Yeah, I am low and have about 1/2 glass left for later....meaning.....I either have to go out or ration what I have until Friday. Hmmm...decisions....decisions....quick, someone grab my coat!
OK, whazzup? Why am I pie? Well, I spent most of yesterday and part of Monday making pies With Sparky, Big C, Baker, and Sweet C. Who is Sweet C? SC is a newbie on the staff who has her own bakery in her home and is looking to open a shop. She makes cupcakes and cakes and sells them through the internet. If the Christmas music wasn't being blasted in my ear, I would have asked her more about her business. Anyway, we had a competition on who could make the best and most double crusted apple pies. My job was merely to create a mountain of apples in a shell and adding butter, sugars and spices in the right way.
A mindless job, but very important, cause I kept getting the mountain of apples wrong. According to Sparky, I had to create an apple mountain that looked like J-Lo's butt rather than a pyramid. Not having studied the derriere of J-Lo, I used my imagination and tried to create lovely mounds of apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Yesterday, after the double crusted apple pies were done, I started to make the apple caramel pecan pies. That's right.....based on my J-Lo apple pies, I was moved up on the food chain and was asked to fill pie shells with apples and crumbs. Uh huh...yep....I am one step away from blueberry pies....just sayin'....not bragging.....
While stuffing the pies, I received yet another email from a student who decided to go home early from campus and not attend my 1 pm class. Yes, over half the class was cutting on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. So, I considered my options. Option A: Penalize them.....give a test to the students who stayed and not let the cutters take it.....Mean...very mean. When asked about my plans before class, I asked one of the students why she thought that I had this type of mean spiritedness in me. After all, I am a straight shooter. I do not give tests trying to get the students to fail. I would like to see them succeed. But I have no ulterior plans or motives.
Option B: Rather than penalize the people who left because 'it was raining', I decided to reward the people who stayed for the class. Therefore, as I stuffed my last pie, I grabbed a quarter sheet cake and had the decorators write on it: "Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for coming to class". Then I gave everyone who stayed for class a big hunk of chocolate and vanilla cake. The students who stayed took photos of the cake and sent them to the people who had cut class. it was beautiful.....I did not penalize the people who left but rewarded those who stayed.....isn't that what I am trying to teach them?
As I began to teach the class, I reminded them that they are going to seek jobs and therefore, potential employers will be asking for references. Guess who writes references for graduating seniors? Hmmmm....the faculty perhaps? Yeah, the people that they have been dissing for the past 6 months have their futures in the hands or shall I say 'keyboards'. When I mentioned this phenomenon in class, I could see the disrespectful students gulp loudly and look like they swallowed a whole turnip. Gotcha!
Do I take glee in this one? Naw. Look, I have been trying to teach manners to a manner-less society of individuals who are narcissistic at best. With their texting, tablets, Facebook, tweets, and so on, they have forgotten what it means to communicate in a respectful way. Therefore, I have to 'school 'em' before it is too late. The looks on their faces was priceless. I had asked the boss to relieve me of teaching this class next year, because I did not like the way the students treated me and each other, but now think that it is pretty fun as I have seen the 'ah hah' moment during yesterday's class.
And so, with apples and cinnamon firmly encrusted under my finger nail beds and my favorite robe on, it is time for me to put the turkey into the oven and start the cheesecake....that's right. Cheesecake. Why not? We will have gone over our daily allotment of calories by noon tomorrow; what is a few thousand more?
And with that said, Happy Day!
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