Good for the soul

I was sitting at my desk working one day last week and looked out the window to see some 7th grade boys in the grass doing something.  I figured it was a science experiment until they came to get me to take a look.  They were in art class and this was their creation.  I ran back in my room to get my trusty camera so that I could take photos.  I told them I was going to call it my Zen Garden.  They were quite proud of their work.

Lovely, isn't it?
During the course of the week, more Zen Gardens popped up around campus.

Amazing what they did with some stones, leaves and moss.

This one was placed in a tree.

And the last one was placed on the tree dedicated to the memory of my dear friend and colleague Gail Walker.  I explained to the young man who was showing it to me who she was.  I told him that I was sure she would love his art work.  She was an English teacher, but she always had the kids doing art projects, too.  They would periodically have art exhibits in our Board Room.

Art is good for the soul.  It comes in many forms.  Whether in nature or in a museum.
I was lucky enough to visit Paris, Normandy, Provence, New York, and Washington, DC this year.  Some of my 2013 favorites...

A door in Rouen

A statue of Jeanne d'Arc, also in Rouen

A tribute to John Lennon in Central Park

The Statue of Liberty (merci, la France!)

Matisse at the MOMA

and in DC

Picasso

And Vincent- I visit him whenever I can

Stained glass at St. Pierre de Montmartre, a church I had never thought to go into until last March

Monet

At the Vietnam Memorial in DC

Rosa Parks statue in the Capitol

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

An oratory in Arles

A calvaire somewhere near Nîmes

An exhibit of Fashion and Impressionism at the Musée d'Orsay- clothing and the paintings they inspired (no photos allowed in the exhibit)

Cakes by Wayne Thiebaud in DC

Street art in Paris near the Centre Pompidou

Venus of Arles

Rodin's Le Baiser at CDG airport

And I will end with my latest chef d'oeuvre... I have attempted Madame La Tour Eiffel once again.  My 8th graders and I painted together yesterday afternoon.  Wine and Design supplied the canvas, paint and instructor.  We brought the fun.

I love that we all took the same basic idea and added our own touches.

Bon appétit to art in all of its forms!

The Great Krispy Kreme Heist

photo courtesy of Durham Academy Facebook page

Sometimes in the midst of circumstances that do not seem fair, dreams come true.  And an individual touches a whole community in more ways than he ever anticipated.  Meet Chris Rosati, a 1989 graduate of Durham Academy.  I didn't teach him because he didn't attend our middle school, but  I remember watching him play soccer and hearing stories about him.  Chris has ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.  It affects the patient's muscles.  There is no cure.  I first learned about this disease by reading Mitch Albom's book Tuesdays With Morrie.  Anyway, Chris recently talked to our upper schoolers about life.  He told them that one of his lifelong dreams has been to hijack a Krispy Kreme Doughnut truck and hand out the pastries randomly.  After talking to the students, he decided to go for it.  A Facebook page was created with the help of friends, hoping to get enough Likes so that the corporate headquarters for Krispy Kreme would take notice.  KK heard about it within 8 hours, as the story goes.  The bus rolled into the Durham Academy upper school parking lot on Tuesday.  Boxes of hot glazed doughnuts were passed out to the surprised kids with the message to pay it forward, to make a difference in someone's day.

" I told y'all to live out your dreams, as dumb as they may be sometimes... You get 12 chances in that box to make someone happy."

The bus also made the rounds at Duke Medical Center, visiting patients with cancer and paying a visit to Chris' doctor there.  I wasn't at the upper school when it happened.  I had a meeting and was on my up there, passing the bus as it was leaving.  I got the chance to talk to a couple of former students who accompanied Chris on his adventure.   It was a good day, a very good day.

Chris and his wife, Anna, have established a non-profit, Inspire MEdia to help people fund their own projects to lift others' spirits.

The link below has more of the story and pictures.

Durham Academy

Bon appétit to dreams and to making them come true!

J'ai faim, j'ai très faim

What I didn't have for lunch today...  Signora's salad.

And when I skip lunch (I had a meeting on the upper school campus), food is all I can think about.

I have already texted the Ex-Ex twice (or three times?) about when he will be home and what he wants to do for dinner.  This means I don't want to cook so do you have a suggestion in my language?  I kept busy during after school study hall, but dinner was definitely on the forefront of my mind, no back burners when my tummy is grumbling.

Some suggestions from my 2013 year of eating meals not prepared by me...

Foie gras for lunch with My Favorite Parisien

Lamb with risotto

Onion soup in Montmartre

Steak-frites at the Café du Commerce in Paris

Oysters in Montmartre

Dinner at Fauchon in Paris

Sandwich au jambon on the TGV en route to Avignon

Brandade at Mme P's

Mlle de Tavel's foie gras and potato gratin combined on a fresh baguette

Frenchie's tomato mozzarella pesto salad

Mme P's special pasta sauce

Iron Woman's cashew chicken

Mussels at City Beverage

Quesadillas in NYC

Chef SG's rillettes

BCBB burger before a ride on Stanley the Biker Bar

Pompieri Pizza practice

Okay, I believe that I have tortured myself enough.  Time to pack up the laptop, turn on the headlights and head home for the day.

The salad in the first picture was inspired by the blog, Salad in a Jar or a similar post on Pinterest.  Signora makes everything sound incredibly easy and it was very good.  She brought "real" plates and napkins-- no paper ones.  (At our school, we do not have a cafeteria.  We eat lunch in our classrooms with our 12 advisees every day.)

Signora's Salad

Assemble the ingredients that you like in your salad.  Romaine lettuce and dressing are the two must haves.  And a wide-mouthed mason jar with a lid.  The dressing and any "wet" ingredients go in the bottom.  Think couscous, rice, tuna, roasted chicken.  Then maybe some chickpeas (pois chiches in French-- a fun word to say- pwa sheesh), vegetables, cheese.  Then the cut up or torn pieces of lettuce to the top of the jar.  Put in the refrigerator until ready to eat.  Salad in a Jar lady vacuum packs the jars and swears they last in the refrigerator for 7-9 days without the lettuce turning brown.

J'ai faim, j'ai très faim...

Bon appétit, tous les gourmands!

My little menagerie

Mme P gave these little figurines to me last January.  They are found in the king's cakes that are popular in France in January.  I love them.  These have taken up permanent residence in my kitchen windowsill and I admire them often.  They are known as fèves or trinkets or just plain figurines.
Here are the rest of them, waiting patiently for their turn to be on display.  I will use them to make a Christmas crèche or manger scene on my mantle.

This is from Frenchie's crèche scene last year.  His family left it up so that I could see it.  They go out and gather moss and sticks for it every year.  The scenes are often very elaborate, with lots of figurines in them.

I just discovered a website dedicated to collectors of these beautiful trinkets.  It is La Fabophilie.  I hope to find more while I am in France in January and maybe even stumble upon someone selling their collection at a market in Paris.  Wouldn't that be cool?  I found a website with great information about la galette des rois.  It is called French Food in the U.S.
And oh, yeah, I am looking forward to enjoying a slice or two of the cake while hunting for the fève.  There are two varieties-- one made with puff pastry and almonds...

and another made with a brioche-type pastry and candied fruit.  This variety is very popular in the south of France.

It's a good thing that I do not have to choose which one to taste since my friends have treated me to both in the past.
J'attends mon voyage de janvier avec impatience...  Isn't it lovely to have something to look forward to?  Anticipation is sweet, as sweet as the cake I can't wait to eat with my friends in France.

Bon appétit to my little menagerie and to Fabophiles everywhere!

94 and 47

The 8th graders recently started their France countdown.  It is now only 94 93 days away.  I have 18 of them traveling with me this year.  My dear friend, Joan of Arc worshipper/Iron Woman JC will make her debut as co-chaperone.  Arles Lucy retired from teaching and has taken up house repair instead due to the massive limb that destroyed her house back in June.  Who said retirement was going to be dull??
My personal countdown to France is 47 46 days.  Ah oui, mes amis, I am set to return in January for 10 lovely days sans élèves.  Hopefully without the snow that fell last year, too.  I witnessed two grand snowfalls in Paris in 2013.

In January

and in March.

Please, none of that in 2014.  S'il vous plaît.  But it is beautiful, no doubt about it.

My 7th graders have finished their Paris projects (and I have almost finished grading them) and here is the map that we made.  (Oui, that is a sparkly Eiffel in my classroom-- a gift last Christmas from a dear friend-- merci encore!)

I tell them that they work for the Paris Chamber of Commerce and that they need to put together a presentation to convince tourists to visit their spot.  They draw names out of a hat (or coffee mug!), each student gets a different place, they research using their iPads and my many guidebooks (they have to have at least one book reference in their bibliographies), and they put together a presentation for the class.  I do really use these to plan the January and March trips.  I visited the Panthéon for the first time a couple of years ago based on one of these presentations.  This year, I am going to venture up to La Défense, I think.  I am going to show several of the presentations to my 8th grade group during our club period.  Just to get them even more excited about what they are going to see.

I will be in Paris for three days over the MLK. Jr. long weekend as a guest of ACIS and then I will hop on the TGV to head south to spend a week with Mme P and my friends in and around Villeneuve-les-Avignon and Pujaut.  (Merci, New Head of School.  Maybe you realize this is the way to keep me sane?  It's the best professional development / therapy I can think of.)
Mme P's daughter, AP, has asked me to teach her to make a cheesecake while I am there.  She's never had this wonderful American dessert.

So, I will pack up a springform pan and figure out how to get enough Philadelphia Cream Cheese over with me and gladly get back into Mme P's kitchen.

La Blonde et la Brune will be reunited once again!

I decided to practice while Son #2 was home for Thanksgiving.  He loves cheesecake.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I made a pumpkin version that I found on-line at Plain Chicken.  The caramel sauce didn't turn out right so I found Pioneer Woman's version.

Ritz Carlton Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce

Preheat oven to 325˚F.

Crust
1 1/2 c. gingersnap cookie crumbs (can use graham crackers)
5 Tbsp. sugar
1/3 c. melted butter

Combine all ingredients and press against sides and bottom of 10-inch springform pan.

Cheesecake
1 1/4 c. sugar
5 tsp. corn starch
30 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. butter, softened
5 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. pumpkin puree
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

In the bowl of a stand mixer, blend sugar, cornstarch, and butter.  Add cream cheese, beat until soft, scrape bowl well.  On first speed, add eggs one at a time and beat after each addition.  Scrape bowl well.  Add cream and vanilla.  Add pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice to the cheesecake batter.

Pour in pan (there will be leftover batter-- I made mini-cheesecakes by lining a muffin pan with foil muffin liners, placing a gingersnap in the bottom and filling the muffin cup 3/4 full.  Bake these for 25 minutes.).  Bake for 45 minutes, rotate, bake for additional 15 minutes or until cheesecake has risen and feels firm on top.  (I put a baking sheet under my springform pan after I realized it was leaking... You can also line it with aluminum foil before putting the batter in, but I didn't do that.)  Remove from oven, cool.  When cool, remove the sides of springform pan.  Refrigerate if not serving after cooled. Drizzle with the caramel sauce when ready to serve.

Caramel Sauce
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. half and half
4 Tbsp. butter
Pinch salt
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

 Mix brown sugar, half and half, butter and salt in sauce pan over medium heat.  Cook while whisking gently for 5-7 minutes, until it gets thicker.  Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further. Turn off heat.  Cool slightly and pour into a jar.  Refrigerate until cold.

Bon appétit and merci to Stephanie Parker and Ree Drummond for the recipes!