Photo of the Day- My friend Gail

This maple tree is right outside the door of my classroom.  It was planted in memory of my dear friend and colleague Gail Walker.  Gail was a force to be reckoned with and well-loved.  She passed away 10 years ago and rarely a day goes by that I don't think of her.  There is a certain stretch of sidewalk at school, between the office and the library, where I still expect to encounter her and stop for a bit of gossip.  Gail knew everything and could always be counted on to share a tidbit or two in passing.  She was easily one of the most creative people I have ever met.  I often wondered if she slept at night ... I could picture her getting up in the middle of the night with an idea for a lesson for her 8th grade language arts classes and scribbling it down in her notebook.
I give full credit to Gail and several other mentors for taking me under their wings and helping me become the teacher I am today.  A group of us girls used to get together for lunch every summer, thanks to MCB, who was the hostess.  I am so glad that I kept this photo.  I am now the only one in the photo still working at DA.   Gail is sitting on the sofa, on the right, in the bright blue dress.  (Arles Lucy is there too, on the other end of the sofa!)

Back in the day, we always had a faculty Christmas party.  At the middle school, we played Secret Santa as a faculty, too.  Gail drew my name one year.  She gave me recipes.  Luckily, I was able to find a couple of them in my old, rarely used recipe box this morning.

Just looking at her handwriting brings a smile to my face.   Will technology completely erase handwritten notes, letters, and recipes?  I hope not...
Gail always brought her special punch to our faculty parties.  I've written about her before and shared the punch recipe in this post.
Gail may be gone in body, but our dearly loved ones never leave us in spirit.  Even something as simple as a brilliant red-orange maple leaf on a clear November day can bring them back in the blink of an eye.
I will share her recipe for bread pudding, a favorite dish of mine since childhood.  Mama Mildred used to make it often for her four little crumb-crushers.  She didn't use chocolate chips, but she did add cinnamon and raisins.

Gail's Bread Pudding

5 slices Pepperidge Farm Original bread (thickly sliced bread), broken up
1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 quart milk
1/2 c. mini chocolate bits

Preheat oven to 350˚F.
Place bread in baking dish.
Beat eggs and add vanilla and milk.  Beat and pour over bread.
Dot with butter.
Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
Bake for 45 minutes.

Bon appétit, to beautiful fall days, maple trees that change colors, and friends that are never forgotten!

Wonder

I have fallen in love with yet another book.  Wonder by R.J. Palacio was the summer reading common book for our 5th graders.  Two faculty members have talked about it during our weekly Friday afternoon community meetings.  Signora passed it on to me a couple of months ago and I finally picked it up.  Once I started it, I couldn't stop thinking about it.  And by the time I finished it Saturday morning, tears were streaming down my face.  I was sopping them up with the sleeves of the old sweatshirt I was wearing.  (My baby sister Moo gave it to me a few years ago-- or maybe I "borrowed" it from her...)  Later, while taking my shower-- where I tend to do my best thinking for some bizarre reason-- I came up with an idea for my advisees.  I advise 7th graders and this was not the common book when they were in 5th grade.  I plan to read it to them at lunch over the next few weeks.  I also plan to launch what I am calling The Wonder Project tomorrow.  It will be top secret, just for my twelve advisees and me.   But, hopefully, many will benefit from it.

Read the book.  It begins this way, with Auggie, August Pullman, narrating:

    I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid.  I mean, sure, I do ordinary things.  I eat ice cream.  I ride my bike.  I play ball.  I have an XBox.  Stuff like that makes me ordinary.  I guess.  And I feel ordinary.  Inside.  But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds.  I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.
    If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all.  I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing.  Here's what I think:  the only reason I'm not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Alfred A. Knopf, 2012

Precepts, principles to live your life by, are given to the kids at Beecher Prep by Mr. Browne.  Here are a couple of examples--

When given the choice between bring right or being kind, choose kind.
                                                    -- Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Kind words do not cost much.  Yet they accomplish much.
                                                    -- Blaise Pascal

You've hit a homerun, Ms. Palacio.  I will let you know how The Wonder Project goes.

Bon appétit and a healthy dose of kindness for all!

Three little words

Non, I am not taking about the I Love You three little words today.  No hearts and flowers.  Wherever you may find hearts (even in your roasts).

(Honest to goodness, I did not do that-- it was like that when I unwrapped it and flipped it over.)

Non, my three little words are found here, on the label of a bottle of perfume I just bought and am totally addicted to now (Merci, Volga, at the Macy's counter).  Can you find them?

They are also here on the little sample she gave me.

(Which caused me to become addicted to the scent which in turn caused me to spend an hour's tutoring wages to buy my own larger bottle.)

Found the three little words yet?  I know, very small print.  One more try--

Give up?

MADE IN FRANCE

I confess.  I fall for those three little words every time.  It makes no difference where they are written.  Food, clothing, make-up, perfume, notecards, calendars, cooking trucs or do-dads, whatever, n'importe quoi.  And my Frenchie friends, of course!!  They are the best of what is made in France.

Read the description of Lancôme's La vie est belle:

It even sounds delicious.
And the bottle is beautiful, too.

Reading the perfume description and seeing the words "Fleurs d'Oranger" sent me right back to Arles and my attempts at making orange brioche.  For some reason, I decided that I would attempt to master making these rolls while I was on sabbatical in 2008.  If you wish, read about my adventures here and here.


My (Nearly) Perfect Orange Brioche Recipe
(found on the back of a package of yeast in France and slightly modified...)

1/4 lb (one stick) of softened butter
1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs (at room temperature)
1/4 c. warm water
one package active dry yeast
1/4 c. warm milk
orange flavoring
2-3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk
apricot or strawberry preserves
sugar

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let stand for 5-10 minutes.
Mix the butter, eggs, sugar, warm milk and orange flavoring. I have sweet orange essential oil that I bought at Florame (www.florame.com) and I use 4-5 drops of it. I know that you can find orange flavoring at the supermarket.
Add the yeast mixture and mix.
Add the combined flour and salt. Add enough flour to have a dough that you can knead (not too sticky).
Turn onto a flour covered surface and knead for about 5 minutes or so.
Place in a bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Place the bowl in a warm place to rise. My microwave is above the stove and is a great place. Allow to rise for 2 hours.
Turn onto a flour covered surface again and knead for another 5 minutes. Shape however you wish-- into rolls, two small loaves or one large one. Place in pans.
Cover again and allow to rise for 2 more hours.
After the second rising, you can bake or you can put it in the refrigerator overnight and bake the next morning (allow the dough to come to room temperature before baking).
Brush with the egg yolk and bake at 400F for about 20-30 minutes. Baking time will depend upon the shape of your brioche. Rolls take a shorter time. Adjust the oven, if necessary, lowering the temperature a bit if it seems to be baking too fast or if your oven tends to be on the hot side.
After baking, while still warm, brush with preserves (you can warm them in the microwave so that they brush easily- I have also used orange juice at this point, when I didn't have any preserves) and then sprinkle lightly with sugar. I have mixed orange essence in with the sugar before sprinkling to give it more orange flavor. As you can see, I have played around with this recipe. It is wonderful hot from the oven. It makes really good French toast when it is a couple of days old and a bit stale. It is also good sliced and toasted. It is not very sweet. French pastries and desserts are not as sweet as American ones.

Bon appétit, to all things that smell good, wherever they are found!

"Never eat more than you can lift."

photo from: http://disneywithme.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/miss-piggy-the-muppets-121914_330_400.jpg

I am quite a fan of Miss Piggy.  So much so that I decided to be the lovely Miss P for Halloween this year.

She is much more beautiful than moi, but I tried to imitate her radiant loveliness.   It also gave moi an excuse to bring Kermit to school with me today!  (A gift from Mme P and Mademoiselle de Tavel)

Halloween in the middle school is an interesting day.  Lots of my kids dress up.  We decorated our door.  

Actually, that's the royal we-- Moi had nothing to do with it except for finding colored paper for them.

One young man carved a jack-o'lantern for us.  I am going to take it home with moi and set it out on the porch.

All of the money we raise from our fun and games at school is donated to unicef.  The United Nations Children's Fund is a cause we really believe in here.  I look at it as children helping children.  

I was the recipient of a couple of Halloween treats.  Oui, cuppy-cakes for moi!

The leaves here are finally changing colors.  I was afraid they were just going to die and drop off the trees.  I found these on the sidewalk on my way to class yesterday from an oak.  A fall gift for moi.

To get back to the star of today's blog and the quote of the day,  I found this great tribute to Miss Piggy at Chris Niles' blog while researching (such tough work, I know). Chris has designated Miss P a "Tart Emeritus."  How does one achieve that status, I wonder?

And what would Miss Piggy eat if she would never eat more than she can lift?

In Miss Piggy's Guide to Life, published in 1981, chapter 9 is devoted to food.  Muppet Wiki gives this synopsis--

Piggy suggests that the best food is ordered in.  She covers airplane food, using "Ma Bell's Cookbook" (the phonebook), and making ordinary food more interesting by using food coloring, pinking shears, and paper porkchop ruffles.

So, what would moi suggest to Piggy for dinner tonight?  Obviously nothing with bacon.  Frogleags?  I don't think so.  Ma Bell (or Verizon Wireless these days) will help moi out.  I think that the Ex-Ex and I will order out from China Palace.   A great Chinese place within walking distance of chez moi.  I think that the divine Miss P would wholeheartedly approve.

I showed the kiddies this clip from The Muppet Show.  I was afraid that some of them were not acquainted with Miss Piggy and Kermit.  Poor Kermie.

Bon appétit, Miss Piggy!  Happy Halloween!

Cooking in French Class: 2013-14 Edition

I have quite a crop of 7th grade chefs this year.  We have sampled meringues, several recipes for mousse au chocolat

madeleines, both lemon and chocolate chip (guess which ones were most popular with the kiddies?)

handmade chocolate-caramel bonbons

and chocolate macarons, just to name a few (another post with pictures will follow).

And it is not just the girls making these treats.  The jeunes hommes are into cooking, too.  They would do well to keep up the cooking thing.  We girlies love men who cook.  One jeune homme brought in a treat that brought back such nice memories.  Sight, smell and taste memories.  Almonds.  Almond blossoms in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon in March 2012.

I keep this soap from L'Occitane En Provence around me just so I can enjoy the smell of almonds whenever I want to.

Jeune homme brought in a Tarte Montepellier that he made himself.

He explained how great French tarte pans are to work with because you can remove the sides.  He talked about the pearl sugar that he sprinkled on top.  He used his school iPad to make a presentation to his classmates about the baking process.  Pretty impressive.  Need to see a close up photo of this deliciousness?  Pourquoi pas?

A slice with my cup of tea would really nice right now...  Mme P has promised me a trip to Montpellier in March.  I've never been there.  Can't wait!
And, by the way, French class isn't just for conjugating verbs (although there is plenty of that-- just ask my students).  There is so much more to learn about and appreciate.  Hook 'em however I can has always been my motto.

Tarte Montpellier
recipe from Nick F.

Filling for tarte--
1/2 c. granulated white sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. almond extract
3/4 c. whipping cream (but don't whip it, just from the carton)
1 c. sliced almonds (flat oval slices)

Combine all of the filling ingredients and stir by hand for 30-60 seconds.  Let it sit for 30 minutes.

Turn oven to 400˚F.  Pre-bake tarte dough or pie dough, if store bought,  until it's light brown, about 10-15 minutes.

To make your own--

Crust--
1 c. flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter slightly warm, but not melted
1 Tbsp. white granulated sugar (not powdered)

Mix all above ingredients with your hands.
Then add, stirring gently so that the crust doesn't get tough:
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. water
1/4 tsp. orange extract

Bake crust for about  15-20 minutes until light brown.  Then add filling and bake for 30 minutes more at 400˚F.  If tarte isn't light brown after 30 minutes, bake for 5 more minutes.

Bon appétit to all my young chefs!  Keep cooking!

Random thoughts from a slack-o blogger

I am not even going to make excuses for neglecting my beloved blog and my writing.  So, instead of grading a stack of tests given on the last day of the first grading period (we are 1/4 of the way to summer vacation, mes amis) by a veteran teacher who should know better, I am going to write/type some random thoughts on this Thursday that feels like a Friday (the kiddies do not have class tomorrow-- it's a teacher workday).

• I love fall.  Above is the view out of the window where I am sitting right now.  The leaves are changing colors, the sky is blue and the air has taken on a chilly tone.  I could live in fall forever.  I would miss the almond blossoms in Provence in March, but I am only thinking of automne at this very moment.
• Technology is a wonderful thing until it isn't.  It isn't when kids use a translator to write their French sentences for them instead of using their brains.  It isn't when people talk on their phones or text when driving.  Driving is serious business and should be treated that way.  It isn't when people text instead of talking to the person across the table from them or when parents take their young child to dinner and then prop up the phone or iPad and play a movie.  It isn't when mean messages are posted and hurtful things are said.  It is when you post Zidane is the Personne de la Semaine and I can show my students the infamous head-butt incident on YouTube.  It is when I can see today's photos of Mme P's students and their Vente de Gâteaux at the market in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.  Muffins, cookies, brownies... Bravo!

• It is wonderful when Mme P can share videos of the Camargue with me.  Watch this and you will understand why I had the Croix de Camargue tattooed on my ankle.  Well, maybe.  Such beauty.  (I will not think of the big white beast that threw me off his back in 2007.  The kiddies really want to go horseback riding in the Camargue in March...)

• Life is precious.  Days slip by quickly and turn into weeks, months and years.  Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.  Have some well-deserved fun.  Don't worry so much about all the stuff that needs to be done.  (This advice is for me.)
• Character counts.  I am tired of athletes and other famous people who say it doesn't.  I want my children and my students to understand that it does.  It's helping others, doing the right thing, working hard, and practicing empathy that counts at the end of the day.  Not how much money is in your bank account or how well you did on a test or where you go to college.
• Dress up for Halloween (or whenever you feel like it).  Be silly.  I have to work on my costume this weekend.  I DO actually have an idea.  This falls under the category known in middle school as "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."  Halloween falls on a Thursday this year.  And yes, we have school the next day.  Pictures will be taken and posted.
• Have a guilty pleasure or five and indulge in it/them.  Romance novels involving handsome French pastry chefs and chocolate makers?  Dark chocolate?  Movies on the Hallmark Channel? Singing out loud to the radio in the car on the way to/from work?  A glass of red Côtes du Rhône while making dinner?  Guilty, guilty, guilty.  And a nice way to stay sane.

Okay, after school study hall is over and now I can pack up the tests, stash them in my bag and carry them home.   I have managed to stay awake and get some random thoughts published!  A good day.

Bon appétit to all!  Recipes from my students who love to cook coming soon...

Boots cats barbeque

Boots

Cats

Barbeque

And just what do those have in common, you are probably wondering.

It has been a long, difficult ten days.  A dear couple whom I have known for many, many years lost their 21 year old son last week.  It just doesn't make sense.  My heart breaks for them and for the hole that has been left in their once normal lives.  But somehow life goes on.  Somehow everyone learns how to cope or at least how to get through the days and nights.  I find that music helps.  It heals. It makes me cry, it makes me sing, it makes me hum or whistle.  It reaches down into my soul.  At school today we had an assembly scheduled.  I didn't know anything about the group coming to play  music for us.  I wasn't looking forward to it, to tell the truth.  I even thought about skipping it, pleading a headache.  However, I headed into our assembly space and was so glad I did.  What a much needed 45 minutes of music.  Project Trio from Brooklyn entertained us.  Three guys who love what they do.  My soul was lifted by listening to them play, especially their tribute to Jean "Django" Reinhart and his gypsy jazz, music that I have just recently discovered thanks to Frenchie and Childhood Friend.  The guys taught the kids the fine art of beatbox, making percussion sounds with your mouth.  Right up the alley of 360 middle schoolers.  And their teachers.  That's where the boots cats barbeque comes in.  Make those sounds with your mouth the right way and you are on your way to beatboxing.  And to feeling your soul lift up and a smile spreading across your face.

Enjoy.

  

Many hugs and much love coming your way, Signora.