BAGGING ONIONS!!

Reaching Out

The objective of this project was to find an organization that we could volunteer at. We had to choose a program that helped improve our society. For me personally I choose to help the kids in society particularly the troubled one. I volunteered for an organization called Younglife. The have a subdivision of it called wildlife. This is an outreach program for middle school kids. This whole program is run by volunteers. No one gets special treatments and gets paid. The people that run the club range from college kids to sophomores in high school. The job I have to do is meet up every other week and help organize and run what they call a club. Club is basically bringing in kids and just playing games and just having fun. Then at the end we have a little speech about god, just to inform the kids on who he is, not trying to convert anyone. Just inform the kids a little. Then we will eat and just hangout with the kids for a little bit longer. A couple of times I have had to go up in front of all the kids and give a talk myself. This personally is way out of my comfort zone so I thought this organization would be good to volunteer and write about. The specific time that I am going to talk about is this past week. We had a themed club that revolved around glow in the dark. So before Thursday we had to go out and buy a bunch of glow sticks and glow in the dark paint. Then when Thursday came around we had too meet up a couple hours early and help prepare for the club. we got assigned the games we had to run and got informed on who was giving the talk and what it was about. Before club we usually just hangout and play basketball or some other game so we can kill time to wait for the other kids to show up. Middle school kids apparently don’t know the meaning of on time. But once we waited a while we started. We played games and had the talk and then ate. It all went very smoothly and I think that all the leaders bonded really well with the kids. I’ve basically learned through volunteering for this program that older kids can help influence a younger kids life. We basically give them a place every other Thursday where they can just be free. Just be themselves. Overall this is a great organization and a great experience.

Helping the English learners

It was a great experience, hope the next one will be even better.

Gardening With Cabbage

Finding volunteer hours was more difficult than I expected. I had been searching online but most of them required people 18 or older or they weren’t close by. So I was surprised and happy that Shana and I came across the gardening service. It was exactly 2 hours and was on an easy day to do.

When we first arrived at American, we instantly got lost. We walked around looking for something that resembled an amphitheater but we couldn’t even find the entrance. Luckily we located the office. I warn you, the office is weird. There is something resembling a body cast of a kid in a corner (which would be extremely gross) and a stuffed eagle on the upper wall. This school seemed sort of weird.

We found a way inside, it was locked though but conveniently a guy was right there and opened it for us. We asked around after admiring the insides of the school and were led to the actual garden. We were trying to get used to things and see what was happening. I took a lot of photos but something happened and I lost a lot.

Basically, we tried to figure out which were the weeds in the plant beds and take out grass. Then we laid down cardboard on the ground to prevent weeds from growing and stacked the cardboards down with nails. Also in case, we placed blocks of wood on top to keep the cardboard down. Red lava rocks would later be placed on top.

Afterwards, we got our hours signed-off and left. I didn’t particularly like doing the gardening. I don't like bugs and now I have to wash my shoes. But if you like getting down and dirty, sign up! Shana's post has the website. Here are some badly arranged pictures.



Here's Shana pulling some weeds.



Here is a soon to be path.

They put the cardbard down to prevent weeds and then add the rocks.

I think his is a cabbage.. I think.

              



Weeds!



Helping the Elderly

When I was assigned this project I wasn't really interested in it or feel like I have the time to do it. I told my partner, Edwin, to look for something that we can do. A few weeks have went by and no response until one day Edwin came up to me and told me that we're going to go and sing for the Elderly on Saturday. The only problem was that I had work on Saturdays. As soon as I got home I got out my list of coworkers and started calling them to sub for me. Like always they make up the lamest excuses just to get out of telling me, no. Luckily someone said yes, then I got ready to help the elderly. On Saturday Edwin came to pick me up and drove me to the nursing home. When we got to the nursing home we met up with the other volunteers. We had to wear uniform to show that we are with the group. When I walked into the building I was surprised that the inside wasn't as depressing as I thought it would be. A nurse came up to us and told us to wash our hands. So we did and after that we all met up in the lobby. I didn't know anyone except for Edwin so I just stood next to him. When we started to sing I then realize that I didn't know any of the songs so I just stood there mumbling to the tune. We then went down a hallway and went into each room. Edwin's mom told us stories about these people. After we finished singing to the individual people we went into cafeteria where we sang for people while they eat, their food does not look appetizing to me. After we finished we had to wash our hand again to get the old people germs off. We then turned in our vest and we went home. It was a nice experience to help random people that I don't know.

Elderly Help

I was very confused on what i should do for this project. I thought "oh shoot, can't think of anything". I then decided to ask my mom for some help and she told me i could go with her to sing to the elderly at a local nursing home. We drove to Christopher Ho's house (he was coming with me) and picked up. Soon after we drove to the nursing home. We met up with the other people in my mom's volunteering group. They were called the Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation and they did a number of things such as collecting money for Japan and singing to the elderly. Chris and I both received vests with their logo embedded on it to wear. Soon after we walked through the doors of the nursing home. Once i entered, i could smell almost nothing. The air was very fresh. The nurses, prepared for our arrival, instructed us to wash our hands so we didn't bring in any unwanted germs in. The other volunteers began to interact with the elderly sitting in the lobby. Soon after, another volunteer plugged in his CD player and started playing the tune of a song. Many people started singing while Chris and I kind of stood their awkwardly. I noticed that the faces of the people listening lighted up and it made me feel good inside to know that they were happy we were here. After singing in the lobby, we took a left turn down the hallway and started visiting individual rooms. My mom told us stories of the people in each room. We sang whatever song the people wanted us to sing. In one room a man named John always requested the same three songs. Further down the hall my mom showed Chris and I an empty room. She then told us about how this room had a person in it just two weeks ago. With a empty face she told us that the occupant of this room had died. It made me very depressed to think that someone with life in them was in this room just two weeks ago. After going through each room, we walked down the hallway on the left to the cafeteria. There we sang to the people eating there food. After that we had finished. We had to wash our hands to get anything off them and then we headed out. As i was giving my vest back to the man that had gave it to me, i couldn't help but smile because i knew i helped contribute to these peoples happiness. Even so, i still don't know if i want to come again.

Tutoring

For my hours of volunteering, I volunteered at my old elementary school in Hayward. Originally I was supposed to be working on adoption day outside with the dogs and walk them around, but because of the weather they cancelled it or they at least didn't need me. I have volunteered before at the school and worked with the kids, my uncle works there now so it makes it easy for me to come in and help. Basically I helped the kids mostly with math and science, luckily I can understand elementary school math and science unlike the stuff I do now. I really enjoy working with kids, even though they can be a little crazy. It was fun to try and figure out ways to help them understand by using games or just little tips to help them remember. Tutoring these kids I think is a good thing to do, because not a lot of people can afford tutoring so when people help in their free time it really does make a difference to them. Plus it is also fun to go back to elementary school for a little while.

Chris and Edwin's Baked Ziti

4 Tomato
1/2 pound of ground beef
Shredded Cheese
Pinch of Salt
1 bag Pasta
Italian Seasoning

Boil Tomato till you can peel off the skin. Dice tomato and fry it with the beef. Add salt and seasoning for taste. Put in a cup of water let it boil till most of the water is gone. Boil a pot of water and cook the Pasta for 10 min. Mix the sauce and paste and put in a baking dish. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 10 min in a 400 degree oven.

Loud Sounds Everywhere

At first, I had no idea what to do for my community service hours. After looking through some sites, it hit me that I was already doing it since my dad wanted me to finish all my hours this year for some reason. I was volunteering with the Furry Friends rescue, so I decided to just do that for now. Seeing as this was a weekly occurrence, I already knew what to expect. I got dropped off at Pet Food Express, while it was raining by the way, and we had to set up open cages that we would sit in, which only took about 5 minutes. Then I had to wait for half an hour for the foster homes to bring the dogs that we would have to sit with. When they started arriving, I was being held off and the other volunteers were getting them first. At first I got excited because I thought I could leave when no more dogs came. But apparently, there was one and there was a reason why I didn't sit with any of the small ones. No, I had to sit with Ziggy, the big Kelpie German Sheppard mix. Apparently none of the other volunteers were strong enough to handle him. For the first half an hour, it was pretty calm other than him constantly licking my face. But when people started to walk by and admire him, I found out why I had to handle him. He was constantly jumping at the sides of the cage to try and play with them or something, and I had to stop him from doing so. But the worst part was when another dog would walk by. Ziggy has what I like to call a megaphone bark, since it's really, really loud. This went on for an hour or two before I managed to calm him down. At this point it was much more quite since he would do anything anymore other than try and play with me. After all of this was done, which took about 3 hours, his foster home came and took him. At this point, I just helped cleaned up and went to Chipotle since we didn't get a break in that 3 hour period and my stomach was killing me. Overall, it was a slightly enjoyable experience and maybe I could have chose something better, but since I like animals and I had to commit to do atleast 7 of these showcases, i'll probably stick with it rather than look for something else.

Pancakes. Yum.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 tablespoon baking soda

2 cups water

1 egg

Small amount of oil for greasing (optional)

Maple Syrup (Optional but highly recommended)

Serving size: A lot.

First, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, egg and buttermilk together with a whisk, then add in the water and mix again. Then get out a large non-stick frying pan. If you don't have one, then get a regular one and add a small amount oil. Don't add to little in that the batter will get stuck yet don't add too much so you don't get oily flapjacks.

Add in three tablespoons of batter at a time for each one. Flip occasionally with either a spatula or mad pan flipping skills. You know you're done when both sides are golden brown. Add some maple syrup on top and get ready to enjoy your breakfast/lunch/dinner/midnight snack etc.

Guacamole

Ingredients : From Trader Joes :
                   3 Avacados,
                   1 Tomatoe,
                    1/2 Onion,
                   Some Cilantro,
                     Lemons,
                     Salt

First you get everything ready, and chop up all the stuff...But not the lemons.
Then you put everything in a bowl with the avocados and mix it while adding lemon juice,  until the avocados look all squish and until you cant really see the onions or cilantro.
Ta-Da, Thats it :)



Britney Sanchez & Hossna Hazheer
Period 5

Step Number One

(Press the middle to play)

Upon hearing about the project, I immediately thought of Kate's presentation about environmental protection. She had told us she was part of the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge(CCCR) and that her family was very involved with it. So, being a good friend of Kate's I figured that this would be a great opportunity to help out in our community without being put too out of my comfort zone. It turned out to be a really great choice as I was warmly welcomed by the heads of the Committee, Florence M. LaRiviere and her husband Philip. We(Kate, Kate's mom and older brother, Britney, and I) drove to the LaRiviere's home in Palo Alto and talked to them about a project that we are going to be working on. This project is to document the history of the Committee and such by interviewing long-time members and creating a video of these interviews. After all these years, since 1967, there has never been official documentation of the history of what the Committee has done and how it has changed the Bay Area. It will be our duty to create this video and if it looks good enough it may even be aired at one of the wild life refuges in the Bay Area. I find this a big commitment because we will be required to go and interview different people and then edit a video that looks good. But I believe that together we can do it and hopefully do our best. Back to what we did at Florence's home, we also ate dinner there and were able to see a lot of stuff relating to CCCR. They showed us a bag that was used to advertise the Committee, plaques they were given, and tons of documents that were from cases where they saved wetlands around the Bay. It was really interesting and I loved how inspired and committed Florence and Philip were about saving the wetlands. At one point during the evening, Florence started talking about some wetlands in the Bay Area that have been planned to be demolished and create soccer fields. She said “Ryan you are going to be my go-to man for this one”. This really hit home for me, because it created a conflict inside of me. Right then and there, I thought to myself that I would definitely not be helping Florence out on this one because I believe that it would be great to have some more soccer fields built. But thinking on the subject later I began having different opinions. I started realizing that maybe that is being too selfish, that it is wrong to kill thousands of plants and animals to provide access to more soccer fields. Presently I am still undecided on which side I would defend, but I think I am leaning towards Florence's side because I feel it is not right for us humans to destroy wildlife for some fun on the weekends. I was amazed that this controversy could arise from just going through the motions of a school project. I now partly understand why Mr. Shawn and Mr. Speckels would want us to do this project, not only to help others and create relationships with our community, but also to learn about ourselves and use that knowledge to make a difference.

A Helping Hand

At first I didn't know where and what I was going to do for the community service hours part of this final. Then it hit me, Tri-City Volunteer. So for the first day i actually was kind of nervous mainly because ive never done it before. Also there were a lot of people helping out. They had me load big brown bags full of canned food and regular packed food. Some had toys for kids, and little jars of baby food. In addition to loading the bags I had to take out boxes of frozen chicken meat from the freezer, then seperate them. The people there were actually very nice and very helpful. I did 2 hours the first day and met a lot of new people.It is an amazing experience feeling that you actually did something. You actually helped somone in need and it didn't even take that long. If only other people could realize this and help it would make the world a better place. In about 2 hours I had helped over 28 people easily. Everyone working there and me changed 28 peoples lives and literly helped them survive in there desperate time of need. All in all it felt good to help these people out and definatly felt even better knowing that I did something to help out my community.

No Bake Nutella Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup Nutella
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups quick cooking oats

Procedure:

Measure out 3/4 cup of Nutella in a small bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, measure out 3 cups of quick cooking oats. Set aside. Have the vanilla extract ready too.

Line a couple of baking sheets with waxed paper. You’ll scoop the cookie dough mixture onto these baking sheets.

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, unsalted butter (that’s been cut up into pieces), milk and unsweetened cocoa powder.

Bring to a boil and stir frequently. Boil for 2 minutes. Make sure you boil for the full 2 minutes or your cookies will be too soft.

Then add in the Nutella, vanilla extract and quick cooking oats. Stir everything together.

Using a cookie scooper, scoop the cookie mixture onto the wax paper. Work quickly!

Let the cookies firm up and then enjoy!

Site: http://gingerbreadcake.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/no-bake-nutella-cookies-2/

Respect Your Elders

This past Friday I volunteered at the Senior Center with Jennifer. I thought it was going to be boring, because you know...they seem boring. I was wrong! They are so funny and i realized that old people have great personalties and a lot of stories to tell. They can talk for days, but thats fine with me. When we got there the supervisor there, Kathy, greeted us with a big smile and a "thank you so much for volunteering" before we even got started. The first thing we did there was clean the cafeteria. There were some old ladies just hanging out talking and sewing. The whole time they kept telling us how greatly they appreciated us teenagers for taking our time to come and help them, the "younger generation" some of them called us. One of the ladies was not too nice because she was talking about how we just sit on the computer all day. Well, it is true since thats what I'm doing right now. We then did some filing for Kathy since some of the old ladies cant see too well. After the ceramics class was over me and Jennifer went to fold up the tables and put them away along with the chairs. When we went into their class they were so excited to see teens helping them out. Some stopped us and told us how some of their grandchildren go to Washington too. Some ladies were also playing cards. I thought it was so cool how senior citizens go to the senior center and just hang out and do all these activities just like we do with school or the mall. How they were all talking to each other and laughing, i was amazed. I seriously thought this only happened in movies. Everytime me and Jennifer helped them with something they were so glad that we were there. This shocked me a little because they obviosly never really got help. Thats sad how these senior citizens dont recieve a lot of help from the younger people who are capable of helping them. They have other full time volunteers to help them get around but they themselves are a little old. Even those volunteers were excited to see us help them. I feel bad that i never thought of helping them myself at some other times, but im going to start helping them more so thats why i most definitely want to go back to the Senior Center again for the other reflection. Others should think about it too because they are nice adorable old ladies who need our help and greatly appreciate it.

Expecting too much (Part 2)

Meet Stephanie of Tri-City Volunteers, Inc.

WATCH PATRICIA'S PODCAST:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sydW6xqjmLM

Starting Off With A Plan

The start of last Thursday's trip up to Palo Alto was a fun one. Kate Ryan and I drove up to visit Florence and Philip La Riviere at their place to discuss what is to come of our final project. On the way up, we actually talked about what pizza to order so when we get to Florence and Philips house we could have dinner. As we arrived to their house it was grey and green. What i mean by this is that it was raining and has a large abundious of green plants everywhere. We then came to the front door and greeted ourselves with "hello's" and "nice to meet you". After our greetings, me Ryan and Kate made ourselves at home while Florence beings to ask what our American Studies assignment is about. we of course, told her and Kate asked her what she would like to come of this to really benefit the organization. This is where our volunteering will come in to come up with an idea to help. What are idea is to create a video for the Citizens Committee To Complete The Refuge. This organization was created a long time ago and today, not many people know how it started or really have any documentation of it all. So the idea of a video help people of the bay area and organization learn a little more about it. So Ryan. Kate, and I would simply create a video showing pictures of land that was saved and also interviews with some of the main people who helped start and carry on this Organization. What Florence had told us to do to help out was to get a hold of some main people who were involved in this Organization and get an interview. We need to get some publication and figure out a good video in which to show people how they can help get involved or just learn about it. We did all discuss this plan about the video over dinner and also sitting down on the couches when we first arrived. But, as the time went on we wanted to learn a little more about this Organization for ourselves and get to know everything a little better for ourselves. Florence and Philip showed us to a room in their house that has all sorts of documents, newspapers, and awards received for Citizens Committee To Complete The Refuge. This room could date all the times that this organization had come out to the public for acknowledgment and issues about land being lost from more building sites. I had found it really interesting and I wanted to actually look through every newspaper clipping and read them all. I found it very intriguing. But, of course that would probably take a day or two. From this entire day though, i found it very helpful getting to know what this organization did and how many people are actually involved with it as well. I cant wait to do actually start his video in later weeks and help out this organization.

Floyd 'n Singh's Grilled BBQ Sausage Bonanza!

WHERE: Trader Joe's WHAT: - Non-GMO Roasted Garlic and Spinach Sausage - All-Natural BBQ Sauce THEN WHAT: Pay! HOW: With money! NO! I MEAN, HOW DID YOU MAKE IT: Oh I see. Remove the sausages from the package and chop into small pieces. Coat the sausage with the all-natural BBQ sauce. Grill it. Eat it. Enjoy it. THANK YOU: You're welcome!

Expecting too much.

Today, Patricia and I went over to Tri-City Volunteers for our community service hours. Right after school, we waited for my brother to pick us up and bring us over there. In the car, my brother was talking about how he and his friend also volunteered here when he was in high school, and he told us some weird experiences. We were both excited and nervous because we didn't know what to expect since neither of us have been there. Entering the building, we approach a long hallway with a man sitting at one of the windows. "Hi, we're from Washington High School, and uh we were wondering if could get community service hours?"

He looked up and told us to follow him back behind the counter. Behind the counter, we were approached by cubicles for the workers, each filled with someone talking on the phone or working at their desk. He lead us into this cold room filled with food products, workers moving things around and packing things up; me and Patricia assumed that this was the food bank. At this point, we were pretty set on what we were going to do, probably sort foods out and give them to the homeless. But things turned around; a lady walked in and told us to follow her. It looked like she was looking for someone since she turned a corner, peered into a cubicle and said, "...oh, he's not here" and continued walking into a meeting room where we were introduced to other volunteers. The people in the room looked like they were sealing envelopes; me and Patricia, confused, were kind of like, "What are we doing in here?". The lady told us to take a seat and she'll give us paperwork to fill out in a few minutes. We took a seat and we pretty much knew that this is what we were going to do for the rest of the day, unfortunately. We grabbed a box of envelopes, sponges, and a bowl of water to begin the process. The people in the room were all girls; two of them seemed high school students also, and three of them were adults, one was pregnant. The two high school students talked about their school life and the adults talked about their kinds of situations while Patricia and I were kind of quiet and rarely talked because we were focused on our work. I guess we didn't interact with the others because we didn't really know them and it seemed like they were doing their own thing.

Sealing envelopes wasn't all that bad, but doing it for a while was kind of a boring and messy process, in my opinion; my fingers became wrinkly from the water and I made the table sticky (my baaad). We got paperwork asking us information about us and stating some policies that went around there. Time flew by and two more volunteers came in and the lady who greeted us earlier offered us candy and snacks. So far, I finished 2 boxes of sealing envelopes when it was almost 4 o'clock, and everybody began to leave. Finishing up the last ones, we had to sign out, which was confusing because we didn't know where to do it. Apparently, we had to get forms for the lady to sign and after getting it from her, we asked to take a picture. She was really nice about it and we found out that her name was Stephanie. After that, Patricia and I left satisfied and a bit bummed out.

Even though sealing envelopes was all we did, it wasn't the worst thing that we could've done. It was an easy job, but we were both expecting to reach out into the community instead of being stuck inside a room and do office work. We didn't really mind doing this work, so we both decided to come back later this week and see if they have other jobs to give us.

This Isn't Your Typical Chips & Salsa

A delicious snack by Angela Abrea and Patricia Desantores. To start this off, we did not make the chips and salsa ourselves. I know, how lazy are we? Who cares! This stuff is good and you need to do only three steps to have this !

1. Go to the nearest Trader Joe's, preferably the one at Fremont Hub


2. Enter Trader Joe's and go to the Chips section


3. Find the different bags of Organic Tortilla Chips and Organic Salsa

Pay for that and get your grub on! Simple as 1, 2, 3! Enjoy :)

Experience of a Life Time

Ryan, Britney and I all started our adventure on Thursday, March 24, 2011. We went to the old rebels house to discuss what we were going to be doing over the next few weeks. Florence and Philip La Riviere absolutely loved Ryan and Britney. Our main purpose of going to this two hour session was to discuss what Florence saw as our project. Florence is mainly blind in both eyes so she could not do this task alone. She wants a video to document the old veterans who started preserving land many years ago. As of right now we have no documentation about how these other people got involved in protecting land and fighting against development. Both the Refuge and the public have no idea how this came to be in the Bay Area. And our job will be finding out and eventually creating a video that will go up on The Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge's website, and if it's good enough...giving copies to the refuge to have in their history section. As soon as we arrived, we immediately began to discuss this future video. And also both of them fell in love with the cat. And we all got a special experience with nature. A squirrel came knocking on the window for food. We were all shocked and Florence just said "oh is that our squirrel dear?" I know Florence is really excited about this opportunity for her and her friends because finally everyone will understand what they have contributed this year. For about a month she has been sending emails with different peoples names. So Ryan, Britney and I will have our hands full. We still haven't decided but we will most likely make a long video molded together with all the different interviews rather than several little ones. But when the time comes, where we have all of our videos we will see which will be best. We will each be interviewing people that have become known as great protectors of open land. We will have similar questions and other questions that relate more to the person. Basically we will have to travel to them because many of these people are now in their 80's and 90's. Florence wants this documentation before this history is lost forever, because once it's gone, it's gone. Each of us will interview a couple of people and then together we will create the video. When we were at the La Riviere's house they pulled out numerous documents and things that they had created to spread the word to the public about saving wildlife. They had grocery bags that were donated to them, it had an egret and it said "Save the Bay". They had pancake breakfasts to raise money. Their biggest project was to fund raise. Ryan and Britney also got to witness their wall of awards. All twenty-two of them. We also got to see a huge panorama of what Don Edwards Refuge looked like twenty years ago. Overall we got information overload. I can't wait to work on this project with Ryan and Britney. I think we will learn a lot from this project as well as others who will eventually watch this video that we make. Florence says we will make a difference, and I hope we can meet her expectations.

Inspiring Seniors

I never knew old people could be so interesting. You would think they would be kind of boring, but they always have a story to tell. Victoria and I volunteered for two hours at the Senior Center. The Senior Center is a place were senior citizens can socialize and be apart of the community. By enjoying activities and playing games they can make new friends. So when Victoria and I volunteered at the Senior Center in Fremont, Kathy the person in charge of customer service, came up to us with an enthusiastic attitude explaining to us what we would be doing. She said they do not get many teenage volunteers there and she pointed out that the seniors like to see young people willing to help out. They often called us the "younger generation." The first task she wanted us to do was to update the brochure wall. The brochures involved things like staying in shape and ways to be healthy. We looked for dates that have past and took them out and replaced them with new brochures. As we were working a little old lady named Lin, walked up to us and she said, "you two are about the age of my granddaughter." She brought up how not very many teenagers volunteered much there and she was inspired. She said she would mention to her granddaughter about volunteering at the Senior Center. Moving on to our next task we were asked to clean tables and make sure there were seven chairs at each in their cafeteria. There was a group of ladies knitting and they were talking to us about how most teenagers sit on the computer all day. They liked to see us helping out. In another room there was a ceramics class and we helped them clean up and stacked chairs and tables. Next, we moved on to a room that had a Thai-Chi class. It was so cool to see senior citizens moving in such a fluent manner. It looked so graceful to watch. So we helped them put away the mats and chairs. Our last task was to alphabetize all the members identification cards. She said no on has been able to do this perfectly right so we pretty much just checked them to make sure they were in the right order. As we were leaving Kathy said we did a good job and thanked us a great number of times. I felt really good inside about helping them out with their activities and Kathy said there was more things to help with around the Senior Center. So we are probably going back there for our next reflection.

"Ready to be a Mascot?" "Uhh, What?"

http://www.zimbabweparaguay.org/index.html

TAYLOR’S VIEW: I need to start off this saying; this is NOT what I signed up for. Erica and I went to this “fair” thinking we’d help run a booth or assist people who needed help. We drove about an hour to find this place and got lost a lot. Once we get there and they made us go over to the changing area where people are putting on mascot costumes. None of us knew what we had to do or what we got our self’s into. The people that were in charge were extremely demanding right off the bat. They made us all get into costumes except Brandon who recorded us the whole time. After we were all dressed they sent us out to the starting line. At first they had us cheering to get the little runners pumped up. Once they were ready one of the workers said that we were the ones that were supposed to run ahead of the kids to show them were to go. My initial reaction was horrible. I had to run in a silly costume in front of all these people. They started the race and instantly I knew it was all over for me. We turned the first corner and all the kids passed me. I was the only mascot passed up. Erica and I decided that this running thing was not for us. We stayed at the finish line to just help cheer on the runners coming in and we took pictures with the younger kids. After the races were complete they sent us over to take pictures with the kids and hand out the trophies to them. After all the running and cheering we decided to put my boyfriend in one of the costumes to do his community service. We had a fun time helping take pictures of the kids with the elephant mascot giving the trophies out. The experience was definitely not what we expected but we did it for a good cause. The runners each had to pay five dollars to help out the orphans in Zimbabwe. They had a shoe donation so I also donated a pair of shoes that they said would help children that need them. It was a weird/exciting experience and I’m glad we completed our two hour run for orphans.

ERICAS VIEW: When I first signed up for this I was excited for having something to do on this project and not just getting an F. I knew I needed someone to come with me so that I could have a recorder and someone to help me get there. I stink at directions so me without a GPS, and a Piece of paper from MapQuest won’t help. Therefore I brought Taylor, my partner in crime. First when we got there, we were at the wrong school. We were at St. James High school which apparently is this really rich private high school. We were confused when we got there and no one was there. I knew it wasn't canceled because Ellen (the Director) said that there would still be a race even if it was raining. So something didn't seem right. So after awhile we realized that the school down the road also had a "St." in the beginning of the school name and that is what confused us. When we arrived my name wasn’t on the list of volunteer people. I looked puzzled and told him "Ellen said I could work here." Then they went off and fetched Ellen, and we were in. Ellen guided us directly to the back where the "costumes were." Immediately I wanted to do a different job. But since we were a little late from getting lost earlier I don’t think we had any other options. Taylor, Drake and I slipped on the costumes and went to run the race. Which we also didn't know we'd be running in. We sort of just booked it once we heard the man yell, "Go!" I felt like I was being chased by a bunch of little animals. It was slightly frightening. I was so tired after the first race and it was only 200 yards. I couldn’t breath because of the giraffe mask in front of my face, and I couldn’t see because the head which was twice as big as mine kept falling in front of my face Not to mention I had to hold it up while I was running. The head was probably about the same weight as my own head. (I'm suffering a little bit from a neck problem because of it) We thought we were done running but then we found out we were supposed to run five more races. I looked at Taylor and she looked at me and we both knew we couldn’t do it. We tried to run as much as we could, but the kids got faster and the race got longer. After awhile we just cheered on the little munchkins as we sat on the side out of breath. The best part of this experience was seeing all the little kids eyes light up like stars when they saw you. I took probably about 10 pictures with different kids. They were so cute! After a few races Taylor and I headed back to take off the mascot suit. We walked around and I actually interviewed a girl that was working in one of the booths but I forgot to put it in the movie. I also got footage of the Zimbabwe band that played. After all of that excitement Taylor and I decided to head home.

Can't Go Wrong With Moyrong's Healthy Quesamejias!

A Leo Valentino Moyrong & Genesis Cristina Mejia Original! Just kidding, quesadillas are pretty generic. But our names aren't too shabby-sounding, eh? Let's get this fiesta started. You'll need:

• A pan


• A handy dandy spatula


• About 1/2 teaspoon of OLIVE oil


• However many WHOLE GRAIN tortillas you need to satisfy your appetite


• Grated FAT FREE queso from cows NOT treated with rbst of your choice

First, heat your pan to a medium setting. Yes we do suppose you could do this by microwave, but you're young it's not like you don't have the energy to use the *gasp* stove once in a while. When it's warm enough, spread olive oil around the pan. Next, take one whole grain tortilla and place it in the pan. Flip the tortilla every 10-15 seconds, but only a few times or it won't get enough pan time and it'll take fiveever to heat up. You should see air pockets begin to form inside the quesadilla in no time.

When you see said pockets, it's time to grab a handful of grated cheese and sprinkle it over ther tortilla. Make sure to sprinkle your tortilla, not drown it. Also, don't let cheese fall on the pan because then it'll get all stuck, then it'll get all burnt, and then your mom will get all annoyed because you're always making a mess. Jeez. Feel free to add anything you want to make it pretty... cool: mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, etc. Make sure whatever ingredients you add are in season though! If they're not it's all bad. And don't layer these (in season!) ingredients too thickly. Sprinkle.

Now turn the heat down to a low setting and cover the pan because there should be enough heat to melt the cheese. If you see smoke, turn off that heat before you end up with tostadas. After a minute or so, check to see if the cheese has melted. When the cheese is melted to your liking, get like Spongebob and use a spatula to flip your quesadilla until its nice and toasted-looking.

When it is... congratulations you have made your very own quesadilla! No trip to the taqueria needed. Now remove that cheesy piece of heaven and place it on your plate. Or bowl, we don't judge.

Cue the mariachi music!

Day 1 of Gardening at American

For our equity project, Lizzy and I went to the American High school gardening club on Friday March 25. When we first got there I was both nervous and excited. I told Lizzy and her sister as a joke, to beware because we were entering enemy territory. We were told to meet the gardening club at the lunch amphitheater. Of course we had no idea where to go; we couldn’t even find a way to get into the school. We did manage to find the office and Lizzy suggested that we ask for a map. We went inside and had a comedic moment. I turned my head to the right a saw a life sized version of a paper mache kid, it was really creepy so I let out a small “ahh!” Lizzy did the same thing, I looked at her and saw that she wasn’t looking were I had been, she was looking up. We both looked to see what the other had saw and let out an “ahh!” once more. Lizzy had been looking at a giant stuffed bird that was attached to the ceiling. We both agreed that the office was super creepy and wondered what the rest of the school would be like.
Nobody was in the office, but we managed to find a map taped down on the counter. No wonder we were lost. The classrooms surround the school forming a giant circle so you can’t get inside the campus unless you pass through a building. We managed to find our way into a building but the inside was just as much a maze as the outside was. We found a janitor and asked where the amphitheater was. She didn’t know so she asked another teacher and that teacher didn’t know either. I was shocked that even the workers didn’t know how to get around the school, but it turns out that American had no amphitheater so of course they had no idea what we were talking about. They called the gardening club and showed us the way.
The first thing that I noticed was that the rocky path we were walking on had cardboard underneath it. We later found out that this was done on purpose. I spoke to the teacher in charge named Candace Sykes and told her about the equity project. She was thrilled about it, and showed me a website that contained pictures of what the garden had looked like previously. To see it go to http://schools.stopwaste.org/ then click on the “school news” tab and select American High School. The gardening club was created by a Washington High School student named Julien Malard, and the volunteers come from the five different schools in Fremont.
After taking some photos of everybody working I decided that it was time to start helping out to. The first Job that we were assigned to do was to pull out all of the weeds, and the first question I asked was “which ones are the weeds?” Although I have gardened before, our weeds had yellow flowers on them while the weeds there had purple flowers. While we were weeding one kid (not Lizzy) accidently pulled out a carrot. After weeding for a while we all took turns using the hoe to get rid of some grass were future gardens will be placed. Then we did a thing called sheet mulching, which is a technique used to suppress weeds, build soil nutrients, conserve water, and protect garden plants. We did this by covering a section of grass and weeds with cardboard. We then put hooks in the cardboard to attach it to the ground, and put wood on top for an extra precaution.
Gardening was more fun than what I had anticipated. There were unexpected surprises everywhere! I found ladybugs, roly-poly’s, slugs, snails, worms, spiders, ants, caterpillars and butterflies. Gardening isn’t a good idea for people who fear bugs and dirt, but luckily I was completely used to it. Being a science teacher’s daughter I grew up living around and raising all sorts of critters. I asked Julien what would happen to the plants when they were fully grown. He said that everything that is grown in the garden will be given to the people who helped create it. I thought that this was a great idea. Gardening your own food, makes you really appreciate all the work put into making it, plus you know exactly how it was made and that it’s truly organic. This experience has inspired me to create a garden with my dad at home, but of course I am going to learn all I can from the club first.

Organic Salsa Recipe

Ingredients:

*All items are organic*

• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 finely chopped jalapeno
• chopped green onions
• .75 oz cilantro
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 bag of white corn tortilla chips
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. After all of your ingredients are as chopped as you like, place in blender.
2. Blend all of the ingredients together.
3. Serve in a bowl with white tortilla chips.
4. Eat and enjoy!

Recipe by: Victoria Cramer & Jennifer Mullaly

Hummus and Chicken Lettuce Wrap

HUMMUS !

Ingredients:

1. Chick Peas

2. Sesame seed paste

3. Lemon Juice

4. Salt

Procedure:

-First boil the chick peas then put all the ingredients

into a food processor until well blended.

______________________________________________

CHICKEN LETTUCE WRAP !

Ingredients:

1. organic chicken

2. shallot

3. mint

4. cilantro

5. lime juice

Procedure:

-First you bake the chicken then dice the mint, cilantro, shallot and chicken. Mix it all in a bowl and add the lime juice.

-Zena A., Alencio R., Karlie C., Sierra B. <3>

Flan by: Jose Maldonado and Norma Lopez

Ingredients:

·    2 cans of evaporated milk

·    2 cans  of condensed milk

·    2 eggs

·    1 tsp of coffee (your choice on what kind)

·    2tsp of sugar

You will need:

A can opener

A blender

A pot

A boiling pan

A spoon

Procedures:

Step 1: Turn the stove on up to 7, place pot where it goes and pour both tsp of sugar in. Then spread evenly throughout the pot with your spoon. Wait till sugar turns brown, and then proceed with the next steps.

Step 2:  Open all four cans

Step 3:  Take one can of evaporated milk, one can of condensed milk and crack one egg open and put into the blender. Let it blend at medium speed for about two minutes.

Step 4: Take the finished mix and pour into the pot.

Step 5:  REPEAT step 2 and 3   

Step 6: Pour in the tsp of coffee, mix in real good.

Step 7: Let it sit for about 8-10min.

Step 8: Take the boiling pan and fill with water, not too much because you will need to put the pan with the flan mix in it so leave a inch gap between the top of the pan and the water that way you have room to put your hands in to get it out without burning your hands with the boiling water.

Step 9: Set the heat to 8 and let it boil for 2hours

Step 10: Take out the pan with the flan in it, be careful not to burn yourself, and then let it cool for 20min.

Step 11: Flip the flan on to a plate

Step 12: EAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vegetarian Deep Fried Crispy Potstickers

Material List:

-Soup Spoon

-Metal bowl for ingredients

-Wok

Ingredients List:

-Head Cabbage

-Wheat four (Hong Kong Brand)

-Black mushroom

-Mushroom Seasoning

-Carrots

-Vegetarian Mushroom Flavored Sauce

-Preserved Mustard Green

-Salt/Sugar

-Dried Tofu

-White pepper powder

-Long Rice

-Corn Starch

-Dried Black Fungus

-Water (tap or bottled water is fine)

The Procedure

1. To start off this fantastic recipe, start with the combination of wheat flour and water to form dough. Open the package and pour the wheat flour into a metal dish bowl.

2. Turn on the faucet that is nearby and fill a cup with purified or tap water, your choice.

3. As soon as you have those two ingredients, start mixing the two substances to form dough. The amount of flour and water depends on the serving size of the recipe.

4. Once you have nicely formed your dough, using your bare hands, pull off pieces of the hand-made dough to form separate pieces used to make the Potstickers.

5. Using a roller, gently roll the pieces of dough separated and form a nice flat base for the Potstickers.

6. Repeat steps 4-5 until you have the right amount of serving. (The amount of Potstickers).

7. Once you have completed Step 6, set the bases aside and take out the head cabbages, black mushrooms, carrots, preserved mustard green, dried tofu, long rice, and dried black fungus you have purchased.

8. This part requires a lot of patience; you must chop every single vegetable into tiny pieces. Be sure you chop every single vegetable to the smallest size you can get.

9. Once you have all ingredients chopped, place all your ingredients in the metal tin bowl as listed in step 1.

10. By turning on the stove from one notch to maximum heat, start by dumping all the vegetables into the wok.

11. As the vegetables start to heat up, pour a little mushroom vegetarian mushroom flavored sauce, salt, white pepper powder, and sugar to enhance the flavor of this awesome recipe.

12. Mix all the ingredients well then add corn starch.

13. Prior to completion, add a little bit of water to keep ingredients moistened.

14. With the base made, start by using a soup spoon and gently scoop the ingredients you made, and center it on the base of the dumpling dough.

15. Using the Potstickers techniques, close up the edges, and then store them in the refrigerator.

16. Cook whenever and enjoy!

Boiled Cabbage, Carrots,n' Taters

Ingredients:
. Organic Meat Broth
. Locally grown Carrots
. Locally grown Cabbage
. Locally grown Potatoes
. Locally harvested water
Recipe:
wash vegetables
boil broth
add vegetables
take out when soft
eat

By Bryan Gerges and John Normoyle

Zesty Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

1. 24oz of Cranberries
2. 3 cinnamon sticks
3. 2 cups of Orange Juice
4. 2 cups of brown sugar
5. 1 zested orange

Recipe

1. Fill pot with all ingredients and submerge all ingredients with water.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. After boil, let it simmer and stir every 15 minutes for an hour. Time consuming -.-
4. EAT!

By Victor Ayala & Joaquin Torre

Simple Fruit Kabobs!

Ingredients: strawberries, pineapples, bananas, grapes, watermelon, cantelope, whatever fruit you like!

1. Wash and cut your fruit into bite size chunks. If you are using strawberries, slice them in half. For grapes no cutting is required.

2. Take different pieces of fruit and slide it onto your skewer.

3. Arrange your kabobs on a platter. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe from: eHow food

Potato Salad

Ingredients: Potatoes, celery, eggs, mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, green onions, dill pickles.

Procedure: Boil 4-6 potatoes until they are firm but tender (so you can stick a fork in them without it falling apart). Then peel the potatoes. Hard boil 6 eggs and peel off the shells. Cut up ALL of the ingredients. Put everything into a big bowl, and add the mayo and mustard in the proportions that you like.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Biscotti

    Prep: 30 min; Bake: 47 min; Cool: 15 min *32 cookies
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
1/2 cup mashed very ripe banana (1 medium)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour (not self-rising)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

   1. Heat oven to 350. Grease large cookie sheet.
   2. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Beat in    banana, vanilla and eggs until smooth. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.
   3. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 10 x 3-inch rectangle on cookie sheet with greased hands (dough will be sticky).
    4. Bake about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on cookie sheet 15 minutes.
   5. Cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Turn slices cut sides down on cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown and dry on top. Turn cookies. Bake about 10 minutes longer or until golden brown. Remove from cooking sheet to wire rack.
       Betty Crocker's Cookbook

Fettuccine Alfredo & Roasted Bell Peppers

By,
Kate High and Ryan Walla

Fettuccine

Ingredients:
4 tbs. Unsalted Butter
1/3 cup Flour
1 cup Chicken Stock
          Milk
          Parmesan Cheese
1/8 tsp. Salt
1 lb. Pasta (Spaghetti)

Procedure:
1. Boil water in a large pot, add a pinch of salt and then add pasta.
2. Melt butter in a separate pan.
3. Add flour to melted butter and stir* until the flour taste goes away (you may need to taste with a spoon every so often).
4. Add chicken stock after the flour and butter has thickened.
5. Add milk and salt, then stir till it becomes a thick sauce.
6. Add in and stir cheese.
7. Drain the pasta and then add sauce.
*A whisk is best

Roasted Bell Peppers

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup White Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Salt
            Onion Powder
            Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp. Dried Mustard Powder
            Pepper
1 tbs. White Sugar
Roasted Bell Pepper(s)

Procedure:
1. Place pepper(s) on an open flame.
2. Put all ingredients for vinaigrette and whisk together.
3. Make sure bell pepper(s) is completely black.
4. Clean bell pepper(s) and then chop pepper(s) into about 1/4 inch slices.
5. Put pepper(s) into vinaigrette.

mac and cheese (not the kraft stuff!)

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.
Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.


Directions taken from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html

ET's Fruit Salad

Taylor Loosli and Erica Moen

ET's Fruit Salad
Ingredients: a can of Carnation condensed milk, 4 bananas, a can of Lucern sour cream, and four apples.
Procedure: cut the apples and bananas into slices and add the sour cream and condensed milk. Bon appetite!

American Studies Class Cookbook

After studying the Progressive Movement and linking such muckraking journalism as The Jungle by Upton Sinclair to Robert Kenner's Food Inc., we as class decided to put together a cookbook of simple, organic, good-tasting, and cheap recipes that everyone can make.  Check out the recipes, make em, let us know how you like it and as always, be responsible and vigilant.  Live your life according to your values.

-Mr. Shawn
History, American Studies

Students - please post your recipes with the same label as mines - American Studies Cookbook.  Be sure to title your Recipe, include Ingredients, and the Procedure for making the dish.