Day 190: Workplace Gymnastics

On Day 190 had plans to celebrate the end of Passover by consuming an obscene amount of carbs with my Jewish friend Rebecca. She and I have been trying to make plans to hang out for several months and this seemed like a perfectly good excuse to do so.

And then work happened.

When it became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to escape the job pile-on, I apologized to Rebecca for cancelling our plans and told her to enjoy her pizza without me. I think this may have been the first time work ever got in the way of a blog activity, though that’s hard to believe because sometimes I think I’m married to my job.

I had to think of something that I’d never done before that I could do at work, late at night, in front of the few co-workers that were still left behind.

I looked at my colleague Chuck, handed him my camera and said, “Can you come with me?”

A strange, downright creepy proposition from a co-worker at such a late hour, I realize, but I was desperate, tired, and delirious.

Chuck seemed willing to play along.

“Stand right here,” I told Chuck, “I’m going to need for you to take a picture of me doing a cartwheel.”

I know you’re cringing, embarrassed for me, and I’m pretty sure Chuck was too, but Day 190’s thing I’ve never done before was to do a cartwheel at work.

There wasn’t a lot of risk involved in this cartwheel, because anyone that I work for that might’ve been bothered by it had been home tucked in bed for hours.

Plus, I used to rock some cartwheels back in the day in my backyard at my parents’ house, but it had been some time since I’d attempted one. I wasn’t nervous about pulling it off, though, certain that just like riding a bike, my body would remember what to do.

And despite having been at work for 13 hours, it did.

I’m not positive it was my most graceful attempt at a blog entry, but cartwheels are fun and I promised myself I’d try and do more of them. Maybe not at work, since job security is something that I value.

I also value Chuck’s friendship, which I fear could be in danger after this little stunt.

Day 184: Macaroon Me

On Day 183 I found out entirely too late that it was Passover. I reprimanded my friend and the blog's resident expert on all things Jewish, Lauren, for not telling me that the holiday was coming so that I could do something about it (i.e. plan a seder dinner, or work very hard to get invited to one that someone else was throwing).

I decided to acknowledge Passover in my own way, by first watching a video sent to me by my friend Rebecca (who hosted her own seder on Day 183) on the history of Passover.

I did further research and on Day 183 I made macaroons in honor of Passover as the thing I've never done before.

Macaroons are a popular Passover dessert because they're made without flour or leavening. Those celebrating Passover outside Israel eliminate any foods with leavening (yeast) for eight days.

The cookies are pretty simple to make, but I decided to up the ante and make two different kinds. One with coconut, egg whites and sugar, the other with coconut, almond extract and sweetened condensed milk.

The first recipe, with the egg whites, was courtesy of Martha Stewart and the macaroons turned out pretty well. Light and tasty. Not as life-changing at my King Cake, but still, a solid effort. The cookies were enjoyed first by me, then by my co-workers when I arrived at work the next day.

Why, then, could I not quit while I was ahead?

Answer: I don't know.

I wanted to use up all of the coconut I bought, so I proceeded with the other recipe from a website called http://www.southernfood.about.com/ (what the hell is this website, anyway?) This decision turned out to be a colossal mistake. The condensed milk, which I think is disgusting, made the macaroons sticky. They burned when I baked them and fell a part when I tried to move them to the trash.

Lesson learned: stick with Martha. There is a reason why she has her own show. She knows what she's doing.

Other lesson learned: Passover happens every year, so no excuses on forgetting it next year. And if anyone wants to go ahead and invite me to their seder, that would be just fine.