SOSA – SarahRuthSeeks

Every year the Dolphin Scholarship Foundation holds an auction at some of the bases to raise funds. It has been on hold because, well, you know. So this was my first time going to one! The theme was “Rig for streaming, binge binge binge” and the commands pick a TV theme and dress accordingly. We picked Great British Baking show, what I binged when I was down for the count with COVID.

There was a silent auction and a live one. I didn’t end up getting the thing I really wanted, a tour of a local chocolate farm and some chocolate, but I did get some candles. My friend Katie, pictured above, wanted them but she was working and it was starting to get pricey. Since I wasn’t winning the chocolate, I thought why not, and bid on it thinking I’d be out bid and worst case more would be donated. Well, I won! And gave Katie the candles she wanted. I kept a couple good smelling sprays. They are made by a veteran and smell really good, you can find them here.

It was a good turn out and they just stopped requiring masks on base… that’s going to take some getting used to.

The dessert table is essentially a “bake sale” and they asked for contributions. So I baked these monster Levain-Bakery copy cat recipe cookies. I didn’t eat one, but I did take one home with me and THEN ate it, haha. They are so good, and the recipe is done by my favorite baker Bravetart.

It was nice to see other sub wives and I certainly wish Brian had been there. All in all glad I went to support a good cause. Of course, Tiger King made an appearance.

I guess it’s fall, isn’t it? I think being in San Diego for most of October, “fall” has flown by. There is a slight crisp in the air in the morning, it’s getting down to 75 deg, and at night and the sunsets so early… 6pm… 😉 By the way, we don’t time change, so now you East Coasters are only 5 hours off from me.

Well, I managed to pull myself into one fall event, caramel apple dipping. What a process! I think she makes it more intricate than it needs to be… but basically:

Melt Caramel
Prepare toppings if necessary
De-wax apple
Add chopsticks for sticks
Prepare toppings mix in a bowl
Dip apple in caramel, let drip/clean off excess
Immediately dip in coating mix and smoosh on once caramel starts to be too hard
Let cool in fridge/cooler
Melt chocolate and add chocolate drizzle

I’m not typically a huge caramel fan, but this one was subtle enough and the coating flavors drowned it out.

We started with a wine pairing session. There is a spouse who reps for Scout and Cellar and picked out three wines to match three pre-made caramel apples. (the apples were left just peanuts, middle bacon, chocolate, spiced nuts, right tropical with coconut, ginger, white chocolate). The wines were good, none really stood out to me but that’s because I’m not a huge real wine fan (I’m a huge sweet wine fan, like sangria or truro wine)

Then we moved into the assembly. Here’s a pic from almost every part of the process.

I did this event with SOSA (submarine officer spouses group). I don’t often get to see them because they plan events during the day. This was a nice Friday night event. Thankfully I was going to an event the next day and brought the apples (they were a huge hit). I would never finish eating them all on my own!

I would never do this by myself. Way too much of a mess and prep work. Woof! We were there for a total of 3 and a half hours. Maybe one day when I have kids but I can’t imagine the experience getting better with that…

I can sometimes feel out of place at SOSA events. These ladies tend to be a little classier and on another level than I am. For example, I brought pupus (the word for appetizers here) and made spanikopita (from frozen, not homemade… sorry fam). I put them in a tupperware, not really thinking much of it. Well, it felt like everyone else brought theirs on their finest China display platter… It was a bit embarrassing. I guess I just didn’t think the occasion called for one. No one said a word about it, and I’m sure I’m one of the only who picked up on it… but it’s one of those things. There were other things that went on that were just off putting that I can really talk about here, but I’ll say I just don’t feel I can be truly authentic with them sometimes. It was a lot of fun and I’m glad I did it. KOSC is definitely becoming more my people. When I brought these apples to Henna and wine (see other post), I literally just displayed them on a bright green cutting board and it was totally acceptable among the other food displays.

Dolphin Auction

Caramel Apple Dipping