Quote Wall of Summer

I realized sometime in May that I needed a place to write down some of the interesting and helpful quotes that I discovered and heard this summer. I typed them up in a word document and now, as a final tribute to this very odd summer, I'm putting them here. As with any good quote wall, this only represents a very small part of everything that could have been written down - in fact, only about three of these were ever actually spoken. My parents and sister said a lot of wonderful things that I never wrote down. However, this is a small slice of what I wanted to remember. That said, here you go:


“I miss the mountains! I miss the highs and lows! All the climbing, all the falling, all the while the wild wind blows, stinging you with snow, and soaking you with rain… I miss the mountains! I miss my life!” – Diana, Next to Normal

“Cooking is the great divide between good eating and bad.” – Barbara Kingsolver

“The choreography of many people working in one kitchen is, by itself, a certain definition of family, after people have made their separate ways home to be together.” – Barbara Kingsolver

“In the world map of produce, California might as well be its own country. A superpower in fact, on state that exports more fresh produce than most countries of the world… those truckloads of California broccoli and artichokes bring winter cheer and vitamins to people in drearier climes all over the world.” – Barbara Kingsolver

“Hahaha… that’s so funny! It’ll be great.. but I’m sure there’s SOME form of Swedish Twister in heaven.. it just wouldn’t be amazing without it! :-)” – Dana Bogart

“Definitely! Physical death is only slightly more preferable than spiritual death.. no sense in either of you experiencing either kind :]” – Dana Bogart

“Say, I think it’s about time to send a care package, what do you think :-)” – Dana Bogart

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older, and we wouldn’t have to wait so long? And wouldn’t it be nice to live together, in the kind of world where we belong?...Wouldn’t it be nice if we could wake up in the morning when the day is new? And after spending the day together, hold each other close the whole night through? The happy times together we’d be spending...” – The Beach Boys

“My life would be awfully unfortunate without you?” – Steven Perry

“Love: The anatomical anomaly in which the heart and body can be hundreds or thousands of miles apart, and yet one can still live.” – Westen Masterson

“If I wasn’t a member I would try heroin!” – Adam Lewis

“I really like playing with the yellow pieces. Yellow is one of my favorite colors. And pink.” – Adam Lewis

“I know you will. I miss Steven. And I’ll miss you. And my girls when they are either gone/married. But we WILL see each other again in heaven, I have no doubt.” – Dana Bogart

“I have learned that community reaches far beyond what eyes can see and though miles divide us, at some point we’re all washed by the same rain.” – Pat Humphries

Another Wild Friday Night

What I did on my summer vacation, August 21st:

10:00 PM - I'm sitting on the couch under a blanket eating cookies
10:05 - My sister says good night and I, disgusted by my boring life, decide to go out
10:10 - I drive to El Pollo Loco (the healthier, Mexican version of a drive-thru) listening to "Live your Life" by T.I. and weeping on the inside about the irony
10:15 - I eat my taco in my car in the dark parking lot listening to free iTunes downloads
10:20 - I get home and write this blog post.

WOOHOO!!!

A Few Unanswered Questions

I recently finished reading The Plague by the existentialist Albert Camus and it got me thinking. The basic premise of the book is that a plague breaks out in the French town of Oran in North Africa in the 40s. The government orders the gates to be closed, so the inhabitants of the town are trapped inside until the plague is over. The book follows the efforts of Dr. Rieux and several other men as they deal with the plague. Now, I was expecting the novel to be a horror-filled tale of death and despondancy, but it was totally the opposite and actually pretty good. The sanitary squads take care of most of the disease and everything is dealt with in an orderly way, so a lot of the prose is devoted to how people react to the plague instead of gruesome details.

Anyway, one of the main questions the novel asks is "What's the point of trying to survive in such an absurd and hopeless world?" One character attempts suicide, one gives in to illness, one tries to escape the town. At the same time, however, some men give their all, risking their own lives and fighting the disease, in an effort to show compassion even though they can't do anything about the disease once it infects a person. Why even try?

Flash forward to 2009 and something that's been on my mind lately: why stay in the "world" when it would be so much easier to not deal with that. I know it's not actually possible to go live in a cave somewhere and exist free from money and societal worries, but what if it were? What if, like those people who escaped Oran, there was a way to escape life? Would it be reprehensible to run away? We're told that service is the only way that we can become like our Heavenly Father and be happy (which I strongly believe), but why is that?

Taking my answer from Camus, the reason we fight evil is because that is how we protest evil's existence; just standing aside and watching evil happen does not make us good - it makes us neutral at best. There are two main categories of people, Camus' character Tarrou says: pestilences and victims. Those who do evil and those who are hurt by evil. To this Tarrou adds a third category: that of the healer, the one who refuses to do evil while at the same time refusing to stand by while the evil happens. He says, "This, and only this, can bring relief to men and... at least do them the least harm possible and even, sometimes, a little good." Is that why we serve? Since good cannot exist without evil, is fighting against evil the only way for us as human beings to be righteous? I guess that makes missonaries like uber-heros as they battle for righteousness. Pretty cool, eh?

Anyhow, I really enjoyed this book, or at least the last 100 pages or so and I recommend it to everyone.

Munchkin Wrangling by Divine Decree

In the horribly-cliched pattern that college students weave through every day, I was called to restrain teach the 7-going-on-8-year-old Primary class, which is great. You don't really have to plan much; the lesson manual tells you everything to do and half of the lesson time is spent telling the kids to be quiet. But deep down, I'm ashamed to say, I have a confession to make about my calling:

I'm a horrible primary teacher.

It's not that my lessons are poorly prepared. I don't feed the kids on Fast Sunday, nor do I tell the adorable little nuisances to either shut the heck up or learn what it's like to breathe through one's skin because someone happened to tie their tie too tightly. It's just that I'm a terrible disciplinarian. Sure, I guess it's bad that Jose and Daniel are poking each other incessantly during Sharing Time, but it's not like that part of the lesson is really worth listening to anyway. I'm bored; why should I force the same fate upon them?

Of course, not all (or any) of the higher-up Primary workers agree with me on this point. One in particular, Sister Dictatornazi (name has obviously been changed) has expressed her annoyance at my lack of iron-fisted authority through several disapproving looks and interventions. Okay, so she was really just trying to save Daniel's left arm from internal bleeding caused by continuted finger pressure, but I know that deep down inside we two are sworn enemies.

Luckily, the good sister is often off busy restricting the freedom of others, so there are good times in it all. One cute little girl in my class named Colette will, without fail, return to telling a story about Jeanine in her first-grade class who hurt her feelings. Mitchell knows all the answers and is very excited about everything - especially singing. He can definitely be the loudest kid in the room. Wilver's attention will sometimes wander to some far-off locale when he's asked a question, leaving the rest of us staring at him in silence while he sits staring at the upper left-hand corner of the room in silence.

In all, it's a great experience. The bishopric says that it'll be a good experience for me to simplify the basic points of the gospel to a point where children and others can understand it. I'm just hoping I'll never have to sing about how far pioneer children walked again after this summer.

There's a World...

I was listening to the song "There's a World" from the (amazing) musical Next to Normal the other day. It's sung by the character Gabe to his mother Diana, and it reminded me (strangely) about Provo, particularly these lines:

"There's a world I know, a place we can go, where the pain will go away. There's a world where the sun shines each day."

Of course, that's ignoring the fact that Gabe is a hallucination and is trying to get Diana to commit suicide... but really, Provo is where it's at.

Quesadillas and Chocolate!

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

2 medium or 4 small sweet potatoes
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon basil
1 teaspoon cumin
Chile powder to taste
4 flour tortillas
4 slices Provolone or Brie cheese

Cut, boil, and mash sweet potatoes. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil, then add spices and sweet potatoes and mix. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a baking sheet and put tortillas down, rubbing so as to coat one side with oil. Spread sweet potato mixture on half of each tortilla, top with cheese, and fold closed. Bake until brown (about 15 minutes) and eat.

Lumpy Chocolate Truffles

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 chocolate bars, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp balsalmic vinegar
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Melt chocolate into cream in a bowl over boiling water until smooth. Pour into bowl, add vinegar, and refrigerate for at least an hour, probably more. Use a teaspoon to scoop chocolate into balls and roll each one in cocoa powder, then refrigerate. Makes about 10 truffles.

Just some words of warning: do not, while you are trying to saute the onions, accidentally turn on the heat underneath the glass chocolate bowl. If you do, don't hold it over the sink when it explodes and falls into the disposal. Also, don't put a spoonful of cocoa powder into your mouth all at once. You inhale it and nearly die, sputtering cocoa all over everything.

Some people just weren't meant to cook.

The Weekend of Awesome

(Every vacation now officially needs a title, so say I).

Anyway, I went to UTAH this past weekend, as many of you probably know. It was a ton of fun and I'm so glad I went. Despite that, I don't know how I can condense so much into a single story, so I'm just going to list off events and add to them later if necessary!

Getting to the airport with a meager two hours to spare
Watching Dr. Horrible in the airport
Watching nuns in the airport
Watching random people walk by in the airport
Getting on the plane with a "personal item" that's really a separate carry-on
Arriving in Utah during a rainstorm and realizing I didn't have a sweater
Hugging Becky in the rain
Getting totally lost over and over in SLC
Seeing Dana's house
Listening to "Boom Boom Pow" during a traffic jam
Starving during a traffic jam
Eating all your Mexican food in 3 minutes flat
Running to an opera with salsa on your shirt
Walking into a room full of praying nuns (more nuns?!)
Watching Dana get hit on by an opera singer
Being surprised by people and hugging everyone at the Elms (Favorite moment #1)
Seeing old roommates!
Waking up way too early to go to the temple with Adam and Kyla Sue
Waking up Dana because I was bored
Getting an omlette from the Cougareat because Taco Bell was under construction! Grr!
Ambushing Krista on rape hill in broad daylight
Wandering around with Dana
Seeing Catherine and her roommate
Stealing Catherine's starburst candies!
Eating lunch with a bunch of friends
Learning there are 50 cent frosties at Wendy's
Giving Heeje increasinly-goofy pieces of clothing to wear at DI
Getting the same pants as Adam at DI
Going to the Decades Dance (Favorite moment #2)
Investigating the church building before the dance started
Singing to Hairspray at the dance
Everyone yelling to bleep out the cuss word in "You Can't Stop the Beat"
Dancing in the rain
Meeting Sarah Decker (she's cool)
Talking about how much we like Sarah after she leaves the room
Katie Willard running after Sarah to tell her that we like her
Wandering around north of campus and luckily finding Jenessa's apartment
Talking with Jenessa and Hilary
Stopping at Hogi-Yogi with Starla
Meeting Brian's family and eating their food
Stealing some food for the road
Driving the one-way street to the SLC temple
Doing baptisms in the SLC temple
Walking to Panda Express
Walking back from Panda Express in another rainstorm
Seeing the rainbow end at the top of the SWKT
Watching Soylent Green and eating a bunch of junk food
Hushing anyone who ruined the last line of the movie
Playing art go fish and totally losing because I showed my cards at the beginning
Failing at holding Rachel Morrison's hand :(
Going to Adam and Brian's awesome Sunday School lesson
Sitting with a bunch of friends in a weird church. Just like old times.
Talking about comfy shoes on the way back from church
EATING after church (no breakfast)
Waiting for Adam to wake up so I could mooch off his Hamburger Helper
Changing the rules to Blokus, much to Adam's dismay (no Hamburger Helper by the way)
Cooking a frittata in a pan that probably shouldn't have gone in the oven
Seeing Emily in the alley and doing a double-take
Seeing John Bytheway at a fireside
Laughing about a million things (candy, the parking lot) after leaving
Meeting Becky's family and eating their food (I ate a lot of food this trip)
Singing great harmony on the way back to Provo
Singing horrible gospel music in Provo (Favorite memory #3)
Saying goodbye (a lot easier than before)
Talking late at night about all sorts of random junk (Favorite memory #4)
Getting 4 hours of sleep, getting up early, and getting out of Provo
Flying away
Falling asleep on the plane (just like last time I left Provo!!)

THE END

Save the experiments for the scientists...

I found a recipe for a kohlrabi and corn mixture that sounded like Indian food, so I thought I'd try my hand at making it. Problem is... I didn't have any white vinegar... or green chilies... but despite the fact that these two ingredients were the backbones of the entire recipe, I decided to make it up as I went. Well... beef stock is liquid... and so is vinegar. Oops! Forgot a step? Do it separately and add it (which resulted in hot oil popping and getting all over me and the oven)! No measuring spoons? Eyeball it!

When my dad came into the kitchen to ask what I was cooking, I honestly had to say that I had no idea. Similarly, I don't know how to describe its flavor... it was really acidic... The resulting mess:



I'm eating the concoction right now... I hate to waste food... but an ice cream sandwich would taste SO much better right now... :)

Hey, I'M 18!!!

One of the downsides (upsides?) to being Mormon is that your 18th birthday isn't that important. It's not like you've waited your entire life to go out and buy cigarettes or lotto tickets. For me, the best part about "coming of age" was being able to do my civic duty and vote. Other than that, 18 means the same thing as any other other random number.

Until now.

The story begins with me running down to the corner college grocery store to buy sour cream for a fancy recipe I'm planning on trying tomorrow. I found it (phew) and was waiting in line when I spotted the small cardboard display for lighters next to the cash register. Scrawled on the sign in black Sharpie were the words, "Must be 18 to purchase."

Bells went off in my head. "Hey, I can buy those now... and I actually can use them!" An angry conversation ensued in my head as I debated whether wasting the money was worth it. I ended up walking away in the end... I don't have that kind of money to waste... or at least not yet.

Maybe when I'm rich and famous I'll buy booze just because I can, then throw it away.

A Day in the Kitchen

So, I was thinking about how I'm probably going to forget all about my recipes that I'm making now once I get to college, so I figured that I should write them down... but I lose notebooks. And all the notebooks I have are dirty. And the pages are really too wide for writing down ingredients.

Instead, I figured I'd revamp this old blog into a food blog and recipe collection! Maybe some time I'll write about why I think food is so important... but not in this post. For now, content yourself with the three recipes I made today (it was a busy day):

Disappearing Zucchini Pasta

Pasta (I used half a box of macaroni, but I don't think it really matters)
1 chopped onion
Garlic, chopped (I used 4 cloves)
2-3 Zucchini (I used 2 green and 1 yellow... it doesn't really matter though)
Herbs (thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary)
Other veggies (optional, I used daikon radish and garlic scapes)
Cheese (optional, any flavor is good)
Spaghetti sauce (optional, I added some on my 2nd helping, and it's not better or worse than plain.)

Use a mandolin or the wide side of a cheese grater to slice up zucchini and other veggies. Saute in a pan with onion, garlic, and plenty of olive oil. At the same time, boil the pasta. When the veggies are done, cut the heat, add herbs and cheese, and mix with pasta. Add salt or other seasonings as desired.

PS - this recipe is adapted from Barbara Kingsolver's amazing book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, hence the creative title.

Whole Wheat Bread

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
2 (.25 oz) packages active dry yeast
2/3 cup honey or sugar
5 cups bread flour (I took this to mean white flour...)
3 tbsp butter, melted
>4 cups whole wheat flour
Whole flaxseed (optional, I got some at my health food store for $0.70 and it provides a nice seedy texture and extra omega-3s)

In a large bowl, mix water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey or sugar. Add all 5 cups white bread flour. Stir. Let sit 30 minutes (it'll rise).
Mix in butter and the rest of the sugar or honey. Then add 2 cups whole wheat flour (this will not mix in easily... do your best). Flour a flat surface with the rest of the and knead with whole wheat flour until it's coated with flour (bread's pretty forgiving, so if you use too much/too little it doesn't matter much).
Place in greased bowl. Turn dough around so every part gets coated with a thin layer of grease, and put in a warm spot for 2-3 hours. I put it outside for 2... the recipe said 3... so use your own judgement. Make sure to cover it, especially if you put it outside.
While you wait, clean up your mess (this took a while for me) and clean 3 9x5 in. bread pans. Cover the sides with oil and some more whole wheat flour.
Afterwards, punch the dough down (dramatically for best effect) and divide into 3 loaves (add flaxseed too). Allow to rise for, oh, however long you want. However high the bread rises is how high it will ultimately be.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes (push some more flaxseed into the top to give it a nice crust). Afterwards, lightly brush the tops of the loaves with butter. Eat while warm with butter or other spread!

Beet and White Bean Hummus

This one's definitely an odd one...

1 washed beet (the root part)
1 garlic clove
1 can of white beans, drained and washed
1/4 cup olive oil (I eyeballed it)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp salt (roughly)

Put the beet and the garlic (with skin on it) in a piece of aluminum foil and seal it up (make sure to leave plenty of room around the beet for air to circulate - it's more like a pocket than a ball of aluminum). Put in the oven at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and peel the beet. I've heard that using a ziploc bag around your hand takes the skin right off... didn't work for me, but you might find it handy. Put peeled beet in food processor. Squeeze garlic out of it's skin (this also didn't work for me, but it usually does) and put in food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until smooth. Admire the bright pinkness of the hummus and put on pita or something else. I tried putting it on the bread... it tasted alright.

And that pretty much does it for my wonderful day of cooking! I hope you enjoy the recipes if you make them; even if you don't have all the right ingredients, mix it up! Enjoy! (PS - if you do find a way to enjoy the hummus, let me know! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it! :)

What Do You Mean There's No WiFi?!

I decided to get a blog in order to join the ranks of the somewhat-disgruntled and much more articulate bloggers whom I call my friends. So... ta-da! I guess since these posts are supposed to be thoughtful, I figure that I'll start with a few thoughts from the first day back...

1) Never, ever let your friends say goodbye to you in a group. You'll begin to think about how each one has forever changed your life, and then you start to cry, and then they shower you with MORE affection, which makes the crying worse. The only cure at this point is to leave as soon as possible and try and wipe up the occasional tears that well up whenever you hear the song "Let's See How Far We've Come" or stare out the window. Or maybe that's just me (I can be very melodramatic).

2) Never make friends in college. They make living without them during the summer absolutely unbearable. Right now I'm pretty much living to see them again. Plus you can't listen to music without thinking of them (examples: Bad Boy, 4 Minutes, Survivor, Thnks Fr Th Mmrs, Dr. Horrible...)

3) Don't expect to do anything productive on the first day back from college. Between the pity parties, Facebook chats, and television sessions (yes, TELEVISION!), the day passes pretty quickly.

4) Don't go to the grocery store if you're tired. I honestly spent half an hour walking up and down the aisles looking for cream cheese, which I never found! You would think it would be with either the bagels or the other dairy products, but NO! Meanwhile I exhausted myself and probably looked like a dumb freshman (which I'm not now) who doesn't know how to shop. I ended up going to Target, where I only had to search for ten minutes until I found it.

5) Do NOT use Facebook unless you really want to bum yourself out! Everything from the depressing statuses (statusi?) to the absolute lack of people online at midnight makes it unbearable... but you keep checking back anyway.

6) At the same time, DO use Facebook to keep in contact with all the depressed people - it makes you feel better and loved, somehow. However, don't ever try to talk with someone who actually enjoyed going home (cough cough Steven Perry) because it hurts your brain to think that someone might actually be enjoying themselves.

6) Don't cook anything. I kept going to the corner of the kitchen where my knives and utensils USED to be located only to find a cupboard full of rags. Way confusing.

7) Never try to pack after staying up all night... or if you do, make sure you have an awesome friend who will clean up after you... thanks Greg!

8) Get ready for short beds, no storage space, low sinks, very hot and very cold water, constant cooking advice (now how am I supposed to mess up!?), free laundry and phone services, dial-up, services within walking distance, access to a CAR (yeah, I'm excited), and a sudden addiction to Cascada.

9) Do NOT pack a bunch of pencils in your backpack unless you want them spilling all over the nice Texan girl next to you in the airport shuttle several times.

10) Keep your camera on the entire time that you are in the airport. I missed priceless shots of crazy ladies with dogs and businessmen using nasal spray in public. Oh well... c'est la vie.

I'd think of more, but it's midnight and I need to go to bed. What happened?! I need roommates to keep me awake for hours on end even though I have a test the next day!

Right now I'm trying to figure out how I'll make it to mish farewells in Las Vegas and Oregon in May while still balancing work and family... so far no luck. Sigh.