Masala Fail

I don't mean to sound cocky, but I am almost always successful in the kitchen.

I'm no gourmet, and I have no formal culinary training, but I've cooked enough over the years and picked up a tip or two that I produce crowd-pleasing favorites, at best, or average-but-acceptable fare, at worst.

Tonight, I had an epic fail in the kitchen, I am embarrassed to admit.

A few weeks ago, I bought a couple of cookbooks at Borders, which was going out of business and had everything marked down (Yes! Death to the big box bookstores! Long live independent bookstores!) I picked up a pressure cooker cookbook and a slow-cooker cookbook. I've made several things from the slow-cooker book already: pizza potatoes, orange-honey tilapia (yes, fish in a slow-cooker!) and beefy mac and cheese. All decent. No home runs, but for slow-cooker meals...decent.

After getting back from North Carolina last night, we had today to get ready for school and work. That meant unpacking and unloading our booty from Amazing Savings, Trader Joe's, and Costco. Cristina spent the better part of the day reorganizing our pantry. We made the menu for the week and I shopped for the week's groceries. I figured tonight was a good night to try out something from the pressure cooker book, so I chose chicken masala. It sounded fairly easy, different but not too off-the-wall, and tasty.

Once the lid was sealed, about halfway through the cooking, I detected a faint burning smell. I didn't have the heat that high, and I've never burned anything in the pressure cooker before, so I hoped that the burning smell was coming from Cristina's rice.

It wasn't.

The masala was so burned, it was completely ruined. I tried skimming off the top and not scraping the burned stuff on the bottom, but it was useless. One tiny bite left the aftertaste of smoke thick in your mouth. And it wasn't smoke you could deal with, like Liquid Smoke flavor you put on barbecue. It tasted like an ashtray smells. It was disgusting.

I know defeat when I see it, so I didn't force anyone to "take one for the team." I dumped it all in the trash. One little orange dollop landed on the edge of the trashcan lid. I left it there, a visual reminder of my defeat, for the rest of the evening.

Cristina's rice had not burned, so all was not lost. I quickly fried up some chicken cutlets, just a basic balsamic chicken thing I used to do often, and dinner was fine.

But I hate failing in the kitchen. And now I can't help but have a negative vibe towards that pressure cooker book. I followed the recipe to a tee yet it burned.

I'm not giving up yet. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. You have to read a crappy novel now and then to appreciate the good ones. And sometimes you gotta burn the hell out of your masala to make you step back and reevaluate your kitchen skills. My ingredients were fine. My prep was perfect. I doubt the recipe is to blame. It has to be an equipment issue. Either the stove was too hot, or my pressure cooker has other issues. I do have one suspicion.

I think I need a new gasket for my cooker. My current one seems stretched out, too big, and I think it's not sealing like it should. Once I get a new gasket, I'll try another recipe.

And then I'll make a judgment whether to keep the book or donate it to the Friends of the Library.

Okay, here we go

I'm going to be rusty, so bear with me.

It's been over 3 months since I've written a post of any significance. Probably longer than that. I'm going to ease back into this, so if this post rambles, if it drifts into incoherance, or it sounds like I'm talking to myself, chalk it up to PTSD from yearbook. Just plunge on.

I'm sitting in the small computer lab at Gainesville High School right now. It's 5:15. I'm teaching CROP English. I think CROP stands for Credit Retrieval Something Program. It's basically summer school, but all on the computer, and during the school year. It was a voluntary gig. I had way too much free time doing yearbook, so I signed on for a 3 hour after-school job every Wednesday. Okay, I'll admit it. I did it for the money.

It's an easy gig. I sign the students in. They work on various English classes that they're making up. I sit at my computer and grade papers, or work on yearbook, or write blog posts. Every once in a while, I check my screen that shows if anyone has submitted something for grading. If so, I grade it, then return to whatever I'm doing. The next day I turn in my attendance sheet to the office. Not really any teaching involved, but the computer-based lessons seem pretty good, actually. Maybe it's a sign of the future. Since lawmakers around the country seem to have it out for us overpaid teachers and our cushy tenured jobs, perhaps they'll replace us all with an expensive computer program and hire a babysitter for minimum wage to sign kids in and out. Sigh.


Speaking of yearbook, we submitted the final pages yesterday, a mere one day late. I think it will be a decent book. I'm not going to complain here about how much work it was, no woe-is-me pity parties. I accepted the job. I did the job. Next year will be better and I'm looking forward to doing it with a hand-picked staff, and a year of experience. It can only get better. Cristina doesn't want me to do it again, but after devoting so much time and energy into it, I don't want to dump it off on someone else who will have to start from scratch. If another teacher had yearbook experience and wanted the job, sure I'd let them take it. Shoot, even if they had no experience but really wanted the job, I'd probably give it up. But I don't think anyone like that will be stepping up to the plate.

Yearbook does have some plus sides. For one of my five classes, I get to play with photography and graphic design. I get to teach practical real-world things, like how to speak to professional adults, how to shake hands, how to handle money. I've formed a good relationship with the yearbook sales rep guy, who lives right here in Gainesville. He knows everything about yearbooks, so he's my personal Yoda, and he's just a text message away at all times. Making a yearbook, if you assemble the right staff, has a lot of the same creative teamwork qualities that video production has. After 6 years of teaching nothing but English, I'm enjoying that part of it.

Wow. The last CROP kid just left. I better get out of here and pick up Sofia from the library. More to come.

Blogs to Return

The yearbook will be finished this week. I will resume more regular blogs then.

Stay tuned!

Our New Cat Tree

https://youtu.be/4i39OfGcW2k

Alex's art

Thursday after school, Alex told me "I know it's last minute, but there's an art show at my school tonight." He gave me a little slip of paper with the details. So I quickly ordered pizza for dinner and made it to Glen Springs by 5:45-ish.

Some of the students, including Alex, had their artwork framed and on display in the halls.


At 6:00, the art teacher handed out awards to students for their artwork.


At the school entrance, Alex had a small piece on display. I forgot to ask what the theme was. Looks like a Day of the Dead thing, but I'm not sure. I think that's a football in front of the skeleton, which is wearing orange and blue of course.


It was a nice evening and it was wonderful to have an evening event showcasing Alex and his accomplishments.

Over Two Months? Really?

Wow. It's been over two months since I posted. Gotta do something about that. I don't think I can muster up a coherent, single story. But I'll throw out a few random bits of tid.

• I'm into week 13 here at GHS. It's been a whirlwind (no Hurricane pun intended). We had our first yearbook deadline yesterday, which we met. 44 pages submitted. So this week now has a bit of breathing room. I've been working in my classroom during the past 2 weekends, so it will be nice to have the upcoming weekend with no work obligations.
  
• Speaking of this weekend, Sofia's marching band season culminates with the state championship in St. Pete on Friday and Saturday. Cristina will ride on the bus with the other parents and help with the uniforms during prelims on Friday. I'll drive down Saturday with Alex and Bella to watch the finals. Should be fun!
  
• On Sunday, after a sleep-in (estimated time of return Saturday night is 2:30 AM) we'll spend a leisurely day packing for our trip to NC for Thanksgiving.
  
• Tuesday after work, we'll hit the road. I'm not sure yet if we'll break up the trip in Atlanta or drive straight through. But we'll be in Asheville some time early Wednesday.
  
• Hmm. It's looked like rain all morning, and it's finally coming down now, along with darkened skies and heavy wind. Nice. Been a while since it rained here. I still haven't had my fill of rain. I could do with a nice thunderstorm every other day or so.
  
• Rough season for the Gators. Not what I expected my first year back to Gainesville. Strangely, too, I have yet to go to a game, even though we're smack dab in the middle of Gator country. Between Cristina and Sofia working the concession stand (for band) at a couple of Gator home games (necessitating me staying at home with the younger kids) and being broke, it just hasn't happened. After a 4th loss and a slew of disgruntled fans, I could probably take Bella and Alex to this weekend's game for practically free. Alas, we'll be heading to Tampa for band finals. On the basketball front, a teacher offered to sell a ticket to tonight's UF-Ohio State game, but I didn't even consider it because we have no money. Ah well.

Well, not much of a post, but my planning period just ended and I have a class coming in. Better than nothing!

I Never Liked Spam

I hate to add a word verification thing to my comment procedure, but I've reached my tolerance threshold of spam comments to moderate. It didn't used to be so bad, but it seems that every day I have some new spam comment to moderate. In an effort to lighten my inbox, I'm now requiring the word verification.

I hope this doesn't deter my legitimate commenters from commenting.

I also apologize for not posting in a long time. I haven't fogotten. Just a little overwhelmed at my new job.