I don't like to bake.

Seriously, I was thinking about my blog and I realized that if you only read my blog and you didn't know me personally, you would think that I do a lot of baking. The truth is that I bake for parties, mix n' mingles, friends, etc. I almost never bake just for fun, I have to have a purpose. I guess I have had a lot of reasons to bake lately and let's be honest would you rather see a picture of me at work or a picture of my latest food creation. My next goal is to start cooking meals ahead of time so when I get home late from work and I still have to work on my seminary lesson that I can warm up something homemade instead of eating cold cereal.

My latest treat was for two Halloween parties. My friends Anjie & Eric host a family friendly Halloween party every year and even though I may not have my own children, I like to party with all my little friends.

I am usually excused from bringing anything to the party but Anjie did ask for my Indoor S'mores and since I had to make something for my work party, I just made two batches.

The recipe is very easy and oh, so good! (Thanks Aunt Sheila for introducing me to this amazing treats years ago.)

Indoor S'mores

1/3 cup light corn syrup

8 cups Golden Grahams cereal

6 Tbsp. butter

5 cup mini marshmallows

1 1/2 cups Milk Chocolate Chips

1 cup Marshmallows

1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions:

Grease a 9x13" pan. Heat corn syrup, butter and chocolate chips, and 5 c marshmallows to boiling in saucepan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Pour over cereal in large mixing bowl; toss quickly until well coated. Fold in 1 c marshmallows. Press mixture evenly in pan with piece of waxed paper. Let stand 1 hour until firm or refrigerate if firmer bar is desired. Cut into 2" squares. 24 squares.

Homemade

When I was in Israel on study abroad, I wrote my mom a letter describing all of the homemade food I wanted her to make me when I got home. The list included things like pumpkin pie and homemade rolls. As an adult, I realize that my letter had little to do with food and everything to do with what the food represented to me. I wanted to feel taken care of and I wanted to feel a bit babied. I like to think of myself as a strong, independent, single woman that can take care of herself but once in a while it is nice to feel taken care of and babied for a few minutes. About a month ago, my brother, his wife, and their darling six month old baby came to visit. They were only suppose to come for a weekend but due to a power outage at their home in Ohio, they came for 5 days. It was a wonderful 5 days for me as my family took care of me. I cannot list all of the things they did for me but I remember that they did my laundry, cleaned my house, bought my groceries, ran my errands, made my bed, cooked my meals, and let me cry on their shoulders. So, how do you thank people who spent their vacation taking care of you? Well, you give them a Hooter Hider! My sister-in-law was talking while she was visiting that she really wanted a Hooter Hider which is basically a covering to keep a mother modest while she nurses. I knew she wanted one and after they left I ran into a dear friend of my that just happens to make them. Erin was sweet enough and patient enough to help me make Ellen her very own Hooter Hider. When I told my sister Liz what I was making, I told her that we should think of our own name. She came up with Milk Masker and my brother Dan came up with my favorite, a Gawker Stopper.

Just a bunch of fabric and notions.

Super Nurser?!

A success, the Gawker Stopper to the rescue.

I think we all want to have someone show up make us homemade rolls and take care of us for a little while. Thanks Dan & Ellen...you were lifesavers!

Mix n' Mingle 4

When I was in high school, if someone made-out with someone else, they said, "Oh, you scored." I am sure this was not new terminology and it probably was defined in many different ways and degrees. However, there was always a lingering question that people asked when you started dating someone, "So, did you SCORE??!!!" Needless to say, this is the introduction to one of my high school embarrassing moments and the start of my nickname by a few of my close male friends. Looking back, this story is not that embarrassing but at the time it was to me.

Most Sundays while I was in high school, there was a missionary farewell I could attend. Sometimes I knew the eager missionary well and sometimes I went for moral support for my girlfriends. After the farewell, we would all head back to the missionary's home for cookies, sandwiches, punch, and a social hour. Well, after one particular farewell, I found myself standing across a table full of food looking at one of my male friends who was two years older and who I thought was quite cute. All of a sudden I thought I heard him say, "So, Chris..would you like to score?" I was a bit taken back and I think I went red while I stammered around for the right response to show my shock and disapproval. Apparently, my indignant response of, "Of course not" and the appearance of my red face confused my male friend. He asked, "Chris, what's wrong, what did you think I just asked you?" This is the point where a non-embarrassed person would have just said nothing and moved on. I on the other hand after much pleading from my friend explained what I had heard. He just started roaring with laughter and said, "No, I actually asked if you wanted SOME MORE." I really tried to recover and I tried to come up with a better explanation but it was too late. He had started telling the story and my nickname stuck...S'more (get it? SOME MORE?!). I can't count the times after that that we would be in a huge group and he would yell out, "Hey S'more! Do you want to score?" This embarrassing trend continued even while this friend was on his mission, I would receive letters addressed to S'more. Now you may asked why I would even share this story at all but most people who know me know that I love s'mores and apparently the connection to my embarrassing moment has not deterred me away from a perfectly roasted marshmallow with melted chocolate. Luckily for me, I now found the equivalent of s'mores on speed...S'more Brownies. I found this recipe on the Cast Sugar blog and they are fantastic. Oh, and for the record I was a very good girl in high school and this friend only got a hug or two:)

S'mores Brownies

(adapted from Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook, 2005)

Ingredients:

2 c. graham cracker crumbs

7 Tbsp. salted butter, melted

1 c. salted butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

3 1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 Tbsp. vanilla

5 large eggs

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

4 oz. milk chocolate, chopped

25-40 mini marshmallows (about half a bag)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Spoon the mixture into a glass 9X13 pan, and pat down evenly to cover the bottom only. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and sugar, stirring constantly until the sugar and butter are melted. In a large bowl, add the chopped bittersweet chocolate. Pour the hot sugar mixture over the chocolate and stir until it is melted. Add the vanilla and mix. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir until they are just combined. Stir in the chopped milk chocolate chunks.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Place the marshmallows evenly over the top.

Bake the brownies for 40-50 minutes, until crackled on top and a knife inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Let the brownies cool on a wire rack, and then cut.

I made the brownies for the October Mix n' Mingle and they were a huge success.
Now that's a SCORE!

The Mini Experiment- Part 2

I knew when I started teaching early morning seminary again this year, that my blogging would suffer but I had no idea that it would actually just stop. This year of seminary has required a lot of creativity and sometimes I feel that I don’t have any creativity left to write and blog. With that said, I am trying to be better because I want to record these memories. I need to do so many posts but I will start with the last one that I left hanging. I have received a few inquires, “What ever happened with the students and the teaching experiment?”

So finally, here is the follow-up (better late than never).

At six o'clock in the morning, everything just takes a bit longer. So, when I presented the class assignment, I got a mixed reception but soon each group was working away.

The first group got up and took the information I had given them, read through it, and presented the information in much the same way as it was given to them.

(It's an action shot!)

The second group had a hard challenge because they had similar information to the first group but they had to present second. This group amazed me in the fact that the wrote out the scripture references and passed them out before their presentation (something I do most class periods) and they put together a game. The lesson as you remember was on keeping the Sabbath Day Holy so group 2 had written out different activities and put them in a bag (i.e. go shopping, visit a friend, go to a movie, etc.). You had to pull out an activity out of the bag and put it in the right category (Good vs Bad or Not Appropriate).

It was fun watching them present but it was more fun learning about how they teach.

Here are some things I would do differently.

1. Assign each group a different aspect of the same topic. That way there would be some overlap but hopefully you would not get two identical presentations.
2. I would also give them less information. I gave out quotes, scripture references, other references but I should have let the students search for the information in the reference material. I think that they would have had more buy-in to the presentation and learned more if they had to find their own information.

It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so I should be flattered that the students took a few of my teaching techniques and made them their own. However, this made me realize that every time I teach, I need to not only focus on teaching the subject matter but I need to focus on different teaching techniques. The second group taught their lesson much like I would have taught it and it occurred to me that I am being the example for the future teachers. No pressure there...all in all, it was a interesting lesson and I will probably try something similar again. Luckily for me, I got the whole year:)

The Mini Experiment-Part 1

I have a fabulous seminary class. They are respective and attentive and I love being their teacher. I do however worry about the fact that I have very quiet kids and it is so early in the morning that sometimes I feel like I do all the talking. Well, tomorrow morning I am going to conduct an experiment. I have wanted to do this for two weeks but it had to wait until the right topic came up. My plan is to divide the class into two groups. Each group will get a list of instructions which state: Prepare a 5-10 minute mini lesson on the topic of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. The mini lessons must include the following:

1. Participation from each group member
2. Two scripture references
3. Class participation

I have created a cheat sheet for each group with quote ideas, scripture references, and the paragraph on Sabbath worship found in the For Strength of Youth Pamphlet. Each group will receive their instructions, paper, markers, and some candy. I am going to give them 10-15 minutes to come up with a lesson and then each group will give their lesson to the class. This could either be really fun or a big bust at 6 a.m. I am off to bed, wish me luck!

I Heart D.C. #2

I wanted to post all of the things I was going to miss about working in D.C. before my office moved but I just got too busy with the merger. So, now that I am far away from the action, I really miss D.C.

One of the things I loved about D.C. was that each morning as I came up the escalator from the metro, I would see this flower cart. I loved the fact that everyday there were new beautiful flowers. One evening I need to take some flowers to a friend and I had no idea how I was going to get to the store and get to see my friend. It didn't take me long to remember that I had my own flower cart just outside my office.

Love the street carts. Some are scary but some are really yummy.

Farragut getting a cleaning.

From my old office window, I could see Farragut Square. Wikipedia says that, "In the center of the square is a statue of David Farragut, a Union admiral in the American Civil War famous for rallying his fleet with the cry, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" He was the "First Admiral in the Navy." Its only inscription is "Farragut" The Statue was sponsored by an act of Congress, authorizing $20,000 on April 16, 1872. It was sculpted by Vinnie (ream) Hoxie and dedicated April 25, 1881 by President and Mrs. James Garfield."

I loved working in D.C. and hopefully someday my office will move back.

Taste of Bethesda

Every year the restaurants in Bethesda, Maryland get together and hold a huge street fair called the Taste of Bethesda. This year it was on October 4th. You buy tickets and then walk around to the different restaurant's booths and sample their goods. The food is excellent and it is just fun to go and walk around. My friends were volunteering for our bank selling tickets so I thought I would go down and eat some food and visit them. It ended up that they were so busy that they could not take a break with me but I had fun by myself.

Here are a few pictures from the Taste of Bethesda.

My tickets.

Argentina BBQ.

The crowds.

A ginormous paella from Jaleo. So cool.