In Arizona, at least the districts I worked at, the teachers had to do the duties: Morning playground duty, bus duty, lunch duty, afterschool duty, and after school bus duty. Which for the record blows. So many parents come to you at this time and want to ask questions and you can’t answer them because you have duty. Of course I usually just told the parent to walk and talk with me, but some didn’t want to. Nor did they want to stand in 112F weather for afternoon duty for 15 minutes…wimps. 🙂 But playground duty in the morning was my favorite. It was my favorite for the fact that it was all age kids, so you got to interact with students you might not ever see normally. They older kids at K-8 schools are usually way in the back…they like to hide us, for good reason. 😛
One day a fourth grader comes up to me looking a little down. Normally the kids who came up to you were the ones with few friends. His one and only friend at school wasn’t coming to school that day so he had no one to play with. We stood there talking and then he said something that has stuck with me to this day , “I sure hope this isn’t one of my snap shots”. I looked perplexed at him and asked what he meant by that. He went on to tell me that his mom had told him that someone took a snap shot (picture for those who are hockey fans and thinking something else) each day of their life. And that you never knew what moment they were taking the picture, so you always needed to be on your best behavior or doing something interesting so that when you die and they hand you your life scrap book you had nothing to be embarrassed about, always be proud. I asked him if he thought he wasn’t being on his best behavior and sadly he said that his behavior was fine but if this were his snap shot of the day he was pretty lame having no friends a recess. I told him that I begged to differ. I told him that if this was his snap shot of the day that he should look back on it with nothing but pride. This time he was the one that looked confused. I told him that here I was kind of having a bad day, feeling bad that I had no one to talk to and he came over and did me a favor by talking to me and cheering me up. Right away he smiled and said, “Really?” I of course told him yes and smiled back. “Then I do hope this is my snap shot of the day. Thanks Ms. G” and off he went.
First off, how clever is that mom? For the record that student ended up being one of my junior high students and the mom is pretty clever all around. And that kid is a really awesome kid who became a really awesome adult and I hope is collecting a lot of wonderful snap shots. Sometimes when I am sitting around in my sweats and eating cereal looking less than awesome I think, gosh I hope this isn’t one of my snap shots. 🙂 I think of that a lot. No, not like gosh I hope I don’t get caught on the toilet for one of my snap shot kind of things. 😛 More like I sometimes wake up and think, I hope this day has something snap shot worthy in it. And then I realize, that’s really up to me.
If you are a traditionalist you will not love my dessert today. It’s banana pudding…that I messed with. I made banana pudding, added a little more milk to it and some gelatin and made panna cotta. Topped it on some vanilla wafer crushed cookie crust and topped it with Nutella whipped cream (because somehow I missed World Nutella Day…how did that happen). If you love the flavors of banana pudding, then you will enjoy this. I actually infuse the banana into the milk overnight so their aren’t actual pieces of banana in the pudding, makes for a smoother panna cotta.
Hope you all have a wonderful week. I am not sure how much blogging I will be getting to as I am feeling better (yay!) and have a busy week. Hopefully I will collect some really good snap shots this week…I hope you do too!
Banana Pudding Panna Cotta with Vanilla Wafer Crust and Nutella Whipped Cream
For the Vanilla Wafer Crust:
2 cups crushed Vanilla Wafer Cookies
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup granulated sugar <p>
Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix all the ingredients together.
Equally divide among 4 (4-inch diameter) mini spring form pans. Press to form a crust on the bottom of each pan.
Bake for 10 minutes, set aside to cool.
For the Panna Cotta:
2 eggs, beaten
2 ½ cups whole milk, divided
2 SUPER ripe bananas (like the kind you would use for banana bread)
½ cup granulated sugar
1 heaping TBSP cornstarch
Pinch of salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 TBSP unsalted butter
2 tsp. unflavored gelatin
The night before you make this smash bananas and place them in an air tight container along with 2 cups of milk. Let sit for at least 12 hours. Remove banana pieces from milk, and strain into a measuring cup. Yes, the bananas will be brown, that’s okay, get over it. 🙂
In a double boiler over simmering water, combine eggs, banana infused milk, sugar, cornstarch and salt.
Stir constantly and cook until thick, 10 to 15 minutes
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter.
Stir in the extra ½ cup of milk and gelatin. Whisk until fully incorporated and gelatin has dissolved.
Evenly distribute the panna cotta among the 4 (4-inch diameter) prepared crusts.
Let set up in refrigerator for at least 6 hours, covered with plastic wrap.
Nutella Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 TBSP Nutella
2 TBSP powdered sugar.
Whip the cream on high using beaters or a stand mixer. Once it starts to form stiff peaks add the sugar and the Nutella. Beat until fully combined.
Pipe Nutella Whipped Cream on top of dessert and add a banana for flair.
Baking Soda says
Well this is definitely not one of my snap shot days (warmest sweater, double socks, red nose, cocoa butter and tissues near). I’m craving custard!
Not so sure about the snapshot idea. It can work out great and it’s a fascinating thought, but on the other hand can get to you if you’re in a not so positive mind and there’s no Ms G. around to tell you otherwise!
Sarah says
What a great story!
Caroline says
The idea of snapshots is brilliant. And what a sweet way to turn that kids snapshot into a positive experience. I know you have had your issues with it, but those kids were lucky to have you as their teacher.
On another note, I want an entire bowlful of that Nutella whipped cream…
Nicole R says
What a cool mom. That sounds like something I would come up with, but sadly didn’t. I might have to steal that one!
The panna cotta sounds delish! I LOVE Nutella. It’s great on a spoon with a glass of wine in a hot bath after a looooong day, but I have yet to use it in anything.
Carrie says
That is a really lovely story. Thank you for sharing!
HeartofGlass says
I’ve noticed, as a FB ‘friend’ how your former students often leave you positive comments–a true sign of a great teacher!
Jackie says
Thanks for making me laugh….I need that.
Heidi says
Aw what a nice story. Your response was perfect 🙂 My little boy will be going into school the year after next and I will be telling him my own version of what that mom told her son 🙂
CW says
Awesome story!
Lydia says
What a great story! I hope it’s moments like these you turn to when people criticize you for not using proper grammer=being a lousy teacher because ANYONE can teach grammer, but not everyone can be inspiring to kids when they most need it! AND what a super life lesson for all of us–I will be sharing it with my family tonight at dinner!
Baking Monster says
Thank you Peabody for this post! I’m sick and was contemplating going to class and just being a downer but I reallt like the snap shot idea. I also love everything about this dessert, I never thought of infusing bannana in the night before. Hope you have a lovely week.
Heather of Kitchen Concoctions says
What a great story! Truly words to think about! Glad to hear you are feeling better and I hope your hockey friend is also doing better too.
Judy says
Thank you so much for sharing the snap shot story, I wish for you many, many shutter clicks..many many happy snap shots….we are so lucky to have you share your stories with us…..
delia says
What an adorable story! How did you get that purplish look to the Nutella frosting? Is it just the lighting? It reminds me of taro; I like it!
Peabody says
Delia- just the lighting…it was a bad day for lighting in the PNW
Joanne says
Oh that is just the sweetest thing! I am going to keep that in mind. I mean, do I really want my snapshot to be of my berating myself or feeling bad or any other such thing? No. Not really.
Although I would like one in the future of me eating nutella whipped cream. That would be lovely.
Felice says
That is such a great story. Sometimes it is all in how you look at things – you know the glass half full versus the glass half empty. I love looking at this snapshot of the day as it is a very delicious looking snapshot. We should all have some of this deliciousness in our day. I am also glad to hear that you are feeling better and ready to take on the world again.
Elizabeth says
aww what a nice teacher you are peabody. I don’t know if I would like that dessert but it sure looks good!
Lauren says
Snap shots! I’m going to share your story with my sisters.
50 brownie points for this post.
Nora says
Great story! My sister is pregnant with her first and the “snap shot” idea is definitely one that I’ll use on my nephew. I’m also going to be the one to watch Slap Shot with him the first time. 😀 P.S. Nutella whipped cream? Yes, please!
Iris says
The Nutella cream looks purple … or maybe it’s just me ? :]
It is late.. and I reallllly want a piece of this..
Peabody says
Yep, it does look purple because of the lighting. PNW lighting is not all that awesome some days.
Melissa says
What a fantastic story!
Nicole says
I don’t like bananas, but anything with Nutella whipped cream has to be good. I missed World Nutella Day too. I need to mark it on my calendar for next year.
Amy @ What Jew Wanna Eat says
What a sweet story! Almost as sweet as Nutella frosting. Mmm.
Jessi @ Quirky Cookery says
Wow, what a great lesson. I have a feeling the snapshot story is going to stick with me a long time or at least I hope it does. I don’t want to forget it and will definitely be passing it on to others. <3
lucy says
Great post and the panna cotta sounds amazing! Can’t wait to try it!!!
Lynn says
oh my gosh, i might love that mom as much as i love you~
which is “a lot”. so yay!
(i just had to fix my posture, cuz at the moment, my snapshot might be mistaken for jabba the hutt. eek~)
hope you have a great week!
SarahK says
i sent this to my brother in the hopes that he will want to make it with me when he comes to visit in a few weeks. thanks for sharing this snapshot!
Jill says
Great story! Thank you for sharing it!
Lynn says
I like that imagery. Although I don’t like the idea of people passing around my life’s scrapbook when I dies. There’s a super embarrassing picture of me when I had braces…..
Two thumbs up on the pudding/panna cotta!
Shoshanna says
Thank you for the pick me upper. It made me feel good, real good.
Thank you for the analogy. I think I’ll use that from now on.
Thanks for the recipe as per usual!