I know it's not Tuesday, but I've been busy (and my internet is down at home). School started again this week; teachers worked on Monday & Tuesday, then the students' first day was yesterday.
I had such a fantastic summer and wasn't at all ready to start school, but now that I am a few days in I am getting excited for a great semester (fingers crossed). I'm also thankful that the weather in St. Louis has been milder than normal (as in NOT 100-degrees) because my school doesn't have air conditioning. Yep, that's right...NO AIR CONDITIONING. I'm not sure how that is even possible in this day and age, but it's true. Try teaching a roomful of 30 teenagers in a second floor classroom during the first week of school when it's 90-something degrees outside with only 3 floor fans. It's damn near impossible. IMPOSSIBLE, I say!
Yesterday was nearly unbearable hot. Everyone was cranky. I was standing in front of one class, reading to them from the novel Speak (to inspire their first writing assignment), when I felt a bead of sweat start to roll down my back. I was wearing a light, loose-fitting dress, so I could feel the sweat roll all the way down my back, past the band of my underpants, and down you know where. Sound disgusting? I know! I even grossed me out! No one, students or teachers, are at their best these first few hot days.
Today, though, was much better. There was less humidity and a nice breeze blowing through the windows. Everyone was in a much better mood.
photo from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours
Anyway, I made this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Applesauce Spice Bars (chosen by Karen of Something Sweet), for our faculty potluck lunch on Tuesday. They must have been good, but they were nearly all gone and I didn't get a chance to take a picture!
The bars begin as a dense cake batter laden with apples, nuts & raisins (though, I left the raisins out) and baked in a 9x13 dish. So, you end up with thin slices. The cake is then topped with a homemade brown sugar caramel glaze.
It tastes like autumn. Cool, cool autumn. *sigh*
3 comments:
Those look amazing. To comment on the lack of AC in schools, I don't think any school I attended growing has had AC. If they did, they sure as hell never used it. Of course that wasn't "this day in age" either. I hope this semester goes well for you.
I just had to tell you that I was researching how to harvest and roast the sunflower seeds I grew and one of the sites linked back to Barbaric Gulp. You must have a wide following! Hope you're doing well. -Andy Schmickle
THANK GOD the weather is getting better. I sweat even with the air on. GRRRR. Anyway, I miss you and hope you are doing well!
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