Scavenged...

In case you haven't heard, this weekend I participated in a Scavenger Hunt Birthday Party Extravaganza for my friend Shanzie who just turned 30.  The scavenger hunt consisted of 5 teams of 3 to 4 people.   These people then ran around local stores and restaurants taking pictures of things (like a Maryland license plate, a person with a cool beard, the giant horse in front of PF Changs) and collecting items (menus, brochures, pennies, etc).  There were also several extremely hard riddles to solve (ok, apparently they were only hard for me).  My husband, B was in charge of planning and scoring the scavenger hunt.  Below is my hard hitting interview with him...

Tallying up the scores...

Please give a brief description of the scavenger hunt?
B-This was your typical scavenger hunt. You had a list of items that either needed to be found or photographed.  I kept it limited to The Friendly Center (local outdoor shopping center) and downtown to try to limit the travel time.  There were a total of 68 items, including 10 riddles to solve. And the riddles were hard.  There was one that was so hard that no team got it.  Granted, I had a typo that made it impossible to figure out, but still.

How much time did this take to plan?
B-Hard to say. When you are doing something you love, you just lose track of time.  But in all seriousness, all of my hourly charges are detailed in the itemized bill that I sent to Shanzie.

What was the funnest part about organizing this?
B-I enjoyed coming up with what people had to scavenge, particularly the riddles.  I enjoyed the looks of frustration on both my wife and Shanzie's faces when I told them I couldn’t give them any details of the scavenger hunt because that would have been inappropriate.  That was all a lie though, I could have told them, but I really enjoyed that feeling of power.  Also the friendships.

Do you think you did a good job?
B-I included a Comment Card for Shanzie to fill out rating her experience.  I will wait to see what comes back, but I would say it was an A to A+.  Some comments that were overheard Saturday night during the post-hunt party...
“This was the best birthday party ever, including the time when my parents got me a bouncy castle”- Shanzie
“I am in a moment of euphoria, scavenger hunt high is so much better then a runners high”- Beezus5
“After watching you host and lead a scavenger hunt, my love for you has increased twofold. I am the luckiest woman alive”- JM
“I am an expert on Ashton Kutcher”- Curly T
***all of these where made up, except for Curly T.  She is an Ashton Kutcher expert.

Did you have a sense of fulfillment once it was over?
B-You know, I did.  It might have been because while everyone else was out scavenging, I was drinking at the bar (special shout-out to Old Town Draught House).  But I would say it was about 70% sense of fulfillment, 30% beer.

What if anything would you change about the hunt?
B-It was pretty much perfect.  But I would look to limit the driving. Both Beezus5 and Mrs. Acorn may or may not have run over a pedestrian.  (Note-No participants or innocent bystanders were injured in this scavenger hunt)

Do you think Hobie was mad that you were doing all the planning in front of him and then didn't even invite him to participate?
B-Hobie and I are cool.  He understood that with his heightened sense of smell, he would be at an obvious advantage in regards to scavenging.  He said as long as I didn’t include his bone in the hunt, he was ok with not being invited.

Which team did you want to win?
B-I had a soft spot for Team Mo-Tif-vated.  I mean, they only had three people, two of which were from out of town.  I think they did well for all they had working against them. Plus, they were the only ones to put together a team outfit.  Oh, and JM’s team.  We made a pact 2 years ago to always support each other through better and worse. I know you are thinking it was our wedding vows.  Nope, it was an OIB Olympic Games Unbreakable Vow overseen by Beezus5.

Why didn't you give your wife more of an advantage over the other teams?
B-One, I put JM on the team with the only participant who could fit into Harry the Happy Dragon. (PHOTO needed.) Two, JM and I have been to 99% of the places on the list together. Three, she lost because of a key tactical error. I gave everyone 10 minutes to strategize before the hunt began, but Team Mo-Tif-Vated was the only one to take advantage.  Yes, they finished last, but still, she should have focused on the higher point riddles.  That’s Scavenger Hunt 101.

Team Member with Harry the Happy Dragon-5 Points

Would you consider the Scavenger Hunt Extravaganza a success?

B-The goal of every scavenger hunt that I have ever put together (well, this was my first one) was to get people to spend two hours taking pictures of themselves looking silly while I hang out at a bar watching college basketball.  So yes, in that regards, Scavenger Hunt Extravaganza was a rousing success.

Thanks B!  Even though my team only got 3rd place, (I mean we did only have 3 members whereas most other teams had 4 players) I had an excellent time.  Yes I think I pulled a muscle when I was trying to photo myself in front of the PF Chang horse and yes I was profusely sweating after running from the Harris Teeter to REI to PF Changs, but still, I had fun.  I would like to give a special shout out to Mrs. Acorn's husband who was willing to sprint in any direction we told him although he usually had no idea where he was going (since he just moved to this city) and of course to Mrs. Acorn for jumping into the Harry the Happy Dragon ride without thinking twice.

Team Photo-5 points

Amish Friendship Bread-Look Shanzie, I did it.

So this girl I know, we will call her Shanzie, is always making this stuff called Amish Friendship Bread.  It is supposed to be a secret bread started by the Amish.  You get a starter bag of liquid mix from someone (probably Shanzie) and then you have to do all these steps for the next ten days and then finally you bake it on the tenth day.  It seems super hard.  But Shanzie is always offering me one of her starter bags.  Last time I accepted one I totally failed at actually making it.  So did Beezus5.  Apparently the guilt from not making it was too hard on Beezus5 and she's decided to never accept  a starter bag again.  I have decided to go for it since Shanzie offered me some more this week.  Although I did make her hold it and do all the steps up until 2 days before I was supposed to bake it.  I forget stuff.  So she did the first few steps for me.

I can't really give you the recipe as I do not know what was in the starter bag since it's an ancient Amish secret.  But I did have to add a bunch of sugar, flour, pudding, cinnamon, and milk to it.  And it's pretty good.  Although I'm pretty sure it's actually cake as opposed to bread.  I added some chocolate chips to a few of them.  Each time you bake a starter bag it creates four new starter bags.

I wish I could send my starter bags through the Internet to everyone who reads this blog but I think that might get messy.   I will have to force them on my mom and maybe try to make Beezus5 give it another shot.  Also please note that if you are giving this bread to someone that you have recently started dating, you are allowed to call it Amish more-than-friendship bread.  (I mean if you want to)

So has anyone ever heard of Amish Friendship bread?

Have you ever made it?

Would you consider something with 3 cups of sugar in it a bread or a cake?

Shanzie are you proud of me?

PS-Breaking news...you can actually look up how to make a starter bag on the Internet.  Don't tell anyone I told you that though.