Stop Me before I Volunteer!

I have a button - you know the kind you pin on your shirt, backpack, or whatever. It has a picture of one of those perky 1960s women on it and says "Stop me before I volunteer again!" I received it as a gift from a friend who likes to tease me about my inability to say "no". Well, today I should have been wearing it. I think I lost it in the move....

My day's volunteer extravaganza actually started last night. Jack's Prep class (what they call kindergarten here) cooks on Thursdays. They were looking for volunteers for October and I thought, "hey, why not?" Since they don't really go all out for Halloween in Australia, I thought Halloween cookies would be a big hit with the kids. Today was my day to cook. I was worried because we wouldn't have time to refrigerate the dough after mixing it, so I made a batch ahead of time. That way I could pull a Rachael Ray-like switcharoo and "ta da" perfect cookie dough. But once I made the first batch, I worried that there wasn't enough for 24 kids, so I made another. Never mind that the recipe said one batch would yield 6 dozen cookies - I did not want to be short cookie dough with a bunch of ravenous "Preppies" looking on.

So, this morning I put on my Halloween spider shirt, filled a toy cauldron with ghost, Frankenstein, witch, pumpkin, and bat cookie cutters, and lugged all the ingredients to the school. Jack was over the moon about me coming to cook. I was happy he was happy, but really I was also feeling nervous. While I knew that it was unlikely a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds would swear at me, I still thought it could be "Hell's Kitchen." Let's face it - cooking with your own kids entails patience and a mop. Cooking with three groups of eight children was going to be a little daunting! (Did I mention that there are only 6 girls in the class?)

While the teacher got the kids settled into their start of morning routine, I set out the ingredients and checked my cooking space. It was going to be tight, one mini kids' table and a toaster oven. Well, I'd make it work.

The first group got started late as the kitchen also served as a change room for the other class's swimming lessons. When I did finally get them around the table, I made the rookie mistake of showing them the cookie cutters first. I could have added spinach to the recipe and some of the boys wouldn't have noticed. But, in the end, Jack's group did pretty well mixing up the dough, only getting a small amount of flour on themselves. They cut out their shapes and I managed to get the cookies out of the toaster oven unburnt. After another delay (a Grade 3 buddy project), I got the second group organized. By this time we only had time to roll out the actual dough (that goodness I brought plenty) and cut out their cookies. Well seven kids with nothing to do but wait for their turn to use the rolling pin wasn't going well, so I through caution to the wind and let them fight over the cookie cutters again. With only 10 minutes left before their class had swimming I sat the last group down, gave each a turn with the rolling pin (luckily no one used it as a weapon) and managed to shove the last batch into the oven. I'm sure it was not a Martha Stewart moment for anyone, but heck, all they were interested in was when they could eat one. They didn't care what went into them, or learning about measurements, or anything educational - they were hungry!

Frankly, that should have been the end of my volunteer day. But no... I had also signed up a few weeks before to help with their swimming class. Down I went with my new little friends to the school pool. I had been told that I probably wouldn't have to go into the pool but to come in my "togs" a.k.a "swimmers" a.k.a "swim suit." Unfortunately when we got down there the gym teacher announced that she would appreciate some help and if you had a suit on, jump in! Great! Out of twelve parents (yes, twelve) only two of us had on our togs. At least the pool was warm.

Again, I wish I would have stopped myself there, but no.....

I went home, grabbed a English muffin for lunch, changed out of my suit, and went back to the school for Caitlyn's swimming class. At least with a Grade 3 class, they didn't really need much help changing and I didn't have to go in the pool this time. All I had to do was calm my daughter down (she had an ant crawl onto her face right before and was somewhat hysterical - guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree with her dislike of creepy crawlies), check off the roll call list, and chat with the two other moms there.

It was a wild day, and I will probably (never say never) do three volunteering stints in a row again, but it was worth it. Caitlyn and Jack are only going to want me at their school for a couple more years. When they're older they will make me stay home or drop them off a block away. So, guess I until then... I'd better ignore the button.

Turkey et Vin

My friend Shannon was teasing me the other day that she was only going to "follow" my blog when I wrote about cooking Coq au Vin - like the blogger whose life was made into the movie Julie & Julia.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, you should go, it has some pretty hilarious moments. Part of the movie is based on a woman who started a blog about cooking Julia Child's 524 recipes in 365 days. An interesting idea for sure, but not something I would ever want to duplicate.

So, I'm sorry Shannon but it's so not going to happen. For one thing - I didn't even know what Coq au Vin was until I Googled it (rooster cooked in wine, for those non-gourmets like myself), and for another - I don't have a passion for cooking. So consequently, I would never choose to cook my way through Julia Child's cookbook, or for that matter, any cookbook. Well - unless it was a cookbook dedicated solely to cupcakes! But then I'd have to blog about my exercise program... boring!

However, in an effort to gain readership (are you there Shannon?) I have decided to cook something on par (at least in my mind) with Coq au Vin - namely Thanksgiving dinner. And while the turkey may not be cooked in wine, the cook may need some to make it through!

For a lot of people cooking a Thanksgiving dinner wouldn't be much of a problem. Usually one person in the family is always responsible for the turkey, year after year after year. I am not that person. Last year I ordered the whole dinner from Sunterra. That's how I roll!

So my decision to cook Thanksgiving dinner will be a challenge, and not just of my cooking prowess. First, there's no such thing as Thanksgiving in Australia. I guess when you come over on a boat as a prisoner of Mother England you don't have a lot to be thankful for! Since they don't do Thanksgiving here, it's proving difficult to find all of the ingredients that you'd associate with a turkey dinner. For one, the only turkey I've found so far looks more like a cross between spam and a turkey - a "spurkey"! Scary!!

Then, the pumpkin pie. Is it too late to get someone to send me a can of pureed pumpkin? I might be willing to risk a rubber glove search by an overeager quarantine official just to get my hands on one! Apparently the Aussies like to work their frustrations out on their pumpkins. The lady at the grocery store looked at me like I had escaped from a mental institution when I asked about pumpkin in a can. Couldn't they have spared a row for cans of pumpkin, or are three rows of jars of beet root really necessary?

With no pumpkin puree in sight it looks like I will be mashing up some fresh pumpkin myself. That got me to thinking - is apple pie associated with Thanksgiving? Who am I kidding?Pumpkin pie is Thanksgiving!! Just like kids jumping in leaves, family around the table, and my brother and cousin Mary moaning about how they need a nap after so much turkey! Guess I better just buck up and smash some pumpkins!

So, I will cook Thanksgiving dinner. Not because I want Shannon to read my blog, but because I love what it represents. Giving thanks for all the good things we have in our lives. This year, far from home and family, celebrating Thanksgiving is a chance for us to appreciate what we have together, while also emotionally linking ourselves with those back home. They will be eating turkey and pumpkin pie - and so will we!