P293: Potluck

Presenting my offering for the Master Composter graduation party. In truth, the colorful card, printed words came the next day from make-a-(green)plan Commenter Extraordinaire Rosa, in a package filled with goodies and good reads. My thanks for such a timely treat.

The snack is filled with the local Henry’s bulk food bins of nuts, mini-pretzels, wasabi peas, granola, grains, seeds and gummi worms.

Fun Fact to Know and Tell:

Hans Riegel invented gummi bears (the first gummi candy) and gummi candy during the 1920s. Riegel was the owner of the German candy company Haribo. Haribo went on to manufacture the first American made gummi candy in 1982.

In 1981, another German gummi candy manufacturer called Trolli decided to made the first gummi worm. Gummi worms have become the most popular gummi candy ever made. The average Brite Crawler the number one sold gummi worm is two inches long.

Edible gelatin is the basic ingredient in gummi candy. Gelatin is also found in soft caramels, marshmallows, foam-filled wafers, licorice, wine gums, pastilles, chocolate coated mallows and a host of other sweets, because it gives candy elasticity, the desired chewy consistency, and a longer shelf life. Gelatin has been used since the time of the Egyptian Pharaohs.

The long and short of it is that I haven’t felt like cooking for several weeks. Too true. I am in a rut, my garden is finished for now and I am pinching pennies. So, what to do? I literally waited to the last possible moment. As I wrote about with my Paper Purge, I’d spent some time shredding past mortgage papers. My inspiration came from this plus a small cardboard box (from my Skype headphones) inside another fruit box.. I had kept the boxes for the show-and-tell energy demonstration I’d planned but postponed a couple weeks ago. So, voila! I had my centerpiece presentation figured out –a paper lined box within box filled with shredded paper and some loose green leaf twigs. I just needed to hit the bins before the class. I stopped by to see my son and he surprised me with some cash to buy the gummi worms and other snacks for the ‘compost’ dish.

It got some chuckles. We had way too much food at the presentations and pizza / potluck dinner, so I brought home quite a bit. I covered it and shared it with the neighbors at the campfire gathering. It was a good conversation starter for vermicomposting, besides going well with cold drinks.

I ventured out into a new circle of people, learned a great deal and had the good fortune of sharing some information and good eats between the two groups.

I also got a reminder that these others I meet are bringing all that they know and have learned to the group. I got to toast the newly promoted RN in her Assistant Director job and welcome home the neighbor away all summer. She talked about the strides she saw we had taken in sustainability while she was away.

At class I found a potential partner for my master composter volunteer commitment at the elementary school across the street. It turns out she is a scientist, expert at wetlands and birds and grew up in Phoenix.