Feeding the Robots

My daughter is on a Robotics Team this year. They're building a robot. It's part of the FIRST Robotics Competition.

They get their challenge and kit just after New Years and have something like 44 days to build their robot for competition. So during this "build phase" they're open every day after school and on weekends. The kids come when they can. So parents provide the meals.

This is my first time bringing a meal. 25-35 students and mentors. Mostly high school boys (who might eat a lot) but then again many skinny nerd boys ;-) (maybe they won't eat that much) ... are they picky eaters? Will bringing veggies be a waste? I'm told there was a plate of cut up fresh veggies that didn't get eaten, and it keeps returning, day after day, looking sadder and sadder.

I decided to bring a chili buffet. Three big crock pots of chili. Well, four, if you count the smaller one to feed my family, who happen to also need to eat tonight.

One Buffalo Chicken Chili (think hot wings flavor), one traditional ground beef & beans, and one white chicken chili. I've got three huge "family sized" bags of fritos, and all the extras to go with chili ... I've got a heap of two liters to drink, and I'm bringing about 7 dozen big homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I don't know if it'll be too much or not enough. I don't know if I should've had a heat-and-serve pan of cheesy veggies and one of mac & cheese. I'm told there's always peanut butter and bread for the desperate. Everyone I've asked has said, "Hey, if you're bringing free food, and people don't like it, tough."

But, still. I'm a little nervous about feeding so many robots.

I want to be on their good side if they ever take over the world.

A lotta behind

gah, this blogging in my head isn't working! I'm a lotta behind on my entries. and so here's a summary sans pix.

Let's see ... around thanksgiving seven learned to stand unsupported
we wondered if she would walk by her first birthday
she didn't.
but she did the next day
and has been charging around ever since.

we had a great week before christmas with my sister & her family

and a great week and a half after christmas with auntie L. and her doggie

and then we crashed and tumbled back into "real life" and are still swimming upstream ...

I have started doing run/walk intervals again (finally!) to ease back into running in time for local races this spring. so far, so good. I'm not pushing it, I'm up to 8 minute jogging intervals (about week 6 of C25K) but I can feel the aches and stiffness of having not run in months, so I am trying to take it easy.

I'm hoping to get all the way on track with eating and back to walking / stationary bike intervals on my off-running days in order to lose the lotta behind that I gained back in these no running, bad eating months. boy was it easy to *undo* that hard work.

and I'm back to trying to get off caffeine once more. yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a dork.

so ... that's what's up here.

In which I post old stuff pretending it counts as a new entry

So I got my hair cut a few weeks back. I don't remember how many. Long enough that I should've posted it then, but recent enough that I'm still being stopped by people who exclaim, "Hey, you got your hair cut!"

So right when I got it done I took pictures so you could see it. Assuming you were all dying to see it, of course. I hope you weren't literally dying, since it was weeks ago now.

but here it is.

I'm not sure it still looks that way. I can never make my hair do what salon people do. But if anything I think I like it my way better. Although there are no pictures of that, and maybe it only looks different to me.

Holy Moly I'm Behind!

Look at that picture up there! The one in the blog header! Not only does it have my old blog name, which I sort of changed but didn't really, but also ... the "baby" in the sling is now 4 years old!And not only that, but It's missing AN ENTIRE CHILD! A child who is about to turn one year old!

It's almost like ... I've neglected my blog design!

Oh, right, I remember. I was going to revamp the whole thing.

Until I remembered how much WORK that would be.

What if I just re-do the picture and ... hm. I could PAY someone for a nicer design. One that's less cumbersome to edit and more stylish. I could muddle through something myself, with my latent artsy fartsy abilities, but they're pretty rusty and when I go into creative mode I tend to forget everything else in my life. Which doesn't really work so well when there's laundry, meals, dishes, school, and children already on my plate. But it's hard to decide to pay someone for something you know you could do, if given the time and attention. Not that it's about the money, it's more about the CAN do thing.

But wow, is that picture out of date.

I should make a new picture, at the least.

Look for that in the next ... um ... few years.

yeah.

In the meantime, here's the baby, in the leaves, from a few weeks ago. 'Cause I'm a little behind.

oh, ha ha ha, funny story. At least, funny in the sense of "What a dork I am!" -- Just now, after posting this, I went to edit the picture and I found the Christmas picture I was working on two years ago. No, 2006 was THREE years ago. That I never sent out. All of you who didn't get our Christmas Card two years ago, or three years ago, and thought you were rudely omitted from our list? No, I just didn't send any out. And same thing last year, except for the part where I even tried to work on the picture. Maybe I should start working on Christmas '10 right now?

In Which I eat crow cake

So my friend Val was eating cake.
Which she made in a cup.
A mug.
In the microwave.

What? Microwave cake in a cup? No way. I was skeptical.

She posted the recipe.

No leavening. 3 minutes.

How could it not be a gluey gooey glop that, at best, doesn't boil over and make a mess?

Val suggested maybe I did not trust her enough.

But ... would you? Microwave cake? Yeah, whatEVAH.

I decided I had to try it.

I could have used a huge mug, but she claimed it would work in a regular mug, so I used my very own personal every morning coffee mug.

Here we are, ready to go:

Ingredients mixed. A big old cup o' batter.

I was not the only one interested in the experiment:

Well, I'll be. It's rising up out of the mug, straight and tall, not pouring over into a goopy mess down the side:

It fell a bit upon removal. I wonder if it needed to cook a little longer?

It did not turn out easily. I used a knife to loosen along the sides. At this point I was still pretty skeptical. Maybe it was the holes where the chocolate chips melted, but it looked kind of goopy and unevenly cooked. I thought my skepticism had been justified.

I cut it lengthwise in half, then each half into thirds, to give everyone a taste test. I ate the clump that remained stuck to the side of the mug.

Much to my surprise, it was pretty good. Even for me, a not-really-a-cake-fan person. In fact, I kind of preferred the less crumbly texture. And melted chocolate chips are good in anything. The kids were the real test.

They proclaimed it a success.

So ... go figure.

I guess Val is trustworthy after all! :)

Here's the recipe:

Val's Mug Cake

1 coffee mug
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
2 tbls. cocoa
1 egg
3 tbls. milk
3 tbls. oil
3 tbls. chocolate chips (optional)
small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the choc. chips and vanilla and mix again. (Actually, I mixed the vanilla in with the (rice) milk and oil and egg, all the liquids at once.)

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 min. at 1000 watts (Val does 2:30 in a high wattage oven--don't remember the wattage--1800 maybe?) The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed. (actually, Val uses a large mug, so she has never had this issue - but you see I did and it turned out okay!)

Allow to cool a little and tip out onto a plate if desired.

This can serve 2. Or seven skeptics.