I am SUCH a sucker!
Tatiana's teacher sent home a note to the parents last week that the class would be celebrating the traditional story of St. Nicholas on Monday, a celebration complete with the children leaving their boots outside the classroom for St. Nick to leave little gifts in. She mentioned in the note that she would need parents to help out by bringing things like tangerines and nuts. After the spiral garden on Friday evening I asked Miss Christina (Tatiana's teacher) if she needed anything else for Monday. She asked that I bring walnut shell halves with a little treasure in each one for each of the 14 children in Tatiana's class. I left thinking to myself, "really how hard could it be to get 14 walnuts to break perfectly in half?"
OK, well, I'm a dumbass, cause it's next to impossible!!! The nutcracker I have is not nearly big enough to accomodate the girth of the walnuts, and each time I attempt to crack one, the shell shatters. I started looking online for suggestions on an easier way to go about this task and came across the following:
"Walnut shells are one of the toughest organic substances known, so hard, in fact, that they are industrially ground and used in place of sand to air blast metal, marble, glass and other substances. It is possible to crack your own walnuts, but you should be prepared with a sledgehammer, an anvil, and good aim. Take care when hulling or shelling walnuts. The practice of driving over nuts with an automobile can be a dangerous one. Nuts and broken shells may be thrown into the air by the tires, possibly causing bodily injury or property damage."
I have to admit that reading the above made me chuckle. I mean, who knew?!? I'm now attempting to boil the walnuts to soften the shells.
::sigh:: Walnut drama. Yes, this is indeed the stuff of my life....
OK, well, I'm a dumbass, cause it's next to impossible!!! The nutcracker I have is not nearly big enough to accomodate the girth of the walnuts, and each time I attempt to crack one, the shell shatters. I started looking online for suggestions on an easier way to go about this task and came across the following:
"Walnut shells are one of the toughest organic substances known, so hard, in fact, that they are industrially ground and used in place of sand to air blast metal, marble, glass and other substances. It is possible to crack your own walnuts, but you should be prepared with a sledgehammer, an anvil, and good aim. Take care when hulling or shelling walnuts. The practice of driving over nuts with an automobile can be a dangerous one. Nuts and broken shells may be thrown into the air by the tires, possibly causing bodily injury or property damage."
I have to admit that reading the above made me chuckle. I mean, who knew?!? I'm now attempting to boil the walnuts to soften the shells.
::sigh:: Walnut drama. Yes, this is indeed the stuff of my life....