Captain Bubbles. Topic: Birthday on Mars

April sixth, 2008: First mission, wake up. It is a difficult task, but the Captain can handle it. Oops, she fell back asleep.... OH NO! The base has been infiltrated by aliens! They're approaching the bed, AND THE CAPTAIN IS STILL ASLEEP!!!! They've climbed aboard the bed, it looks like a tag-team attack, and... whats this? They're CUDDLING THE CAPTAIN! She's not going to be sleeping on the job anymore, I can tell you that much! Alien M has decided the situation looks Under control for Alien S, She goes off to cook, oh watzitcalled... Ah yes! Breakfast! Some strange alien custom that is quite wierd but very appealing. Captain Bubbles thinks she might get a few more minutes of shut-eye, but guess what??!! It's snowing!!!! Snowing? It's never snowed on the Captain's birthday, she really is on an Alien planet! [Dum dum DUM]






Strange ways in the Alien Homebase. Breakfast included Quail Eggs... They tasted fine, the Captain didn't detect any poison.... So far, so good. No assasination attempts, and a hot yummy breakfast in the tummy. The aliens brought over recruites... The Alien Crew is what I'll call them. They were watching the Captain.... she could feel it. They did bring peace offerings though, Books, the Captains' soft spot. Even Alien M and Alien S gave Captain Bubbles this strange offering... she soon found out it was because she was getting OLD! Well, Older.

Bubbles sat with the Aliens for a communal dinner, they were quite nice to have around. They had Spaghetti, With Asparagus! 'They must be buttering me up for something', she thought. 'How could they know my favorite dish?? Oh ya, I told them. Now it's time for Cake?' It was a marvelous cake, with Ducks and Frogs and Trees and a giant river, there were flowers and little penguin decorations for the Captain to eat. Yay for the Captain, she should do this getting older stuff more often. It pays well! It was a magic cake, after eating it, everyones mouths turned GREEN! and Blue, and it was so strange! Thankfully nothing was toxic, the Captian checked. The books were addicting, it's only two days later and Captain Bubbles has finished two of them!





















Overall the Captain was pleased, besides being older, she's still alive, in good health (maybe a little fat from all the food there was) and has come to the conclusion that maybe she should have birthdays with Aliens more often!



















Alien S.



















Alien M.


Captain Bubbles!

The Story of Mr. Dan, Mr. Man, and the Girls.

Once upon a time there was a Girl who moved so very far away from her family and friends, and she missed them very very much.

She lived with a lovely man. Mr. Man, as a matter of fact. He was sweet and kind, and took very good care of the Girl. But he, too, lived so very far away from all of her family and friends.


Even the younger Girl, the daughter-Girl, was sometimes sad at the sheer distance between where she was and where everyone else was.



All of the friends and family missed them too, and for most of them, it was a very sad thing, but there was nothing that they could do except threaten to kidnap the daughter-Girl and to send little packages that reminded Mr. Man and the Girls that they were loved, adored, and missed.

But for some of the friends and family, there was a PLAN brewing.

You see, Mr. Dan was a teacher. He taught other kids that were about the same age as the daughter-Girl. And Mr. Dan thought that those kids needed to SEE THE WORLD. (And learn about Shakespeare.)


So Mr. Dan made arrangements for those kids to see the world... and he made sure they started right near the place where Mr. Man and the Girls were... in London!

Everyone was so excited when he told them. Mr. Boo wrote letters and drew pictures and packed them very carefully into a package for Mr. Dan to bring. Ms. Christi went shopping for TONS of frivolous things that the Girls missed from home and packed them carefully into a package for Mr. Dan to bring. Mr. Zach made sure to drool on everything that Ms. Christi bought before it was packed, just to make sure that he sent his love too, then helped to pack it all into a package for Mr. Dan to bring. Had more people known about Mr. Dan's trip, he might not have had room for his clothes at all. He might have had to wear the boxes of macaroni and cheese and cans of green chile , Ranch dressing powder, and enchilada sauce as trousers and wrap them in the wax paper to keep warm.

It was cold and rainy when Mr. Dan and his kids arrived. They were 24 hours too late for the snow, and it might have been a good thing, too, as desert coats are not as warm as coats of wool. It didn't take long at all for Mr. Dan to to boot the kids to the curb and want to meet up with Mr. Man and the Girls. He even set a place - Piccadilly Circus.


What with travel time and Mr. Man and the Girls trying to walk to Oxford Circus, it took a while before the meeting-up actually happened. But when it did, there was lovely goodness. Everyone was so Happy to see each other! Mr. Dan and Mr. Man shook hands, very proper like. But the Girls squealed and hugged and chittered in delight.


It had been a long trip for Mr. Dan, and it was lunchtime, so the group of chittering, excited Girls and the two very accommodating Misters went to Chinatown for lunch.


Chinatown was fun. The daughter-Girl particularly liked the roasted ducks that hung in each and every shop window, commenting on their delightful crunchiness and utter uselessness as creatures of the wild.*


After a delightful lunch in which Mr. Dan and the Girl exchanged bags of goodies (the Girl sent tea and English biscuits and Ms. Christi sent Malt O' Meal) and Mr. Man artfully ate not only HIS lunch, but also Mr. Dan's (without his even noticing, actually,) the decision was made to take a tourist-y type trip to the London Eye.


Mr. Dan was scared.

Mr. Dan had grave misgivings about the safety of said Eye, and about his inherent ability to remain cognoscente during it's uppermost route. But the Girls were persistent, and when Mr. Man bought the tickets, there was no backing out for Mr. Dan. All he could do was grin and bear it.


Once Mr. Dan, Mr. Man, and the Girls were in the Eye, daughter-Girl kindly offered to hold Mr. Dan's hand. She is a sweet one, that daughter-Girl. Mr. Dan thanked her, but decided to be VERY brave and said that someone had to take many pictures or no one else would believe that he had actually managed to do it.


Mr. Dan got more and more brave as the Eye circled, and soon, with only minimal moral support from Mr. Man, was looking out of the glass wall.


And only moments after that, Mr. Dan was an old pro, taking pictures and chit-chatting, and not bothered by the height in the least.


They saw many things from the sky.

They saw Parliament and Big Ben...


... and buildings with green tops.


But no matter how much Mr. Dan tried, he just could not see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Mr. Man couldn't see his mum's house either. So they were both disappointed. The Girls weren't disappointed, though... they had Mr. Dan and Mr. Man to look at.

After the Eye, the quarto were almost out of time for their visit. They decided to go for a walk. They found, to daughter-Girl's delight, the soldier who never blinks or moves. She was sad that he didn't have on the clothes she'd imagined him having, and she was far too well behaved to go and try to make him react, but she watched and giggled at all of the other people who stood in front of him making silly faces or doing silly things to try and get a response. They didn't... he never moved a muscle.


After a few short Underground rides, and a bit of coffee, it was time to say goodbye. Everyone was sad, except daughter-Girl, who instead really was hoping that she would know some of the kids that Mr. Dan was meeting, and even more secretly hoping that Mr. Dan would have her talk to the other kids. But alas, that was not to happen. What WOULD happen, however, was that daughter-Girl would take her own train home (the first time by herself, even) earlier than Mr. Man and the Girl, and that Mr. Man would leave his 'brolly in the coffee shop, thus requiring a return trip.

It was a wonderful day and a wonderful visit. And the most exciting thing for Mr. Dan? Says he, "I'm actually going to make it into your blog?! Wow!"

THE END

*Ashley's favourite animals are ducks, and she was actually devastated by the windows of roast ducks. She absolutely refused to go into and eat at any of the shops that had roast ducks hanging in their window.

FROM THE DESK OF: New Mexico

FROM THE DESK OF: New Mexico
[NEW MEXICO, THAT PLACE YOU'RE NOT AT, REMEMBER?]

Dear Ashley,

This is New Mexico. We took a vote and decided that you need to come back or there will be serious s**t.
We were going to send you a "we miss you" card on a cow, but Bill Richardson was like, "no". Hater.

Aaaanyways, since we don't have anything better to do, we might have to build a ship out of cactus, sail to England, and steal you. We don't really know where your house is, but we're sure the British won't care if 2 million New Mexicans on a ship made of cactus float into their harbor unannounced and ask where you are. We bet s**t like that happens in England all the time.

Or you could just come back.

That would be better, to be honest; but if you want to force us to cactus-ship-building, we will do so.

Seriously.

Love,

New Mexico.

P.S. No, really.

P.S.S. If we accidentally land in France or Spain, we're gonna be freaking pissed, so hold up a sign or something so we know where you are.


(Myspace comment sent from Beka to Ashley, 3-26-08. Oh no! Beware of the Cacti boat!)

Magical Recipes that Kids Want!

I have a big post coming as soon as Ash gets me pictures... but in the meantime I have been pressed for copies of these recipes. These were the goodies that I took to the kids and staff at the school that I was doing a placement at, and since I have been typing it up for 50 bazillion emails to them, I figured I might as well share with you too. This is the British-ised version. I'll highlight the American translation. (Warning... this is the Amy-translated British-ised version. It probably is a very poor quality translation into British English. They, poor souls, are probably staring at these recipes completely lost and confused. Oh well. I did my best.)

Multi-grain Snickerdoodles

Yield: 38 cookies
Baking temperature: 177 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
Baking time: 12 to 14 minutes

Dough:
6 oz (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
10 1/2 oz (1 1/2 cup) demerara sugar (raw sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange juice
2 large eggs
4 5/8 oz (1 1/3 cup) whole rolled oats (not porridge oats) ground in a food processor
4 oz (1 cup) whole barley flour
3 oz (3/4 cup) strong wholemeal flour (stoneground 100 % whole wheat flour)

Coating:
2 3/8 oz (1/3 cup) caster sugar (regular white sugar)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 177 degrees Celsius . Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment (or use a baking stone.) Cream the butter, demerara sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the orange juice and eggs, scraping the bowl, then add the oats, barley flour, and wholemeal flour, beating until well combined. Refrigerate the dough, covered, overnight.

To prepare the coating, combine the caster sugar and the cinnamon in a large plastic bag.

Roll the very cold dough, by the tablespoon, into balls. Drop the balls, 6 or so at a time, into the plastic bag. Gather the bag closed at the top, trapping some air inside. Shake gently to coat the balls with sugar. Place them on the prepared cookie sheets and flatter to about 1/2 inch thick, using the bottom of a clean, dry glass. Repeat until you have used all the dough.

Bake the cookies, reversing the pans midway through (top to bottom and bottom to top) until they are beginning to brown around the edges, about 12 to 14 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a rack to cool.

NUTRITION INFORMATION (1 cookie, 27 grams):
9 g whole grains, 109 calories, 4 g fat, 2 g protein, 6 g complex carbohydrates, 11 g sugar, 1 g dietary fiber, 21 mg cholesterol, 66 mg sodium, 33 mg potassium, 34RE vitamin A, 26 mg calcium, 57 mg phosphorus.

Multi-grain Sailor Jacks

Yield: 1 dozen muffins
Baking temperature: 191 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit)
Baking time: 20 to 23 minutes

Raisin and spice mixture:
3 1/2 oz (1/2 cup) demerara sugar (raw sugar)
3 3/4 oz (1/2 cup) packed muscovado sugar (brown sugar)
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
8 oz (1 cup) water
3 oz (1/2 cup ) currents (raisins)
1 1/2 oz (2 tablespoons) treacle (black strap molasses)

Muffin Batter:
4 oz (1 cup) strong wholemeal flour (stoneground 100% whole wheat flour)
1 5/8 oz (1/2 cup) oat flour
1 3/4 oz (1/2 cup) whole rolled oats (not porridge oats)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 3/8 oz (1/8 cup) olive oil
1 large egg

Glaze:
2 oz(1/2 cup ) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon or sour orange juice
1 teaspoon milk

Preheat the oven to 191 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease a muffin tin or line it with papers. Coat the papers with nonstick baking spray.

TO MAKE THE RAISIN AND SPICE MIXTURE
Place the ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat, until the mixture comes to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and let cool, overnight if desired.

TO MAKE THE BATTER
Which together the flours, oats, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl. Add the cooled raisin and spice mixture, oil, and egg. Stir just to combine. (Don't beat the batter or it will turn tough.)

TO BAKE THE MUFFINS
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup about 3/4 full. Bake the muffins until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 23 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.

FOR THE GLAZE
Mix all ingredients until smooth, and drizzle over the cooled muffins.

Nutrition Information: (1 glazed muffin, 85 grams):
18 g whole grains, 245 calories, 7 g fat, 3 g protein, 19 g complex carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, 18 mg cholesterol, 329 mg sodium, 183 mg potassium, 9RE vitamin A, 1 mg vitamin C, 2 mg iron, 64 mg calcium, 131 mg phosphorus.