Just Fooling Around

I really like to celebrate holidays, even small ones like Saint Patrick's Day, but it's hard to get excited about them when it's just the two of us. Especially since James isn't always big on the whole "get in the mood for the festivities by decorating, preparing and planning some activities" thing, especially if it's a small holiday. But that's good news on April Fools!

I really didn't get very much trickery in. I only did two things, but they were fun! The first was at school, since I was substituting for one of my math teacher friends. I was to be there for the whole week, and on April 1st there was a review scheduled for all classes. The test would be on April 3rd. So at the beginning of the class I made up some gibberish about the substitute plans not being very clear and having some mix-ups, that unfortunately led to the test being that day.

The students were very upset. "What?!" "Are you serious?" "Why do we have to take the test today?!" I was amazed that they all believed me. I told them to take out a notebook paper (claiming the copy machine was broken) and that the test questions would be on the Powerpoint presentation. It also made me kind of sad how easily they believed me, like they were hardly even surprised that a teacher would be so incompetent with scheduling.

Anyway, they get all ready with their papers and pencils, and finally I displayed Question 1 on the screen and when I hit next it said, April Fools! No test today!

"Oh--oops," I said. "Looks like it's April Fools! It's a review today. Don't worry, the test is next time!"

I thought this was most hilarious. All the students, however, just stared at me. A few of them with their mouths hanging open. Some pencils dropped.

Finally one student said, "That... was NOT funny."

Bwahaha. I can't even think about it without laughing.

Next was the April Fools dinner. I made James stay in the living room while I made dinner so it would still be a surprise. Then he came in to see...

Cake for dinner!

It looks like cake, right?

It's actually meatloaf. And pink mashed potatoes. But I'm very very happy with the fact that James actually did fall for it, for a couple seconds! Made it totally worth it. In his own words, "I wouldn't put it past you at all to actually make cake for dinner."




It was my first time making meatloaf. I'm glad I did, because it opened my eyes to how easy meatloaf is. I never would have guessed. The part that took the longest was actually the potatoes, because I dyed them pink with beet juice. I had to boil the beets, and then boil down the water until there was just concentrated red dye left.

At least, that was the plan. But by the time it had boiled for quite a while, I realized the water had changed from pink to brown. I panicked for a second but luckily I had read one website that said bases, such as baking soda, made beets lose their red color and that's why some people used vinegar, an acid, in a red velvet cake recipe. I didn't want to add vinegar, because gross, but I tried lemon juice, and I think it worked!

On the left is the water that had been boiled for too long. The right side is after I added lemon juice and diluted it with plain water. Eh? Eh? It's not like it would have been the end of the world to have brown mashed potatoes--maybe it would have looked like chocolate. But it's fun to learn kitchen chemistry!