I saw this on my neighbor’s desk. I asked her – well, you take a look first.
Which one was extreme – the chef or the salad?
Readers, what do you think?
Extreme Lunch?
Reply
Category Archives: Random Thoughts
The Daisy Reality Show goes Passive Productive
You read that correctly. It’s not passive aggressive, it’s not passive vs. active. It’s the Daisy Reality Show, starting the composter mom herself, recorded live at the O.K. Chorale. The show’s director has replaced her bumbling assistant with a new, highly motivated, almost hyperactive intern.
Scene: Daisy’s bedroom. Daisy sits quietly in the recliner with her laptop computer,uploading pictures and blogging.
Intern: Daisy, you’re not doing anything! This makes for dull television!
Daisy: Not doing anything? I’ll have you know I’m over achieving right now.
Director laughs and leaves the room.
Daisy: I am multi-tasking, dear intern, a concept dear to the hearts of moms and teachers everywhere. See that cord? I’m charging my laptop. I’m downloading pictures for future blog posts. I’m blogging! And at the same time, the laundry is sorted and the third load – third load, mind you – is in the washer. That’s four tasks at once. Good enough for you?
Intern: Um…but it doesn’t look like you’re doing anything! How can I show this visually? It doesn’t work!
Daisy: I admit, it’s a challenge. But it’s your challenge, not mine. All I do is act like myself. And right now, that self is multi-tasking and resting my weary body at the same time. I feel rather proud of my productivity at the moment.
Intern (stammers): Oh-oh- okay for now, Daisy. (turns to camera operator) Let’s illustrate the various tasks she’s doing right now. Laundry. Charging computer. Can you do that?
Folks, it’s the normal life for so many adults. Get the passive chores started, like the laundry and plugging in the laptop, and then while those items are in progress, work on something else. Meanwhile, I’ll blog and surf and maybe even doze off in my comfy recliner.
What’s A Supper Club?
The questions came up on Facebook. A couple of friends who now live in the Pacific Northwest asked me “What’s a supper club?” To answer this question, it would take longer than a Facebook post, so it’s a good thing I have a blog.
A Supper Club is a uniquely Wisconsin Wisconsin type of place. It’s a restaurant, family friendly but also with a bar. It’s more than a family restaurant, different from a steak house, and almost certainly has state-brewed beers on tap. Names are simple. The supper club around the corner has “East Side” in its name, but I don’t know of any corresponding place on the West Side. It doesn’t really matter. A supper club is a destination restaurant, not a quick stop on the way home.
Supper clubs are usually family owned, not a chain of any kind. It’s possible to walk in and be seated or even served by the owner, who is probably also the head chef. You’re likely to hear that the place has “been around forever” and parents have brought their children who then bring the grandchildren to eat there. If the original owners have sold the restaurant or passed it on through a will, it will have small changes, but still be the same place.
Customers can be dressed to the nines and headed for a show or clad in basic Wisconsin street clothes: jeans and a Green Bay Packers sweatshirt. There’s a certain feeling and atmosphere that makes just about everyone feel comfortable, no matter how they’re dressed. Reservations are okay, but not required. If there’s a large crowd, customers can have an appetizer and a refreshing beverage in the bar while waiting for a table. In fact, it’s often possible to order from the bar. The server will deliver the family to their table at the same time the food arrives.
Have I described a comfortable atmosphere? I hope so. The more woodsy the locale, the more likely you’ll see animal heads mounted on the wall or a large fish, sturgeon or musky, above the bar. Or not – the decor might be plain, but nice,with seasonal touches like a pumpkin on the windowsill.
The food will be high quality, and not daintily plated like a big city meal. Quantities are generous. The menu is likely to emphasize German cuisine or good Wisconsin comfort food. Your table will have bread before the meal, soup or salad. The bread recipe is probably whole grain and carefully guarded. It will be baked on site, not brought in from a local or (heaven forbid) frozen dough. The same will be true of the soup du jour and the house dressing. If you’re lucky, like we are, you’ll be able to buy a jar of the house dressing to take home. It’s not tomato season at my house without the East Side bacon dressing to go on my salads. And you know, readers, how long tomato season lasts at the O.K. Chorale!
Seasonal specials and Friday fish fry are a must in a Wisconsin supper club. Right now, the sign out front of the nearby supper club advertises pumpkin bread pudding. We got our dessert to go last time, and it came with instructions for heating, adding the maple syrup, and topping with whipped cream. I mentioned quantities: we waited a few hours and then split one portion of pumpkin bread pudding. Delicious.
So, my friends, that’s a supper club. I’m not sure if I did justice to the concept. You’ll really have to try one out yourselves. I’ll point you to the one near us, or others in town. Get ready to relax, don’t rush, and have a good meal and good conversation. I recommend the Scotch egg appetizer, deep fried with a Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest beer batter. And of course, a salad with bacon dressing.
Wisconsin bloggers and readers, please chime in. What have I forgotten? Add your supper club moments to share with my Pacific Northwest friends.
Creative Reuse and Recycling
It was a major assignment: a timeline covering about 200 years of early United States history. Some used poster board; others taped letter paper end to end. This student found a perfect piece of paper at home and used the back of it.
Quite an impression-ist
If you’re wondering, the timeline on the back was excellent. She earned an A.
Real Life is Stranger than Fiction
Alternate title: Frustration on the Job.
This is the transcript from an actual phone conversation Chuck had recently.
“Hello, this is K at Television Parts & Parts. How may I help you?”
Hi this is Chuck from W-blank-blank-blank out in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I need to place an order for a part please.
“OK, the guy you need to talk to is busy and can’t help you right now…And it’s me. Can I forward you to my voicemail? Please leave a message and I’ll call you back next time I’m in.”
Ummm…OK.
Click, Ring, Click, Recorded voice…
“Hello, this is K at Television Parts & Parts. I’m not in right now, please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.” Beep.
Hi this is Chuck from W— out in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I need to place an order for a part please.
You can call me back at ###-###-####.
Later, my phone rings…
Hello, W-blank-blank-blank Engineering, this is Chuck.
“Hello, this is K at Television Parts & Parts. How may I help you?”
Hi, thanks for calling back, I’m with W-blankety-blank-blank out in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I need to place an order for a part please.
Truth is indeed stranger than fiction, at least in the television world. Meanwhile, back at my own workplace, I received the following email from Chuck.
Just got call from contractor. He’s going to start 7:30 Wednesday morning.
My Wednesday is crowding up. It’s becoming The Time Nexus; the day through which all other events must pass through.
I may need your help Tuesday evening as I deflect at least one black hole. I’ll buy you dinner at the Restaurant at the Edge of the Universe.
Well, my friends, life changed very quickly. Chuck developed a sudden excruciating pain that turned out to be a kidney stone or two, and his coworkers ended up handling the Black Hole in the Time Nexus. We waited until he was feeling better, and then we did visit a restaurant – one near home, not at the end of the universe. After a salad with bacon dressing followed by pumpkin bread pudding, both of us felt ready to face the big bad world again.
Testing – one, two, three
Test Booklets en masse
This is the last year for the boxes upon boxes of test booklets. We’re not done testing, by any means, but the tests themselves are changing. Next year, when we’re all set up, I’m sure I’ll post an overview. In the meantime, I guess we’ll just reminisce about The Way Testing Was.
It’s that time of year again! State testing. The Wonderful Knowledge and Concepts Exam. Criterion Referenced Items (a.k.a. WKCE-CRI). Rubrics. Fill in the bubble next to the correct answer choice. Make sure you erase completely and make your new mark heavy and dark. Use only a number 2 pencil. Any questions? You have 40 minutes. Begin.
I teach in a public virtual charter school, an online school, and my students live all over the state of Wisconsin. Since we can’t expect all of them to come to us, we go to them for the required tests. After a day of laundry and raking leaves, I put on my test season sweatshirt (above), packed my bags, and got ready to go.
My destination: a hotel near a major metropolitan area with conference room or rooms that will hold all of our area students. Four of my colleagues and I set up camp in our hotel rooms, including connection to the hotel wi-fi and an in-depth investigation of the in-room coffee makers. We had supper in the bar (the hotel restaurant was out of our price range), checked out the conference rooms for size and set-up, and then settled into our hotel rooms again to relax.
I set out my clothes for the next day — casual, yet teacher-dressy — including my school name badge (so parents will know who I am) and my district ID (in case the state agency decides to audit us). I’m ready.
In the morning, students armed with number 2 pencils will arrive, ready to attack their test booklets.
I hope they all remember that multiple choice items have only one answer, and they should make their marks heavy and dark.
And I sure hope I can forget this repetitive test proctor speech so it stops running through my head and invading my dreams at night!
This year was slightly different for me. Instead of being a proctor and reciting directions all day long, I gave a presentation for learning coaches (usually parents) called Tips for Teaching Reading. We had a small turnout, but the parents were attentive and asked thoughtful questions. After that, I assisted with benchmark reading assessments. Now and then I supervised students in between test sessions or made sure they connected with their parents as they finished. And once in a while…
Yoga Break!
…I watched as my colleague led the high school students in a few sun salutations. Now that’s a test break!
Tomatoes! Tomatoes! I still have tomatoes!
A few days ago, I mentioned having oodles and oodles of not noodles, but tomatoes. I even mentioned a few suggestions. Here you go, folks, the results of Daisy’s Overabundance of Ripe Tomatoes!
Lotsa Salsa!
I do mean a lot, too. It took two sessions in the hot water bath canner – my big one! – to process all of it.
In the category of “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work” (Thanks, Budweiser), we have Eating the Opponent, Philadelphia: Tomato Pie!
Tomato Pie!
Well, it didn’t work. The game against the Eagles was a disaster in many ways. I might make the tomato pie again some day, though. It was good. I served it with diced Golden Delicious apples from a farm stand near La Petite’s abode in Lake Geneva.
The calendar may say November, but we’re still eating goodies that were grown locally or nearly so, including tomatoes from my own backyard. Click your heels three times, now, and say, “There’s nothing like homegrown tomatoes. There’s nothing like…” Or something like that.
Talking back to FaceBook -or- Too Many Tomatoes
Facebook just can’t let me be me. The pretend personality behind the site keeps asking questions, almost like posing a meme for a blog blast.
What’s on your mind? Why, thank you for asking, Facebook. I thought no one cared. But to be honest, FB, I usually air my deepest thoughts on my blog or to my network on Plurk, rather than share it in the most public place possible. And yes, indeed, FB, despite the privacy settings, I’m certain that much more of the private me gets out to the public than I realize.
What’s really on my mind, you might wonder? Too Many Tomatoes, that’s what. Famous last words of mine: Oh, I don’t need to store them in newspaper or a paper bag to slow the ripening process. We’ll just eat them or cook them as they ripen.
I have so many tomatoes that I need to make something, and fast, before they rot. That’s the last word.
So I asked Da Boyz, a.k.a. Amigo and Chuck, whether I should put together another batch of tomato sauce or salsa, and they answered — Tomato Pie!
What? Tomato pie? I gave in and looked it up. Courtesy of Zorba Paster’s Heart Healthy Recipes, we’re having Tomato Pie for Eating the Opponent: Philadephia.
And I still have enough left over for a generous batch of salsa.
Halloween or a Full Moon
As heard on Halloween Day —
“I am the Count from Sesame Street. ONE timeline portfolio graded! TWO timeline portfolios graded! Bwahahahahaha!”
“All I can say is there had better be chocolate at home. Wait – it’s Halloween! There IS chocolate at home!”
Why yes, I do work with teachers. Need you ask?
Trick or treaters in costume looking over the pit next to the porch — “Hey, is someone buried there?” No, it’s just yet another step in recovering from last spring’s disaster: the porch sank in the saturated ground. Contractors came yesterday to build up the foundation.
And so it goes, Halloween at the O.K. Chorale.
Compost generates heat. Believe it.
Disclaimer: this is NOT my garage.
Charred spot formerly known as Compost
My dear, darling brother sent this picture along with a warning and a story. It’s not his garage, either, thank goodness. One of his friends sent it around.
“Small fire on the back side of my garage. Learned that the compost pile shouldn’t be that close to the garage and that old ashes from a fire pit should never be put in the compost. Fire captain said even 3 weeks later. He also said he has seen where a cigarette butt weeks later in mulch can catch fire.”
Wow! Bummer, indeed. I have dumped fireplace ashes on our brush pile and occasionally in the big compost bin. I always think, “these are cold ashes, no heat at all.”
The big bin isn’t up against our garage. It is, however, rather near my neighbor’s woodpiles. I guess we’d better give this some thought. Ashes to compost, safe or not? Readers, what kind of experiences have you had with fireplace and fire pit ashes and compost?