Last week was pretty rotten. I know I said that about the week before too, and it was true. It's still rotten. I'm stressed out trying to force my students to pass Algebra II. I'm putting forth tons of effort and meeting resistance every step of the way. I've graded more make up work than I ever care to grade in my life, and I'm just kinda fed up. Of course I didn't realize until last Friday that I had been holding it all together (Those with superior deductive skills will guess that something happened last Friday that helped me realize I had been holding it all together, which probably means that I'm going to tell a story that involve me not holding it all together... Very good!).
I love working with the Spero Project. Helping with their books was the perfect summer job for me, and the people I met there are some of the most selfless, loving and hilarious people I know. So when I was invited to their Christmas party, you'd better believe I accepted the invitation! The invitation said that there would be a catered dinner and a potluck dessert. I began brainstorming all the delicious recipes I know (which didn't take long because I'm not much of a baker) and then remembered that one of my dear friends who is a part of the Spero Project (I won't tell you her name because it's not polite to discuss someone on your blog without getting his/her permission) has this crazy thing going on with her body where her diet is limited to pretty much nothing. She can't have most fruits and vegetables, no sugar, no yeast or wheat or gluten. So obviously she never gets dessert. Such a sad thing! I decided to attempt a dessert that she would be able to eat, thinking it would be such a thoughtful thing to do.
One of the very few fruits she can have are green apples. So, I thought, what about baked apples? That sounds delicious, doesn't it? And easy! I've never made baked apples before, so I looked up a few recipes and decided to do a trial run ahead of time. Tuesday I cored two apples and dumped a ton of cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg and cloves in (intending to substitute stevia for sugar later). The apples were delicious. Really. Picturesque. See for yourself.
Who wouldn't want to eat that? It was amazing! I had that one for dessert Tuesday night. I took notes and decided to experiment with a few changes that would make the apples better for sharing at a party. What if I sliced the apple into pieces, then coated it with the spicy goodness, then baked it? Then people could just pull off apple slices and enjoy. That didn't go so well, the apples turned out dry and not super tasty, so I decided to stick with my original plan, the world's most beautiful baked apple. I was so excited for my friend to have something to eat!!!
The apples are supposed to bake for 30 minutes, so about 40 minutes before I had to leave I mixed up the sugar and spices (stevia for the one for my friend), and took a shower while the apples were baking. After 20 minutes I checked the oven and the apples looked... ok. They looked baked, but they didn't have the awesome wrinkling or the slightly browned patches on the side. So I left them in for another 10 minutes while I did my hair and make up. Ten minutes later, when I got the apples out of the oven they looked like this:
They exploded! Are you kidding me? Ten minutes to go from OK to exploded!? Are you freaking kidding me!??? All that hard work of planning and testing and this is what happens?? Seriously? I was trying to do something nice for someone and I get exploding apples? So I'm already 15 minutes late for the party and I have exploded apples. That was when I realized what a delicate balance my sanity was hanging in. In a matter of minutes I went from a giddy girl excited about doing makeup and putting on cute clothes to an extraordinarily angry woman stomping out of her apartment and slamming her door. I drove (angrily) to Walgreens and picked up a box of Ferrero Rochers. Seriously? I spent hours planning beautiful baked apples and I had to buy those stupid chocolate covered hazelnut things? Now it looks like I didn't give the party a second thought and just grabbed the candy on the way. DANG IT!!
The rest of the night oscillated between being hilariously awesome (of course no one cared that I brought candy; there was plenty of yummy dessert) and devastating. I laughed all night at the party and then drove home crying. Oh my goodness, I'm a basket case. I can't wait for the crazy to end. Anyway, I've stabilized somewhat since my crazy (psychiatrically speaking) Friday night and I'm pretty sure that a two week break from my job is just what the doctor ordered. Which is good, because that's exactly what I'm getting! Wednesday ends the first semester and I will be taking a much needed vacation. Those of you who have never worked in the education field probably don't realize that vacation time is as much for the teachers as it is for the students. We all go a bit stir crazy around the end of the semester. Just wait 'til April comes around! I won't even be writing coherent blog posts! Rest for now, though, I'm still here to entertain you with my musings and insanity. Have a great week, and Merry Christmas, everyone!!!
1 comment:
Oh, my word! I didn't know you had done TWO trial runs to get ready for the party! I don't care how cliche this is: It's totally the thought that counts. I feel so loved!
And I hope you're regaining your sanity well :)
Post a Comment