Life has been kind of busy for the past week. I am still working on the Canvas shell curriculum for 9th grade. The team I'm working with is a good one. We have been able to cooperate, and negotiate and suffer through our learning the Canvas platform together. I think we are creating something we can be proud of, despite the inevitable push-back we will get from teachers who don't want to do what we created... and wouldn't want to do anything anyone else created, either. I hope that those teachers who - like those of us on the team - are struggling with being overwhelmed with teaching online only, health concerns about COVID-19 and everything else that we would be overwhelmed by as the beginning of school nears, will appreciate that we have created some curriculum that they can run with. There is room to individualize to the strengths and teaching styles of individual teachers, and we are also being careful to include options to fit a diverse student population. I'm pretty proud of the work we are doing, and I will be much less stressed being familiar with the curriculum ahead of time, and being more familiar with how it will work in canvas.
Last week, I also started some professional development with NMSI. It is geared to getting students ready for AP classes, so I'm working with strategies to get students doing some higher level thinking. My colleagues who did the training last year came back with some useful strategies, and I am being introduced to them this year online. I know I will benefit from the training, but there is a "conflict" as well. Not exactly a conflict per se, but here I am working on a curriculum that everyone in the district at the 9th grade English level will theoretically use. AND I'm learning strategies that (should?/shouldn't?) be used by "everyone." I feel like they are best practice strategies, and I'll probably put in what I can at least as options/optional activities. I will be able to utilize them more - and willingly! - when we are back to regular school attendance.
By Friday, I was mentally exhausted, and took some time to do some sewing. I'm making some happy, colorful masks for my best friend's younger daughter to take to college in a few weeks. I also made a fabric basket for her to keep them in. Actually I made two, but the first one was rather larger than I really had in mind. Here's the set so far...
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| Fall semester mask starter set |
I have two more masks to finish and send along. I may send the bigger basket along, if she wants it. The green one is 6 inch squares, while the elephants are 8 inch squares. The elephant basket is bigger than the box I'm using for mailing, but it would squish down and mail just fine.
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| Elephants marching |
I have to say I enjoyed the sewing time. The masks come together quickly at this point, as much practice as I've had. I could accomplish something that didn't take too much brainwork.
The other project I worked on this past weekend was baking pies. I have a good crust recipe - two actually - passed down from the grandparents. One makes 3 crusts, and the other makes 5. I made the three crusts, and two of them went to make an apple pie. Ron really enjoyed the first one, and requested another. Now that I've been practicing more in the kitchen, these crusts turned out generally better than the first batch.
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| Crumbly crust apple pie |
The last crust was for an experimental tomato pie. I've been wanting to make a tomato pie since my aunt shared that she made one last year, and how good it was! I went searching for a recipe, and found on on the Food Network website. This is the one I made, from Paula Deen. It was pretty easy to follow, generally and here's my tomato pie...
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| tomato pie fresh from the oven |
It turned out tasty and delicious. But I had moisture issues. I let the tomatoes drain like she said, but they were still pretty wet. I think letting them sit on paper towels might work better than the colander she suggests. Tomatoes can be pretty wet, generally. The topping is one cup of cheddar (I probably used a little more), one cup of mozzarella (again, I probably used a little more) combined with one cup of mayonnaise (I think I could have used a little less). The topping is reminiscent of the way my family makes pimiento cheeses, and I'm not sure this recipe would suffer from pimiento cheese on top, actually.
Carl and I discussed it, after he tried some of it, and we also thought, especially if you have to use store-bought tomatoes instead of garden fresh, that a few sliced up sun dried tomatoes in the mix might brighten up the flavor a bit, and maybe the dried tomatoes would soak up a bit of the moisture. We also thought that adding some sliced mushrooms would be tasty and also soak up some moisture. See, there are variations that need to be tested! Now, if only Ron and Raine would eat tomato pie AT ALL. Once the pie was cooled, I put it in the fridge, and carefully poured off the juice in the bottom of the pie pan. The pie was firmer after some time in the fridge, so it cut more easily and didn't fall apart like the first slice did. It warmed up nicely in the microwave in about a minute, and was yummy even a couple of days later. Perhaps like many dishes, it tasted better having had time to meld the flavors together.
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| the slice? not so pretty, but tasty! |
Carl and I discussed it, after he tried some of it, and we also thought, especially if you have to use store-bought tomatoes instead of garden fresh, that a few sliced up sun dried tomatoes in the mix might brighten up the flavor a bit, and maybe the dried tomatoes would soak up a bit of the moisture. We also thought that adding some sliced mushrooms would be tasty and also soak up some moisture. See, there are variations that need to be tested! Now, if only Ron and Raine would eat tomato pie AT ALL. Once the pie was cooled, I put it in the fridge, and carefully poured off the juice in the bottom of the pie pan. The pie was firmer after some time in the fridge, so it cut more easily and didn't fall apart like the first slice did. It warmed up nicely in the microwave in about a minute, and was yummy even a couple of days later. Perhaps like many dishes, it tasted better having had time to meld the flavors together.
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