The Growing Challenge #2: They're here!

My seeds and coconut fiber pellets arrived in the mail this week. Next weekend I have a four day weekend (normally schools have two three day weekends in a row, so our school decided to combine them into one grand holiday) so I'll start my planting then. The task for the week? Information gathering.

Two of the six varieties of seeds are to be planted directly into the soil. The other four need to be started inside, hence the coconut fiber pellets. I was reading the back of the package, however, and found some instructions I don't yet know what to do about. Apparently they need to be kept at 80* F with bottom heat. Am I supposed to get some sort of heating pad? Could I just make a little greenhouse with clear plastic and bring the trays in at night (not that it gets particularly cold here)? I don't know. Time to hit the books. If you know more about this than I do, please feel free to give me advice. I need it.

Post-Disneyland thoughts

1. Fastpass tickets can be used at any time after their printed return time, not just for the stated one hour window. This makes much more useful than previously thought, as they are no longer an appointment to be worried over, but instead give you several free trips to a shorter line.

2. Girls, what is up with all the screaming? Having contests to see who can be the most annoying will lead to your death, probably by some disgruntled tourist. By the way, the girl who screamed like a fire alarm ("Eee! Eee! Eee!") definitely won.

3. Always bring painkillers in your bag.

Student sympathy

"Miss A, you just don't get no respect."

I could only shake my head in agreement that no, I wasn't. I think my exhaustion was palpable. The vice principal had just brought in a student from one of my other classes. She had cursed at me this morning in Spanish, but was claiming that she said "burra" rather than "puta." Luckily, the vice principal seemed more inclined to take my word over hers, particularly as she has been in his office quite frequently of late, so I didn't have to pull out my BCLAD to verify my knowledge of Spanish. This was after coaxing a student to give up the contraband Sharpie she had been chasing her friend with. She claimed it was a different pen, but the lines of black ink on both their faces betrayed the truth. Only after patiently detailing my desire to not call security, but that I would if I needed to search their stuff, did they finally hand over the pens.

On the upside, yet another one of my students was suspended today (that makes three, from a total of four classes that I teach). A reduction in their numbers can only help.

The Growing Challenge #1: Buying seeds

When I first thought of growing plants from seed, my thoughts immediately turned to radishes. I don't know what it is about radishes these days, but I can't seem to get enough of them these days. I, of course, wanted more tomatoes, but I especially wanted to have more than one type of tomato this year. As nice as it is to have large tomatoes, my favorites are probably the little ones. Back in the day, my best friend and I would love to go graze her parents' grape tomatoes. They were so good that her dogs learned to steal tomatoes off the vine! She still sends me a care package of her family's tomatoes for my birthday, which is one of the best presents I can think of.

I also decided to forgo planting melons this summer. Last year I planted honeydew and watermelon, and in the end I only wound up with two individual-sized watermelons and several inedible honeydew. I think the space, and water, could be put to better use.

I also bought some coconut fiber pellets for starting the seeds, which seemed like a convenient and self-contained way for a noob to spout some seeds.

Here's the complete list of what I ordered:

- French breakfast radishes

- Red pear tomatoes

- Brandywine Tomatoes

- Japanese cucumbers

- Thai hot peppers

- Orange bell peppers

Should be a tasty summer.

Recipe Review: Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

I'd been eying this recipe for creamy macaroni and cheese with rapini for a while now, but was never able to find any rapini in the grocery store. I finally decided to forge on bravely and do without, but I'm afraid that it might have impacted the recipe in the process. Although the sauce was rather tasty, the finished item just feel like it was missing something. Perhaps it didn't need to be cooked as long without the rapini, or else I just prefer a more saucy macaroni, but the recipe seemed a bit dry. Also, I think it has too much nutmeg without having veggies for balance. It seems like a good base, however, so I think I might experiment with it. Maybe with a little less nutmeg and a little pepper jack for spice, baked for a little less time, it might just be a winner.