When you were young...

I got tagged again by Garry from Blog Up North - in its new home, if you haven't already noticed - to talk about what I wanted to be when I was young and why.

The story starts with a bit of background. My older sister taught me to read when I was 2. Yes, you read that right. Two. Two?! I can hardly believe that myself but that's what happened. I might have been nearer 3 but I was definitely still 2. By the time I started school at 4, words were not a mystery to me.

Now, I am old and when I started school, the ITA was all the rage in teaching children to read. You had to learn the special symbols and read all the books before you went on to the proper books, which were for some reason were called TO. (No, I've no idea why either). I guess it was supposed to take a while to get through them; maybe a term or two. I read them all in about two weeks and was off away on the "big" ones. By the time I was 6, I had a reading age of 10.

I loved school, so you can probably guess where this is going. I wanted to be a teacher. I loved showing people how to do things, and I seemed to have a knack for working in a logical progression that was easily understood. As I got older, I remember one of the teachers at school telling me I'd make a good teacher. I coached my younger sister through her CSE Maths when she was struggling with it - a fairly frustrating experience because I lost count of the times we had the conversation about why a minus times a minus was a plus and the conversation ending with me saying "It just is!".

However, by the time I reached that stage, the enthusiasm for teaching had already waned. I don't know what it was - I think it was in part my desire to move away from school and do something completely different in a different environment. I did sciences, languages and maths at school and wanted to be a scientist (a biochemist) although the language teachers thought I'd make a good linguist as well. To appease them all, I did French as well as Biology, Chemistry and Maths at A level and applied to do a science degree. OK, actually, it was an Agricultural Science degree but it was a flexible course where you made certain choices at particular stages so you could change if you wanted to.

In the time I was there, I learned enough about Biochemistry to sate my curiosity for it and my interest in it waned. I didn't want to do research stuck inside a lab all day long although my final year dissertation was actually a comparative feeding trial of ducks and chicks, which largely had me collecting chicken and duck poo, grinding it up and analysing it for various nutrients. Very few options were open to me specific to my degree as the traditional route of working for what was then MAFF was not available as I graduated so I went and got a job in Accountancy - sounds mad I know, but I was good at Maths, remember?

That lasted six months. I liked doing the accounting bit - it was the audit that I found mind-numbingly boring. I moved to a different part of the country and got myself a job in IT, working on a helpdesk. IT was still a pretty new industry then and the company I went to work for wanted people who understood accounts to help their users of their systems. I was apparently perfect and they trained me in the IT side of things.

Working in IT support allowed me an outlet to teach and explain things again. I have also trained people how to use various applications over the years and that is very similar to teaching So, in a way, I ended up teaching but in a different place.

Since I left my IT job in 2009, I have completed a course which qualifies me to teach to adults and I have looked at getting work in that field. However, with things as they are, teaching hours are very hard to come by and so far, I haven't managed to get casual teaching work. I loved the course, although it was a little hard going at times, and I really enjoyed preparing and doing the teaching assessments that I had to complete to pass the course. I've used my teaching skills in my volunteering as I often have to teach new treasurers how to do their role and use accounting software - which takes me back to my first IT job! I keep going full circle, it seems.

Garry also posed another question on his blog: When you look into the mirror, do you see the person you hoped you’d become? Or something better? Or worse? My answer to that is I am now a mother and I thought I would probably never become one. That, to me at the moment, is the most important thing I've achieved. So, yes, it has turned out for the good - even if it is an unpaid job. It is a job I relish in and I teach my children something new every day. I've enjoyed all the jobs I've had, with one notable exception which didn't last long and I got out of for the good of my health. So I guess I've been lucky and that it demonstrates I took the right path.

I'd now like to tag some more people to continue Garry's meme....

They are:

Julia at What Will Julia Do Next? (and do check out her new blog The Head's Office)
Joanna at At Home with Mrs M
Sally at Who's the Mummy?
and Dawnie at Dawnie Brown

but do feel free to join in by commenting below, or even writing a post of your own and linking to it in the comments. Whether we achieved our childhood dreams or not, we are where we are, probably with good reason. And if you're still not where you want to be, we all need to remember there is still time to get there and it's never too late to dream. Cod psychology over, that is my thought for the day.

Kids food - Quick Quesadillas

Wraps. My kids love them, but they haven't worked out the right way to eat them so they make the unholiest of messes, particularly as they like cheesy beans in them. When they want wraps, and I have leftover stuff to use, I offer them quesadillas because it's a cross between wraps and pizza - which they also love - and makes less mess (nothing my kids eat makes no mess).

Pretty much anything that can be chopped up and cooked in a pan can go in the filling. I add chicken, sometimes minced beef, but frequently, it's just veg and cheese. It helps get certain veg down them that they sometimes won't eat in other things. Beans are a a nice vegetarian addition to make it more substantial.

How much this feeds will depend on the size of the wrap you use. This time, I used Asda ones which are small so it fed 2 but the Discovery ones are much bigger; you need a lot more filling and I can feed 4 small children with those. Alternatively, make your own. My children are quite good with spices as long as they are not too hot. Rein back the spices as you see fit.

Here's the recipe for the specimen as featured on this post. It takes 15 minutes to do so great if you're short of time.

Quesadillas

Ingredients

2 wraps
1 tbsp oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed or chopped
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tsp mild chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
Large handful of button mushrooms, sliced
1 small red pepper, deseeded and sliced into strips
1 small courgette, halved then sliced
1 tbsp tomato puree (optional)
1-2oz cheddar cheese, or to taste (I use extra mature)

Method

Start by turning your grill onto medium high.

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok. Add the onion and garlic and fry until softened. Add the spices, and stir for about a minute. Stir in the veg, allowing the oil and spices to coat everything and cook for up to 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree and cook for another minute. Taste and season.

2. Place one of the wraps on a baking sheet. Spread the veg mixture evenly across the wrap and grate over two thirds of the cheese. Place the other wrap over the top, and grate over the rest of the cheese.

3. Place under the grill until the cheese is melted and slightly golden; this rarely takes more than a couple of minutes so keep an eye on it. If you have a griddle pan big enough, you can place it in a hot griddle pan for a couple of minutes per side. I don't bother as it involves turning the whole thing over but it does mean you get those pretty griddle lines on it.

4. Remove from the grill and cut into wedges.

I like to do carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and cherry tomatoes for the children to eat with it but as you can see, we only had cherry tomatoes in the day I made this! Don't make the filling too wet and work fast once you put the veg on the bottom wrap otherwise it can go soggy. Using a griddle pan would probably solve this but it's too fiddly for me - I reckon the filling would fall out turning it.

If I do add chicken and using raw meat, I slice it thinly and cook it through before the onions,  remove it and add it back in with the veg, which is the same point at which I would add cooked chicken or other meat.

Feel free to make up your own variations. Have a go and I'd love to see your efforts if you try. Happy cooking!