Rosa vs. Linda Sue

 

For the 2013-2014 school year, my school bought a new curriculum called Expeditionary Learning. It is broken up into modules, units, and lessons. I will admit it is pretty good. For our first module we read the novel A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Parks. To make your day a whole lot more interesting then it was 5 minutes ago I’ll give you a brief summary of the novel. It is about two main characters, Salva and Nya and their journeys in surviving in Africa with a small amount of water, a large amount of walking, and a war. Doesn’t your life feel so much more fulfilled now? I will say, it was actually a very interesting novel.

In my ICT class the students range in skill level. It look a whole lot longer to get through this novel with them then my other two classes. No judgment here. We all learn in different ways.

As we were winding down with the novel and getting the students ready for their summative assessment – a two voice poem – I posed a question.

“How did Parks alter history?”

Simple. Straight to the point. Answerable.

One of my favorite best students immediately shot his hand up in the air (like he just don’t care. Sorry I had to). He was so excited to answer the question. I was thinking “Yes Nicholas, you got this dude!” I proudly called on him, all students turned to face him and we all waited to listen to what had to be a remarkable answer.

“She sat in the front of the bus instead of the back.”

Remarkable it was.

The Tale of Two Zucchinis

If you are on Pinterest, you know that Zucchini Crust Pizza is EVERYWHERE. It is being pinned and repinned constantly. Every time I saw it being pinned I immediately thought, “I want that in my mouth… NOW.” Then my next thought was “Oh sh*t, I have to make it.” I love, love, love, love food. I hate, hate, hate cooking. So when my two twin besties, Katie and Erin, were coming over for dinner I enlisted their help in making the infamous zucchini crust pizza. I didn’t just enlist their help because I wanted to drag them down in this cooking fiasco with me, but because they are stellar cooks and make home dinners often. Let me start from the beginning, because I should have known from the way this journey started it wouldn’t end up well.

Food Shopping. The good old supermarket. I like to think I know where most foods are in the supermarket. I found out I don’t. Damn you zucchini! Between the pizza and the dessert I was making (found on Pinterest as well) I had all the ingredients in my cart… except for the zucchini. I could not find it. I saw cucumbers after cucumbers after cucumbers. There was only one answer I thought so I made sure I was on the right track. My mom, fiance, and twinnies all got the same text message: “Are cucumbers and zucchinis the same thing?” I got back various responses of the same thing: “NO,” “No way,” “Ask somebody,” “Ask someone where zucchinis are.” All I needed was two friggin’ zucchinis. I was frustrated and embarrassed so I paid for my found groceries, left, and told Katie and Erin that they were being forced to come back to the supermarket with me later on to show me where zucchinis were. At least they were finding this comical.

After our tripod pedicure date, we crossed 3rd Avenue and walked back into the supermarket. Erin: “Ali, they are right here under squash!” WHAT. REALLY? C’MON.

Now, if I owned a clothing store. I would not make different sections and then put a pair of pants in the shirt section. I bought the two stupid zucchinis and we left.

Isn’t this story just so funny? And I haven’t even started cooking yet.

This is how the cooking went at MY apartment:

-Erin shredded the zucchini using a cheese grater.

-Katie and Erin ate the cheese and crackers we bought as an appetizer.

-Erin mixed in the one egg.

-Erin mixed in the shredded mozzarella cheese.

-I ripped the wax paper so it fit on the pan.

-Erin put the zucchini mix on the pizza pan and made sure it was even.

-Erin put it in the oven.

Remember, I invited them over for dinner that I was cooking. The crust was supposed to stay in the oven that was preheated to 450 degrees for 20 minutes. We put the timer on and refilled our wine glasses. Boy, would we need it. When we heard the timer go off we all trekked into the kitchen and pulled out our beautiful crust. And it was beautiful. It did look exactly like the pictures, getting a little brown and crispy but mostly green and full of life. We spooned tomato sauce on the crust and more shredded cheese and when we thought it looked acceptable put it back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes.

The second timer went off and we went back into the kitchen. Erin took it out of the oven and we all stared in amazement. It looked really pretty. Not just like “hm that looks interesting”, but “damn I can’t wait to eat that.” We got our three plates ready, the pizza cutter ready and then BAM! The crust was STUCK to the wax paper. Legit, wax crust instead of zucchini crust. I wanted to call the wahmbulence right about then. Erin got a small butter knife and succeeded at attempting to pull the wax away from the crust. We each got a piece of the pizza and went to sit at the dining room table exchanging worried glances. Let me tell you, that meal didn’t look pretty but it sure as hell tasted good. The three of us even shared the last piece. I am not lying when I say there was nothing left. Zilch.

I admit I made this out to be way worse than it really was, however, I didn’t really do anything and somehow it was probably my fault that the zucchini crust stuck to the wax paper.

I won’t even start my story about the Apple Snickers Pie I made for dessert. Let’s just say that made its way to the garbage real fast.