Food for Thought: Family Recipes

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

Corned beef and cabbage will be what's on the menu for many people next Thursday as they celebrate their Irish heritage.  It is one of the few days of the year that I make it too. Some of my family favorites hearken from our Irish American heritage.  Others from our Rhode Island roots such as clam cakes, not to be confused with crab cakes, more like a clam fritter.  Spiedies from our New York Binghamton roots might be on the menu too. A family favorite, however, that I don't make often is my Slovenian grandmother's halukis, known in some cultures as golabki, golumpkies, holubtsi,or golubtsy depending on which eastern European culture you hail from. In English, we call them cabbage rolls.  


I often see them on a menu at restaurants, especially Jewish delis, but I would never order them out. They aren't the same.  My family's twist is that it's a version of cabbage rolls made with sauerkraut and no tomatoes or tomato sauce at all. It's the kind of meal like lasagna which tastes even better the next day. It is also a labor intensive recipe much like the Puerto Rican dish, sanchoco, that I will be learning how to make with my friend Lisa next Friday.  My family would make halukis once a year for my dad's birthday.  After his death, we rarely made it.  In fact, when I do make it now, I invite my friends' over.  These are the friend whom I have diligently research would like it, as they must be cabbage lovers.  I can count them on my hands and it isn't either of the two people I live with.  That night they get peanut butter and jelly.  I do foresee that the time is right soon to have friends' over for halukis to share.  
What are your family favorites that you like to eat or make when you are all together?

Summer Plans

Spring break is almost here which makes me turn mind toward summer and finalizing my plans.  This summer will be a little shorter. We will lose a week because we are starting a week earlier which will benefit us next year.  I will be working for a few more weeks because we are going 1:1 devices in all the high schools in our district.  I am making plans for camp for my daughter. She goes to art camp each year for two weeks.  She has ballet camp and ballet class as well.  We will have my favorite 3 day weekends which will allow us time to retreat to the local beaches and springs.  I am also working crafting a travel plan.

In summers' past, we have cruised, snorkeled, spelunked, scalloped, followed The Walking Dead movie set trail, hiked the AT, whitewater rafted, and tubed.  Summer is about being outdoors for us and creating memories.  This year we will take our customary camping trip in the woods of the Appalachian Mountains, which means I still need to make my camping reservations for Elkmont.  We traditionally met up with my mom and friends have joined us too.  Hiking Abrams Falls as well as afternoon soaks are on the menu.  The beauty is that there is no technology.  No matter the destination, it isn't a vacation if I don't cut off completely from technology.

What are your summer plans or traditions?

Eye-Spy: King of the Morning

 1.  King of the morning, the Great Blue Heron. I netwalk with my friend and colleague Jen K each Sunday morning. We never know what we will see---otters, ducks, rabbits, snakes, and birds of all kinds.  This guy let us watch him for several minutes.  He was about as tall as my friend.  

2. Rocket Trail...one of the benefits of living in Central Florida.

3.  Imagine my surprise when the Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile turned into our parking lot one day after school.  I waited with baited breath.  It passed out school and I thought it might go into the park.  Turns out it was a wrong turn.  The funniest thing is what I overheard one of the high school students say.  I can't repeat it here, but it was evident she had never heard of the Wiener Mobile.  

Difference Maker

After 23 years of teaching, you never know about about the long-term impact you have on all of your students. I have been surprised when running into my former high school students as adults.  One is now teaching English at my current school.  I always hope that I have nurtured the life-long love of learning, reading and writing. We also don't know the impact of our other actions. We don't always have tangible evidence of the difference we made. This morning a message on Facebook reved up my day of amazing into full throttle.
 
Sara, a student who was a freshman in my English class in 2002, messaged me about how she was grateful that I let students come into my classroom during lunch. She shared, "During that time you started to introduce me to books you thought I would like, and as I had always enjoyed reading, I started to LOVE it. I counted and I ended up reading over 100 books that year when you were my English teacher." That is a story I love to hear! 

At that time in my career, my students ate lunch in my classroom. My high school principal allowed kids that freedom on the campus.  My classroom became a safe space.  My nerdy boys would bring their laptops and communicate through their games. never talking.  We would play heavy metal or whatever students were listening to through the audio enhancement system. Others came to lunch too.  
Sara was one of those students. She went on to thank me, "for taking the time to recognize my desire to read and discover new books/authors. And most of all, providing a place where I could feel not so alone during a tough time! It may not have seemed like a big deal, but it meant a lot to me, I just thought you should know." Thank you for letting me know.  I keep these notes in the top drawer of my desk. They are for the tough days.

Teaching is an avocation not just a profession. We can wake up every day and read about the wrongs in education and what needs to be fixed, but as my mentor Janet Allen always professed and I continue to repeat that mantra, "We are the professionals in the room."  No matter what, we have to make decisions in the best interests of our students.When I say my goal is to cultivate life-long readers and writers, I mean it and I know we don't do it by testing. We do it by listening, and book pushing and providing sacred safe spaces for kids to read, write, learn, grow and just be. Thank you for confirming that Sara!

Middle School Dance

Flashback to 2nd grade

My girlie is going to her first middle school dance this Friday.  The dress is fancy.  To my daughter that is jeans and converse. I am not sure if that is "fancy," but students have to follow the school dress code. She tried to justify her footwear choice by saying I wore Doc Martens with my outfits.  I told her I wore them with a dress.  Then I had to laugh when she said that she didn't care about clothes.  This is the kid who refused to wear pants at age three.  I can still buy her clothes, but it works best when she is not with me.  She has her definitive opinions about clothes.

Sweating from the dance to the tunes

She, of course, does not want us to chaperon. I remember her "first" school dance in elementary school.  It was a study in child development.   The kindergarten kids just be-bopped around and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade grade boys ran laps around the school cafeteria. The  2nd, 3rd and 4th grade girls danced.  The fifth grade girls promenaded around the room in their fanciest clothes leading their fifth grade boyfriends around the room.  No matter what I hope she will eschew popular opinion and just dance! Wish us luck!  We have 4 days left to pull together an outfit.

Sunday Seven

7.  Dedicated hard-working colleagues.  We made it through our first week of testing approximately 1600 9th and 10th graders.  The students took the 2 hour computer-based  FSA writing test last week.  Students responded to a single topic by reading 2-4 texts and then composing an argumentative or informative\explanatory essay.  A week like last runs smoothly when the students feel confident and prepared which goes back to the teachers.

6.   Florida spring weather where it is cool enough to keep the windows open yet warm enough to swim.

5.  Curious excited young future educators.  I have been blessed to teach a course each spring and fall in the College of Education and Human Performance at the University of Central Florida since the fall of 2006.  They keep me on my toes and inspired.

4.  Seeing these these former future educators in the wild.  I am lucky to work with 5 of them and have had the fortune to learn from them.  Most recently at a digital high school in their English classroom.  Our high school is going digital next year and I have been able to pick their brains. One currently as a member of her dissertation committee and she defends next week.  Another at ETEC2. They are members of a clan. Some go by their self-described name of SOBs (Students of Beth) or more recently I learned, The Rebel Alliance.  Knowing they are out there honing their craft and becoming leaders makes the extra work worth it.

3.  A second blooming of my Christmas cactus.

2.  Fearless friends and my husband who strapped on their rollerskates even after their skating talents have laid dormant for the past 20-30 years in celebration of my friend Lee Ann's 50th Skate-bration.

1.  The ability to keep moving...rollerskating, running swimming, jumping...just moving.  I dropped 1 minute and 36 seconds off of my monthly fitness assessment this week.

Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb host the annual Slice of Life Story Challenge as well as the weekly challenge.  Blog with us at Two Writing Teachers. 

Spring Into Saturday: DeLeon Springs & Pancakes

Looking for something to do this weekend? Drive north on l-4 from Orlando and head  thru Deland to Deleon Springs. It isn't the prettiest spring to swim in, but isn't too deep for toddlers. Our secret is to arrive and have pancakes at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill on-site for a late lunch/early dinner. This way you miss the crowd at breakfast and lunch. The pancake house stays open until 5. If you are waiting, you can enjoy a dip in the spring, visit the museum, or head out on the pontoon boat to tour the St. John's River. You also don't  want to miss a hike in the Cypress Swamp. There's a decent playground for the little ones too.  It's an ideal way to inexpensively enjoy historical aspects of Florida without paying exorbitant fees for the concrete jungle.

The pancakes are all you can eat and you cook them in the griddle on the center of the table. This meal and trip is best reserved from October to May since the historic restaurant has no AC. There is, however, a 72 degree spring to jump in to cool off . Also for pancake-haters like me, they have a small breakfast and lunch menu to choose from.