Get busy

It seems as though I have inadvertently planned a busy Labor Day weekend.

On Friday, Josh was finally hired at an excellent high school here in Brooklyn. He's a Teaching Fellow, and his job searching experience has been less than inspiring. For all of NYCTF's idealistic goals and messages of "NYC needs teachers!", it seems as though many fellows have had problems finding jobs. The common theme of most interviews (if you get one), is to have a nice interview with a principal, and be told that a decision will be made in the next few days. And then you never hear from him/her again. Josh would sometimes call to follow up, and would get dodged, or some bullcrap story (i.e. "I really like you, and I want you to call me tomorrow, because I should have an answer then.") that left him with hope for the position. I figured that the principals didn't want to have to tell candidates they were rejected.

In Josh's case, he didn't have a job by August 31st, so he was placed in the teacher reserve, meaning that he was placed in a school as a permanent substitute. If the need for a sub arose, he would have to step in, no matter what subject. Luckily, he was called for an interview while twiddling his thumbs on the first staff day this past Thursday (all the "real" teachers were setting up their classrooms). By the end of Friday, Josh was employed and didn't have to stay at the school with roaches the size of half a hotdog.

On Friday night, we went to see the Amazing Jonathan at a Comedy Central taping. Unfortunately, we had to wait a really long time. Luckily, we just made the cutoff for getting into the first taping. One of my coworkers also went, but he/she chose the 8:30 show. Being that we got out at 9:30 from our 6:30 taping, I doubt he/she had an enjoyable experience. I'm sure I'll hear the complaints on Tuesday.

When Saturday morning rolled around, I went to Bliss Soho for my facial, courtesy of my most wonderful cousin, Jessica. The locker room was a bit cramped (20 lockers shoved into a space the size of two coffee tables), and clients arrived in clumps because of how appointments are scheduled. Getting naked in front of strangers is bad enough, but being in such close quarters while doing so is a lot more awkward. After that, my experience at Bliss was lovely and if I had income to throw around on regular treatments, I would.... but I don't.

After Bliss, I had to purchase another bottle of real vanilla extract. I can't believe how fast I went through the last bottle. I blame it on all the baking I've done for work. $20 is a lot of money to spend on a bottle of vanilla, but it makes a real difference over the $5 imitation kind you find on your supermarket shelf. I can't go back to the fake vanilla. Josh thinks I should buy the 32 oz. bottle. From there, it was on to the Japanese market to buy curry mix (it's good comfort food when the weather is cool, as it has been of late) and then to Broadway Panhandler to pick up cake boxes. Broadway Panhandler was supposed to move sometime this summer, but it turns out they won't be in their new location until September.

I went to lunch at Les Halles Downtown because I missed their fries so much, and enjoyed the rest of Darcy & Elizabeth while dining. I went home because I was carrying too many bags, and after a break, went out to Atlantic Terminal to buy a pie dish from Target (no one returns my pie dishes) and Mario Kart DS. Whew! Quite a lot done on a day when the remains of a tropical storm was blasting through the area.

Today, I prepared for the mini potluck dinner being held at Jennie and Julie's place. I say mini potluck because I'm the only person bringing something. I decided to try a new recipe: Ina Garten's Apple Cake Tatin. It's her spin on the classic French tarte tatin. Granny Smith apple slices go in the bottom of the pie dish, with caramel syrup is poured over them, and a vanilla cake batter on top of that. After cooling a bit, the cake is then turned out, like a pineapple upside-down cake. I dusted it with confectioner's sugar like the recipe said, but I think it looked nicer without the dusting (that's why there aren't any pictures of the entire cake). I was afraid that the caramel would make a hard layer, but it mixed in a bit with the cake batter and just flavored the top of the cake with caramel instead.

Jennie and Julie served up a roast chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes. Even though the gravy didn't work out, the meal was delicious. And dessert turned out to be lovely as well. The three of us were guinea pigs, and were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't too sweet, despite all that caramel I poured over those apples.