So Long, 2020

TASTY: Even though we just finished the December Teen Feed, it's not too early to start thinking about next month's menu.

We discussed a number of options and I think we've decided on asking people to bring their favorite casserole this month. Casseroles are filling, comfort food that should go over well on a cold January night.

I had initially thought we'd make hot dish, and we still might, but for fun, I Googled casserole recipes. I found a couple of articles with dozens of ideas, including All Recipes' "Casseroles for a Crowd" and Delish.com's "45+ Easy Dinner Casserole Recipes." 

Turns out. there are a WHOLE lot of casseroles we've never heard of ... like corn dog casserole. Apparently that's a thing. So, we just had to try it out last night, because it sounded to me like something the Teen Feed diners would love the sound of.  It's not gourmet, but it's pretty darn good, I have to admit. There were no complaints from anyone at MPA last night.

Tonight's experiment is Chicken Bacon Ranch Bubble-Up Bake (photo above). Broccoli, cheese, butter, bacon, chicken and biscuits, what's not to love (well, other than the fact that it's not exactly health food)?

Reviews were great for tonight's concoction. CJ proclaimed, "We should have casserole more often." Like, more often than two nights in a row, apparently. :)

GAMEY: This afternoon, the kids participated in their semi regular online game day. A number of different Internet-based games are played, but it seems like way more than any other, the group plays Among Us. CJ can tell you a bit more about it. 

"In 2018, PNW-based indie game development studio InnerSloth quietly released Among Us, an online party social deduction game. In Among Us, players are sorted into two groups: Crewmates and impostors. Crewmates' goal is to complete tasks in the game area and, when necessary, determine which players are the impostors. Meanwhile, impostors' goal is to kill the crewmates, either by (literally) backstabbing them, or sabotaging essential space travel supplies such as oxygen.

Upon Among Us' initial 2018 release, it didn't get very much attention. However, in 2020, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has forced millions of people to limit the amount of time they spend with other people, Among Us experienced a surge in popularity due to providing players with social interaction over long distances. Among Us' popularity can also be attributed to being accessible to those unfamiliar or inexperienced with video games, yet still offering a level of technicality and strategizing to more seasoned gamers. For example, crewmates serve themselves well by learning to identify common impostor tactics (such as crawling through vents or pretending to do tasks), while impostors serve themselves well by learning how to deceive and fool crewmates (for example, by memorizing common task locations, or sometimes even throwing another impostor under the bus to gain the crewmates' trust)."

Here's a link to a YouTube short pormo about the game: https://youtu.be/NSJ4cESNQfE, and below I'll try to embed the video, though that feature doesn't seem to work on Blogger any more.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NSJ4cESNQfE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TESTY: We're still plugging away at figuring out college for the kids next year. To be in Running Start, Annabelle will have to pass a placement test. To that end, today she took a practice test for the math portion. Bellevue College uses the ALEKS test for math placement, so we used their website for an assessment. It gave us quite a list of things to review over the next couple of months, so that was helpful. Bellevue College also suggests taking final tests from some of their previous math classes as a tune up. So we'll be working on those, for sure. 

RECYCLED:  Boy, have we gotten good mileage out of the DIY advent calendar I purchased back in October. First, we used it for a countdown to the November election. In December, it was used as a traditional countdown to Christmas calendar, and today, I repurposed it for a countdown to the inauguration. 

Helping Homeless for the Holidays

PRETTY IN PINK: A busy Christmas weekend included a cake donation to Birthday Dreams.

We were told the 14 year-old spending her Christmas and birthday in a homeless shelter likes art and pink. So those two elements were combined to produce the cake above.

We always start off with a conceptual drawing. Often, the cake doesn't look like the drawing when we're done, but it's a starting point.

CJ baked three layers of vanilla cake on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Annabelle got busy with design elements. A palette, paint brush, paint tube and easel needed to be constructed out of homemade modeling chocolate. 

I filled and iced this cake, and then Annabelle air brushed it with a vibrant pink.

CJ installed a tidy row of 'pearls' around its base. 

We were really happy with how it all came together. It wasn't the biggest or most complicated cake we've ever done, but it was really pretty, at least to our eyes. (FYI, the birthday girl's name has been obscured or altered in all of our photos to preserve her anonymity.) 

I loved the way Annabelle's cupcake on 'canvas' turned out. And the palette was super cute, too.

BUENO BURRITOS:  The Christmas holiday definitely didn't spill over into Saturday, the day after Christmas, for us. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was a super busy day, readying a huge amount of food for our monthly Teen Feed service.

This month there was a bit of a monkey wrench. I was informed on the night of Christmas Eve eve that Teen Feed's location had been moved. And so, then I had just two days (Christmas Eve and Christmas day) to try to contact a dozen-plus volunteers and let them know about the change. That was fun ... not.

Most every morning I write a 'to do' list on a white board in our kitchen. Here was Saturday's.

On the list was making at least 20 enormous (like three pound) burritos. I had cooked the chicken, beans, and rice on Christmas day, so on the 26th, it was all about assembly. The kids and I got a production line going. First, CJ would toast a tortilla on a griddle. I'd pick that up and put about 3/4 cups of refried beans on. Annabelle would add a cup of Mexican rice, I'd drizzle on some enchilada sauce, and then I'd add two huge handfuls of seasoned, shredded chicken. CJ would sprinkle two handfuls of cheese on top, and the the hard part was rolling all of that into a nice, tight burrito. 

We got better at it as we went along. CJ also tore foil sheets that the burritos were then wrapped in.

Fortunately, I was able to chase down every volunteer and all of the food made it to the new Teen Feed location. We had asked for 80 burritos, and probably wound up with more than a hundred! (At home, the kids and I made 30 instead of 20, because we had the filling to do so. Others clearly did the same - made burritos until they couldn't make any more.)

In the to go bags there was also some fresh fruit, a box of nacho chips with salsa, sour cream, cheese dip, and jalapenos. 

For dessert, volunteers home baked cookies. One friend made vegan Mexican mocha snickerdoodles, which sounded delicious to me. She even wrote "Adios 2020" (the theme for our dinner) on each cookie envelope. 

All in all, a super busy weekend, but a great chance to help some young neighbors in need.

Good Tidings

SEASON OF GIVING: A couple of nights ago, there was a devastating fire at an apartment complex less than a half mile from our house. Suddenly, on Christmas Eve eve,  24 adults and six children found themselves suddenly homeless, with most of their personal belongings a total loss. 

Naturally, we wondered what we could do to help, and yesterday the West Hill Community Association announced plans to accept community donations for the fire victims, by hosting a drive up donation center at the King County Fire District 20 administration building in Skyway. 

So, this morning the kids and I rounded up a bunch of stuff and took it there. We were happy to see a line of cars waiting to drop things off. 

We had a huge bag of men's pants and another big bag of men's shirts. Annabelle donated a few pairs of pants and some hoodies. I put together a big bag of toiletries - including bottles of hand sanitizer and canisters of bleach wipes. We had a few new toys, some brand new pint glasses, some new ballcaps, and even a couple of Christmas ornaments and a cute Seahawks birdhouse that will hopefully brighten up someone's balcony. We also included a grocery bag full of non- perishable food

Our little Fit was packed to the rafters.

The biggest item we donated was a brand new Instant Pot.  It had to go in the back seat.

We hope someone starting over can put it to good use.

BRIGHT LIGHT: Yesterday I was stunned by a mysterious glowing orb in the sky to the south.

The valley was filled with fog, but Rainier was rising above it.

Sunshine and blue skies have been ins such short supply as of late. It was a welcome sight, for sure.

WORDY: I feel like I must record this for posterity. Yesterday, I dropped a 112-point word on Kennedy in our (online) Scrabble game. It was ZONES, on a triple letter and triple word slot, plus it was a combo with three other words. 

I beat him by well over 100 points in that game, which is a Christmas miracle. Kennedy is *such* a good Scrabble player. And then, in our new game, I got to go first - and dropped a 77-point opening move on him. I had an odd assortment of letters, and saw that I could spell BACK, and my other three letters were OGH. I thought, "You don't suppose HOGBACK is a word, do you?"

It is! Yippee! (Turns out a hogback is "a long hill or mountain ridge with steep sides," per the Google dictionary. 

I have to revel in these things when I can, because Kennedy regularly bests me by a ton.

A CHRISTMAS STORY: Given the pandemic, we are home for the holidays this year. I was trying to think of ways to make our stay fun. On Christmas Eve, we watched a family favorite, "Elf." We had spaghetti for dinner (a favorite of Buddy's). We made our usual good stuff, but made it even better by using fresh basil and mozarella.

Christmas night dinner was whole duck. That was inspired by the fact that Christian and the kids somehow have never seen "A Christmas Story." We righted that wrong tonight. They laughed hard and often, especially CJ. And once the final scene came on, they realized why I insisted upon whole duck for dinner tonight. I made a yummy wild rice stuffing to go with, as well as fresh cranberries with orange and pineapple. (Vegans, apologies.)

Graduation Day

MERRY PROCESSION: Saturday morning, I rousted CJ and Annabelle from their warm beds and told them it was time to go to graduation. 

CJ donned his "Elf" onesie and Annabelle threw on a Christmas sweater. We all piled into the Fit and piloted it to the Renton Community Center to gather their Elf Academy certificates.

I'm not going to lie, we were pretty blown away by the scene. As we pulled into the lot, we saw a big snow plow and polar bear.

Christmas carols were blaring, and friendly tree greeted us.

There were reindeer and a jolly Elf, Buddy.

There were cute signs with season's greetings.

As we approached the station where the diplomas were waiting, we saw people in dress uniforms. Turned out the city of Renton's police and fire chiefs were on hand for the ceremonies.

Santa even took time out of his busy December schedule to meet and greet new elves. 

In addition to their diplomas, the kids were given candy canes and complimentary hot chocolate.

All in all, a very nice way to start their Saturday, and to have a little ray of sunshine during these dark days.

Bellevue Bound

 

CAMPUS TOUR: Friday was a mostly dreary day, but about noon, the rain stopped for bit, so I suggested we go for a little walk. Our destination: Bellevue College.

Annabelle is contemplating attending Bellevue for Running Start, and CJ has been accepted into Eastern Washington University's satellite campus there, to finish his 4-year degree.

We parked at the north end of campus, near the baseball field and soccer pitch.

We wound our way south, toward the center of the campus. In one plaza, I spied the roof of the college's planetarium.

There's a fair amount of art on campus. I apologize in advance for not knowing all of the names of the artists or the pieces. I figured I could find that on the BC website, but I just spent a few minutes trying to locate that info, and I couldn't find it. I did finally find a YouTube video on the topic, which was helpful. 

CJ and Annabelle checked out this duo. It's Doorway by sculptor Ray Jensen. It was installed in 1992.

An untitled veterans' memorial near the college's library was topped by bronze combat boots. I was able to find out the sculptor was Bellevue College art instructor  Ross Brown, along with some Bellevue students who were veterans.

The series of white circles below is called Psalm 61. It's by Stu Branston, from 1976.

When I spied the photo of Japanese American children held in an internment camp during World War II on a brick wall, Iremembered reading awhile back that this display sparked a controversy.  A college vice president altered the description the artist, Japanese American Erin Shigaki, provided along with the work, first whiting out and then altogether deleting a reference to anti-Japanese agitation by Eastside businessmen being part of Bellevue's history.

Over by the campus' medical-related classrooms, we found sculptures that reminded us of DNA.

The work in the below was my personal favorite of the public art we saw. The scale was enormous, and that's not conveyed very well in my photo. It's by Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo, installed in 2009.

We also spied a couple of curiosities during our visit. "A payphone phone booth?" I marveled aloud upon seeing this relic.

Turns out, you can't plug a quarter into it and make a call. It's an emergency phone box, presumably connected to campus security.

The oddest thing we saw was this sign on a smoking pavilion. 

Recycling cigarettes is a thing? Ew... I mean, don't get me wrong. Recycling is better than throwing things away but ... Eww. But it's a thing. I checked out an article on the topic at Terracycle.com.

The grounds of Bellevue College are exceptionally well maintained. The trees and shrubs  - mostly Northwest natives - are so well cared for. Overall, the campus grounds were a lot more Pacific Northwest forest-like than I expected. Most of the buildings kind of had a mid century modern aesthetic (the school was founded in 1966).

One bush that caught our eye was an Arbutus andrachne, better known as a Greek strawberry tree (thanks, Google Lens, for letting us know what it was).

Our overall impressions of the campus were that it's attractive, a nice size - definitely a manageable walk from end to end, and that it's pretty convenient from our house to there. We didn't go in any buildings because the campus is closed due to COVID. (In fact, we had to register online ahead of time to visit.)

Santa Stroll

PANDEMIC SANTA: Yesterday we had a number of errands to run in Seattle. One of the things on the 'to do' list was to visit Santa.

Given that there's a pandemic right now, it wasn't going to be a normal visit. It would have to be socially distance and COVID safe. Enter Santa in the big plastic bubble. ...

A few days ago, I read a story about a longtime Seattle Santa who had come up with a way to still visit with kids (and adults!) this season. The article said he was along Greenwood Avenue at the 7500 block. So, I drove down Greenwood and told the kids to keep their eyes peeled. 

It wasn't hard to spot him!

We parked right along Greenwood and made our way to the Santa dome.

What a Jolly old Elf he was! In fact, he was the best Santa we've ever met.

Wait! There's only one Santa, so I guess I should say he was the best, as always.

He asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas, and neither of them asked for a single thing. Santa said he'd surprise them. 

Also, I'll just go ahead and admit watching my kids in masks visit with Santa in the bubble made me a litter verklempt. This year. Ugh.

SPARKLE PLENTY: I happened to glance over at our tree a little after noon and was shocked to see it actually sparkling in sunlight. It has been so gloomy here for the past few days. 

The unexpected sunshine prompted me to yell at the kids to get the dogs in harnesses, it was time to go for a walk!

TRAILING:  In the mood to see some new sights, I piloted our Honda Fit down the hill to Renton Memorial Stadium. I knew there was a trail next to it, and I wanted to check it out. Turns out that was a very good call!

According to the Washington Trails Association, Cedar River Trail is 17.4 miles one way. It stretches from the Cedar River Watershed’s western boundary at Landsburg, downstream to the mouth of the Cedar River, where it empties into Lake Washington in Renton. We walked the last bit of the trail today, parking at Renton Memorial Stadium and then strolling riverside to the lake.

For most of the journey, Renton Municipal Airport was to our west, and Boeing operations were to our east.

We saw many points of interest during our two-mile trek. For starters, we discovered there is an outdoor gym along the trail. The kids both hopped on the balance beam.

We'll have to try the other equipment (parallel bars, chin up bars, and such) on another day.

So many signs caught our attention on our walk today.

For instance, we learned that Nishiwaki is the Japanese sister city to Renton thanks to a sign and a commemorative plaque.

On the subject of sister cities, Annabelle informed us that Boring, Oregon has two sister cities: Dull, Scotland, and Bland, Australia.

Another sign we encountered urged people not to feed birds and water fowl. We stopped to ponder. ... 

Are water fowl not birds? How many people signed off on that sign before it was printed and posted?

Thanks to a sign near a boat ramp, we discovered our lives might be at stake during our leisurely stroll between the airport and Boeing.

We walked over two bridges that accommodate not just autos, but airplane traffic, too.

We encountered a sailing-themed playground for little tykes. CJ and Annabelle clambered up it for a photo opp.

Near the playground, there was a colorful sign about things to be on the look out for while walking the trail.

We saw lots of little planes take off. I wish one of the jumbo ones had landed or taken off while we were there. We'll definitely go back in hopes of seeing that sometime. 

One of the enormous Boeing buildings we saw on our walk had a distinctive, jagged edged roof. I wondered aloud why the roof was that shape - was it for aesthetics or was it functional in some way.

Within 60 seconds, Annabelle had my answer. She used Google to search 'why do factories have serrated roofs?' and learned it's called a saw tooth roof. According to a Wikipedia article, "The sawtooth roof, with its glass panels facing away from the equator, blocks the light and heat of direct sun exposure and provides uniform, natural light over a large area. It was particularly useful in design factories and manufacturing buildings." How 'bout that?

All in all, and enjoyable and educational walk!

CRAFTY ELVES: Today was the last day for CJ and Annabelle to complete their Elf Activities. So, we found ourselves sitting at the dining room table covered in pom poms, Popsicle sticks, glue, scissors, stickers and such.

First up was a Christmas tree craft. Here's CJ's completed project.   

                             

They also made some foam gingerbread men. 

And they put the finishing touches on a couple of cards.

LATEST: Today, CJ was notified he's been accepted to Eastern Washington University's program at Bellevue College, which was good news. He'd found out a bit ago that he was accepted by Eastern, which is in Cheney, WA, but the Bellevue-based satellite requires an additional level of acceptance.

He also finally finished the application to University of Washington at Tacoma, which has a history major with a museum program minor program that he's jazzed about. Not sure exactly when he can expect to hear any news there, but it won't be until after the new year, as their deadline for priority applications is Jan. 15.

Photo of CJ in pandemic attire for fun.