Books, books, and more...ponchkes?

I introduce you to...sufganoyit. Or rather, as I prefer to call them, Muslim Doughnuts. And, hey, ponchkes works too, I mean, that's what we called them today when we had to present...Okay, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself...

Let's start from the beginning.

"We're going to completely forget about the book. The book doesn't exist. Those stupid people that make the book don't exist. We're going to use...dun dun dun...the Internet. I want y'all to pick a religion among the world's top 8, you'll do this in partners, and research it. Research everything. I'm giving you free reign on this. Two groups can go to the library, the other four, use the computers in here. On your mark...get set...Go!"

I kid you not, those are almost her exact words. I'm talking the dun dun dun, the mark...get set...Go! and everything.

I have the best social studies teacher ever.

The only requirement, was that we make a food. This, is where the ponchkes came in. Me and my partner picked Islam, the second largest religion in the world. We researched and researched and, surprisingly, learned things. I actually learned a lot more than I had ever learned from a project. This 'free reign' stuff really does work. The book just tells you what you've heard before, maybe adding in a few people and dates you haven't. The Internet, however, that wondrous place that holds the everlasting e-bay (okay, we didn't use e-bay, but it is a mythical place of great magical power), tought us a lot.

Like, I'm sure you didn't know that it's considered rude to use your left hand at all when eating. And did you know that when dining with ones other than just your family, males and females are to be seperated? What about the fact that Muslims don't actually have to adhere to any rules in order to be a Muslim? Really, I'm being honest here. There are no beliefs that are mandatory. Well, except for that one really important one about believing in God. So, I guess that's why it's the second largest religion in the world. There are no rules. Nothing to follow. Nothing to break or bend. It is free-reign.

And I don't want to be wrong on here, so sorry if I am about anything. I'm just telling you what I know.

So, as we are learning all these things, me and Kayla go on the 'Perilous Recindex Hunt'

I'm saying it's perilous because you really never know what you're going to find. I mean, beef filled apples? Eww! and then, of course, we mistakinly looked up what schmaltz was. Ew to that too.

But finally, with a giant breath of fresh air, we clicked on the funniest name in the visible square that the computer screen offered. Sufganoyit. :D

And, thus, Muslim Doughnuts. They are essentially jelly-filled peices of fried dough. Doughnuts. Don't call them anything else. They may be special becaue they have orange extract and zest in them, but they are doughnuts.

Except, we, of course, destroyed them.

Kayla is, supposedly, a good cook. At least, she says she is. And you have to understand this, Kayla is probably one of the most humble people I know. She's definitely not one to brag. So, I believed her. I trusted in this skill to help us along, becuase, despite many attempts, I'm not a baker.

Sadly, though, the dough didn't set, and we hung around her house for four hours, varying between eating Cheez-Its, Tostitos, and graham crackers, and watching the various gameshows that we all love: Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, and that singing show...with Wayne Brady...yeah, that one. And let me tell you, I would make an awesome contestant on Wheel of Fortune, not so much Jeopardy!, not really on the singing show, and a spectacular, nobody could ever beat me, impossible to lose sontestant on AYSTAFG.

so, while we were doing all this, our project was falling into dismal failing range. ah.

And then, Kayla's mom comes home.

And she, with her amazing powers of awesome, suggests...Bisquick!

and voila, we have ourselves some instant, two-minute dough, whereas the other stuff took nearly four hours. Yeah, way to go people who made the terrible recipe that DOESN'T WORK!

UGH!

Apparently, though, we're going to sue them, so it all turns out fine.

But, we do that, then, then we get to the deep-frying. DANGER ZONE! FLASHING RED LIGHTS AND ALARMS SCREAMING! DANGER, DANGER, DANGER!

We(and by this I mean Kayla) burn the oil and have to evacuate the house for a full two minutes because we cant even breathe. but, after that, all goes smoothly. And now, it's Larkin's favorite food and he ordered us to make more. He actually begged us. And he's not the only one that liked them. Everyone in the class said they were the best food among the six projects. Good sign I guess. haha.

So, that's the story of the ponchkes.

Now for the books.

A couple of weeks ago, my mom asked me to make a list of the books I wanted because I got my new bookshelf and have plenty of room and she's kind of been denying me the nourishment I need from those wonderaculous things known as books. (yes, caroline, I stole your word. Now and forever.)

And so it begins.

You see, I already had about 30 or so books in mind. I wrote those down instantly. But then, I abandoned my task for a week and a half, nearly forgetting I was to be writing it. But, you can never forget books for too long. :D

Soon, I was typing away, 90 wpm, a very long list of books. You see, I happen upon books I want a lot--I read reviews for them, have them recommended, see them floating around the school (not as likely seeing as the top five favorite books in Waccamaw on facebook are such that say how the person doesn't like to read or should read more). And other times, when the happening isn't happening, I spend hours perusing amazon and BAM and many other sources. That even includes myspace. And sometimes, I'll happen upon a book, or find it in my perusing, and forget what it's called. And, in my search for the title, I'll stumble upon (see how I changed it up there? DO YOU? I used 'stumble' instead of 'happen'. Did you see that?) other awesome titles.

So far, just doing this in my very limited spare time, my list has increased greatly to 91 books. 91!

that's a lot of paper. And it's subject to change all the time, and a few of them might come into my possession soon, and I haven't added six of them because there is that great possiblility that I will (definitely hopefully want to so bad) win that contest for the page flipper. Then, and if, I'll get 6 brand new books! Wow. I really, really want to win that contest.

So, I'm asking for help (because my goal is 200+). Any recommendations?

realizing exactly how long this post ended up, thinking about that one book I was just looking at, going to crawl in bed with the first free time I've had in about a week and read Maximum Ride (so excited I got it. It's pure wonderaculous-ness),

♥heather

(oh, p.s. If possible, a poem on monday. And that's a big if, seeing as the homework hasn't reduced...)