Friday, November 25, 2011

Sydney the Turkey Genius

The cooks: Carey, me, Maggie

Oh, Thanksgiving...a day where misadventures are behind every oven door and hidden around every corner, and it is your job to avoid what you can.  I just wanna say that I think we did a damn good job. Accept for the part where Maggie started a grease fire...oh wait...that was today.

   The venue: Our house
   The guests:  9 orphans plus me, my sister, and Maggie
   The food:  We provide turkey, stuffing, and gravy
   The plan: Eat, drink, dance, and be merry

   The cooking started at 10am with Maggie in charge of gluten-free stuffing, and Carey mixing together whatever she grabbed from her place and hoping for something good (spoiler alert, it was a sort of veggie casserole...and it was tasty).  I put myself in charge of cleaning and re-arranging of furniture for ultimate danceability (plus, the table was cozier over by the wood-burning stove).  Took some breaks for happy holiday phone calls and belated birthday wishes, then took the outdoorsy role of chopping wood to keep our guests warm.
   1130, time to start the turkey.  Oh, turkey, how we fear you.  Turkey, of whom horrors have been told and shared for centuries.  I approached this turkey, who I named Max, with respect and awe, in hopes that the end result would be kind and delicious.  We poured out the brine for a rinse in the sink and I was forced to violate the orifices of our center piece to make sure all was clean and dry.  Next step, stuffing with veggies.  So many "that's what she said" jokes were told, but cannot be retold for fear of vengeance from the Turkey Gods.  Let's just say, you need to start with smaller pieces before you shove in the big onion and oranges.  To the oven with you!
   By now the beverages are beginning to flow as we prepared for our guests and found some good music.  the wind and rain were picking up, but we were mighty toasty inside.  Carey's casserole was coming along nicely, and Maggie started the veggie gravy for our vegetarian friends.
Yay!
   First roasting period has ended, time to flip Max over.  I am wearing the jacket because the recipe warned of hot juices.  The turkey looked tasty thus far, just needed to brown the underside and do some basting. Let me take this time to tell you about our shopping trip on Monday for the delicious foodies.  After finding a turkey (12.5 lbs of free-range goodness) we realized we were missing the vital cooking tools; roasting pan, turkey baster, brining bag, twine.  It became very obvious to everyone that this was our first time cooking a turkey.  Go us! So, with Max flipped we began the basting and second roasting period.  We were on time!! Unfortunately, our guests were not.
   Turkey was done, stuffing was done, casserole dish thing was done, veggie gravy was done...now for the meat gravy! Had to call my dad for this one. But you know, not too hard to make.  Here is where one misadventure began.  The food was done, we were hungry, and no one was there to eat with us!  I'm sure the food may have been just a LITTLE bit better if it had been served above room temperature.  Because even when people did show up...there was still food they needed to make...what were you peoples doing all day?!  Oh well, the drinks were flowing, so all was well.
The Masterpiece
   As we sat down to eat it was decided that this Orphan Thanksgiving was going to be just as cheesy as any other.  Indeed, we said what we were thankful for.  Because of monsoon season outside, many were thankful for a warm fire with lots of food and friends galore (even some new friends!).  The feast was delicious, the friends were bountiful, and the conversations kept the night interesting.  There was some talk of a dance party, but it was all big talk for those people as they decided to play games or sit and knit.  Bah, a perfectly good dance floor gone to waste.  No matter, there was some solo dancing to burn some turkey calories.  I believe many a bonding moment occurred for those at Orphan Thanksgiving.  I think the highlight of the night was just after we finished eating and all fell into a food coma thinking it was somewhere around 9 or 10pm.  But wait, we started eating at 5 and its only been an hour! Curse you dark skies and full bellies!  We managed to rally to about 11, then our house slowly dwindled to its original occupancy.  I was a little sad that our floors were not covered with drunks.
   Overall the night was a great success.  Yet, somehow, I woke up with a sprained wrist.

A Very Happy Birthday!

   I woke up Wednesday morning to pancakes in bed and my lovely lady friend singing Happy Birthday to me.  I should give credit to my mom and say that my first wake up was a Happy Birthday song phone call at 6am.  Coffee was waiting and music was playing, and my Danish host families had all wished me a Happy Birthday on good 'ole Facebook.  After waking up a bit we started a wonderful dance party in the living room while it drizzled a rain that was slightly less cold than the day before.  Borrowed Maggie's car for work while I blasted to more dancable music on my way to work.  I made my rounds of hellos to teachers and was surprised by a very large birthday doughnut.  No thank you, Mrs. Eggleston, not until I work through the sugar from those pancakes.  Walk to my desk to discover a huge box of chocolates on my desk and a poster sized birthday card, signed by students, hanging on the wall.  Not more sugar!  But, thank you very much, socially awkward custodian, Jim. 
I know, its spelled wrong
   I love working in a school because you get so many Birthday wishes!  But trying to work with a group of kindergartners on the last day of school before break while I am distracted by the fun that lay ahead...not a good mix.  Although I was able to guilt-trip them into being nice by telling them they had to be nice on my birthday.  Then I discovered the monstrously sizes chocolate cake waiting for me in the staff room.  Ahhhh!!  Calm yourself, belly, we will find real food first.
   I was told I had to wait 15 minutes before going to my next classroom (gee, I wonder whats goin' down), so I played some computer games instead.  As I walked into said classroom I see the students all quietly doing there work, nothing amiss, until I notice the confetti covering the floor right in front of me.  My curiosity tells me to look up, and what should catch my eye?  A paper package, which my intuition is telling me has been filled with some surprise confetti, attached to a string heading towards the side of the door, held by the hand of a student...oh Matthew.  I gather my courage and take a step forward, awaiting the shower of hole-punch confetti, and all the kids yell "Surprise!" before bombarding me with quickly made birthday cards.  "Here, here, take mine!" I would, friends, but the glue is still drying and I am not letting go of the coffee.  They kindly placed them on a table instead and waited as I opened each and every one of them.  As I read the cards (you guys are awesome) they started shoving cookies in my face and telling me that they weren't allowed to eat theirs until I took the first bite...but I'm still suffering from my birthday doughnut! 
Little Bro
   I managed to survive the day until about 3pm during a meeting with my site supervisors and my WRC supervisor.  I finally had a piece of cake, then ran to hang out with a student during his 10 minutes of earned free time, only to make the dreadful mistake of letting him spin me in a swing.  The cake has not looked the same since (thankfully I did not puke).  After the meeting that took forever, I went to pick up my "Little Brother" (Big Brothers Big Sisters style) for a birthday dinner at Vic's Pizza.  I had to stop for some mint tea to calm my tummy first, and it worked.  Little Man gave me a bag filled with super random gifts, and was so happy to hang out for my birthday.  Love that guy.
     The day ended with adult beverages at my favorite establishment, the East Side Tavern, with my wonderful AmeriCorps friends and sister in tow.  A fun way to end one of the best birthdays ever!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Sydney the Event Coordinator

   Let me start by saying, holy smokes I did it!  Last night was my first Family Reading Night for my Washington Reading Corps site.  What is Washington Reading Corps you ask?  Well let me tell you.  I am lucky enough (except for living below the poverty line) to be working for AmeriCorps.  What is AmeriCorps? Shame on you for asking. Well I was hired through AmeriCorps to work with the WRC, which means I am now working as a reading tutor/volunteer recruiter/event coordinator at L.P. Brown Elementary School in Olympia.  I work with small reading groups in Kindergarten, and 3rd and 4th grade.  I started up a lunch time reading group, have been constantly recruiting volunteers for the 3rd-5th grade classrooms, and hang out with an awesome teacher during her class' reading time.  So far it has been a great learning experience...and my mom was right...I should work in the schools. 
   Back to the beginning.  Another part of my job is to plan a couple of family reading nights for the school; which is what I've been doing for the last month or so.  There is a lot of planning involved in such a simple 1 hour event.  I spent hours handing out donation letters, calling people back to collect the donations, and making sure I have volunteers to help me out.  The theme: "Choose Your Own Adventure".  The idea: three rooms with different adventure stories read aloud in each.  Wild West, Mummies, and Pirates, oh my!  I had some awesome support from teachers who read some stories, and even stole my lovely girlfriend for some read aloud as well.  Then she grew something fearful of SkippyJon Jone's and handed it off the Jess to read a couple of times.  Managed to draw up some decorations in time and had some killer organic cookies donated from a cool lady who owns 8 Arms Bakery.  75 people (40 kids) showed up and all had a blast. Which relieved the knots in my tummy (and they were promptly replaced by eating too many cookies).  Parents even told me they would come to next one...which means I have to plan a next one...hmmmmm. 
   Lessons learned: have a more established mingle area for families as they arrive and start the hot chocolate a little bit earlier.  I guess I can't really call this a misadventure.  Shucks.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Hello World (and my first trip to the Washington Coast)

This is me
Let's start this out the way everyone does, why am starting a blog now?  After moving out of yet another town, there are too many people to keep updated on my adventures, and I haven't been journaling much lately...so this seemed a happy medium.  Plus, people here get sick of hearing the same stories over and over again. Let's start with the latest misadventure.


  It all started last Thursday night, somewhere between 1130 and midnight.  Jess, Brian and I had a fun freezing camping trip planned for the weekend, and Brian and I were too excited to wait till morning to leave.  We dragged Jess out and got an earful for that one. After almost running out gas, almost hitting a dear, rocking out to some old school hip hop, and watching crazy trucker drivers....we made it to the parking lot at 5am...only to sleep until 1pm.  But that worked out for the best because we managed to wake up to sunshine!  Hiked in the 3 miles to Cape Alava (the Western most edge of the contiguous 48 states!) and set up camp before exploring the beach.  Great weather all afternoon and evening, but no hopes for a good fire. That wind was impressive, the type that lets you lean into it and feel like you're Kate Winslet in Titanic.

This is my crew for Misadventure #1
   Woke up to drizzle the next morning so packed up our gear before exploring up coast a little ways.  Found the abandoned Makah Ranger Station on the Ozette reservation, and paid homage to the old village site of the Ozette nation.  The site was marked by a worn down wooden shack filled with bones from sea animals and necklaces, and a bronze sign.  The whole thing made for a humbling shelter from the wind and stood guard over the sacred island of Tskawayah (which I tried to walk out to, but the tide said "nay").  We also saw a coyote, which I'm convinced was the look out for the island.
  Back to camp to grab our gear and begin the 3 mile hike down the coast at high tide to reach Sand Point.  Easy right?! Beautiful, windy, chilly, wet, hard work...and I pulled my quad. But I tore it while climbing up and down some crazy rope course type hills to avoid high tide.  The injury may also have happened while I squatted to get under massive tree trunks on the beach (but that doesn't sound as cool).  Got to see a few petroglyphs, but the camera was hidden in a nice dry spot in Jess' pack so I will not be able to share them with you.  My apologies.
  We took a good 20 minutes to pick a camp site when we finally made it to Sand Point, but found something we thought might be safe from the wind.  Explored some more after a little make shift ground cover turned rain fly.  Then the wind went crazy.  We climbed a big grass covered rock, making sure to hold on tight, and leaned 45 degrees into the wind.  Weeeeee!!! Brian decided to wuss out while Jess and I explored another weird rock that you can only get to during low tide. While I jumped from kelp covered rock to kelp covered rock Jess made a good observation "Syd, you're like a puppy who needs to be taken on more walks".  Agreed.  But, we saw Sea Otters!!!
  Then we discovered just how non water-proof our rain gear really was.  Dinner was cooked just outside the tent while we all tried to dry off and stay warm.  Our entertainment consisted of UNO, patty-cake, and way too many pictures of goofy faces and up close face shots.  Then the worst night sleep I have had in far too long. You know its bad when you wake up and consistently hope that morning has arrived.  The wind...the WIND!!
  630 am wake up (or something) and we made pancakes!!!  The easiest 3 mile hike through coastal rain forest as Jess obsessed about mushrooms, Brian smoked more cigarettes, and I...don't remember what I did. And then I got to put on dry socks!!!!  The ride back consisted of two more highlights, I almost broke the car because Brian did not warn me about his finicky car alarm and not opening the door from the inside while its locked. All went well, then we got to pick up some hitch-hikers...yay! They were coming from Occupy Victoria to hit up Occupy Seattle, so we got some good stories from them.  Great people, and Star can play some mean banjo.  Then home.
  Well that ends Misadventure #1.