tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56733146021926650922024-02-22T15:21:57.353-05:00House AfireCandace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-2441613975291207222012-08-05T12:55:00.001-04:002012-08-05T12:56:41.763-04:00Boozy Dulce de Leche Ice CreamThis has been the summer of ice cream. I love good ice cream, but commercial ice cream isn't so good. Way too much sugar, not enough fat and cream - and then there are the stabilizers, preservatives, thickeners and so on. Who wants to eat that? Well, I have to admit that in matters of ice cream and resistance of crappy chemical food, I can't say I've generally had the high ground. I've always wanted to make good home made ice cream, but it was never good enough to justify the effort.<br />
<br />
After doing a bunch of research, I decided that my ice cream maker wasn't up to snuff - that it didn't put enough air into the cream while it was churning. So I kind of gave up.<br />
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But then, I went to a lovely dinner at Michael and Elme's house and they had superb homemade ice cream. Their secret? The Kitchen Aid stand mixer ice cream maker attachment. I bought one immediately, and it's been life changing.<br />
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My favourite Haagen Dazs is Dulce de Leche. I thought it was wonderful until I invented this one. I made 4 batches in a row and it's really, really good. Sweet, caramelly, creamy, with just a dash of alcohol to keep it from being cloying.<br />
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<i>About Dulce de Leche:</i> DdL<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">is a sweet prepared by slowly heating sweetened </span>milk<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> to create a product that derives its taste from </span>caramelised<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> sugar. </span></span>You can buy dulce de leche if you live in a Latin community with really good stores. Otherwise, make it yourself. Don't buy the Hershey brand - way too sweet! It's so easy to make that there is no reason buy it.<br />
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You need to make the dulce de leche the day before you want to make the ice cream. It isn't a lot of work at all, but it takes a while. I like the slow cooker method, but there are alternatives:<a href="http://www.theyummylife.com/dulce_de_leche"> Check out this link</a>. Buy two cans of <b>sweetened condensed milk. </b>For the record, PC brand sweetened condensed milk makes way better than DdL than Eagle Brand. No idea why. I've used both and was shocked by the diference.<br />
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<i>About the cocoa:</i> If you live in Toronto, I strongly recommend that you make the journey to Soma in the Distillery District and buy some of their cocoa. I promise that if you've been using grocery-store cocoa (who hasn't?) all your life, it will be a revelation!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS83xOv39lNUTlRItTtegwPkjt7gPAZlGZSwKAcwiJwugVH-4e8yckfAMOJfXBq20RiVAfjRjsMCIKHd3sP-xt56lcLRhawriE82hP0bN2e5h8DIYX5QexArCsDCedGq7zI9h_0e3CmdQ1/s1600/icecream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS83xOv39lNUTlRItTtegwPkjt7gPAZlGZSwKAcwiJwugVH-4e8yckfAMOJfXBq20RiVAfjRjsMCIKHd3sP-xt56lcLRhawriE82hP0bN2e5h8DIYX5QexArCsDCedGq7zI9h_0e3CmdQ1/s320/icecream.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">better pictures to come!</td></tr>
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<i>About cream:</i> Did you notice about three years ago that the shelf life of cream suddenly drastically increased? The wonders of ultra high temperature pasteurization. And the addition of guar gum, carageenan and various other thickeners because UHT pasteurization seems to remove all the creaminess from cream by breaking down the proteins. If you really want sublime taste, texture and food value, try to find some cream that has been pasteurized the old fashion way. Having said that, normal cream is hard to find, and this ice cream is out of this world, even with UHT cream.<br />
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<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Boozy Dulce de Leche Ice Cream</span></b><br />
<br />
<i>Ingredients:</i><br />
3 cups table cream (18%)<br />
2 cans evaporated milk, converted into Dulce de Leche<br />
2 egg yolks<br />
teaspoon vanilla<br />
couple splashes of Brandy (you could use Bourbon, Frangelico or Amaretto if you have it on hand)<br />
couple more splashes of cream<br />
one teaspoon good quality cocoa<br />
one tablespoon chilled butter cut into four pieces<br />
pinch of cinnamon<br />
couple shakes of salt<br />
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1. <i>Make the ice cream base: </i>You started with two cans of dulche de leche. Put the entire contents of 1 can, plus half of the second can in a medium sauce pan (or put it all in a measuring cup, and use 3/4 of the total amount, reserving the final 1/4 for boozy caramel ripple). Add the cream and a shake or two of salt, turn on the heat to medium-high and bring to a low boil (more than a simmer, but less than a rolling boil). While heating, whisk the mixture to break up the DdL and encourage it to dissolve into the cream.<br />
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(If you don't mind using more dishes, you can use your blender to mix the dulce de leche with half the cream before heating.)<br />
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2. Keep the mixture at this very low boil for as long as you have patience to stand there and stir it - up to 15 minutes. This evaporates out some of the water in the cream and improves the texture of the final product.<br />
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3. Put the egg yolks in a smallish bowl. Slowly add a ladle full of DdL and cream mixture, whisking it into the eggs. Add a second ladle full the same way, then stir the eggs back into the pot.<br />
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4. Bring back to a simmer for two more minutes whisking, whisking, whisking. Make sure you get in the corners!<br />
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5. Remove from heat. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Cool on the counter, then put in the fridge to chill over night.<br />
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6. <i>Make the boozy caramel ripple:</i> Put the remaining Duche de Leche in a small saucepan. Add a generous dollop of brandy, turn the heat on high and whisk to dissolve the DdL in the brandy. Add about the same amount of cream as you did brandy, the cocoa, cinnamon and shake or two of salt.<br />
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We're going for a thick sauce-like consistency here. If its too runny, cook it until it thickens a bit. If its too thick, add a little more cream.<br />
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When you are satisfied with the consistency (and you don't have to be too exact here), take the sauce off the heat, stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, two tablespoons brandy, then whisk in the butter one piece at a time. If you want to, buzz the sauce with a mix master or whiz it in your magic bullet to make it perfectly, gorgeously smooth and frothy. Chill overnight.<br />
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Next day, freeze the ice cream in your ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions.<br />
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When you remove it from the ice cream maker, the ice cream will be about the consistency of soft serve. Pack 1 third into your freezer storage container. Add 1/3 to 1/2 of the sauce (use your judgement - how much depends on how much you made). Pack in the second third and more sauce. Don't worry if you don't use all the sauce. Pack in the rest of the ice cream. Freeze in coldest part of the freezer for about 4 hours.<br />
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Eat! mmmm...<br />
<br />
This ice cream is divine by itself, but if you are in the mood for something truly decadent, make a little spicy chocolate sauce by melting 2 ounces of good quality bittersweet chocolate into 2/3 cup of cream and adding a quarter teaspoon each of cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Cut up some strawberries. Serve a scoop of ice cream, pour chocolate over, and sprinkle the strawberries.<br />
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Oh, and there is probably some left over boozy dulce de leche sauce. It makes a wonderful and decadent addition to coffee. Enjoy!Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-54263202265234411292012-06-03T14:52:00.002-04:002012-08-05T12:56:53.385-04:00Bacon and Egg Risotto<br />
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Some cooks are like ninjas. They’re flexible, well trained, fast, and unobtrusive. I’m not a cooking ninja. I’m more like a luchadores, a masked Mexican wrestler - over the top in all ways. And the first part of luchadores almost looks like the word “lunch”, which is part of why I like it.<br />
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Anyway, I’m not a subtle cook - and this recipe is not subtle at all. I read a recipe for bacon and leek risotto with a fried egg somewhere online, and the idea looked amazing (Jeff and I often eat eggs for dinner), but the execution looked - well, dull and ricey. So, I vastly increased the bacon (because something with four strips of bacon can only be improved by the addition of an additional pound), added loads of garlic (because, like bacon, garlic improves everything it touches), and added two additional leeks. And I poached the eggs rather than frying them sunny-side up because I hate that uncooked egg slime on a sunny side up yolk.<br />
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And so we ate the bacon and egg risotto and fell in love. But there was a lot left over. So the next day, we had it again. But my tradition with risotto is on day 2 (and beyond), I make rice patties from the leftovers and fry them in butter until they are gorgeous and crusty and golden on the outside. The poached eggs then reside upon these crispy circles, with asparagus and salad on the side.<br />
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I haven’t done it yet, but next time, I intend to use the risotto patties as a base for smoke salmon benedict - bacon risotto, generous layer of smoked salmon, poached egg, hollandaise - it will be sublime.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZscVCPpB0cR8BXgdH3SLtdO0LCfE5Dj3q7Np01I4iyl6GRcBQElJmwJdQDac8jZIA0-qvBfDyEy348NUF7Uj6tyP8t-xiuMVDuTQFEHko39Vsl3J8WHTzSV9wtzHeRkNDoCY5n7Vdtiwf/s1600/IMG_0152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZscVCPpB0cR8BXgdH3SLtdO0LCfE5Dj3q7Np01I4iyl6GRcBQElJmwJdQDac8jZIA0-qvBfDyEy348NUF7Uj6tyP8t-xiuMVDuTQFEHko39Vsl3J8WHTzSV9wtzHeRkNDoCY5n7Vdtiwf/s320/IMG_0152.jpg" width="240" /></a><i>About the bacon.</i> I’ve been thinking about bacon a lot lately. I can’t like the usual grocery store bacon. It’s full of yucky chemicals and water, and mostly tastes like salt. Who knows where the pigs have been or what they have ingested? On the rare occasions I buy bacon at the grocery, I at least buy the nitrate free kind. It has actual flavour and is missing at least some of the chemical shitstorm that is mass market bacon. I also buy bacon sometimes at the St. Lawrence market - its made of actual meat by the butchers. But most of the bacon I eat comes from my meat CSA - my friends at <a href="http://www.stoddart.ca/">Stoddart Farm</a> offer amazing bacon with wonderful flavour from pastured berkshire pigs. And I have been experimenting with making my own bacon - in the european style (to avoid the nitrates), which tastes more like pancetta than classic bacon, but is darn good. My point here is that if you want the risotto to really taste good, buy some decent quality bacon!<br />
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<i>About the coconut oil.</i> I’ve been using this in cooking more and more. It’s an awesomely healthy fat that isn’t damaged by heat (the way olive oil is). I use two kinds: simple organic coconut oil and organic processed coconut oil. The processed has all the flavour and fragrance of coconut oil removed, but maintains the health profile. If you don’t have coconut oil, use butter. I usually use a little of each.<br />
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<i>About the eggs.</i> Did I mention that my friends at Stoddarts sell organic, pastured, eggs? The yolks are dazzlingly bright orange and taste fabulous. Why settle for factory farmed eggs?<br />
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<i>About the parmesan.</i> At least buy the kind you have to grate yourself rather than the pre-grated kind. One, it tastes WAY better and because it is not desiccated, it integrates more easily into whatever you are cooking. Two, the rind is the secret ingredient for homemade stock, so it MUST be saved (more about this in a future post).<br />
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<b>Bacon, Garlic and Leek Risotto</b><br />
1-1.5 pounds bacon (sliced and cut into lardons)<br />
3-4 large leeks (cleaned, quartered lengthwise and sliced very thin)<br />
5 cloves of garlic (finely chopped or pushed through a press)<br />
butter/coconut oil<br />
2 cups of arborio rice<br />
6 cups chicken broth<br />
½ - ¾ cup freshly grated paramasan<br />
A twist of fresh lemon juice<br />
salt and pepper<br />
eggs (there should be enough risotto for at least ten eggs, make as many as you will eat for this meal)<br />
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Slice the bacon slices crosswise to make matchstick-size pieces. Sauté in a skillet over medium heat until the bacon is quite crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain in paper towel.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw3T6wkKJ00OObT4IPUunwFkiJSvjL1F0oR65OBfWXPIE1jgn_j-YKOKLbIVLbW_PWZfDqMRXeGhIkbhfiYViMNtfaJx-5mbEc7S4BPpTjT4PMmqJ2s8WYXBHuJ6D9JCDtTYnmr7cpHMGg/s1600/IMG_0154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw3T6wkKJ00OObT4IPUunwFkiJSvjL1F0oR65OBfWXPIE1jgn_j-YKOKLbIVLbW_PWZfDqMRXeGhIkbhfiYViMNtfaJx-5mbEc7S4BPpTjT4PMmqJ2s8WYXBHuJ6D9JCDtTYnmr7cpHMGg/s320/IMG_0154.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Leave the bacon fat in the pan, and sauté the leeks until they are beginning to soften (3 minutes), then add the garlic, and stirring, cook for another 2-3 minutes until the leeks are soft.<br />
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In a saucepan, melt a spoonful or two of coconut oil and or butter. Add the Arborio rice and stir, coating each kernel with the oil. Toast gently until fragrant, (or until ever so slightly browned at the edges).<br />
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Add a cup of broth to the rice and stir five or six times. As the broth is absorbed and evaporates continue to add ½ to ¾ of a cup of broth at a time and stirring, stirring, stirring after each addition.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdSU6IoGVIxyrx2bREkhnho2BYm15txO3F9x-bCmi0o3MHWJGhNiFuzDxixGRvK6XZdJ7ITWyB8q23YIwregeIcvk2UX_8gzhfNTfKxYhTu4wBsmIty4kg9kXka_8TcchhH_WTjHpUSFpd/s1600/IMG_0156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdSU6IoGVIxyrx2bREkhnho2BYm15txO3F9x-bCmi0o3MHWJGhNiFuzDxixGRvK6XZdJ7ITWyB8q23YIwregeIcvk2UX_8gzhfNTfKxYhTu4wBsmIty4kg9kXka_8TcchhH_WTjHpUSFpd/s320/IMG_0156.jpg" width="240" /></a>After you have added 4½ cups of broth, add the bacon and leeks to the rice and stir well. Continue adding another cup of broth, then stir in the parmesan, lemon juice, a spoonful of butter, and a generous shake of pepper. Taste it to see if it needs salt (depends on the parmesan and the kind of broth you used). Adjust the seasonings, while trying not to eat all the rice directly out of the pot with a spoon.<br />
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Take the rice off the heat, cover it, and put it aside.<br />
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Poach the eggs: Bring about two inches of water to a boil in a deep skillet. Add a generous dollop of white vinegar to the water. Break the eggs in one at a time.<br />
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You have to be speedy here, because the eggs cook quickly. Add the last half cup of broth to the rice, stir it in, and spoon however much you want into a shallow bowl (pasta bowls are perfect for this). The rice should not be fluffy - it should be just a little soupy, and should slump rather than sit up when you put it into the bowl. If it is too firm, add more broth.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwoqhO0EqivLczDJOgO87Cy1Jgq6b_k_9lUNi2dV1tvZs4CS9ARf4Olj4JTTz9DyikFgYjcBinxvSOXe0KsXNyGBZZDlk0PtwKaj51-JRJlJLALNmxvrkYaYrZr2yKZD8njt7JtpUMy8l/s1600/IMG_0158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwoqhO0EqivLczDJOgO87Cy1Jgq6b_k_9lUNi2dV1tvZs4CS9ARf4Olj4JTTz9DyikFgYjcBinxvSOXe0KsXNyGBZZDlk0PtwKaj51-JRJlJLALNmxvrkYaYrZr2yKZD8njt7JtpUMy8l/s400/IMG_0158.jpg" width="300" /></a>I like poached eggs with the white cooked, but the yolk runny. As soon as the whites are fully white and opaque, turn off the heat and use a slotted egg turner to remove the eggs one at a time. Blot each egg on a little paper towel to remove the water as you transfer it the top of some rice. Jeff and I like two eggs per bowl.<br />
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<b>Part 2: leftovers:</b><br />
Left over rice goes into the fridge and will keep adequately for a week.<br />
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When you are ready to eat your left overs, prepare patties by measuring out about 4 heaping spoonfuls of rice and firmly shaping it into a “burger”. I use a burger press because I happened to get one in my Christmas stocking one year, but use whatever method works for you. Make the patties about ¾ inch thick and about 4 inches in diameter.<br />
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Heat a skillet and add 3 tablespoons of butter and a dollop of coconut oil. Add the rice patties and fry in the butter until dark golden on the bottom. Flip the patties and cook until golden on both sides (adding more butter if needed)<br />
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Be careful when you flip the patties - they are quite delicate and break easily (although if they do break, just stick them back together and move on). When they are cooked, plate them and top each with a poached egg.<br />
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You could also add lightly steamed garlic spinach and mushrooms, asparagus, holladaise sauce, smoked salmon, or whatever else you like on your eggs.<br />Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-27403750233145431672012-05-01T15:04:00.000-04:002012-05-08T12:34:21.832-04:00PBL Diary – Three weeks in. Ups and Downs<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been a
busy three weeks in my BTT class. The teams have started their projects and are
running fast with them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I love
watching kids struggle. No – not because I want them to suffer, but because
wrestling with an idea or task both deepens their learning and develops true
self-confidence – nothing like succeeding at something hard to make you believe
in yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">They
started with charters, and then plans. The parts of the plan they had the
hardest time with were the Assumptions and Risk sections. My fault, perhaps, since
I focused their project management training and practice on requirements and
task analysis. At 13 years old, they have some trouble making abstractions into
unfamiliar territory without being explicated taught how.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">We got a
good lesson on Risks, though. Nobody identified the risk that we might lose our
wi-fi connections. Although we have a computer lab to use, it is quite ancient,
and many of the students bring laptops, pads, smart phones and so on, - and use
them like crazy. I guess we just take ubiquitous wi-fi for granted, because we
were thrown into a tizzy when the school’s wi-fi went down and stayed down. Apparently,
TDSB is putting too much load on our service provider. Anyway, we have all had
to adjust to making do with our painfully slow lab computers and WITHOUT
instant in-your-hand communication and file movement. If we want to tweet, we
have to sign on to a computer! I was tweeting 30 times a class from my ipad.
Now I have to interrupt and make announcements – it’s distracting for everyone.
It’s been very annoying, but also a very instructive event in terms of how
overlooking a risk can impact a project. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">After
getting the planning done and approved, the teams have started sprinting. And they
are building good stuff. An internal student resources website is already
complete and in use. Likewise, the Project Office website is serving as a repository
for all our work. The documentary teams are making everyone’s lives interesting
with all their filming, and this week they started interviews and some editing.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There is a
lot of action!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The interpersonals
on the teams are also interesting. On one team, the scrum master and film
director are at each-other’s throats, but today they actually sat down (without
my prompting) and had a heart to heart and appeared to work out their
differences. We’ll see in the next couple days whether they genuinely managed
to come to an understanding. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">One team
(the team that had already delivered the student resource website) is like a
well oiled machine – I’ve seen professional software development teams that
weren’t as organized and that didn’t communicate as well as this lot. I give
the leader a lot of credit – she is doing an amazing job - but I’m also
impressed to see how other members of the team have stepped up and taken
initiative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This team
did have a bit of a bump today. The websites are quite accessible from inside
the class since there are groups of people working on them, in what we thought
was a trusted environment. Someone thought it would be funny to add some rude
commentary to the website, as well as an inappropriate video. The kids whose
work was defaced were really, really upset. I think they genuinely felt
violated that their honest work was treated with such disrespect by someone in
their own class. They had been so proud – not only of the good job they had
done, but because the site was being used daily for something real - by all the
grade nines to help them with their summative projects. We were able to fix it
quickly and easily, of course, but I think the kids were really hurt. My next
job is to track down who the perpetrators were. I have a pretty good idea who,
but if they lie when I ask them, I don’t have any proof.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My second
well-oiled machine is the Library site team. I put all the ESL kids on one
team. This was a slightly eccentric choice. The usual is to spread the ESL
students out to force them to speak as much English as possible. I decided in
technology class that I wanted them to put their energy into their projects,
rather than into language acquisition, and it’s been amazing to me how the students
have bloomed, and how fantastic their work has been. Without the language
barrier to invest their energy in, they have been free to be creative. They all
speak Mandarin, and there are two team members that speak Mandarin and English
fluently, so they are able to translate instructions and questions. They are
like different kids. Instead of being all quiet and reticent and not
participating, they are all chattering a mile a minute – exchanging ideas,
discussing solutions, laughing and getting excited about their work. The best
part is, they are completely organized (their project management artifacts are
all in English, and they are excellent!) and their site is looking fabulous –
they didn’t just cobble things together – they actually innovated and came up
with some amazing ideas. This would never have happened if they had been forced
to work in English.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I have also
noticed this week that the teams are beginning to exchange information and
resources. My experience has been that this step represents a new and better
phase for team working, but that it doesn’t always happen. But yesterday the PR
team overheard the documentary team moping about some film they weren’t be able
to get, and jumped in with an offer to provide the film – which they had been
able to shoot, but for a different purpose. Today, the two teams agree to pool
all their film and they set up a Google Docs space to make it available to everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Within the
next two weeks, I should be seeing nearly done work from all the teams. I am
excited. But more important, so are they!<o:p></o:p></span></div>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-28944123229417989472012-04-06T12:51:00.000-04:002012-04-06T14:31:09.443-04:00PBL Diary - T minus One week - Lego City and Beyond<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Project based learning in the technology classroom diary: T
minus one week</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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After spending 3 weeks teaching my grade 9's project
management using Scrum, we finally moved on to Alexey Krivitsky's terrific and
well-known Lego City simulation.
<a href="http://agileee.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Scrum-Simulation-with-LEGO-Bricks-v2.0.pdf">Lego City Scrum Simulation</a> Although I've done this in the workplace, I
didn't have any idea how it would go with a bunch of 13 year olds! </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But project management is routinely located at the edge of a
cliff - you get used to problems you'll figure out how to solve when you get to
them, and the vast, unknowable future that you pretend to wrestle into a
so-called "plan". This activity felt a lot like that! But we did it
anyway.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We didn't have any
special Lego pieces, but still managed to create a pretty good looking city,
complete with churches, mosques, low and high rise apartments, houses, cars, a
courthouse, a hospital, an arena, shopping malls and traffic.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7h58qNgrjeEcBcsuwHwqvDradQXje7JqaSmsOyyI4SD1SHplFraktNUueoRAAk8v5HpyfAaX2ZqPdVdHuz2kHBPKIVezzQiAemMX2GOZ6YGX0OGHXeMnKkwf5h5iTha7vue4x4dkU2rrO/s1600/photo+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7h58qNgrjeEcBcsuwHwqvDradQXje7JqaSmsOyyI4SD1SHplFraktNUueoRAAk8v5HpyfAaX2ZqPdVdHuz2kHBPKIVezzQiAemMX2GOZ6YGX0OGHXeMnKkwf5h5iTha7vue4x4dkU2rrO/s320/photo+(1).JPG" width="238" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQeFM9p0rJ-5kyS3TnvKlQuAF6-6u6MnjQFc64i7mPOtJ3fQKEc7O-UYCU2LDQU-kJaqRhbLLjnBKLJqS09a-LMyMdXVktobxsOruT31qdmfdDFEK6WDajLYBakg8ciS1CBi3UZWqxNE83/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQeFM9p0rJ-5kyS3TnvKlQuAF6-6u6MnjQFc64i7mPOtJ3fQKEc7O-UYCU2LDQU-kJaqRhbLLjnBKLJqS09a-LMyMdXVktobxsOruT31qdmfdDFEK6WDajLYBakg8ciS1CBi3UZWqxNE83/s320/photo.JPG" width="238" /></a><br />
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These took a vast amount of Lego, which I sourced at Northern Technology - a small injection molding plant off Markham Road. They are really decent people with great prices for Lego knockoffs. <a href="http://www.northerntechnology.ca/">Northern Technology</a>. </div>
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<o:p> </o:p>The point of the whole exercise was to let the students try the scrum
process from end to end. I often find students don't automatically connect content with application. They can calculate burndown charts, and do requirements and task analysis, but when we started the simulation, they couldn't just reason out how to apply all the skills they had just learned. I had to take them through step-by-step. My hope is that when they start their large project assignments, they'll be able to transfer everything better having done the simulation.</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Fortunately, after an initial run through, they appeared to get the hang of how everything fits together.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
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One observation I make about the finished cities. I have two classes. The class whose city is on the left is the class that typically is a lot harder to work with, and their class average is about 10% lower than the class whose city is on the right. And yet the left city has way more buildings done - they were both faster, and did a better job building stuff to meet requirements. This is educational theory in action - many, many kinesthetic learners in the left class. They are not so great with book work, and they have a hard time sitting still, but give them something active to do and a little competition and they shine.</div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiSpYtdaJII&feature=youtube_gdata_player" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"></a></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/OiSpYtdaJII?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p> The video is a bit crappy. Eventually we'll have a lovely documentary of our project based learning experience (since making such a documentary is one of our projects) - this is just raw footage. The discussion isn't quite as structured as I would like, but they get it done!</o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The only downside of the Lego experience is the sheer
logistics nightmare. 15,000 pieces of Lego plus 32 kids equals unmitigated
mayhem. Thirty-two is a slightly bigger than optimum group, too. Twenty would be
better, but one has to work with the class one has. I also had a problem getting
them to stop - although I used to have that problem with my staff doing
development work as well, so it's not like it's an unrealistic result. (I am
reminded of a young software developer named Rain. I would send her home at 8
o'clock and watch her leave through the front door. I would go back to my
office, and she would sneak in the back door! HAlf an hour later, I would spot her and send her home again. Repeat. Eventually, I would just go home!) Finally, I had to be really clear
that their marks would be for their status charts (sprint plan, burn down and
notes from the retrospective, rather than for their building). They'll do anything for marks - even put down
the cool Lego and meet for 5 minutes!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwGFd8DoRdI3ISslnCps2WDfaFy7H2Nn3cawv8OfjQeSbjQItLcZ5mvVLhrhmAgQZEXMC8ZPTo7FpsGlnpf9ksNpKsGqqUEJn4eRuC-HH7DqZsVzOwOkIC3o66bSO_ZbkstC3exz_4fU1/s1600/photo+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwGFd8DoRdI3ISslnCps2WDfaFy7H2Nn3cawv8OfjQeSbjQItLcZ5mvVLhrhmAgQZEXMC8ZPTo7FpsGlnpf9ksNpKsGqqUEJn4eRuC-HH7DqZsVzOwOkIC3o66bSO_ZbkstC3exz_4fU1/s400/photo+(2).JPG" width="296" /></a></div>
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Anyway, we did planning, plus two sprints - each sprint of
three 10-minute "days" - held "daily" standup meetings,
made status charts and had a review and retrospective at the end of each
sprint. I think the review was the funnest part (for me at least!). I think I
(gleefully) only accepted two things from the first sprint - which led to both
whining and much more focus on getting the requirements right for the second
sprint.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The kids had the hardest time with the sprint retrospective.
They often have a hard time generating ideas from scratch, and, since they are
only 13/14, they haven't had the workplace
experience that helps you get a sense of what a good process should feel
like. Maybe next time I'll try to find a way to model it better. Or maybe I'll
just let them learn the way I did - the way all my colleagues did - by
experience. A horrible, poorly planned project with crappy requirements and a
useless product owner is a good teacher of how NOT to do something.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So if we think about teaching them using the "gradual
release of responsibility" model: I taught them, they have now practiced
with guidance, and I believe they are ready to work independently. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I met with a former colleague last week - he is still in the
software development biz, still running teams - and he was so delighted that I
was teaching the kids scrum. He said that he was always frustrated by how hard
it can be to teach to adults! I think there are two important differences: 1.
The kids are in school - so they are in learning mode. 2. The kids are so much
less uptight and ego driven. I ask them to try something, they try it. They
aren't yet locked into their ways.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So next week, I'll be doing overviews of all the projects, and getting the students to apply for the projects and roles they are most interested in. I want them to see what there is to choose from, and to think about their own learning goals. By the end of next week, they should all have their project assignments.</div>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-40093918487841845672012-02-18T11:20:00.000-05:002012-02-18T11:20:00.664-05:00Crowd Sourcing Really Cool Student Activities - Can you help?<br />
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I’ve originated and started a project at my school that I
want to talk about, and ask for some help with. This post is a bit long, but I hope anyone reading it will hang in!</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This year, I teach Grade 9 BTT and Grade 9 English at an
International Baccalaureate (IB) Junior High School in the TDSB. And we are
non-semestered, so I have the kids for the full year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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BTT is actually called “Communication and Information
Technology” and it’s stated purpose is to familiarize students with typical
business applications. There are some problems with this – the main one being
that the school computers are all running on Windows XP, and just as an
example, we are running Office 2003. At home, the students and I are all
running up-to-date operating systems and software. It seems a vast waste of
time and effort for me to teach them in detail about software they stopped using four years ago, and that will be even more obsolete by the time they leave high
school.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I also have a problem with the way the BTT course has been
typically designed by the teachers who teach it: 6 weeks of Word, 6 weeks of
Excel, 6 weeks of PowerPoint, click this button, pull down this menu, blah,
blah, blah.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I think this type of pedagogy doesn’t meet the needs of our
students in today’s technology environment. I think it encourages slow,
non-adaptable thinking in a time when technology change is so fast that it’s
crucial that students (and teachers, but that’s a topic for another time!) be
nimble and resourceful in their approach to and use of technology.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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My solution for this year – Call it “Candace-BTT 2.0” is to
move to project-based instruction. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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* * *</div>
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<br /></div>
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Zoom over to IB English. Since the IB program requires us to
create cross-curricular units, I convinced my sister Grade 9 English Teachers
that we should do something more interesting than “Tudor Times” for our
year-end Culminating Activity. Instead, we are going to do a TED-like
conference (see <a href="http://ted.com/">TED.com</a> if you aren’t familiar with TED – you’ve been missing
out). We are calling the conference “Toronto Tomorrow”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Students will use this article: <a href="http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2011.11-society-how-toronto-lost-its-groove/1/" target="_blank">How Toronto Lost it's Groove</a>
as a jumping off point, and be expected to do deep research about a topic
related to the future of the City of Toronto, and then to present a TED-style talk
about their topic. We have 7 classes of grade 9s – each class will be invited
to nominate 7 members to represent them in the conference. So, we will have 50
students talking about:</div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>The Faces of Toronto (changing demographics and immigration)</li>
<li>Transportation</li>
<li>Architecture and Building</li>
<li>Greening the City</li>
<li>Art and Performance</li>
<li>Taking Care of Each Other (Charities and charitable events)</li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Students will have to write a proposal for their topic (that
includes visiting and photographing whatever they are studying), research it,
create slides or a prezi, rehearse, present to their classes and write a
reflection about the process. The chosen 7 from each class will participate in the general conference.<o:p></o:p></div>
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* * * </div>
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<br /></div>
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Meanwhile in BTT, I’ve been teaching project management
using Scrum to the kids. They have developed requirements, created backlogs,
done task analysis and estimated using planning poker. I’ve taught them how to
use burn down charts and project status boards to track their work. Next week,
will be doing the LEGO City Scrum simulation – they will use SCRUM to manage
the task of building a city out of LEGO – this will give them a chance to run
the whole process from end to end, and to practice the various ceremonies that
come with Scrum.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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After that, they divide into project teams and start working
on real world projects. By “real world,” I mean that the projects are not “made
up activities for school”, they are actual projects that will be used by people
and they have real deadlines (not just, we have to finish this so we can move
on to the next topic).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The first set of projects is to support the Toronto Tomorrow
Conference. We will need PR (including a plan, commercials, letters,
invitations, posters etc.). There will need to be a website that showcases all
50 of the presentations as well as other information about the conference. This
will be a public website. We will be making a documentary about the conference
as well (which will also be posted on the website), and a documentary about the
BTT class and project-based learning. We also will need some small stuff, like
a system where 170 students can sign up for a specific topic, and find all the
required documents.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The second set of projects is similar – instead of the
conference, the artifacts will all be related to the Annual Talent Show (A
weird title considering how popular, important and excellent it is – but
whatever).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We also have a couple smaller projects, notably, to create a
“Student Voices” website for the school, and to create a new Website for the
library.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The students will apply for roles on these projects based on
their learning goals and interests. As certain projects finish, students will
join other teams. The teams will create a document management repository. They will
work with a variety of product owners to sort out requirements, decide what
technology they are going to use based on what they are doing, figure out how
to learn it, and then use it to create their deliverables. They will estimate
their tasks and create a schedule. Some teams may include students that are in
different classes – we have become quite good at on-line collaboration, so they
will continue to use that skill. Kids who are interested in management will be
assigned as scrum masters, and I have some other tasks for them as well –
including setting up the 360 degree review process using tech like “survey
monkey" or something similar.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Culminating Activity for the course will be to hand in a
formal project closeout report for any project they participated in.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I said that the beginning I need some help with these
undertakings. One of my goals is to get kids to meet people in the community
who are experts in things they want to learn. If you can suggest an idea or
volunteer just a little of your time, I sincerely hope that you will do so:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For BTT</span></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I need a software developer who can be available
by email once in a while to answer occasional questions from students about
coding web-pages and flash or DHTML (and possibly help them debug if they get
stuck). Mostly, I think they will be using Weebly, which is drag and drop, but
there is the ability to add your own widgets and customize the code. I have a
couple technically-minded students whom I believe will want to go beyond simple
drag and drop web development. I don’t see any reason to hold them back just
because I’m not an expert.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">UI design for humans. I know a fair bit about
this, and they’ll be doing research, but I would love to have a professional
that they could contact for an opinion, or perhaps an outside review of their
page designs.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Documentary films – is there anybody out there
who could do a documentary film-making workshop? Or direct me to some good
resources about how to make documentaries? I know how to use the software (the
kids will choose from Movie Maker, iMovie and Final Cut Pro), but I can’t offer
much guidance on how to make a good documentary.</span></li>
</ul>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For the Toronto Tomorrow Conference</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We are looking for more topics for the kids. Urban Planning
Toronto has been amazing – they have supplied about 70 topics. But they don’t
know everything going on in this city.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If you are involved in or know of any causes, events,
artists, musicians, historical buildings, new architecture, community gardens,
innovative technology, tree planting, web initiative, ANYTHING – all the amazing things that
enrich the fabric of our city please tell me what they are. If you have a
contact, that would be even more helpful.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thank you to anybody and everybody who can help!!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Updates on these projects as they unfold.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-8390747993061761762012-01-01T13:31:00.001-05:002012-01-01T13:34:00.871-05:00My Top 10 List of things I like to do over the Christmas Holidays<br />
<div class="p1">
Since I am now a teacher, I get Actual Christmas Holidays. I wasn’t too happy about the scheduling this year - they started on December 23, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for cooking, shopping, decorating and gift wrapping. On December 15, the whole thing felt so much like too much pressure that I decided we weren’t having a tree this year. But now that it’s January 1st, and I don’t have to go back to work until the 9th, I’m liking the schedule a little better.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I love holidays (and holidays, really). Here are the top ten things I like to do over the Christmas holidays.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<b>10. Think about the people I miss</b><br />
<div>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I really, really miss Marc. I know I didn’t typically see him or be in touch every day - or even every week. But the world has a Marc-shaped hole in it. (That’s actually a joke, which Marc would have gotten). I miss his sarcasm, his humour, and access to his vast collection of recipe books and his rather excellent wine cellar. I miss noticing his great clothes, which I only bothered to do because he loved it when people noticed his great clothes. I miss his Christmas baking baskets, and Christmas lunch somewhere fancy, and shaking my head when he said “Christmas! Christmas is here!” like a besotted four year old. I miss looking forward to seeing him and I miss not wanting to cry when I think about him. One of the problems with being a “X” and married to another man is that there is no socially acceptable outlet for ones grief. And so it stays.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I miss my grandparents. I miss them as much as I always did - but time goes by, and I would say I don’t miss them as often as I did when they were newly gone. Christmas really brings back memories. But I find the memories are not too specific. I mostly remember feelings - feelings of love and safety and anticipation and happiness. I was just thinking that I could be a grandparent soon. Neither of the kids are anywhere NEAR getting married and having families, but they are 21 and 25. They COULD. And it’s amazing to me that I am quite a bit older now that both of my grandmothers were when I was born. I thought they were SO OLD. But I’m not old - and I guess they weren’t really, either. But they always seemed so wise to me, and so willing to listen without judging.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<b>9. Stay up late, and sleep in</b><br />
<ol class="ol1">
</ol>
<div class="p2">
Now that I’m depressed....on to a new topic. This is actually a Jeffry thing. Typically, we go to bed at 10:30 and get up at 6:30. But on holidays, we stay up as late as we want and get up at 9 am. I’m generally a happy morning person who prefers to go to bed and rise early, but there is something deliciously decadent about staying up late and especially about sleeping late. <span class="s1"></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I just read over what I wrote. The fact that I find staying up and sleeping late “deliciously decadent” does not mean I need more thrills in my life. It means that I have the ability to appreciate, indeed to revel, in all the wonderful moments as they come along. Really.</span><br />
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<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<b>8. Getting caught up on my work at school, and think about my job.</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<ol class="ol1">
</ol>
<div class="p2">
I know, I know. I spend a lot of time thinking about my job. And I haven’t posted a single thing about it since September. I’m at a Junior high this year, which I am just okay with. It’s a dream school in a wealthy, neighbourhood. It’s well funded and very well run by an excellent administrative team. The other teachers are terrific and the students are well brought up White and Asian kids. I am teaching in an International Baccalaureate program (which is great for the resume). This is the kind of posting that most teachers would fall all over themselves to get. So why is it so much less fun and rewarding than my school last year?<span class="s1"></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It comes down to 3 key issues:</span></div>
<ul>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1">I see 228 unique students every week. Last year, I saw 45. Having fewer students means that you have time to form relationships with them, think about their learning and how you can work with them and interest them. With 228 students, learning there first names is a huge accomplishment, and all of them get the same program, whether of not it’s what they need. I’ve noticed that a lot of teachers like this arrangement just fine. However, although I haven’t completely found my style yet, I’m pretty sure that forming strong, constructive relationships with students is one of my key strengths and I really miss being able to do it.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1">The pace is too fast. Seven, 49-minute periods per day; I teach 8 unique classes. I feel like all I do is run like a maniac from room to room and class to class with no time to think, plan, be creative, finish anything or reflect. I really miss doing all those things, and I feel like the kids miss out on my best because I have to dash somewhere <i>right now</i>.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1">The kids themselves. Don’t get me wrong - they are perfectly nice. But some of them are in grade 7 and 8, and I am so not into it. I really want to teach in a high school!</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">One of the great things about holidays is that I do get a chance to reflect a little. I have done some things this year that I am quite happy with. For example, I teach two sections of BTT (aka, Grade 9 Information and Communication Technology) and I’m having a lot of fun with it. I keep saying I want to be an English teacher rather than a Business teacher, but the business classes are more fun to teach. </span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span><br />
<span class="s1">Anyway, I decided that rather than teach them how to use programs, I was going to teach them how to be resourceful computer users. I don’t see the use in teaching them step-by-step how to use programs that will be obsolete before they graduate from highschool. So they have projects, and part of each project is that they have to identify an appropriate piece of business software to use, find a means of learning how to use it, learn it, and then do the project. </span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span><br />
<span class="s1">A recent project was to put them in groups where half of the group was in one class and half in the other, and they had to use online collaboration software to make an infographic and write a research paper about a topical subject. It worked GREAT, and the infographics are incredibly good - some of them are better than professional ones I have seen around the web. </span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">After Christmas, I’m going to teach them SCRUM so they will also be responsible for project managing their teams, and we have 2 really large projects that will each require multiple teams. The projects are real. One is a variety show that the performing arts classes are putting on at the Veteran’s centre and the other is a conference (BIG Ideas) that I am doing with all the grade nine English classes. The BTT kids will be handling advertising (including online ads, radio spots, etc, as well as planning the campaigns), creating a website, shooting a documentary about the process, filming the events and project management. The students can choose what role they want to explore - creative, technical or management and be assigned to a team on that basis. Should be a blast.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">OK, I went off topic a little. Despite some things I don’t like about my current position, I obviously have tons of enthusiasm for the profession. I just need to find exactly the right school for my strengths and interests.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have no more time for writing. In the next installment(s) of “My Top 10 List of things I like to do over the Christmas Holidays” stay tuned for:</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">7. Think about the future</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">6. Watch movies</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">5. Sit in front of the fireplace reading a book and drinking wine, while Jeffry does the same</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">4. Eat and drink what I want.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">3. Did I mention cooking?</span></div>
2. Spend time with people I like (while avoiding those I don’t)</div>
<div>
1. Make New Years resolutions</div>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-74909516460581990722011-08-08T17:28:00.003-04:002011-08-08T17:41:41.999-04:00Fudge Popsicles<p>I'm a popsicle lover. I don't eat a lot of processed food, but I can buy a whole box of popsicles and sit and eat them one after another. When I think of all the sugar and guar gum and high fructose corn syrup, I get the shivers (its probably some sort of weird insulin reaction). So this summer I am determined to make my own "ice pops". I thought if I controlled the ingredients I might feel better about the whole thing.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6014/5968967162_b989550d5e.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6014/5968967162_b989550d5e.jpg" id="blogsy-1312838726823.5066" class="alignleft" alt="" width="256" height="341"></a></div><p>I started with a difficult and pretty much fruitless search for Ice pop molds. I should have just ordered some from Golda's kitchen or amazon, but it didn't occur to me until after I bought the pop molds I bought, which are cute, but inadequate in a number of ways. The main problem with them is that they are "onesies" so you have to put them on a tray. The 8 molds comprise 24 pieces. I'd much rather have a single piece with 8 molds. So my plan is to order some more - because if the success of my first project is any indication, I'm going to need them!In any case, my first project was fudgicles. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31F7-UARKHL._SL160_AA160_.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31F7-UARKHL._SL160_AA160_.jpg" id="blogsy-1312838758950.2134" class="alignleft" width="261" height="261" align="left" alt=""></a></div>**UPDATE** I guess this isn't an official update, since I haven't published it yet.... somehow this entry got lost in the depths of Blogsy. Anyway, I went on Amazon and bought these molds. They are vastly superior to the first set!<p>Often, processed food is "too good" - the flavors and textures have a strange intensity. But I'm going to go out on a limb here. Homemade fudgicles are really, really yummy. As in WAY better than the processed kind. Pat even thought they were terrific, and that's saying something, as he is definitely the "Mikey" of the family!<br />
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<strong>Fudge Popsicles</strong></p><p>Makes 8 3-ounce pops or 10 2.5-ouncers</p><p>4 heaping tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips (never hurts to buy the good kind!)<br />
2/3 cup sugar<br />
2 tablespoons cornstarch<br />
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder<br />
2.5 cups whole milk (or half and half, or coffee cream)<br />
Pinch of salt<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla<br />
1 tablespoon unsalted butter<br />
(if you like chocolate mint, add a teaspoon of mint extract, or a bit more to taste)</p><p>In a saucepan, Stir together chocolate, sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, milk and salt and raise heat to medium. Cook mixture, whisking, until the chocolate melts, then stirring frequently until it thickens, probably around 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat, add vanilla (mint, if using) and butter and stir them in.</p><p>Set aside to cool slightly then pour into popsicle molds. Freeze a couple hours.</p><p>To unmold, stand the frozen pops in a sink full of hot water for 20 seconds, then pull them out.</p><p>To store, cut parchment paper into 2.5x7 inch strips and fold lengthwise over the pops as they come out of the mold.</p><p>On my drawing-every-day project, Here is another picture, just a quick sketch: I bought some additional supplies, so I am looking forward to some better pictures.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6128/5968437535_e870a56f16.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6128/5968437535_e870a56f16.jpg" id="blogsy-1312838726774.9636" class="clearleft" alt="" width="375" height="500"></a></div>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-41275792246484435382011-07-31T12:18:00.002-04:002012-08-06T11:32:34.182-04:00Hammersmith'sThis morning, Jeff and I were eager to try out a new brunch place that opened up on the corner of Gerrard and Logan. You have to understand that this is a pretty down market corner... Simon's Wok - an excellent, but slightly divey vegan Chinese restaurant is there, along with a beer store and about 8 empty storefronts. I'm not really sure why its such an icky corner - its right on the edge of Riverdale, which is a perfectly yuppy neighborhood.<br />
In any case, Hammersmith's occupies the space formally inhabited by a $4-dollar all-day breakfast place that hadn't been renovated, or indeed, repaired or even painted (or possibly cleaned) since about 1950. We were hopeful about two things: that there would be a respectable brunch spot within walking distance of our house, and that the addition of a nice business would "elevate" he neighborhood a little, perhaps encouraging other nice businesses to locate themselves here.<br />
The new space is quite nice. It's very clean, white, with a tile counter, pine tables and a tiny open kitchen. It seems to seat about 20-24 people.<br />
I understand from the Toronto Life article about them that they are known for their scones. One afternoon next week, I'll pop in and have scones and tea and try them out.<br />
The food was at once pretty good (more about that below) and rather disappointing. The problem with it was that I had no particular interest in eating what I ended up eating. Jeff, too. It was Sunday breakfast/brunch. Jeff and I both would have been happy with either of the following menu items. In fact, we were counting on them.<br />
<ul>
<li>2 eggs any style, with choice of bacon, sausage or peameal, coffee, juice, toast and home fries.</li>
<li>Eggs benedict</li>
</ul>
I realize this is not at all imaginative of us. But the thing is, neither of these items was on the menu.<br />
I consider this a problem and so did every other patron in the restaurant. As I looked around, and frankly, eavesdropped, I heard every single table ask for bacon and eggs. Every table, like us, was told that the kitchen was set up in such a way that they could only do what was on the menu. I get that for a new restaurant, it might be hard to offer stuff off the menu. What I don't get is why the menu doesn't reflect what people actually want to eat for breakfast on a weekend morning. Arugula salad with a cheese I've never heard of doesn't cut it. Their was a smoked salmon thing with pickled beets etc that looked pretty good, actually - but I don't want it for breakfast. <br />
We ended up ordering one steak and eggs, and one bacon omelette.<br />
The omelette came with a side salad of baby greens in a light vinaigrette and two tiny pieces of toast (cross section of a baguette). Jeff pronounced the omelette fine, but he thought it was very meager on the promised bacon, and too plain; that it needed something else in it to take it to a more appropriate "next level". How about onion or garlic? Tomato?<br />
The steak and eggs was a little uneven, but I would say over all it was quite good. The steak was superb. About an inch thick, and juicy and tender. A real steak - not one of those chopped steak numbers you usually get with steak and eggs. The eggs themselves were sunny side up and I didn't have any options about how they were prepared. I would have asked for over easy because I don't like the raw egg slime on the yolks of sunny side up eggs. Also, like Jeff, I received only two meager slices of baguette which were woefully inadequate for mopping up my yolks.<br />
Although the steak was very good, the best part was the fried tomatoes and home fries. The home fries have quite a lot of bacon in them - and it tasted like a hand-smoked bacon rather than schneiders. They were also <em>incredibly</em> greasy. When I was eating them, I was thinking "I shouldn't be eating all this grease". But I didn't stop, because it was really, really, yummy. There was also quite a lot of caramelized onion in the home fries, which I also really liked. Great home fries.<br />
The service was quite good as well. I thought our breakfast took a little longer than it needed to, given when we ordered at one-minute after opening, there was no-one else in the place. On the other hand, the kitchen is open and I watched the cook make it - so it's not like he was sitting out back having a smoke. It may have seemed long because I was hungry. Also, I didn't like being told no Bacon and Eggs. Still the servers were polite and quick, and were on the spot with coffee refills even once the place filled up.<br />
So overall, Hammersmith's seems like a pretty good restaurant. It definitely has potential as an attractant for other respectable businesses in the area. I don't think they've figured out the what they should be serving on their menu for breakfast, but hopefully as every diner asks for bacon and eggs, they'll make some adjustments.<br />
For now, I think our next breakfast out will be a short drive to Sammy's, or down on Queen East.<br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/10/1606274/restaurant/Riverdale-Leslieville/Hammersmiths-Toronto"><img alt="Hammersmith's on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/1606274/minilogo.gif" style="border: none; height: 15px; padding: 0px; width: 104px;" /></a>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-11660074422211657032011-07-27T11:05:00.000-04:002011-07-27T11:05:26.737-04:00One Mania after anotherI'm subject to what my sister Laura calls "manias". Although some may argue, I don't mean these kinds of manias:<br />
<blockquote>1. Psychiatry A manifestation of bipolar disorder, characterized by profuse and rapidly changing ideas, exaggerated sexuality, gaiety, or irritability, and decreased sleep.<br />
2. Violent abnormal behavior. See Synonyms at insanity.</blockquote>It's this one, and it describes me perfectly:<br />
<blockquote>1. An excessively intense enthusiasm, interest, or desire; a craze.</blockquote>One interesting characteristic of these manias is that they come and go. What I call a "true" mania will last a year or more. And then it passes. Then I have another mania, or three, or five, and then the first mania returns. I have, in my life, had manias for my job, or for a person, for a TV show or a book. But my core manias have always been for making things.<br />
<br />
I definitely move in and out of the cooking mania all the time. Except for thinking about hot weather recipes, I'm actually pretty much OUT of my cooking mania at the moment. <br />
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Quilt making manias are a problem because they typically don't last long enough to complete a whole quilt. My mom is convinced I never finish anything. What I actually do is simply put the quilt away until the mania returns.<br />
<br />
For the last 9 months or so, I have been in the grip of an intense knitting mania. It started to fade about three weeks ago and is being replaced by a quilt making mania. Nevertheless, I forced myself to finish my latest project, and I finished it yesterday. Today, I plan to clean out my bag and pick up my harvest cathedral windows quilt. I'm also planning on working on a design for a new quilt (actually, I have two I'm thinking about). See how it goes?<br />
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But before I move on, I wanted to celebrate my knitting mania by sharing the fruits of my latest craze.<br />
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Here is an Aran shawl in a medium weight, inexpensive wool. I made this for myself. I find sweaters too hot, so a shawl works perfectly for me.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6136/5981377664_09097a33e3.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="clearleft" id="blogsy-1311774670906.8174" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6136/5981377664_09097a33e3.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6002/5981377098_4b5d700eaf.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignleft" height="300" id="blogsy-1311774670909.5513" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6002/5981377098_4b5d700eaf.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I found the cable work on this quite challenging because the celtic knot pattern has to be counted in every repetition. <br />
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Normally with cable work, you set the pattern in the first row, and just follow the knitting. This pattern was too big and complex to be able to do that. This took about 6 weeks. I started it right after Christmas and finished at the end of February.<br />
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Although I love knitting cables, I <em>adore</em> colour work. It's fortunate that Jeff adores sweaters in Fairisle and Norwegian pattern work - a partnership made in heaven - else I would knit sweaters that no-one would ever wear.<br />
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Here is a blue fair isle that I worked on during my Wednesday after school knitting club. This is from an Alice Starmore pattern and is a wool, alpaca and silk blend. I used hand-dyed yarns, which you can especially notice in the dark blue, to soften the design and give it some depth beyond the simple geometric. The picture doesn't do the colours credit.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6004/5981379054_aed942f898.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="clearleft" id="blogsy-1311774670902.333" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6004/5981379054_aed942f898.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6005/5981379922_71ff792ec9.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignleft" height="240" id="blogsy-1311774670905.7395" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6005/5981379922_71ff792ec9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here is some detail on the colour work. Although this pattern looks complex, it follows the fairisle rule that no row contains more than two colours. This sweater uses traditional fairisle construction: it was knitted in one piece. No sewing! This sweater knit up quite quickly.<br />
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Finally, here is a true Norwegian Ski Sweater. Every Olympics, the<a href="http://dale.no/"> Dale of Norway</a> wool company designs commemorative team sweaters for the Norwegian Olympic team (they also design sweaters for various international ski teams, including Canada). The sweaters are stunning, and use traditional Norwegian sweater construction. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6025/5980822799_955fb1be41.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img align="left" class="clearleft" id="blogsy-1311774693262.6743" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6025/5980822799_955fb1be41.jpg" /></a></div>I was on Ravelry one day and saw a picture of this sweater. Talk about a mania! It is the 1994 Dale Lillehammer Olympic sweater. Since 1994 is 16 years ago, it wasn't exactly easy to track down the pattern. But I persisted. The internet is a wonderful thing. It ends up that Dale will give you the pattern - but only as part of a kit made from their wool. After much searching, I found a vendor in California that would put the kit together for me and ship the whole deal to me here in Toronto. They are called <a href="http://www.velona.com/">Velona Needlecraft</a> and their service was superb. I also talked to the guy at <a href="http://www.romniwools.com/">Romni Wool </a>here in Toronto. I was able to fill him in on the whole process of how to get the Dale archival patterns and he promised that next time, he would get them for me. So even better.<br />
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Here are some details from the sweater. Each medallion is a figure from Norse mythology.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6017/5980824695_a1b9992bcd.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img align="left" class="clearleft" height="320" id="blogsy-1311774721724.362" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6017/5980824695_a1b9992bcd.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin">Odin</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> is a principal member of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Norse pantheon</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> and is associated with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">war</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, battle, victory and death, but also </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">wisdom</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">magic</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">poetry</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">prophecy</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, and the hunt. Odin has </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">many sons</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, the most famous of whom is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Thor</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6009/5980825425_edd7a03277.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img align="left" class="clearleft" height="320" id="blogsy-1311774733184.2825" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6009/5980825425_edd7a03277.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja">Freyja</a> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">s a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, gold, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sei%C3%B0r" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Seiðr">seiðr</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%ADsingamen" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Brísingamen">Brísingamen</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, rides a chariot driven by two cats, owns the boar </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildisv%C3%ADni" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Hildisvíni">Hildisvíni</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, possesses a cloak of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Falcon">falcon</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> feathers.</span><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huginn_and_Muninn">Huginn and Muninn</a>. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">In </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Norse mythology</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><b>Huginn</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> (from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Old Norse</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> "thought"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">) and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><b>Muninn</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> (Old Norse "memory"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">or "mind"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">) are a pair of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">ravens</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> that fly all over the world,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> and bring the god </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Odin</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> information. </span><br />
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I also love the neckband.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6121/5980820715_2c3d9d409c.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img align="left" class="alignleft" height="240" id="blogsy-1311774798160.8538" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6121/5980820715_2c3d9d409c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This is an extremely warm sweater - the kind you wear outside instead of a winter coat. I was thrilled to finish it last night. I made Jeff try it on, and given the temp was 26, he found it very hot, but liked it anyway.<br />
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And I'm completely over knitting for the present, although I do have a lingering desire to make gloves with beaded wrist bands, and to knit a lace wedding ring shawl. No doubt I'll come back to both these projects when quilt-making runs its course.Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com10Toronto, ON, Canada43.653524 -79.383906943.4549435 -79.7022759 43.852104499999996 -79.0655379tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-70012211023266565242011-07-26T12:09:00.002-04:002012-08-05T12:57:35.480-04:00Cherry Tomato and Peach Salad<p>So continuing on my theme of things to eat when the temperatures are blazing...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6147/5978397386_0dec6ec6d0.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6147/5978397386_0dec6ec6d0.jpg" id="blogsy-1311696466606.5762" class="alignleft" alt="" align="left" width="403" height="302"></a></div>My garden is happily producing mountains of cherry tomatoes. I had good success with them last year, so naturally, I planted even more this year. Yesterday at the farmer's market I was tempted by the first of the stone fruits - peaches and plums. Well, I was tempted by the plums, but Jeff said he likes peaches, so I bought both. I don't like peaches. Sort of. I have a psychological aversion to them... Long story, not so interesting. The upshot is that when I see them, I announce to everyone that I don't like peaches. I never select a peach deliberately. But if one finds it's way into my mouth, I find it delicious.<p>So then I was thinking about this tomato and peach salad I had out somewhere one time, and I decided to see what I could come up with.</p><p>But first, a note about the cheese. I used Pecorino Fresco - again! I love pecorino fresco and can't seem to stop eating it. It's a little like bufala mozzarella, but a little creamier and a little tangier, but it also has that "fresh cheese" taste. Anyway, some bufala mozzarella or even bocconcini would be terrific in this salad as well.</p><p>Ingredients</p><p>about 30 cherry tomatoes, cut in half<br />
1 or 2 peaches, peeled and sliced<br />
half a sweet onion, sliced very thin<br />
3-4ounces pecorino fresco (or bufula mozzarella or bocconcini), diced<br />
15 basil leaves, chiffonade <br />
1/3 cup good olive oil (or less)<br />
a few sprinkles of good balsamic</p><p>combine the cherry tomatoes, peaches, onion and cheese in a medium bowl. add the oil and toss gently to coat. Add the basil chiffonade and either leave on top as a garnish, or combine with other ingredients.</p><p>This salad can sit in the fridge a few hours or overnight, and sitting seems to improve it's flavor. Just before serving, sprinkle to taste with balsamic vinegar.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6138/5977836695_14775208d5.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6138/5977836695_14775208d5.jpg" id="blogsy-1311696487454.022" class="clearleft" width="645" height="484" align="left" alt=""></a></div><p>I was just thinking that this salad would be terrific with mango in place of the peach. And I love mangos!</p>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-79221136554704601382011-07-21T20:35:00.004-04:002012-08-05T12:57:35.488-04:00Heatwave Dining<p>So I have two cooking problems this week: </p><ol><li>I'm trying to lose a few pounds, so nothing with too many calories</li>
<li>Its WAY too hot to cook!</li>
<li></li>
</ol><p>My solution? A delicious, tasty, chilled soup. I was introduced to chilled soups by Marc, although he tended to prefer the fruit ones. I prefer the more savoury ones.</p><p>This soup is terrific. It tastes good, and even better, you don't have to turn on your stove. There's a little chopping, but there's a few shortcuts as well - namely, the use of Mott's Clamato as a soup base and the purchase of a bag of President's Choice cooked shrimp. About the Clamato - I discovered today it now comes in three flavours: Extra Spicy, All Dressed (or something), and Original. I think any of them would be good for this soup, but I chose Original because Ilike to deal with the spicing myself. For shrimp, I picked 16/21's. They are a nice robust size, so they are nice and shrimpy when you bite into them. And they were on sale for $6.49 a pound!</p><p>And tomatoes. I recommend Roma tomatoes for anything where you want to seed the tomatoes raw. For this soup you don't take the skins off. Just quarter them lengthwise and scoop out the seeds before chopping.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6125/5962225957_1681d779ff.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6125/5962225957_1681d779ff.jpg" id="blogsy-1311294851536.668" class="clearleft" width="375" height="500" align="left"></a></div><p>Ingredients</p><p>4 cups Motts's Clamato. <br />
1 or 2 one-pound bags PC cooked shrimp; they don't have to be entirely thawed, but they shouldn't be frozen solid.<br />
2 avocados, peeled and chopped. The avos shouldn't be too soft. You don't want them crunchy, but you want them to keep their shape after they are chopped.<br />
1 cucumbers, seeds removed, cubed<br />
3 roma tomatoes, diced<br />
1/2 red onion, diced<br />
1 bunch of basil, chopped<br />
Up to 1/4 cup of lemon juice (to taste)<br />
Several good shakes of salt (you need less than you might think - the Clamato is already pretty salty.)<br />
A few twists of the pepper mill.<br />
Tabasco to taste</p><p>Directions</p><p>In a large bowl, combine combine everything except the lemon juice and tobasco. <br />
Taste it. Add lemon juice and tobasco until it tastes really, really yummy!<br />
Chill thoroughly in the fridge. Tastes best if you leave it over night.</p>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-72394622874159335842011-07-20T11:58:00.000-04:002011-07-20T11:58:30.051-04:0030 Day ChallengeSo I admit, I'm perhaps a little bored. Or, not really bored, exactly, I just haven't settled into anything now that I'm off work for the summer. Now that I've had a rest, I have TONS of energy.... so what to do with it?<br />
I was browsing through some TED Talks this morning and came across this one: <br />
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The upshot is that one can introduce a project or a change in one's life by taking on a 30 Day Challenge.<br />
This seemed like just the right project for me. What I was looking for was a way to apply some structure to a couple things that I wanted to do. So, I've decided on three (yes, THREE) challenges:<br />
<ul><li>NO WHITE FOOD for 30 days (no sugar, flour, rice or potatoes)</li>
<li>DO A WORKOUT every day for 30 days. This workout can be a walk of at least 5 km, or a standard gym visit, or a fitness class.</li>
<li>CREATE A PIECE OF VISUAL ART every days for 30 days.</li>
</ul>So the eating and working out I know I need to do anyway, so in a way, they are just necessary, rather than "personal growth" challenges. I'm much more excited about the art.<br />
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Towards the end of school, I was helping Audrey, the art teacher, make some signs for Commencement and other events. We were using pastels, and I really, really enjoyed decorating and coloring the signs. Since then, I've really had the bug to do some drawing. So much so that I went out and bought a set each of chalk and oil pastels and some paper. And they have been sitting on the floor in my office in a bag ever since. So I'm determined to use them every day for the next 30 days!<br />
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Here is my first creation:<br />
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I decided to start with something really simple - a sky. Well, maybe not so simple, but a focus on a single thing. Once I did the sky, I decided it was ok, but would benefit from some foliage, then some colour. This is not the most original composition, but I figure I'm only going to get better! This was my first time with pastels doing anything but colouring between the lines. I have a couple projects now. First, I have to figure out how to draw details! And I need to do some research about necessary tools and supplies I will also need. And I need some gloves.<br />
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Enough drawing. next stop: gym.Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-74812040623802820192011-07-19T11:37:00.001-04:002011-07-19T11:37:26.218-04:00Garden<p>So it's July and I haven't posted a single thing about my vegetable garden! How quickly one comes to take things for granted.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6146/5954230653_3c7d32327b.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6146/5954230653_3c7d32327b.jpg" id="blogsy-1311089799243.1892" class="alignleft" alt="" width="375" height="500"></a></div><p>I've made some changes since last summer: I added six more containers and three more tomato plants in bags.It's been a bit more challenging this year, although things seem to be much more on track than they were in May. May was fraught with rain and squirrels! The squirrels dug up every vat, seeds stuck to them and were randomly transferred - I have lettuce growing in my corn containers and peppers in with the radishes. I decided to just be calm about it as long as things are growing - which they seem to be, although I planted a few unfamiliar plants and since they've been moved, I can't tell whether they are weeds or just the okra. I hate that.</p><p>I am also experimenting with different soils. Potting soil seems to work the best (so far), with plain old garden dirt a close second. Since I'm in containers, I worry about "using up" the soil, but adding compost seems to effect the drainage too much. At least, the vats with lots of added compost don't seem to be doing as well.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6134/5954231827_b67cc8fffa.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6134/5954231827_b67cc8fffa.jpg" id="blogsy-1311089799181.743" class="clearleft" alt="" width="500" height="375"></a></div><p>My latest garden mania is to install a drip irrigation system. I did some research this morning and it looks like I can buy what I need for about $100, which is much less than what I expected. Drip systems use a lot less water, and I can put it on a timer, so I don't have to worry about watering when I'm away on holidays. Patrick usually does the watering for me when jeff and I are away, but he costs $100 per trip!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6128/5954791276_bc305d0086.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6128/5954791276_bc305d0086.jpg" id="blogsy-1311089824004.8167" class="alignright" width="500" height="375" align="right"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6002/5954232697_7047f5127d.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6002/5954232697_7047f5127d.jpg" id="blogsy-1311089807266.1597" class="alignleft" width="500" height="375" align="left"></a></div><p>Although we got a bit of a late start because of the rain and cool weather in May and June, we are starting to be able to eat out of the garden. We had plenty of peas (see my entry on pea toast), as well as tons of lettuce and some radishes. We also have had a few carrots and tomatoes, but I think they are a week or more from being really ready. The cucumbers, zucchini, squash, beans and peppers are all going crazy as well, but nothing ready for eating yet.<br/></p>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-20722206457066883722011-07-10T11:46:00.002-04:002012-08-05T12:57:35.466-04:00What am I supposed to do with all these cherries?<p>The subject of fresh produce is inexhaustible! And regularly leads me into trouble... the giant crate of cherries was only $6 at the farmers market - so I now have two! Jeff never says anything when I bring home more produce than two people can reasonably expect to consume in a year, but he has this one particular expression that allows me to read his mind. He nods, he smiles, but I can hear his thoughts....oh my god what are we going to do with all these cherries is she crazy can we fit them in the fridge no! She's leaving them on the floor I'm going to be stepping over them all week I'm telling her mom!</p><p>I promise they will become cherry pie filling sometime this week... </p><p>Meanwhile, they call to me.</p><p>We don't have any bread in the house since Jeff ate it all yesterday (see Pea Toast). I was thinking I wanted a poached egg for breakfast. Poached eggs require bread, preferably a sweetish bread. Sweet took me back to the cherries, and I decided to see whether you can make scones with fresh cherries in them.</p><p>Scones? Why scones? Why not muffins like a sensible person? Well, I admit I did consider muffins, but I generally find them too sweet. I know, it sounds like a bit of a contradiction, since I was specific wanting something sweet to put my eggs on. But not <em>too</em> sweet. What can I say? Life is built on these subtle distinctions.</p><p>Anyway, it turns out that you can make scones with fresh cherries in them. Although I may have overdone the cherries. Not untypical of me. I mean, if two cherries will make something taste pretty good, fifty cherries will make it amazing, right? Fifty cherries will also make it fall apart a little more easily than one might like. Who cares? </p><p>Cherry scones</p><p>1-1/2 cups whole Ontario Sweet Cherries (I bet you could make this recipe with cherry pie filling rather than fresh cherries. I'll sort that out after I make the pie filling)<br />
2 cups all-purpose flour<br />
2 tbsp sugar<br />
1 tbsp baking powder<br />
1/2 tsp salt<br />
1/4 cup cold butter (or frozen butter)<br />
3/4 cup cream (table cream works well. Milk is ok if it's all you have, but cream is better for scones)<br />
1 tsp Vanilla</p><p>If you don't have a cherry/olive pitter, buy one. This is one of those little devices that you go on for years claiming you don't need. Then someone sticks one in your Christmas stocking and within 15 minutes you find you can't live without it. Seriously. </p><p>Pit cherries and cut them in half. If they are a little sour, sprinkle a tablespoon or more sugar on them and let them sit. In large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture, and then rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips. Stir in the cherries. Make a well in centre of the flour mixture. Pour the cream and vanilla into the well and stir just until firm dough barely forms.</p><p><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/65012561@N02/5922411582" target="_blank"></a>Turn out onto a floured surface. I used more flour here than I might normally for scones because the cherries were marvelously oozing juice all over the place. Knead three times. Divide in half; pat each half into 3/4-inch thick 6-inch (15 cm) circle. Cut each into 6 wedges.</p><p class=""><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6011/5922411582_41496e5354.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6011/5922411582_41496e5354.jpg" id="blogsy-1310312682969.9626" class="alignleft" width="500" height="375"></a></p><p>Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place scones slightly apart on sheet. Bake on centre rack at 450°F (until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.</p><p>Serve with soft poached eggs, or just eat up with fresh butter and a dash of salt.</p>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-31646671486312590922011-07-09T15:13:00.042-04:002012-08-05T12:57:35.471-04:00And then, there is Pea ToastDo you like peas? I don't, really. When I think of peas, I think of frozen green pellets that turn into brownish-green, grainy mush. Yuck.<br />
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But then there's pea season, which, sadly, is more or less over. We grew a decent number of peas in our garden, planted out of duty rather than love, because, of course, I didn't like peas. <br />
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Fresh peas out of the garden were a bit of an eyeopener, though. They aren't mushy, or grainy, or flavourless. They snap, they are sweet and tasty, they smell good, and they brighten up whatever you serve them with.<br />
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And you can use them to make pea toast, which is reason enough in itself.<br />
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So I've added peas to my list of beloved seasonal foods that are only worth eating for about two weeks per year - but well worth waiting for (along with strawberries, cherries, wild blueberries, sea asparagus, morels, garlic scapes, fiddleheads, soft shell crab, fruit cake).<br />
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But back to pea toast. <br />
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1 1/2 cups freshly shelled peas<br />
1 scallion, thinly sliced<br />
2 tablespoons tahini<br />
2 tablespoons lemon juice<br />
4 tablespoons olive oil<br />
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon<br />
1/2 teaspoon paprika<br />
2 oz pecorino fresco (<em>I used pecorino fresco because I happened to have it on hand - all summer I buy cheese at the farmers markets and one of the cheese sellers at the Wychwood Park market sells pecorino fresco, which I buy every week. But you could substitute any mild young cheese - make some ricotta, perhaps, or even a little cottage cheese might be good, maybe with some lemon peel and rosemary to lift it a bit, or you could use a couple spoonfuls of plain yogurt</em>) <br />
Generous shake of sea salt<br />
Some kind of delicious flatbread (see below)<br />
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Cook the peas: before you start, get your ice bath ready. Blanch peas for about a minute in salty water, drain them, then immediately pop them into the ice water.<br />
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Make the dressing: whisk together everything except the peas. If it's too thick, add more olive oil. Taste it. Add salt, pepper, lemon or cinnamon as you see fit until it tastes really good.<br />
<br />
Crush the peas a little: I used the back of a wooden spoon. Don't go crazy, just break most of them up a little - no mush!<br />
Add about half the dressing and toss the peas to coat. Taste the thing, and add more dressing until you think you've optimized the experience. I added all the dressing except about a tablespoon full, which I then just ate with the aforementioned tablespoon, because it really was yummy. Put the bowl in the fridge while you decide what to do about the bread.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVUF4A48zCy5khzPBFOKq9svcbPRzhWY35l9tvhxrw6Rzwjpp_n01kFe0wB-vzUaclnOPLB7ku3FJ2zHP2Qlrygb42RNN7fCCPnSUQQIWBVIQrSdYk2yZ74rnkFsbz4KAt5uNtVpia6Sx8/s1600/pea+toast.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVUF4A48zCy5khzPBFOKq9svcbPRzhWY35l9tvhxrw6Rzwjpp_n01kFe0wB-vzUaclnOPLB7ku3FJ2zHP2Qlrygb42RNN7fCCPnSUQQIWBVIQrSdYk2yZ74rnkFsbz4KAt5uNtVpia6Sx8/s320/pea+toast.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is not pea toast in space! I have a black<br />
counter top. I love photographing food on<br />
it because the food shows up on it. But it does<br />
look a bit like a UFO.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
You could eat this on pita wedges. In fact, it's exactly the sort of thing that people eat on pita wedges. But why? WHY? Pita wedges suck! Well, store bought ones do. If you are going to go with store-bought bread, I would suggest a ciabatta, or a lightly herbed bakery focaccia. But any bread with flavor and a gently chewy texture would do. Or you could make bread! Make a lightly herbed focaccia, some naan (easy and terrific - but go easy on the butter for this dish [like I ever went easy on the butter in anything]) or some Ciabatta (a bit harder, since ciabatta really prefers a mature sour dough starter).<br />
<br />
Anyway, toast the bread lightly on one side, generously spoon on the pea mixture, and away you go!<br />
<br />
Just as a side note, Jeff is always indulgent of my various cooking manias, as he appreciates benefiting from them. But despite his usual tolerance, I could tell he was unimpressed by the idea of "pea toast". In fact, I would say he was deeply skeptical! But now, having scarfed down half a loaf of focaccia, generously piled with pea topping, his only concern is that pea season is over, and he will have to wait until next year for his next fix of pea toast! I'm with him. This exceeded expectations!Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-67081206689529843552011-06-17T09:06:00.001-04:002011-06-17T09:11:44.132-04:00Update Part 1: SchoolI've had a hard time finding time to write. What can I say? I have a lot of sitting by the fireplace and relaxing with my beloved Jeffry to fit in. Now that summer vacation is arriving, though, I'll try to catch up.<br />
<br />
In general I find it hard to write about school in a coherent way, because so much happens every day. But since I only have 4 days left this year, it seems as good a time as any to record some thoughts.<br />
<br />
I was surplused (quite usual for first year teachers), so I’m very likely going to a different school next year. On one hand, I’m excited about doing something new, on the other hand, I’m thinking about how much I’m going to miss my kids. And I’m really, really going to miss them. <br />
<br />
I’m a little concerned about missing them. Part of why I had a successful year is that I really like my students, and they are able to see it. Connection is such a huge part of this job. But how do you disconnect from them when they move on? Maybe as the students pile up over the years there is just less room for them in your heart? I face booked with a former teacher of my own who said that your first students stay with you in a way that the rest don’t. Maybe that will be the case.<br />
<br />
I’m also quite overwhelmed by how much I’ve learned in my first year. Some things, like relationships, connection and classroom management, I was good at from my first day. These things are completely transferrable from my previous career. I also know my content really well. I was more challenged by the pedagogical stuff and feel like I’ve made a lot of progress in that area. Since I am in a special needs school, the lessons have to be HIGHLY differentiated, and I had some trouble with that at first. I also have big plans to be much more deliberate next year. I felt like I was winging it most of the time this year. But I learned how to use the Ontario Literacy Skills Diagnostic Kit this semester and it made a big difference in how I approached things. I now know how to break down the literacy skills and to teach them explicitly. Much better.<br />
<br />
What are some key achievements? I taught a 14 year-old who came to school for the first time at age 11 to read, taking his reading level from grade 1 to grade 5 in one semester; I turned on a truly inert young man to computers and watched him burst into bloom; I convinced the kid who was the “most admired by his peers for causing trouble” in the school to get involved in the restorative justice and peer mediation program and he transformed before our eyes from a negative to a positive leader; I got a gang of the most reluctant readers and writers imaginable (grade 11 Essential) to not only write poems, but to perform them. In front of an audience, no less. And then ask for more! I received an amazing accolade from my generally quite behavioural students that I was the “only teacher that treated them with respect”, which is something I tried very hard to do, so I’m glad they noticed. All of my students, because of their disabilities, have faced failure after failure as they move through the education system. I tried to help them begin patterns of success and in so many cases, all it took was a taste and they started to believe in themselves.<br />
<br />
Key failures? They were definitely students I didn’t connect with and wasn’t able to make a difference with. This is a failure I’m going to have to come to terms with, because there will always be students that I can’t personally do much with. I guess I just have to have faith in my colleagues – that there will be someone out there that will connect with that student. Then there are the lessons that totally flopped and the days where I lost my temper, or thoughtlessly said something insensitive.<br />
<br />
I also discovered that being a teacher isn’t just about course content. So many of my students have no idea how to behave, how to express their anger appropriately, how to apologize, how to make amends, how to give a compliment, how to ask for what they need, how to be tactful, how to resolve interpersonal issues, how to end a relationship. Although I missed some teachable moments in these areas, I caught quite a few as well. And you have to be a role model. Not just a role model of how to be a middle class white woman, but a role model of how to do all those things above that they don’t know how to do. I think the most important one is how to be human and fallible, and how to be ok with it. They watch everything you do.<br />
<br />
I had some fun with the co-curriculars as well. I was on the Safe and Caring School committee and headed up two initiatives: Peer Mediation, and Restorative Justice. I also ran the yearbook club, which was a big job, but we had a blast. And our yearbook is really interesting and very beautiful and really different. It sure doesn’t look very “collegiate”. I know it’s terrific because I walked in on a staff bitch session where they were complaining that it “made previous yearbooks look bad, and the people who volunteered to create them in the past shouldn’t have to have their efforts ‘demeaned’”. Demeaned! Like we did a great job specifically to make other years’ books look bad. What nonsense! And as if I’m going to try to do a less excellent job on anything because people feel threatened. (here is one of the images from our yearbook cover below)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpbhhLkyxll0IW38Jhg28oMEcURPDdxkUrMc-1LGSX0TxGK0XSjZhgnxVRkRrDXyMldoH5DfnzNvoqvW0zkqee81TaNWBINZ0kdvKgnRT-3kxWrQAtsg-T1GrH0lxYqCi1ag5QXOFeaqca/s1600/danae1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="345px" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpbhhLkyxll0IW38Jhg28oMEcURPDdxkUrMc-1LGSX0TxGK0XSjZhgnxVRkRrDXyMldoH5DfnzNvoqvW0zkqee81TaNWBINZ0kdvKgnRT-3kxWrQAtsg-T1GrH0lxYqCi1ag5QXOFeaqca/s400/danae1.gif" width="400px" /></a></div><br />
The worst part of the job is other teachers telling me how awful it is. It seems like a number of my colleagues really hate their jobs. And it is certainly true that there are issues with the bureaucracy that are annoying. But I learned in one of my first jobs that people get the workplace they deserve – not in terms of money and career advancement opportunities, necessarily, but in terms of how they feel about work every day. Each person has a finite amount of energy. You can spend it on complaining and lamenting. When you do this, you create a negative space for yourself, and you live in that negative space all day every day. Then, of course you hate your job. Or, you can spend your energy thinking and acting on what you can do today to make things better for yourself and others. You can focus on having a good day. And voila – everyday you come to work and have a good day.<br />
<br />
I’ve had so many good days this school year. I’ve enjoyed professional relationships with my colleagues that have been quite wonderful, and I’ve enjoyed my students so much. They have such open hearts and so much potential. I can see a lot of possibilities in this career as well. At a large board like TDSB, there are many different career paths available, and I don’t see myself in the classroom for the next 20 years.<br />
<br />
And mostly, I feel like I’m doing meaningful work, that I’m contributing something important to my community and the society I live in.<br />
<br />
One year down. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGUxDtXy2sE"></a>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-16344629320660639592011-04-04T10:15:00.000-04:002011-04-04T10:15:45.432-04:00Fancy chocolate cake<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gzIDwO5Ryy9t91diiN22ZrAjR0-z770Up3G3wN9YG5My-t34AO85nnDTQag5kTsmnobA8S9VpTMDYp2GdW3NQWE2XgUTUdwjWpUaitC7h0xqL_Embmf7O6ELUCqB70bYyvjAmH7lRceR/s1600/photo2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gzIDwO5Ryy9t91diiN22ZrAjR0-z770Up3G3wN9YG5My-t34AO85nnDTQag5kTsmnobA8S9VpTMDYp2GdW3NQWE2XgUTUdwjWpUaitC7h0xqL_Embmf7O6ELUCqB70bYyvjAmH7lRceR/s400/photo2.JPG" width="298" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxAF-QOq-YZbej2VQO1WqTinwnz4si-ywFM-TH7YG0SseY0WUocxNk7rpq53CzN7iCwqmVpmpUfyM3v8IfxD2pw09bzUq6NLKhuZQ3aABbNIwwWiGW5oK9n2zAUgs87v7YLoDDn_Qjpsx/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxAF-QOq-YZbej2VQO1WqTinwnz4si-ywFM-TH7YG0SseY0WUocxNk7rpq53CzN7iCwqmVpmpUfyM3v8IfxD2pw09bzUq6NLKhuZQ3aABbNIwwWiGW5oK9n2zAUgs87v7YLoDDn_Qjpsx/s400/photo.JPG" width="298" /></a></div><br />
I had fun with this fancy chocolate cake for my sister Lisa's birthday. The cake itself is a chocolate sheet cake, soaked with raspberry frangelico sauce, then rolled with milk chocolate ganache. The cake is then iced with dark chocolate-raspberry-hazelnut ganache and decorated with rasperries. <br />
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I love how rolling the sheet cake and standing the roll on end made the layers vertical!Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-19608307845766372512011-03-28T10:21:00.000-04:002012-08-05T12:57:35.461-04:00Pane Carasau (Sardinian Flatbread)One of the best things about living in Oakville was being able to walk to Boffo’s, where I could buy gorgeous handmade parchment breads in a variety of flavours – rosemary, thyme, parmesan, garlic, basil. These are gently salty, crisp and herby, and the mere idea of the hand labour that goes into mixing, rolling each bread paper thin and baking gave them a mystique that I couldn’t resist. I’ve wanted to learn to make them for years, but I was so sure they would be way too much work! <br />
But they aren’t hard – they are in fact incredibly easy!<br />
<br />
I understand this particular flatbread originates in Sardinia, and was eaten by shepherds. Not sure I care, really, as I am more concerned about whether such goodies are going to be eaten by me. <br />
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This recipe makes about 10 breads, 10-12 inches in diameter – if you roll them really, really thin. If you don’t have the patience to make them truly paper thin, make 8 breads instead.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg34pVOvoNaplBJnmTZYw0i84K51BowuYpn10iuz0MoRu4e6HgGkJQ7meAIwVgBJrUUt91OeTzhDmAwQLPBpbbjjZPX-pvaW8HYLXT4GbDKncMbVPqaCQrS1dZ_KWD2-fnMrDTDsOSSsThg/s1600/Sardinian+flatbreads+015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg34pVOvoNaplBJnmTZYw0i84K51BowuYpn10iuz0MoRu4e6HgGkJQ7meAIwVgBJrUUt91OeTzhDmAwQLPBpbbjjZPX-pvaW8HYLXT4GbDKncMbVPqaCQrS1dZ_KWD2-fnMrDTDsOSSsThg/s320/Sardinian+flatbreads+015.jpg" width="320" /></a>Ingredients: </div><br />
1/2 cup semolina<br />
1/2 cup all purpose unbleached flour<br />
Chopped fresh rosemary (or thyme, basil, tarragon, parmesan, garlic etc)<br />
3 oz hot water, from tap<br />
a little pile of sea salt sea salt<br />
olive oil<br />
<br />
Equipment: rolling pin, pizza stone, pastry brush, medium size mixing bowl <br />
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About the semolina, you can buy it in larger grocery stores – Loblaws usually has some. You can find it in the baking section, and it looks a lot like corn meal but not quite as coarse. You want Semolina, not semolina flour. Here’s the package:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJi9_AKYKhRBL56xTcQ-hTKHVV108skFg67tEpPUX1W9FZt5Dm_jSV-SxpD2lSIBCSwF4kHkG6vo4lyGAO03IH3NzYXsC9TuXnE1WVbFIZuOG4ym3LGg44VkxJolNO04MiG8MN0QsDN2N/s1600/Semolina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJi9_AKYKhRBL56xTcQ-hTKHVV108skFg67tEpPUX1W9FZt5Dm_jSV-SxpD2lSIBCSwF4kHkG6vo4lyGAO03IH3NzYXsC9TuXnE1WVbFIZuOG4ym3LGg44VkxJolNO04MiG8MN0QsDN2N/s400/Semolina.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Instructions:<br />
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a pizza stone or bread stone, or ceramic tile on the bottom rack. I have a soapstone stone left over from when my countertops were installed. If you just don’t have a stone, nest 2-3 same size cookie sheets, turn them over and use that instead. The stone will need about 20 minutes to heat up sufficiently, so remember to turn the oven on before you start.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1bxH_LcQKawNBu8zhr_JgCPiDkkhYu17D_yqs4LeYeNOYdqXSSzVMgpLWal3KJqRvvzsaJFt5aNnRmzO9qtVHaBIpJrNL0tNqCnluhzRP9EkOAE_xEZvNXB7_rWBAjBtLKRtXvAeryEXb/s1600/Sardinian+flatbreads+009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1bxH_LcQKawNBu8zhr_JgCPiDkkhYu17D_yqs4LeYeNOYdqXSSzVMgpLWal3KJqRvvzsaJFt5aNnRmzO9qtVHaBIpJrNL0tNqCnluhzRP9EkOAE_xEZvNXB7_rWBAjBtLKRtXvAeryEXb/s320/Sardinian+flatbreads+009.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In a mixing bowl combine flour, semolina, and water. Stir with a spoon to combine into a rough dough, but do not knead. Let the dough rest for a few minutes, then cut into into 10 (or 8) equal sized wedges. Cover the wedges with a damp towel.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZXLy3yAGULruLSadR6Rjznrkb4177KdH18Y3y6QEAtGWDOEHYujl3kZuxn62WaX_1UPLLzvxhybF1xfjviOPLc_udDeMaRPxUnlZK1e3olDl8_wxR-2vHcvl0nD2M659EFo_myWbCQ4Nr/s1600/Sardinian+flatbreads+012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZXLy3yAGULruLSadR6Rjznrkb4177KdH18Y3y6QEAtGWDOEHYujl3kZuxn62WaX_1UPLLzvxhybF1xfjviOPLc_udDeMaRPxUnlZK1e3olDl8_wxR-2vHcvl0nD2M659EFo_myWbCQ4Nr/s320/Sardinian+flatbreads+012.jpg" width="320" /></a>Sprinkle a little semolina and flour on your rolling surface. Flatten one of the wedges into a circles and roll it out as thin as you can. Paper thin is the goal! Keep the surface and rolling pin generously coated in flour and move the bread around so it doesn’t stick to the counter top. An ideal flatbread would have a 10-12 inch diameter. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>When the bread is about 5 inches across, add a generous amount of sea salt and your herb (or parmesan). You’ll have to decide how salty and how herby you want the final breads to be, but don’t be shy with the flavourings. <br />
Before you bake your first bread, turn down your oven to about 400.<br />
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Place the bread directly on the hot stone. If it wrinkles or folds, just straighten it. The dough is very easy to work with. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0I8-8XKhNW_IKrXabJ10MQ_b11MEMrYOj9DzvAYIXhvqTsjEydUC2v-30_a2YC0UbaBVt1e_5ZsV-nN4HTFNXY0RbXA0ZUe1Fc2zSxxgdYOADhOmn-mOqQaFcCW78EdaTipi4MpubWjae/s1600/Sardinian+flatbreads+014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0I8-8XKhNW_IKrXabJ10MQ_b11MEMrYOj9DzvAYIXhvqTsjEydUC2v-30_a2YC0UbaBVt1e_5ZsV-nN4HTFNXY0RbXA0ZUe1Fc2zSxxgdYOADhOmn-mOqQaFcCW78EdaTipi4MpubWjae/s320/Sardinian+flatbreads+014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Bake for 2-3 minutes then flip over with tongs and bake for another 1-2 minutes. The breads should be a nice pale gold, and the colour does not need to be even.<br />
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Remove the flatbread, and place on cooling rack to cool (or, just eat it up to make sure you flavourings are adjusted correctly. I’ll bet you money you’ll increase both the herb and the salt on the second try).<br />
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Once you have your seasoning sorted, you can roll and prepare another flatbread in the time it takes to bake one. Once you get into a groove, you’ll be able to make about 20 breads in a hour.<br />
These breads are terrific alone, or with dip. I really like white bean dip, squash dip, or hummous, but baba ganoush, bruschetta, or just about anything else is great. Or eat them plain, because they really are delicious, with a pleasantly wheaty flavour<br />
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Enjoy!Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-35334365732743144112011-03-18T10:02:00.000-04:002011-03-18T10:05:51.885-04:00St. Patrick's Day, Ma, Marc, Getting off my ButtI can't believe it's Friday of march break already! It went by too fast. <br />
<br />
I have a couple of things on my mind today.<br />
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St. Patrick's Day<br />
<br />
First, yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. Normally on St. Patrick's Day, I think of my grandmother (Ma), who used to call SPD "my day". Her maiden name was Hennessey and she was of Irish extraction. I go the impression that SPD reminded her of her father, as she would often mention him in the same context.<br />
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I found myself thinking of Marc Rigby, as well. St. Patrick's Day was his favourite holiday after Christmas. He would take the day off work, along with anybody else he could convince and find an Irish Pub with good music and show up for opening. We went to Slainte in Hamilton many times. He would drink copious amounts of Guiness and sing his brains out. Typically we would stay until the bar closed - I would be the DD. The next morning, Marc would go to work as normal. I never saw him acknowledge a hangover. <br />
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The loss of a friend you don't see too often is hard to get one's head around. It doesn't affect my everyday life in the sense that he seems "missing" because he wasn't part of my daily life any more. But he comes to mind often. I'll be thinking about a menu for a dinner and need a specific recipe. I'll think to myself "I'll just email Marc, he has it" or "what was the name of that restaurant in Rome? Marc will know." And then it will hit me like cold water that he's gone.<br />
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When my grandparents died, I learned that "time DOES NOT, in fact, heal all wounds". Certainly the loss doesn't hurt any less. It seems to me that it just hurts less often. But on the occasions when the grief and loss surge, it hurts just as much.<br />
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Physical<br />
One of my March Madness activities was to go to the doctor and get my yearly physical. I really like my new doctor. She actually talks to you like you are an intelligent human being and spends more than two minutes. I'm in overall excellent health except for one concern, which is that my blood pressure is a little high. We talked about it at length and decided that we might move on drugs eventually, but that for now, I was going to focus on diet and exercise. <br />
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Does it sound weird to say that I'm glad this little kick in the ass happened? I've been sitting on my butt since school started in September. My eating is excellent except for my after school snack. I'm ravinous when I get home and will eat anything and too much of it! So my eating strategy will be to have a protein smoothy when I get home, and to decrease the carbs in dinner slightly. That should make a significant difference, because otherwise, all I eat is lots of veg, a little low GI fruit and moderate amounts of protein.<br />
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It's exercise where I really need to make some changes. In other words, I have to do some! I decided to do a month of reconditioning - walking for two weeks, then walking and short weight workout for the next two weeks. After that I'll do a six month program - I have the precision nutrition exercise program for seven months, so I'll use that. I really like weight lifting, and will simply have to fit it in!<br />
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That's all for now.Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-71613111527559363512011-03-09T17:11:00.000-05:002011-03-09T17:11:45.413-05:00Round up!<strong>Garden</strong><br />
<br />
I’ve been thinking about my garden. I know! There is still snow on the ground, but lots of my vegetable seeds say to plant them inside 8 weeks before last frost. I think that’s now-ish.<br />
<br />
We had such success last year that we are slightly expanding our operations. I am planning to add 6 vats for a total of 21, as well as increasing my upside-down-tomato quota.<br />
<br />
I acquired seeds this weekend, and have added a couple new types of peppers and tomatos, as well as okra and runner beans. We decided not to go with kohlrabi and cauliflower this year, as the cauliflower didn’t do well, and I don’t really like kohlrabi after all.<br />
<br />
So I got some little miniature greenhouses and plan to plant my seeds this weekend for those things that should be planted in advance.<br />
<br />
I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens in our flower garden this year as well. We planted almost 400 bulbs in the fall – tulips, hyacinth, crocus, daffies, poppies, and lilies, as well as more peonies, hosta and astilbe. So every day I go outside and look to see if any of the crocus have come up. I guess it’s a bit early, but I live in hope.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>School</strong><br />
<br />
I’m still enjoying being a teacher. Things are pretty busy, but I find if I stay focused I only rarely have to bring any work home. One thing I like about my school is that it is so small that I don’t have to wait my turn to participate in things. For example, this year I am leading the yearbook club. In most schools, there would be someone there who has been in charge of yearbook for the last 9 years, and no-one else would get a turn until that person retired in 2025. <br />
<br />
I’ve also taken a leadership in a role on: we are doing a number of initiatives that will (if all goes as planned) lead to fewer suspensions and less violence and bullying in the school. I have two programs that we are currently training teachers on; we are piloting this spring and doing a full on roll out in the fall. The initiatives are Restorative Practices and Student Mediation. I have been using Restorative Practices in my classroom since semester change and in two of my classes it is working brilliantly. Less so in the third class – or it may just be it is taking the kids longer to come around. Even in the third class, the relationships aer slowly forming.<br />
<br />
Speaking of my classes, semester turn around is a HUGE trauma. I know it is hard for the students, but I didn’t expect it to be so hard for me. Who knew it would be so hard to get used to a new group of kids? I feel like I was starting to make some genuine headway with the kids I had, and boom, I have new ones to break in!<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>March Break</strong><br />
<br />
People have this idea that teachers have lots of “holidays” but allow me to put it all in perspective. While I do get lots of time off, I don’t get paid for it. <br />
<br />
Nevertheless HURRAY!!!! MARCH BREAK IN TWO DAYS!!!!<br />
<br />
My plan is to have a lunch here and there with a few friends, perhaps a date with my beloved husband if he can swing a day off, and plenty of sleeping late and sitting around doing as little as possible.<br />
<br />
<strong>Cooking</strong><br />
<br />
The only thing I’ve cooked lately that is interesting is Sardinian Flatbread, which turned out brilliantly. I’ll do another post on it – with a picture.<br />
<br />
That’s all I really have time for now. I have a Community Council meeting in a few minutes.Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-73999790511670059772011-02-06T12:47:00.000-05:002012-08-05T12:57:35.484-04:00Yorkshire PuddingMy good friend Adena posted a picture of my Yorkshire Pudding recently in her amazing blog <a href="http://needagoal.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-hell-does-defenestrate-mean-emz.html">she said I need a goal</a>, along with threats if I didn't post more often, so I thought I would post my recipe.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Candace's Yorkshire Pudding</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wOm44QL2iDfeyTBirtpcIQW-NH1RGqboXL0Eqwp59-_CCq-rDTtsfYtP3hQA8_nGUkCl5IF7JN8sob1ozLwJ6FmTJoxFD-ovv8AJtThdchiEUdsc1sjNnklTiYFsjjeiQwkKv05yWPMz/s1600/yorkshire+puddings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wOm44QL2iDfeyTBirtpcIQW-NH1RGqboXL0Eqwp59-_CCq-rDTtsfYtP3hQA8_nGUkCl5IF7JN8sob1ozLwJ6FmTJoxFD-ovv8AJtThdchiEUdsc1sjNnklTiYFsjjeiQwkKv05yWPMz/s400/yorkshire+puddings.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>To make one tray of Yorkshire puddings. To double, double all ingredients including milk, then add another generous blurp of milk.<br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 cup flour<br />
1 cup eggs (about 4 large eggs)<br />
1 cup whole milk<br />
dash of salt<br />
<br />
Instructions:<br />
Put the ingredients in a large measuring cup and whisk until smooth.<br />
<br />
Leave on the counter and do something else for at least half a hour.<br />
<br />
When ready to cook;<br />
Turn on oven as hot as possible. I set mine on the convection setting at 500 degrees F.<br />
<br />
While the oven is heating up, add a half teaspoon of duck or goose fat to each cup in your pudding tray. What!? you don't have a dedicated Yorkshire pudding pan!? Are you crazy? Buy one here: <a href="http://www.goldaskitchen.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=2345&step=4">Golda's Kitchen</a>.<br />
<br />
What else!? You don't have a supply of duck or goose fat to hand? sigh. Whenever you cook duck or goose, cut off the excess fat and skin and throw them in a freezer bag. When you have some time (maybe the same day you are making stock with the duck and goose bones you saved), thaw the fat and skin, cut it into strips, put it in a wok or saucepan and cook it on medium until the fat is completely rendered out. The skin will be crisp and golden and is now referred to as "cracklings". Scoop the cracklings out with a slotted spoon, salt them and let drain on some paper towel. Eat the cracklings. The fat and salt may stop your heart, but I promise you'll die of pleasure. Put the rendered fat in a tupper and store in the fridge forever. Duck/goose fat can be heated to unbelievably high temperatures without smoking, so it's perfect for Yorkshires. It makes the most amazing fluffy-on-the-inside-crispy-on-the-outside roasted potatoes. I also use it to make Duck Confit once a year - a highlight of my culinary calendar. I'll write about that on another day!<br />
<br />
Back to the Yorkshires: Put the pudding tray in the hot oven and let it and the fat heat up for about ten minutes. It needs to be smoking hot (but not so smoking it sets off the fire alarm!)<br />
<br />
Just before the trays are ready, give the Yorkshire batter another good whisk.<br />
<br />
Open the oven door and pull out the shelf with the tray on it. Quickly pour the batter into each cup, filling each about half way. Don't be alarmed if it sizzles and spurts. As soon as you are done your pour, push the shelf back in and close the oven. The whole pouring process should take less than 15 seconds so the oven doesn't cool down too much.<br />
<br />
Turn on the oven light so you can watch and fret about whether your puddings are rising properly. Don't open the oven door to check on them.<br />
<br />
After 5 minutes, turn down the oven to 425.<br />
<br />
They take about 20 minutes.<br />
<br />
The perfect Yorkshire pudding has a nice high rise, a golden brown colour, a crisp outer shell, a large hollow for sauce in the center and about a tablespoon of soft eggy custard at the bottom or along one of the sides.<br />
<br />
Yum.Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-45863289876576835132011-02-06T11:16:00.000-05:002012-04-24T14:10:32.139-04:00Travels with MarcThere is more than one kind of journey. There's the literal kind, where you get a on a plane or a train, or in a car, and you actually go somewhere. There's also the metaphorical kind, where you share a long experience of life with someone and where you also end up somewhere other than where you started, but you get there by living, rather than by driving.<br />
<br />
I had forgotten about how much I cherish these metaphorical journeys - how much I love and appreciate the people I make them with. They didn't do anything to make me forget about how much they mattered. We all just get caught up in the journey itself - life - and the next thing you know, a year has gone by and then boom! Something happens to remind you.<br />
<br />
A couple weeks ago, a good friend of mine died of cancer. His name was Marc Rigby. I'd known him for more than 15 years, and at times it is so hard for me to comprehend that he is really gone. He was a truly good friend and I will miss him for all of my days.<br />
<br />
I last saw him during the Christmas holidays. We were to meet for lunch, but for the second time his chemo treatment ran over and I ended up just keeping him company at Mt. Sinai in the out-patient chemo room. I was shocked when I saw him. His face had taken on that skeletal quality that I have associated with someone who will be dead soon for as long as I can remember. Yet it never occurred to to me that Marc would actually die. Marc wasn't a dier. It would be bad for a while, then he would get better. He always got better. But this time he didn't.<br />
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<br />
<br />
At the funeral, I was in a weird shocked place. I couldn't recall any good stories or special memories about Marc.I would listen to others talk about him and think to myself "Right! I was there for that!" but I, who had spent so much time with him, couldn't come up with anything.<br />
<br />
But the paralysis is fading from my brain and I find myself thinking about him often. So I thought I would write down those memories and share them over the next couple months. In no particular order.<br />
<br />
Here is a picture of Marc in Paris, which I'm not writing about in this installment. But Marc liked elephants and I like this picture, so here it is.<br />
<br />
I think the sheer funnest trip Marc and I ever went on together was to Nashville. This trip was a freebee for us, as he had won it by entering a contest. Marc had a thing about contests and entered a whole slew of them every week. He won Raclette grills and shampoo baskets, dinners out, movies, and two trips. Nashville was one.<br />
<br />
The Nashville trip was four days. We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland hotel, which even for us jaded travelers was truly a sight to see in itself. We spent half a day just exploring the hotel! Our main purpose was to attend a Patsy Cline tribute at the Grand Ole Opry, which we enjoyed hugely. During the days we did the usual tourist stuff including spending literally four hours in the Dolly Parton display at the Country Music Museum. Marc LOVED Dolly Parton! His wacky side adored her schtick – the big blond wigs, the crazy froofroo dresses and the over the top make up. His love-of-music side totally respected her talent. He made me listen to dozens of songs before we could move on to Conway Twitty and eventually Elvis. We went to Studio B and saw the cupboard that Elvis punched through and sat on the red stool where Elvis, Patsy Cline and other great artists perched to make their famous recordings.<br />
<br />
But Marc's absolute favourite thing about Nashville was barhopping on Broadway. This was the Marc Rigby “perfect storm” of enjoyment. Plentiful and really inexpensive but decent beer, outstanding live music, people dressed up in strange outfits (in this case, like cowboys), dancing and people to talk to.<br />
<br />
Marc was a little shy about new people when he was sober, but he relaxed with every beer and eventually got positively friendly. He decided we were going to be British Anthropologists, observing and interacting with the natives. He does a passable British accent, certainly good enough to get by the native "Nashvillains". I look more Scots than British, so I adopted a broad Glaswegian brogue and entered into the spirit! Before the evening was over we’d listened to amazing country bands about 6 different bars, drunk about 15 beers (Marc drank 10, me 4 or 5). I was ready to fall down; Marc didn’t even show that he had been drinking), spent about $30 in total on food and drink, and collected enough information about the habits and rituals of the Nashvillains to write a PhD thesis.<br />
<br />
Another trip we went on due to a contest win was Japan. We flew into Tokyo, then moved on to Kyoto and then Hiroshima. In Tokyo, Marc had a chance to really and truly show off one of his huge talents. The streets in Tokyo are generally not named. Instead, each block has a name. As well, the buildings are numbered around the block, not in lowest to highest order, but in the order the various buildings were constructed. On top of it, most of the buildings were labeled in Japanese characters. I don’t have a very good sense of direction at the best of times, but Tokyo was impossible for me. From the moment I woke up until we returned to the hotel room at night, I had absolutely no idea where I was. Marc, on the other hand, had a brilliant sense of direction. We would take some crazy route through the subway system – maybe six different trains – and emerge in a completely new place. He would take a quick look around and lead us directly to wherever we were going. His sense of direction was like a comic book “superpower.”<br />
<br />
His superpower didn’t help us in Hiroshima at the Peace Gardens, although I think he did have a lifelong fantasy fulfilled there. We were in Japan in the tourist off-season and the Peace Museum and Garden was mostly filled with Japanese school children. There was a group of, I’d say seven year-olds, who were there with their teacher doing a project on International Communications. A group of five of them approached us. They were dressed in their school uniforms and looked very cute and solemn. “We are Japanese School Children,” they chanted in unison. “We are studying In-ter-nation-al Comm-un-i-ca-tions. May we ask you some questions?”<br />
<br />
They then went on, still chanting in unison, to ask us where we were from, why we were visiting Japan, about our families and so on. Then they gave us some bookmarks which they had made in their class as a small thank you gift. <br />
<br />
It didn’t take long for us to realize that aside from a Norwegian guy on the other side of the garden, we were the only foreigners in the Peace Garden. More and more children started crowding around us. After about 45 minutes of the same chanting and questions and bookmarks, we tried to leave, but they were desperate to finish their projects. We tried walking away, then running. It was like that scene in the Beatles movie when the fans are chasing the Beatles down the street. I have rarely seen Marc looking more sheerly gleeful than he did running down the roads of Hiroshima being chased by a mob of screaming fans. I think he always thought he deserved a mob of screaming fans, and since he finally had one, he was going to enjoy every minute of it!<br />
<br />
Actually, being mobbed by school children was a bit of a theme of our travels, since it also happened in Morocco. In one case, a school across the street from where we were eating some oranges let out for lunch and the kids were fascinated by my red hair. We ending up being rescued from a storm of young women and girls by the police! I think Marc was a bit jealous that he wasn't the centre of attention on that occasion, and since he always liked to be the centre of attention, he had to do something to make up for it. He decided his goal would be to blend in with the “natives”. He stopped shaving to enhance what he called his “swarthy attractions,” spoke only in French, and bought a fez, which he insisted on wearing everywhere. I didn’t think it was a flattering look on him, but he got a kick out of pretending to be an eccentric Moroccan. He also got a kick out of attempting to betroth my sister to an admittedly very handsome oriental carpet merchant, but alas, it didn't work out.<br />
<br />
Like most tourists in Morocco, were also inundated with requests to buy things. Still on the theme of being mobbed by children, we were approached wherever we went by dozens of children at a time trying to sell little animals made from folded up palm leaves. Marc decided to give the kids a hard time and made a bunch of “origami moose”. I put both “origami” and “moose” in quotation marks because…. Well, let’s just say that while Marc may have been capable of constructing a bacon hat, he wasn’t generally what anyone would call “artistic”. His “origami moose” looked more like a crumpled up candy wrapper than any form of either origami or wildlife. He got a huge kick out of offering these sorry excuses for art to the kids in exchange for their leaf animals. He would laugh himself silly at the looks of confusion and consternation that would come over their faces.<br />
<br />
More to come over the next weeks....Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-77815339489488474182010-12-08T17:11:00.000-05:002010-12-08T17:11:31.103-05:00Christmas is coming and my brain is too full. Maybe I can give some away...Marking<br />
I've just finished a pile of marking - mostly writing assignments. I have a facebook friend, Rory, who often complains about his marking. He is marking university level stuff, and while it doesn't seem to meet his standards, I say it's time to stop complaining. Try marking writing from Essential Level high school students! Is it even "writing"? Is it actually meant as communication? Who knows? I certainly don't. And then there is the problem of penmanship: It's no longer taught. My grade 11's were complaining today because they want me to print on the board because they can't read cursive.They also can't write cursive and their printing is darn iffy. I dream of having a job where assignments are typed! (Except I love the job I have!)<br />
<br />
Grading<br />
Report cards a couple weeks back. "Miss! I can't believe you passed me!" and just as likely, "Miss! I can't believe you failed me!" The kids fascinate me with their feelings that they have zero agency in the matter. I didn't pass or fail anyone. I simply wrote down the grade they earned. But they genuine seem to believe that I'm the one who decides who passes and who fails. They seem to have a mental block around the idea they decide for themselves. I need to work on this with them.<br />
<br />
PTA<br />
I have PTA tonight. We call it something else, but that's what it is. I find it really fun. Our parents are fantastic. Since our kids are all special needs kids, their parents are concerned about how to best make them successful. They particpate, they add value, and they are nice people. They don't complain that Susie won't get into medical school if she only gets an 89 in English! I'm looking forward to the meeting.<br />
<br />
Parent/Teacher Night<br />
Speaking of parents.... Parent/teacher night was an absolute blast. I got to rat out all the kids that are driving me crazy and praise the ones that are working hard. I got most of the parents' email addresses, so now I can send them the homework. Lots more of the homework is now, magically, getting done. The kids both hate it and seem to like it that I know their parents.<br />
<br />
Unit Tests<br />
Three weeks ago, I wrote the date of the unit test on the board in the "permanent" area. I pointed it out every single day for two weeks plus. Then, on Friday last week, we did a practice test and I reminded them that the test would be today. Monday we spent a whole period taking up the practice test in detail. And I reminded them the test would be today. Yesterday, we spent a whole period doing test prep, since from the practice test, they knew what they should study. And of course they were reminded that the test would be today.<br />
<br />
I walked into the classroom today to be greeted by a scene of utter panic and mayhem. "Are you sure the test is today?" "What do you mean there is a test today?" "There can't be a test today!" "Oh my GOD!!!! There's a test today!" "There's Miss! Miss, Miss! is the test today?"<br />
<br />
Bang head against desk.<br />
<br />
Christmas<br />
I have a tree. A nice tree. I've had it since Saturday and it remains greenly naked. But in my mind, it is covered in lights and decorations. Maybe this weekend.<br />
<br />
Christmas Baking<br />
I haven't done any. And I'm starting to (slowly and reluctantly) come to the conclusion that I may not be doing any. Here's the problem: since going back to work, I've fallen in love with the idea of resting on the weekends. I know it's radical. But the lure of the crackling fireplace, a glass of wine, my beloved's company and perhaps a good book is simply too extreme to ignore. But it won't feel like Christmas if I don't fit in at least a minor frenzy, so maybe I'll get in the spirit a bit more once my Christmas holidays start. At the end of next week. Thank you OSSTF!<br />
<br />
Christmas Shopping<br />
Thanks to the miracle of the internet, this is actually going a bit better than my tree and baking. I don't have to leave the comfort of my fireplace, wine and man to shop. I just pull out the iPad and away I don't go. I have just four gifts left. Two to order and two I have to physically go looking for.<br />
<br />
Christmas Eve Dinner<br />
We are having it at Laura's since my house is too far away. I think it should be good as usual. This year we are having fish for the main, which is a bit of a departure, but every year the meal gets lighter. Well, except for last year, but that was because of an unfortunate calculation error with the amount of beef short rib I cooked. At least it was fabulous, if a little "in excess" of what was needed.<br />
<br />
The Shortbread Adventure<br />
A couple weeks ago I was driving down Carlaw and saw a little tent sign at the entrance to an alley for what appeared to be a shortbread store. On Saturday, I mentioned it yet again to Jeff, who suggested we stop. We pulled into the alley, which was indeed alley-ish and not very promising as a source of shortbread. I got out fo the car and look around, and through a rather grimy basement window, I saw what appears to be someone in a baking hat. I spotted a fire door, so I went into the building, down a flight of concrete stairs, and I did indeed find a bakeshop. A marvellous bakeshop where they make the most wonderful shortbread! The retail space consists of a basket with shortbread in it, but the smells are terrific and the shortbread is to die for. One thing I love is savoury shortbread. I bought some of the Stilton and Rosemary flavour and it was great. I plan to use it as a base for my Savoury Shortbread with Carmelized Onion and Creme Fraiche hors d'oeuvres on Christmas Eve. This is one reason I think I may not bake. Solutions are being provided! Hello Coach House Short Bread Company!<br />
<br />
I'm not really done, but I have to go. I will try to post more often!Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-8082887259566137752010-10-27T14:44:00.000-04:002010-10-27T14:44:59.604-04:00The Saga Continues<div class="MsoNormal">Hard to believe its already the end of October. I meant to write something every week, but the time has really gotten away from me.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve been thinking about my new career a lot – as one might expect. Mostly, as I’ve already posted, I’m finding it really fun. But I’ve been at it long enough to be able to recognize some downsides as well. </div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve developed one huge peeve. We have a union (OSSTF) meeting every Tuesday morning prior to the weekly staff meeting. I was frankly shocked at the amount of whining that goes on over unbelievably small things. I never really believed the reputation teachers have for being big crybabies, but these meetings are truly absurd. Can you imagine a software developer saying that “you only gave Bob 8 database objects – I got 9. It isn’t fair! WAAAAA!” or “Jim took 32 minutes for lunch. I only took 29. The company owes me 3 minutes! WAAAAA!” Truly this is the level of the complaining, and a surprisingly large number of people get in on it. I find it extremely unprofessional. And irritating! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So I haven’t been going to union meetings. I find each one I go to leaves me with less respect for my colleagues than before.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Although I just said that I find myself in a state of declining respect for (some) colleagues, I also crave their company. One thing I didn’t expect, given how much time every day I spend with students, is that teaching is a lonely job. Often I don’t see other adults all day. I like the kids, but my relationship with them is not collaborative in any way, even when it is. Does that make any sense? When I’m working with the kids, I get satisfaction from helping them learn, but isn’t the same as that teamy rush you get by working 18 hours a day for weeks to meet a deadline. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Professionally, I am used to very, very intense teamwork. Even working at home, I was in constant communication and collaboration with other people all day every day, and in the office it was always a mob scene. Every single thing was done with a team, or with a team of teams. It’s not like this at all at school. I see a couple colleagues regularly. But I simply chat a little with them, then go back to my own work. I never create things or make decisions with other people. It’s quite a different model. I remember the sheer bliss of having a door to close at the office. I would be exhausted from the effort of having to deal with people, people, people all day long. Now, I find I miss the contact, the connection, and especially the feeling of shared accomplishment.</div>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673314602192665092.post-18491219752986796902010-09-26T14:30:00.000-04:002010-09-26T14:30:00.515-04:00I’m not sure what week it is…<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I was going to start this post with a title, “Week 2 in Teacher Land”, but then, I thought, maybe it’s week 3…or possibly week 4? The sad truth is I don’t have a calendar handy and I have no idea what the date is!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What do I want to say about being a teacher? Well. First, it’s the funnest job in the world. I am SO GLAD I made this career change. I feel like I’m making an important contribution to the world, rather than just laboring to make money for someone else making stuff that no-one really needs, wants or cares about. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That sound so cynical, and isn’t really fair. I spent many years making software when it was fun, and people did want what we were building. But the last project I did before I decided I was done was figure out how we could add an advertisement to all text messages using the space leftover after the message. Nobody wants ads on their text messages – except advertisers. What a waste of my life to make something so very unwanted.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Back to my new job…. It’s taken me a couple weeks (however many!) to figure out how not to have to spend every night doing prep until after 11 pm. The trick is to have a plan so you know what you’re teaching this week and this month. As I said in a previous entry, I didn’t even know what I was teaching when I arrived for my first day, and it’s taken some time to figure out what I’m doing. But I think I’m mostly there. My goal is to have my next whole units ready to go before I start teaching them. Then all I’ll have to do is worry about marking.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The kids are by far the best part of the job. Most are great. They are hilariously funny – although I don’t think they mean to be! They are also moody and sometimes difficult. I’ve only had one “incident” so far, and I’m pleased with how I handled it, and how I felt afterwards. Even though I was a little shaken up, I didn’t have any lasting bad feelings about the student or the incident. I think all the corporate nonsense I endured during my previous life has left me with a pretty thick skin.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve taken on a couple responsibilities in addition to my teaching. As the English Teacher (I’m the only one teaching English full time. All other English classes are being taught by teachers who teach one English in addition to whatever else they teach), I was asked to take on the after-school literacy program. That’s an hour one night per week, so it isn’t too onerous. As well, the principal thinks I’m a good candidate for administration (becoming a principal) given my previous experience and has made some mentoring available. I have no idea whatsoever what direction my education career is going to go. Right now, I’m focused on doing a good job in the classroom and I’m finding that plenty interesting and challenging enough. But I don’t want to turn down now an opportunity I may want later, so I accepted her offer and joined the leadership program. For this year, all I am doing is helping out with the Parent Council, which is only 5 meetings this year and attending the monthly leadership program meetings. As time goes on, I’ll decide whether I want to build a resume filled with school, community and board level activities that might lead to an administration job. I’m not too keen at the moment, but I know myself, and I do get bored of the same job day in day out so I want to keep my options open.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I just checked the calendar and it’s the end of week three. It feels like three days have passed rather than three weeks!</div>Candace Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04003192470905035458noreply@blogger.com1