Today I had an exciting and unexpected event happen at school. Two weeks ago this Friday, several other teachers and I planned projects (I planned a project for my seniors) and submitted it to our project coordinators for a contest. The principal and project coordinators scored our project plans by a rubric and everyone who qualified for the contest had their names put in a bag for a drawing. Today was the celebratory staff meeting and the announcement of the winners. We had cake, sparkling cider, and a drawing for small prizes, which I hoped I wouldn’t win because I wanted my name in the drawing for the 2 large prizes–the video i-pods. I waited nervously, secretly hoping I’d win, but trying not to expect that I would win, lest I be disappointed. Each time a name was called for the small prizes, I was happy that I didn’t win, yet wondering if my name was even entered into this contest. When my principal pulled the next ticket out of the bag, she gasped and smiled knowingly. All three of the ladies in charge of the drawing said my name in unison, and I gasped, almost squeaking. I had won a video i-pod! For lesson planning! Really???

There are perks to being an educator, but even more than this, I enjoyed hearing one of my seniors asking, “Mrs. Baeder, do teachers get paid overtime? They don’t? They should. And we should have a teacher appreciation week, because you guys deserve it.”

I must say, I feel appreciated, and both of these occurrences have made my week phenomenal.

On this crisp and sunny October morning, Aaron, Mandy, Matt and I ran the University of Washington’s 10K through the campus. I finished in 58 minutes, which is an average of a 9.75 minute mile in the 6.15 miles I ran. That’s not great for most 10K runners, but considering that I missed my long run last week, I ran only 3 miles during the week, and that I don’t usually run hills that intense, I was OK with it. Hopefully next year I can beat that time. One cool thing–I got to see one of my former students there because she was serving water after the 3 mile marker!

Fortunately the next few days are going to be warm–in the 70s–and rainless. This means I can wear all of those cute clothes that you don’t want to start off the year wearing, but you can’t wear into October because it gets too chilly. More importantly, I can rest assured that my 5K (which is tomorrow) will be in sunny weather.

Enough weather chitchat–on to my goings-on.

Friday night was our date night. All I could think about was sleeping when I came home, which has been most afternoons this week, but we knew we needed a date. So, we decided to grab some delicious coffee at Tully’s and find a restaurant for dinner. We checked out this place called Rosebud on Capitol Hill, our old neighborhood. We started with bread and an olive oil/vinegar dip, and ordered a mixed greens salad, some fancy “porcini-dusted” halibut over blue cheese and bacon sauce, and a roasted chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and mushrooms over polenta and greens. All of the dishes were seemingly tiny but fabulous and satisfying. Justin said the chicken melted in his mouth like butter. For dessert, we got brioche and brownie-layered cake with homemade ice cream and whiskey sauce. YUM.

From Rosebud, we walked down the hill to the theater to decide on which movie to see–All the King’s Men or Fearless. Undecided and having to use the restroom, we walked to Barnes and Noble to read for an hour and use the facilities.

There we ran into Jason, a former garage tenant of ours who got into trouble with the law and spent some time in jail. It was good to see him, but somewhat disconcerting. We talked with him for a while only to find out that he’s still homeless and is looking for work. He is in our prayers and knows how to get in touch with us, if needed.

With this weighing heavily on my mind, we walked back to the theater and watched All the King’s Men.

(I don’t remember what else happened–I wrote this September 22–a month ago tomorrow!)

Where did this weekend go?

Friday…
hanging out with Justin’s coworkers
getting coffee with Justin and shopping for Dawn’s b-day present
hanging out with the Ogles and Lesley over some rousing games of Uno while entertaining Asher with my “Geek Squad” bookmark and apparently exciting book cover

Saturday….
Long run from 9-11
breakfast and shower
grading notebooks and watching Alias
giving Justin a haircut
making 2 pies and an apple crisp
grading more notebooks

Sunday….

Church 11-2!!
Grading notebooks 3-4
Short nap 4-4:30
Grading notebooks 4:30-6:30
Making bread and dinner 6:30-7
Grading notebooks 7-8
Lesson Planning 8-9 and watching Alias

From last Friday until Thursday, I could not motivate myself to do much of anything. If there was time at home that was discretionary, I spent it curled up on the couch, sleeping, zoning out, or watching Alias. I got NO schoolwork done at home, and I felt totally unmotivated. I tried remedying my problem by going to bed earlier, and that seemed to work. The weather during that time did not. I worked out Sunday and Monday, but I felt too exhausted and blah to go any other night. I hope that it doesn’t hit again–I get so behind with school work, housework, and exercising if that happens. The weather is in my favor, so I’d love for it to stay that way.

I was reading a friend’s blog and he mentioned a TV show, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose. I remember watching what must have been reruns of this before school started. I remember thinking how cool high school must be if someone like Parker Lewsis was in it. Anyway, this led me to look for other cool TV shows that I remember from growing up, which led me to Punky Brewster. Apparently she’s all grown up and has had breast reduction surgery, but that’s another story. I found this cool website called Retro Junk that lets you see commercials from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, as well as TV shows, movies, and other interesting “memories” you can relive.

How well this connected to the article I am reading in Fast Company about Microsoft’s Gordon Bell, a guy who records every part of his life and uploads it to computer memory. Creepy, yet useful, though somewhat incriminating, at times. He needs a better website.

Last night, Justin and I went on a date courtesy of freebies from our jobs. At the beginning of the year, Justin got two coupons in his box for a lively Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo. We decided to use them last night for our dinner of garlic bread and meat tortelloni in a cream sauce with veggies. We shared that plate and were pleasantly full, and had what seemed to me to be a short, yet fulfilling conversation.

After parking our car in a free spot, albeit far from Key Arena, we walked from 9th Ave to Seattle Center. Fortunately, we had both dressed casually that day and were wearing warm sweatshirts and comfy shoes. On our way, we passed a sophisticated crowd at a benefit auction, a jumpin’ crowd moving to the Garfield HS band at the Garfield vs. Ballard football game, and a variety of not-so-skilled brass instrument players along the sidewalk. We were on our way to the Sonics’ preseason basketball game to which our school got free tickets. Earlier this year, our school had gotten our basketball jerseys stolen, totalling to $6000. One student tipped off either the newspaper or the Sonics themselves and ended up getting the attention of two of the star players, Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. They presented the team with Sonics jerseys with the students’ names on them, new Cleveland jerseys, and a check for $4000 at a school assembly. Plus, everyone in the school got 2 free tickets to last night’s game, one of our star singers sang the national anthem, and our cheerleaders and drumline performed the halftime show! Ultimately, the Sonics lost the game, and Justin and I left at halftime, but we had a fun time.

In other news, I slept until 10 this morning, which I normally don’t get to do, so I feel rather rested. Not that I have much to look forward to–I have to grade notebooks all day and clean the house for church because my 10K is tomorrow.

More news later, hopefully

This weekend was kicked off by a beautiful, sunny, crisp-yet-warmish Friday afternoon and has turned into a drizzly, cool grey Sunday, which is fine with me. Our walk through the Queen Anne neighborhood yesterday took us to the Hilltop Yarn (and notions) store and to Tully’s coffee shop. That neighborhood has some beautiful builings and trees which we hoped to photograph, but the rain and quickly-setting sun sent us inside where I had a ginger peach decaf tea.

We had film night Saturday night where we watched and discussed Garden State. Earlier that day I presented at the Seattle Alliance for Black Educator’s conference with a colleague of mine about Academic Achievement in Science for Students of Color. Before the conference we had breakfast together at Geraldine’s Counter, a classy version of Bobby’s in Searcy, if such a thing exists.

Sunday we went back to the Queen Anne neighborhood and worked for a while at Cafe Ladro. Afterward Justin and I went to the Ogles’ new condo where I got to see Andrea go through the evening routines with Asher. Babies in bathtubs are just so cute and slippery!

I am at work–it’s lunchtime–so I’d best be going. This wasn’t so much a coherent post, but I’ll try making a better one another time this week.

Does this seem disturbing to anyone else? What did a Rainier cherry do to deserve this?

Maraschino cherry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A maraschino cherry is a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries, such as the Royal Ann, Rainier, or Gold varieties. The cherries are first preserved in a brine solution or alcohol, then soaked in a suspension of food colouring, sugar syrup, artificial and natural flavors, and other components. Maraschino cherries dyed red are typically almond-flavoured, while cherries dyed green are usually peppermint-flavoured.

Further steps along this process make glace and crystallised cherries; after soaking, the cherries are drained and then soaked in glucose and air-dried, producing glace cherries; a further stage involves another soaking in glucose which coats them with sugar, creating crystallised cherries.
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History

The name maraschino refers to the marasca cherry and the maraschino liqueur made from it, in which maraschino cherries were originally preserved. They were, at first, produced for and consumed as a delicacy by royalty and the wealthy. Today they are a common dessert and drink garnish.
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In the U.S.

The cherries were first introduced in the United States in the late 19th century, where they were served in fine restaurants. By the turn of the century, American producers were experimenting with flavors such as the almond extract used today and substituting Queen Anne cherries for marasca cherries. In 1912, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration legally defined “maraschino cherries” as marasca cherries preserved in maraschino under the Food and Drugs Act of 1906; the artificially colored and sweetened Queen Ann variety had to be called “Imitation Maraschino Cherries” instead.[1]

During Prohibition in the United States as of 1920, the decreasingly popular alcoholic variety was illegal as well. Ernest H. Wiegand, a professor of horticulture at Oregon State University, developed the modern method of manufacturing maraschino cherries using a brine solution rather than alcohol. Thus, most modern maraschino cherries have only a historical connection with the liqueur maraschino. It was not until after Prohibition was repealed in 1933 that the FDA revisited its policy towards canned cherries in 1939. Since 1940, “maraschino cherries” have been defined as “cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar sirup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor” (sic).[1]

Maraschino cherries are an important ingredient in many cocktails. As a garnish, they often decorate baked ham, pastry, parfaits, ice cream sundaes, and ice cream sodas. They can also be found as an accompaniment to sweet paan.

Has anyone ever had a non-dyed, not-from-a-jar, fresh Maraschino cherry? Or does that even exist? Where did these cherries come from, and why do we eat cherries that have been altered so?