Week 3 In the Kitchen

Tuseday:

After a restful Memorial Day we hopped right back into the kitchen for a baking project. The boys tennis team asked us to whip up some baked goods as an insentive for people to come to their playoff match against U.S. They made flyers about the match and on them was a shout-out about our baked goods (great publicity for our blog!), which we thought was pretty cool. We decided that people tend to stick with what they know when they come to trying baked goods, sometimes you just need a straight-up brownie instead of a cinnamon gingerbread tart. So we decided that brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and cupcakes were the way to go. We spent all day making these and decorated the cupcakes with the seniors faces and tennis balls. They turned out so well! All the sweets were gone within 20 minutes of the match start. We count that as a success for 2 Blondes and a Mixer!

Wednesday:

Today we welcomed Senior Botella into our kitchen! Well not our kitchen necessarily, but our kitchen for the day. Today we had planned to visit the shed makers and cook them lunch with our mentor. Senora was kind enough to visit us at the shed makers' headquarters (Wyatt's house) for our onsite visit.  Knowing that we were cooking for 8 people in total (4 of them being boys) we made sure to make a lot of food. We made wings (with 2 different sauces), homemade mac and cheese, roasted asparagus with cheese, assorted sandwiches, and tiramisu. Although we felt like some of our choices were a little too ambitious in the end, we received great feedback from our testers and (we think) Señora!

Thursday:

We took the morning to tend to our blog. Having had a very busy week thus far we did not edit it as much as we would have liked. The morning was spent updating our blog and editing the existing blog posts. We also made "Cookie Cups" and frosting to go on top of them! They were amazing, and very addicting. Though they were addicting we knew we couldn't possibly eat all the ones we made, so we made a trip to the Upper School to drop some off to our hungry friends and get some input on their taste! Seth nearly inhaled and entire plate. Not joking.

Friday:

Earlier in the week a friend, who's senior project is working at a clothing store in Chagrin Falls, asked if we would make baked goods for a breast cancer event they were having at the store. We were, of course, honored to have been asked! It was a big project and our product would be shown in public at an upscale store. How cool! We went all all for it. We made lemon bars, cookie cups, chocolate toffee nut bark, and cupcakes with sugar garnishes. Transporting proved to be difficult, but we got our baked goods to the store without a cookie catastrophe and the store owners/our friend were so appreciative of our work and we felt very accomplished. Maybe we could turn this into a catering business???

Week 3

Tuesday:

After taking Memorial Day off we were eager to get back into the kitchen after a long weekend. Luckily for us we had our work cut out for us. We were asked by the boy’s tennis team to make baked goods to give away at their match to get more fans out because we realized nothing seems to inspire Hawken students quite like sweets. We spent a long day in the kitchen making intricate cupcakes which were painted with tennis balls, words of encouragement, trophies, and even faces seniors’ faces on them. In addition to this we also made chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Not only we’re the baked goods a hit but the tennis team hitting was the cherry on top.

Wednesday:

Today we got our onsite visit from Senora. Wanting to impress her we decided that we wanted to make a full meal. However, with making a full meal there comes a problem with needing someone to eat it. Luckily we were not short on volunteers. After a stop at the grocery store to gather supplies we took a trip to the guys who were making the shed and began to cook our meal. After a few hours of prep time we all got to sit down and enjoy the wings, mac n cheese, asparagus, sandwiches, and tiramisus which we had prepared. We learned that will still had much to learn about cooking and that timing may be our biggest issue in the kitchen luckily our food testers didn’t seem to mind that much.  

Thursday:

Coming off of a very busy two days we took they day to work on our neglected blog. In addition to that we also tried our hand at a new kind of cookie which we chose to call cookie cups. We then delivered them to some students who were at the Upper School. It was at this point in the project that we realized that our project was pivoting slightly from a blog to a catering business. This idea crossed our minds and we decided if we were to continue this project further we would have rather gone down that path because the cookie aspect of our project appealed more to us than the blogging portion.

Friday:

We were honored that one of our friends had enough faith in our culinary skills to ask us to create baked goods for a bake sale at the store she was working at for her senior project. Therefore we spent the day brainstorming what we were going to bake and then quickly taking to the kitchen to make an assortment of baked goods. We baked a variety which ranged from two different types of cookies, cookie cups, lemon bars, and cookie bars. After endless work with our mixer we were finally finished and all we had to do was transport them on Saturday which was not as easy as it sounds.

Week 4

Monday:

To kick off this final week (of half week) we decided to take our culinary exploits on the road. Hoping on the highway and heading west we arrived at our final destination Cleveland’s precious Westside Market. There is no better place to go in Cleveland to basket in the culture which food brings and share our love for it. Our time at the market was spent well where we got to heckle and talk to venders, try samples, and learn that the crepe chef does not like getting his photo taken. We also invested in some great food such as crepes, bread, fresh fruit, and pirogues which inspired our cooking endeavors for Tuesday. Once we returning from an exhausting day we realized how behind we had become on our cooking blog and took the rest of the day to attempt to get caught up.

Tuesday:

Feeling inspired from our trip to the Westside market we decided to make some pirogues of our own. Spending all day mixing, rolling, pinching, and boiling the pirogues we finally arrived at a product that was edible. Then we decided it was time that we put our culinary skills to the test and boiled the pirogues we had purchased from the Westside Market. To our surprise and slight disappointment because two of the three pirogues we had bought broke in the water we reached the possibly biased conclusion that our pirogues tasted better. After a long day of cooking we enjoyed our finished product and decided to plan our final meal realized that Wednesday was our last day on project.  

Wednesday:

We woke up to a mixture of feelings this morning as we realized our journey as 2 Blondes and a Mixer had reached its last day. To celebrate this final day we decided to showcase all the skills which we had learned with a final meal. After determining that both our favorite meals we occasionally breakfast we decided what a better way to kick our final day off with a huge breakfast. The trick with a final meal is that you needed to serve it to someone. Therefore, we took one last visit to the project that was making the shed and prepared them full plates of our fully cooked meal. It was a great way to see how far we have come and enjoy each other’s company over several plates of food. That’s what we’ve come to realize about food is that it is a way to bring people together. Even though we may have burned the bacon and taken an extra half hour to get all the food on the table once it was out the real purpose was that we were enjoying each other’s company over food.

Last Three Days

           When I arrived on my floor on Monday I encountered a challenge I was not prepared to face: the four-year-old I had become so close with was gone. I was surely delighted that his brother had apparently been well enough to return home, yet I was discouraged that I hadn't had the chance to say goodbye. This is just another aspect of working and volunteering in a hospital; it is difficult to form tight bonds with the patients and their families because of their sudden discharges. As someone who centers my attention around the children, it can sometimes be difficult to come in and find that the kids you have been spending ample time with recently you may never see again. It just so happened that on Monday all of the patients on the floor were not permitted in the playroom, so this day was all about reaching out to the kids. Soon enough, there was no more reaching out to do so I was sent to the second floor with another volunteer to clean their playroom. Not thinking much of the task, we went on down only to find a maelstrom of dirty toys scattered across the room. We had to clean each and every piece of every toy and then hd to organize them into separate shelves and bins. It took about two and half hours. To know that kids would now be able to use the playroom and find the toys they covet made it worthwhile, however.

            Tuesday began as a normal day on Rainbow 5. I cleaned a few toys, put them in place, and made a few walks around the floor to see if the patients needed toys or company. My supervisor and I, after noticing we were low on some toys, ventured into the basement of the hospital where all the donated toys are kept. We snagged some blankets, markers and a bunch of coloring books for our floor. It felt good to know, as evidenced by the basement filled with toys, that these kids are fully supported by the greater community. Once we returned to the floor, a boy asked for the Wii. I played Mario Party and Madden with him for a while as both of our games turned into battles. I then had to attend to another boy on the floor, as he had been upset all morning and had been crying for his mother. Three other volunteers and I stopped in and we watched the movie Holes with him until his cries came to a halt. The nurses then informed us that he was now well enough to play in the playroom, so we introduced him to our kingdom. He then had to return back to his room for treatment but was petrified to go back with the nurses, so I pushed him in the wagon and stuck with him as he was given his treatment. After it was all over, we went back to playing with the playroom's magnetic sand tables and I taught him how to draw cars similar to the ones I had decorated the playroom with. At the end of my day, bingo was being held. Patients that couldn't leave their rooms could turn on their televisions and play. Two kids and I played and one of them won a gift card.

            My last day at Rainbow was a day full of arts and crafts. After cleaning toys and bringing them to patients, I began decorating the playroom. My supervisor and I drew all over the drawable walls with markers. I then sat down and crafted a tennis court, baseball field, basketball court and football field out of paper and pasted them on the blank cabinets. Next, I took coloring books and stencil sheets to a girl's room and we drew a bunch of different nature scenes. The boy I played Wii with on Tuesday needed a partner in Mario Kart. Another girl came to the playroom and I helped her draw on the white and chalk boards. The other boy I had played with on Tuesday was upset once again and didn't want to eat. I was sent to convince him to eat and reward him with a trip to the playroom so he could draw his own car on the wall. Before I knew it, it was time for me to leave the hospital. It was tough to leave knowing there were many children still needing company to help them fight adversity. I didn't want it to be my last time on Rainbow 5. If I can find time this summer, I definitely will consider coming back.

It's Been Real

As I made my way through the main lobby one last time and down through the elevator, past fan services, and then down the long, 1/3 of a mile tunnel, I reflected on my time spent in the stadium.  But, my reflecting was short lived as I stepped into the DC once more.  Today was a little bit different as the guys had already finished the picking by the time I arrived.  Red bull enthusiast and assistant boss-man Justin Rhoads even jumped in on the order as we received more than 3,000 hats in the morning alone.  What y’all know about hats?  Boxes and hats were flying everywhere.  Not really, but there were a lot of hats, and boxes.  After finishing the monstrous order I went off for my last lunch and was surprised when I turned into the break room to find a few dozen people preparing dogs for dollar dog night.  My lord, there were a lot of dogs flowing in and out of the room.  In fact, there were so many that I had to travel back to the DC in order to sit down and eat.  After lunch, we took on a horrific 25 box order which consisted of somewhere around a thousand baseballs of all different colors and textures.  Ticketing each one of them was tedious, but I moved faster through it than Chris going to check the Orioles game, even though we all know that they are losing.  We finished this order just in time for me to go.  I bid Bob, Justin and guys in the DC adieu and then stopped by “Sly” Seth Cooper’s office to thank him for the opportunity.  I still never saw Big Papi. 

It was a great project,

Keep it tight.

:'( last day

It was truly a Ruff day on the job with the local montessori school. The Ruffing students showed up promptly at 9:30, and from that moment on they really showed just how free spirited they were. WE explored the mini marsh on the southern end of the nature center, and took immediately to planting different native plants such as wool seeds. The Ruffing kids however were less interested in the task at hand, and more interested in having a contest to see who could get the muddiest! with the wet conditions, it was certainly a close contest. the winner however was probably the brave young soul who decided to paste mud in his hair and create a mowhawk for himself! CRAZY DEDICATION.Needless to say it was an entertaining last day.

Final Blog Thingy

Today I was able to explore Dr. Calabro’s wet lab. He showed me how he made his lowest concentration of patented gel. It was very smooth and made my skin feel so soft. He told me it was the kind of material used in makeup because it loves water. It has many other uses though, such as cartilage or tissue.

Overall the project showed me how broad the field of Biomedical Engineering is, and how much you can do with a degree in that field. Although it did not encourage me to get a BME degree, rather to get a mechanical or chemical engineering degree and the get my master in something similar. Very few of the Biomedical Engineers I met over the course of this project actually had Biomedical engineering degrees. It was a fun project and I learned a lot more than I would have about the field I want to go into sitting in a classroom all day.

Thank you to all the people who helped me in this project and especially Dr. Calabro for sponsoring me through the whole project.

Animal Surgery

On Tuesday I was able to observe a pig surgery where the surgeons made an incision in the abdomen and inserted a patch. This patch is supposed to help prevent hemorrhoids by healing to a wound or reopened incision. This patch is made out of sterile highly-processed human skin so it has many properties that will allow it to healing with the live tissue. After inserting the patching the surgeons close 2 out of the 3 layers of the incision, leaving the deepest layer open. The purpose of this is to create a hemorrhoid for the patch to prevent.

This whole process occurs in a sterile environment that looks extremely similar to that of a human operating room. All precautions are taken to make sure the pig stays alive and is never in pain. There is a vet tech always on scene and monitoring all of the vital signs for the animal. It is a very human way and the pigs are treated with a lot of respect and shown a lot of care.  

Seeing David Ortiz and Having a Conversation with Him was Absolutely Incredible

It was all a dream; I used to spend all my time in the DC, Led Zeppelin and Bon Jovi was like listening to a rock symphony.  My Monday morning wasn't so much of “rise and shine”, but rather “rise and grind”.  However, things seemed to be looking good for me.  As I made my way down to the stadium I was able to swiftly breeze through and clear Cedar Hill quicker than Chris Tatsuoka can give you the latest score update on the Orioles and whoever they are probably losing to.  It’s a bit of the same old song and dance down in the DC.  Bob and Justin are still running stuff, probably because they’re the bosses.  Steve Cooper still scares me, and the rest of the guys are good.  I spent my entire morning completing orders that came in the week before and over the weekend.  Then, I, Jabir, and OG Mr. Benson Lo went to town on a priority shipment of shirts that were quickly sent up after we divided and conquered the order.  I also discovered today that I am a heck of a photographer, probably near the ranks of Ansel Adams.  When we receive an order, we always check the system to make sure that we have a picture of the piece of merchandise so that we can use it as a reference.  However, when there isn't a photo, you have to take one and it is then uploaded into the “Merch” folder.  I had to do this a few times today and really was able to perfect my skill.  All in all another good day, Nick Swisher is still the fratiest of them all, and I think it’s time I hit the hay.  

P.S. I didn't actually see David Ortiz today, sorry.

Discovering Nick Swisher Belongs in a Frat as the Tribe Come Back In Town

Thursday turned out to be much of the same as what I have been doing in the distribution center for the past week aside from two things.  First off, Nicky Swish, a.k.a. the biggest frat bro on the face of the planet, has his bobble head giveaway tonight.  This also resulted in me counting a lot of “Brohio” shirts that were sent up on Thursday to the novelty stands around the stadium and the team shop.  And because it is his bobble head giveaway this evening, pallets which held over a thousand Nick Swisher bobble heads made their way to the DC.  Also, with Kipnis now back off the DL, a lot of his bobble heads came in too.

Fast forward to Friday; I’m about to get down but before I can do that I take a nostalgic journey back through the lower and middle school.  I said what’s up to the OG herself, Ms. Beier and another fantastic teacher who goes by the name Mrs. O’Neill.  Side note: first and third grade were real.  Anyways, I had a bit of a different schedule that day so I didn’t have to be in until 1 p.m. on Friday.  Once there, I made my way down to the DC and helped finish up one of the last receptions of the day and then made the journey down to Nancy Schneider who is the retail and concessions manager.  Once there, her and I went up and around to every single novelty stand two or three times and moved shirts, hats, and other novelties around in order to draw the eye of the customer.  Every little detail about where brands are laid out, the placement of player t-shirts and making sure that the items on sale were moved forward was taken into account.  It takes the eye of a professional to see all of this stuff and it was awesome to see her go to work.  

Then, after I was done on Friday, I watched Asdrubal pound a two-run monster over the right field wall, enjoyed copious amounts of dollar dogs and watched some snazzy jazzy fireworks.  In general, another two good days under the belt.

Thursday May 29th

Thursday began with a trauma; I had to hold a baby. I hadn't held a baby yet during my project since there haven't been too many on my floor. I was finally called to the job and the baby I held was obviously not enjoying himself. He was coughing and crying constantly and with no parents or nurses around I had to make him feel better. I tried sitting, standing, turning him and holding him in several different positions but he continued to cry. Finally I found the right position. I put him over my shoulder and he stopped crying. I put the TV on and began making faces at him and soon enough he had stopped coughing and began to smile. I then was charged with another unique task. I had to push a man in his wheelchair downstairs so he could take in some sun. This was a bit rare since adults don't often stay on our floor. We stood out in the sun and talked about Cleveland sports for a while. Once I got back upstairs, the four-year-old boy was waiting for me. This time he wanted to go back to playing with the Legos. We met a new boy his age that joined in and then encouraged us to join him in a dunk contest on the mini basketball hoop. Since it was closer to the end of the week and many kids had been discharged or were resting on my floor, I decided to go up a floor and help my fellow classmate Clare on the sixth floor. She, another volunteer and I walked three patients around the hospital to give them a different atmosphere to explore and observe. We then went back and I held another baby before playing a Finding Nemo video game with two other young boys. It was a good way to end a day full of new experiences for me.

Wednesday May 28th

Today began with the four-year-old and I discovering the 20Q toy. After he learned how to play, he instantly became hooked and we probably played using every object in the playroom. Señora Botella stopped by and watched us trick the toy several times because the boy continued to pick complex objects such as a red bulldozer truck instead of just a car. With another volunteer, we went downstairs to watch the ball machine shown below. We ended up spending a while there because he wouldn't leave until the ball went down a certain path ten times. Today was a highlight for me personally because it was the first time I was told how important I truly am to my floor at Rainbow. I was always aware of how potentially vital I could be to the well being of the patients and their families throughout their stays at the hospital, but I never had been told specifically. Now that I have been here for about two weeks, I have formed bonds with not only the patients and their siblings but also with parents, extended family, and the nurses who have begun to speak out about how crucial my co-volunteers and I are. For example, the father of the four-year-old boy I have become so close with has been quite worried about the health of his other son. Even in such a dire time for him and his family, he did not hesitate to tell me that I make being in the hospital almost manageable. These types of comments are what motivate me to continue to make a difference on my floor during my last few days at Rainbow.

Tuesday May 27th

This week began on Tuesday with me taking the four-year-old boy I had been with all last week back to the playroom. We searched through the cabinets filled with toys and found Connect 4. It only took a minute for our game to turn into a competition of who could put the most pieces in the board. He then joined me only my trip around the floor to comfort several patients who couldn’t leave their rooms by talking to them or bringing them toys they wanted. We met a seven-year-old girl and talked about how much we all like Spiderman. Next, we went outside to the hospital’s playground shown below. His grandma then came and wanted to spend some time with him, so I went off to play Wii with a newer patient. We couldn't resist Wii Sports bowling, and ended up playing with his grandma for about an hour. He started off a bit slow, but stepped us his game and was able to beat both of us. This day, however, was one of those days were the realities of being in a hospital struck me, as I overheard nurses discussing how they were uncertain if one of the patients would survive. Being in this type of atmosphere truly makes me appreciate all that I am fortunate enough to have and continues to fuel my urge to do all I can to help these less fortunate children.

Week 2 in the Kitchen

Monday
Another week of project had begun and we could not be more excited to get to work. But before we could cook anymore we had to figure out what exactly we were going to make (or attempt to make at least). So, we decided to deem Monday a much-needed tech/whatnot day. We worked on the technical side of our blog, adding links, photos, and tags to our posts. It took longer than we thought to do some of these things and is an ongoing task as we keep adding new blog posts, but we are getting the hang of it!

Tuesday 
As Kat and I were updating blog posts and grabbing our ingredients for breakfast out of the fridge, we get a call. On the other line are two of our friends asking if we needed some food critics for the morning. We figured that it might be a good idea so we invited them over for breakfast. We made egg muffins (with spinach, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese) wrapped in bacon. We also made pancake bites, an idea that we found via Pinterest. The recipes were a hit with the boys, who helped us make them. After our guests left, full and satisfied, we cleaned up from breakfast and moved straight to dessert. We made slutty brownies (layers include cookie dough, Oreos, and brownie mix) which are so rich you can only have one. Realizing that we had excess of them we made a trip to the Upper School to hand out some of our brownies.

Wednesday
Needing some more supplies and ingredients Kat and I made a trip to the grocery store to buy stuff for our upcoming recipes. While we were at the grocery store we decided to explore rather than just find our supplies and leave. We looked through most of the store: we paroozed the produce, fruits, herbs, bakery, meats, cheeses, and prepared foods to get some inspiration. We wrote down products we would like to incorporate in upcoming meals and left the store with our supplies and some cool ideas. We went back to our kitchen, unloaded the groceries, and edited our blog once more (a task that is never finished).

Thursday 
Coming from an Italian family pasta is one of my favorite foods. I swear every time I go over to my grandmother's house for dinner it is always spaghetti. So, we thought a spaghetti sauce would be a fun recipe to attempt, and very useful for our families. Adapting a recipe my mother got from a friend in Italy we got to work. The sauce was very good over spaghetti for lunch! After our sauce, being chocoholics, decided to test our luck by making a chocolate soufflé. For some reason we thought this would be a lot easier than it was. The soufflé ended up sinking and ultimately was a failure, but we realized from this failure that we had a long way to go before we could attempt something of this calibre.

Friday 
After our soufflé disaster on Thursday we were excited to have a full day with our mentor who could help us get good results. We made Chicken Milano, Twice Baked Potatoes, and Grilled Romaine. A gourmet meal that was actually easier to make than we thought! And it also utilized many ingredients one might find in the fridge/pantry, which is perfect for our blog audience.  The meal was amazing! Maybe my favorite one yet. We were excited to share our recipes with our audience in hopes that they may find them as delicious as we did!

Squeamish?

For the past two days I have been with Tara Bonner who is very handy with Robotics and Mechanical Engineering. Since I knew these things before starting my time with her little did I expect to observe not one, but two leg dissections. No, not surgeries, leg dissections. The team used two cadaver legs to be able to look at the knee. I would go into great detail here, but I believe Sra. Botella would prefer I not. Let’s just say I was able to stand as close as I needed and there were times I was told to come close and take a close look. At first I couldn’t believe it, it didn’t even seem real. While the blood and cutting of the skin was pretty gross. The worst part- by far- was when they sawed through the bones, at that point I had to step out. The point of all this was to examine the knee and test which kind of ACL repair works better in pediatric patients. I haven’t seen the ACL reconstruction yet, that is tomorrow, and truthfully I’m excited because they said that is the most interesting part.