2008 August

The Good Side….

August 30, 2008 by Peabody · 84 Comments

Obviously there has to be a good side to teaching, for if there wasn't, no one would do it. There are many great moments in teaching. Many of those moments you will never know about, and that's the hard part. So often it is years later after you were that child's teacher that you realize the impact that you made on that child. And it usually never the kid you would have thought. Case in point. I had a student when I taught 6th grade. Her older brother was in 8th grade and struggling something horrible in science. At the time the science teacher was what one might call technical(you might know it as dry and boring) and he could just not catch on. A very shy kid, he finally got the nerve to ask me after school one day for help while his sister was hanging out reorganizing my books(slave labor comes cheap when you have goodie-goodie's in class :P ). I was the type of person who likes to use more real life terms. I tell people the real term but I also translate to real people speak. You … [Read more...]

Filed Under: baked goods, chocolate, peanut butter ·

Teaching vs the Real World…

August 29, 2008 by Peabody · 59 Comments

My husband works in the computer industry. When he first met me he had considered leaving it all and becoming a teacher. One of the things he liked about me was that I was a teacher. Then he saw my paycheck. He told me that I got paid a lot more than what he thought. Then I had to break it to him...that was my paycheck for the month...not the week like he thought. Ah. His desire to teach went away....quickly. There is a reason why they say teaching makes a great second income....because it make a lousy first one. :) Mine was particularly sad as the whole time I was teaching, Arizona was ranked 48th in pay for teachers. We didn't really have unions and your contract went from year to year. You were lucky to get $500 increase each year. Most years the pay scale was frozen. With the exception of the year I was in curriculum my pay over a 10 year span only went up $6K...and I have a lot of education to help me move over on the scale. The teaching world and the corporate world are … [Read more...]

Filed Under: baked goods, chocolate ·

Bits and Pieces….

August 27, 2008 by Peabody · 26 Comments

That would be me...in bits and pieces. Well, not that bad, but I have been roughed up pretty nicely the last two hockey games and almost got into a fight, with a guy(I wasn't the one going to throw the punch...classy, eh?) But I am left with a fairly bruised back and a whole lot of aches and pain. The good news is even though the men seemed to have taken their asshole pills that night, we did win both games(no help by me though :) ). I thought I would take a little time out to update you on life and answer a few blogging questions that have been either left in comments or emailed to me. First off. The square pan. The square pan that I make my muffins in is from Target(in store, not online). I have seen them sold on Amazon.com. So if you want one try those two places. Second. My mother's Pear-Nutmeg Jam recipe. Scroll down and wedged in between photos of her there is her recipe. She is called Lady Jane so that is what I called the jam. My mother says you can leave out the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: fruit, General ·

Honey, you’ve got to taste this…

August 26, 2008 by Peabody · 56 Comments

I started to feel bad as of late that I was not doing any inspired by Dorie recipes and therefore my readers were not getting any recipes. Well this weeks pick(by Amy of Food, Family, and Friends) was a Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte. It is suppose to be raspberry but I went ahead and made a Honey Lavender Ice Cream. Tartelette had made a beautiful looking lavender panna cotta a while back and it had me wanting to make lavender ice cream ever since. The original torte has more layers of chocolate, but since I made a mini, only one was fitting. I also didn't top it with chocolate like you are suppose to. I was in the mood for more lavender than chocolate. Honey Lavender Ice Cream 2 cups heavy cream 1 cup half-and-half 2/3 cup lavender honey(or any honey) 2 tablespoons dried edible lavender flowers(can be ordered through Penzey's) 2 large eggs 1/8 teaspoon salt Bring cream, half-and-half, honey, and lavender just to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate … [Read more...]

Filed Under: chocolate, ice cream ·