apologize and possibly replace the price of the drink.

2. if student A had not thrown a temper tantrum, would student B get a detention anyway? that question is apparently "splitting hairs."

3. will the will the first students to "play with the drink" be given detention for touching student property? how about student A? he touched student B's property when he threw it across the room. the administration "will not discuss other students."

bottom line is, sweetcheeks, my boy isn't serving a detention for throwing trash away. next time, make sure your students are all obeying the rules, and there won't be a drink in the classroom at all. i split hairs for a living.

eastern inn

 

heading out to do some shopping and eat lunch at Eastern Technical High School's Eastern Inn, where my Bria Callin's menu is being served this week for lunch.  it's her senior project to plan, budget, and direct production of the school restaurant for a week!  sooo proud!  she is serving up roast beef, ham with pineapple, veggie-shepherd's pie, tossed salad, baked potatoes, corn w/peppers, and upside-down cranberry-ginger cake (i *want* this recipe) and eggnog.

  

thankfuls 2012

 

1) thankful that my kids *want* me to go on field trips with them. because i want to spend as much time with them as they will let me have.

2) thankful that my family understands that i need a getaway, no matter how much i love them.

3) thankful that i have my art as an outlet. baking, scrapbooking, painting, photography, even learning to hang drywall and putting together the addition is art to me. i need my creative side fed far more often than people realize, and i love when i get to immerse myself in it.

4) thankful that i am a lucky one, having a house to come home to, that we withstood the wrath of last week's storm and my house is full of huggable people who will keep me warm tonight.

5) a couple hours early.... Thankful that when I came home, my other half had entertained a housefull of kids and steam cleaned my bedroom carpet. Wow. I should sleep pretty good tonight.

6) Thankful for my eldest offspring, who, even afraid, killed a hell-spider in the attic for her mother.

7) thankful for yesterday: i am thankful to have an open mind and accept new ideas. my parents did not have open minds when i was a kid and i learned from their stick-in-the-mud behavior. having an open mind is not the same as blindly believing everything... it is the ability to understand that there is another side of the argument - and possibly understanding that stance itself. i try to have an open mind... sometimes people slam that door in my face, but i try.

8) thankful that i am naturally an early riser. it makes morning sooooo much easier on myself AND my offspring. and that has nothing to do with the coffee.

9) thankful that my parents taught me right from wrong and to learn from the consequences of the choices i make. they taught me to look at all avenues of possibility (if there is enough time to do so) and choose the one that makes the most sense in the long run. i hope i am teaching these steps to my own kids.

10) thankful for to-do lists: if i don't make a list, everything gets horribly jumbled and i get far less accomplished because i am standing in the dining room, tapping my lip, thinking, "what was i gonna do??"

11) thankful today for my love of creating foods..... on my way to the kitchen to bake pumpkin and cinna-bun donuts.

12) thankful for a bunch of women i have never met. you know who you bitches are. from the virgin halls of a new mommy "facebook" to our own busted up playroom, to landing here... can you believe we have all (almost) been together for -wait... how long??? our imperfect lives spill onto the internet in personal messages, our private board and we have literally built our own village from CA to MN to LA to MD to HI....i love you all and thank you for the support you have given me. *raising a glass to my bitches* *hic*

13) Thankful for that first dark cup of coffee, first thing. Tasty wakiness.

14) thankful for my network. i may get all worked up and neurotic about things, but my people keep me in line, for the most part. thanks to my friends at work, i still have a job. thanks to my friends at home, i can vent and get over it. or, well, try to get over it. sometimes the "it" hurts a lot, and well, just, thank you.

15) my thankful from yesterday: yay for sleep.

16) my thankful for today: i will let you know if something crosses my path that doesn't piss me off.

17) today i am thankful for my imagination. without it, i would never come up with so many awesome swear words. and new recipes. i love inventing my own flavors.

18) thanks to Jennifer Wildt Terveer & Mike Terveer for volunteering to build in my house with me. You truly are awesomesauce.

19) thankful for a relatively stress-free workday & some OT.

20) i am thankful for my patience.

i helped a passenger with disabilities today, a really sweet girl. did all the additional screening by the book as usual and at the end she started to hug me. her mother asked for my name. i gulped (usually that doesn't end well...) and told her. she said, with tears in her eyes, that her daughter is usually scared in the airport because it is so loud and distracting - she was astonished that her daughter was unafraid of me.... and that she works for John S. Pistole and wanted to write him a letter expressing her appreciation for my professionalism. she also stated that she knows my job well, and that i did it "exactly right."

it's feels good to be recognized by a stranger that you're doing something right.

26) thankful today that not everyone has obnoxious cell phone noises installed. really? all that noise for a single text? AND typewriter noise when you reply? get over yourself please. Oh, and now i'm thankful that someone else told them to be quiet....it would not have been taken well coming from me.

....and that is all you get because i apparently skipped a full week and then stopped on the 26th.

creamy cranberry sorbet

 

my mother makes this dish she calls cranberry ice.  i have never really liked it much.  it is too much of something and i am not sure what.  it was just never my thing.  but the kids (and hubs) always like it--natch LOVE it.  so they look forward to thanksgiving and nana's cranberry ice.  alas...not this year.  nana decided not to make it.  i make plenty of things that i either don't like or can't eat.  not doing that for thanksgiving.

so i wanted something a little different.  i looked and looked extensively online and found about 400 varying sizes and types of cranberries and water and sugar and then "put it into the ice cream maker..." since i don't have an ice cream maker, i didn't really want to use that style of recipe.  the only substitute i could find was to "mash with a fork and re-freeze several times until frozen through."  meh.  however.... i was intrigued by the volume of cranberry+ sorbets and ice creams.  finally finding a recipe that used coconut milk was the absolute creme-de-la-creme (see what i did there?)  so i did what i always do in this situation. 

wing it.

and so you have my creamy cranberry sorbet.  completely made up out of my own head, yet based on hours of research and a couple days of planning.

12 oz pkg of rinsed cranberries, soft berries and stems picked out
3-1/2 C water
1-1/2 C sugar
2 tsp vanilla
~4 oz coconut milk (NOT coconut water)

combine cranberries, water, and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.  cook & stir ~10 minutes or until berries pop out of their skins.  add vanilla to boiling mixture and stir to incorporate.

using a hand blender (one of the best kitchen tools i own, bar none), blend the cranberry sauce until very smooth.  it should look like nothing more than really thick juice...full of cranberry hulls.

strain cooling mixture through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth (cheesecloth takes FOR-EVERRRRRR).  if you don't strain the hulls out, it will be grainy and pieces will stick between your teeth.  narsty.

spoon about 2 heaping spoon-fulls (per serving) into a separate bowl.  freeze both containers 2-4 hours or overnight.

allow the larger portion of cranberry sauce to thaw for about 20 minutes.  re-mix with hand blender.  add coconut milk and blend until uniform in color.  (if you like, at this time you can halve that mixture and add more coconut milk to one half to get three varied shades of red and pink.)

use the hand blender once more, just before pouring into serving dishes, starting with the lightest layer.  freeze in the serving dishes for an hour or so before adding the next layer.  the top layer should be the full strength bright holiday red.

serve straight from the freezer.  it is truly noms.

            

post-sandy

 

dear traveling public,

some airports are now open. please be aware that you are not the only person/family affected/delayed/re-scheduled due to the massive storm on the east coast. please also understand that in addition to re-scheduled flights, regular wednesday travels are also taking place. the airlines will be trying to assist you as much as possible. TSA will be extra-staffed to handle the extra load. keep in mind that the local airline staff and TSA are residents in this area. some of us have sustained damage to property and we may be a little stressed out as well. some of us had to ride out the storm in the airport, away from our families. worries from that may be residual as well.

in short, bring your patience and sense of humor. pay attention to your surroundings. plan ahead for long lines and traffic delays. **->BE EARLY<-** pack your liquids. all of them. just don't even measure them out. pack it. really. and drink your water. now. before you get in line. laptops out. pockets empty. the more you do to prepare, the less we have to repeat and the faster the lines will move.

the line only moves as fast as the passenger up front.

safe travels.

black bean cakes

 

from cooking light magazine, september 2012 (i strongly dislike cilantro and <3 roasted red peppers... see what i did there?)

3 T canola oil, divided
5 large eggs, divided 
1 (15-oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained 
1/2 C panko, divided 
1/4 C finely chopped green onions 
2 T chopped roasted red pepper 
3/4 tsp ground cumin 
1/4 tsp kosher salt 
1/4 tsp ground red pepper 
1 garlic clove, minced

1.  Place 1 tablespoon canola oil, 1 egg, and beans in a food  processor. Pulse 20 times or until mixture becomes a coarsely chopped  paste. Combine bean mixture, 5 tablespoons panko, onions, and next 5  ingredients in a bowl.

2.  Place 3 tablespoons panko in a dish. Divide bean mixture into 4  equal portions. Shape each into a 3/4-inch-thick patty; dredge in panko.

3.  Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 teaspoons canola  oil. Add patties; cook 3 minutes on each side. Remove from pan. Wipe pan  clean. 

4.  Add remaining 2 teaspoons canola oil. Crack 4 eggs into skillet.  Cover and cook 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

5.  Serve eggs on top of cakes with a fresh spring green salad on the side.  NOMS.

i actually used my hand blender instead of a food processor.  the one i use for making drinks.  and pumpkin puree.  and soup.  and sour cream.  i love that thing.

this recipe could make 6 servings, smaller cakes.  i, of course, had to double it.  :)

crispy crunchy crust outside; creamy, spice black beans inside.  like gourmet round french fries. we will see how the leftovers stand up overnight.  the kids want to eat more for breakfast. 

pulled pork tostadas

 

so i goofed and accidentally bought corn tortillas instead of tostadas.  tostadas (if you are not paying attention) will be like a crispy corn chip pizza crust.  crisped corn tortillas will be like mini corn soft tacos.  your choice.

i already had the pulled pork on hand leftover from that fantasmagorical birthday party last month.  i couldn' ttell it had been frozen... it was still that good.  so i am skipping the ingredients to make that part. based loosely on an ad from the national pork board in september 2012 cooking light magazine, page 36

1-1/2 lb pulled pork, finely shredded
juice of 3 limes
2 Tbsp canola or other neutral flavored oil
6-8 C finely shredded cole slaw mix
1 tsp country herb mix (thyme, parsley, oregano)
dash of garlic salt
1/4 thinly sliced red onion
1 C sour cream
**1/2 canned chipotle pepper, seeded & minced
(i don't do spicy.  i used 1/2 roasted red pepper, finely chopped)
diced fresh tomatoes
salt & pepper to taste

1.  combine slaw mix, red onion, spices, oil & lime juice in a bowl.  set aside.
2.  combine chipotle/red pepper and sour cream.  salt  pepper to taste.
3.  crisp tortillas.
4.  pile pulled pork, then slaw onto tostadas.  top with sour cream mix and tomatoes.
5. devour.

it was so good i want it to be dinner time again so i can have more.
it was so good i want to roll in it. it was that melonfarming good.