Valentine's Day Awesomeness!

Valentine's Day dawned with coughing, snotty-nosed kids and tired parents. We had special French toast (the Kneader's style chunky kind, but we used Pepperidge Farm apple cinnamon thick-sliced bread that I got for a dollar per loaf--- I adore our PF outlet and the 75% off savings there!) with caramel syrup and strawberries. Oh man, it was divine. But we didn't really savor it because we had to go drop off one car for an 'exam' early. By the time we went back down in the afternoon to pick it up and came back home, we'd probably spent at least an hour and a half in the car going back and forth. The rest of the day we tried to take it easy (we all needed rest to boost our immune defenses) and just enjoy a quiet day at home.

 Eric brought each of his girls a rose (I got one too)-- Gwen and Caroline loved them!
But I think they loved the surprise things from "Cupid" even more! Eric's family has a tradition of Cupid visits on Valentine's Day (kind of like ding-dong ditching only you drop-and-run at your own house switching doors while the kids try to guess where Cupid will hit next) This year our wing-ed naked baby friend brought balloons, elephants, Elsa/Anna rings, and chocolate. Exciting!

 Since Emmett is not going to bed early enough for us to put him down BEFORE a date out and we didn't want to bring him WITH us (because nothing says romance like a crying baby ruining everyone else's quiet evening, right?), we decided the least stressful way to spend Valentine's Day was at home. We've done this a lot (almost every year, actually) and we enjoy cooking for each other. We like to surprise each other, which really makes it quite fun and exciting! It worked out perfectly this year since we had sick kids at home anyway and going out would have been problematic. I was in charge of dessert and Eric took charge of the meal. Here he is preparing shrimp (which I wasn't supposed to really see...). Most of the ingredients were either thawing under towels (so I couldn't peek) or were in tupperwares in the fridge that I was instructed not to open. It was fun to be working together in the kitchen (I was preparing the girls' food) without knowing what he was up to.

The girls got a special dinner early so we could have a date dinner all to ourselves. Apparently the best part was the pink strawberry milk (which was chalky and gross in my humble opinion, but hey. Whatever floats your boat).

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to confess that I accidentally deleted ALL of our romantic dinner pictures from Valentine's Day off my camera. Irretrievable. I feel sick about it. So the following pictures are 'posed' the day after and do not quite capture the magic achieved for our special date, but at least the amazing food is documented!

On the menu: 

Gorgonzola risotto with pear-oregano puree

Castelvetrano green olive salad with red pepper flakes

Prosciutto wrapped pork loin pan-fried in rosemary/garlic olive oil and served on a bed of baby spring greens tossed with balsamic vinaigrette

Macadamia nut crusted Jumbo shrimp skewers deep fried and served with mayonnaise 

Some of the ingredients were quite challenging to find. Eric went to several stores before successfully locating the Italian green olives. And he wanted the best brand of risotto grain so he ended up ordering it online when he couldn't find it in stores. The things my husband does to impress me in the kitchen! Seriously, the man is amazing!

I got to help by making the risotto, which was lots of fun! I LOVE cooking with expensive ingredients, (I'd only prepared REAL risotto once before, in a cooking class), so this was a real treat.  Eric still wanted me to be surprised, so he asked me to focus on the 'fussy' risotto lest I see everything he was fixing up. So we were together laughing and enjoying each other's company all while NOT watching Eric too closely. There is something about cooking together that just deepens a relationship. Quite miraculous and wonderful. 

Eric removed a leaf from our table to make it cozier for two and we had lit taper candles. It was quite funny to have our private romantic dinner with Emmett next to me in the bouncy chair cooing and gumming his plush knight and the girls watching Pocahontas just a few feet away from us in the living room. :)

After the kids were in bed, we had dessert and some non-alcoholic drinks. 

 I was worried that my gift to Eric-- this dark chocolate cheesecake with raspberry-chocolate sauce-- would pale in comparison to the fabulous dinner we'd just eaten. I needn't (altered per Amber's suggestion!) have worried. The cheesecake (recipe from Seriously Bittersweet) was an adventure. Only my second cheesecake ever (the last one attempted 5 years ago), but it was delightfully simple to follow the recipe's instructions and tips... and it turned out beautifully! Not too dense, nice and fluffy yet moist and rich... I am pretty certain I'll be making more cheesecake in the future! My waist might not like that so much because I could eat this whole thing myself. Good thing Eric thought it was divine so he will end up eating it up before I can give in to temptation... at least, before I give in TOO much! :)

 Eric loves to fix up drinks for special occasions. He has collected some really amazing recipes-- all non-alcoholic!-- with wonderfully exotic flavors and combinations. 

 This beauty was a Tuscan Fresco: rosemary (muddled), white cranberry juice, peach nectar, lemon juice, simple syrup, and a hint of club soda. Wonderfully bright yet balanced with herbal depth... a foodie's non-alcoholic delight! The round ice cubes are especially aesthetic, don't you think? He does it for me. Aesthetics are romantic in our household. How bout yours?

I'd say it was a pretty successful Valentine's Day! The food was especially delicious and will be hard to top next year. Good thing we've got a full year to come up with something amazing!

Pi

Happy Pi Day everyone! March 14th (3.14) is an essential holiday for all nerdy people to acknowledge... or just those who want an excuse to eat pizza (a savory pie) and pie (the sweet kind).

since today is also Albert Einstein's birthday, I gave myself the challenge to make German-themed pies! So we're having saurkraut and brat pizza (sounds strange, but it's gonna be good!) and black forest pie (the chocolate filling is creamy like pudding but thick like custard). Original recipes here:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Black-Forest-Pie

http://www.food.com/recipe/german-style-sausage-pizza-331863

Now you can't tell me that saurkraut pizza doesn't look good! :)

maple flan recipe and I really love ukiyo-e

If you like custard, you've GOT to try this! You won't believe me until you try it yourself: this flan is really easy and ABSOLUTELY melt-in-your-mouth silky. My first flan and sooooo wonderful!... I'm looking for a holiday that could use a presentation-worthy, rich and fancy dessert like this as a permanent staple and family tradition, it was THAT good!

The original recipe for Rachel's maple flan is here:

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dessert-recipes/silky-maple-flan

and I finished my paper on Japanese Ukiyo-e... I LOVED it! The images are so compelling... of course, you have to be careful because there is a lot that is inappropriate... but I love Kaigetsudo's courtesans, Harunobu's innocent girls, Hokusai's Great Wave, and of course Hiroshige's landscapes of solitude. Aaaaaah... homework might not always be fun (case in point last Friday when I was totally spazzing), but at least I quite genuinely enjoy the subject matter. That always helps. Here are some of my favorites from this paper:

And now that I'm done, I can just drool over the exquisite images and dream for a trip to the Far East...

#13 Soup in Winter

#13 I love soup on a cold day.

Perfect because it is warm and comforting, makes the entire house smell delicious, and fills you up.

ps. not my pic, just one I got off the internet. Basically what it looked like, though. Enjoy!

My current faves are pureed veggie soups, mostly because they are super healthy and filling without extra calories. They help me feel satisfied and confident that my 'indulgence' isn't going to destroy my goal. If anything, it will help it. Since we got back from vaca, I've instituted Wednesday night as soup night. We've had some awesome ones and more awesome ones scheduled... but the best was our soup last night:

Roasted Garlic and Butternut Squash

(from Soups, Starters, and Salads edited by Felicity Forster)

serves 4-5

• 2 garlic bulbs, outer papery skin removed
• 5 T olive oil (I used 2 and it was still awesome!)
• a few thyme sprigs
• 1 large butternut squash, halved and seeded
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1t ground coriander
• 2 pints/5 C chicken stock
• 1-2 T fresh oregano (or t if using dried)
• salt and ground black pepper

1. preheat oven to 425
2. place garlic bulbs on a piece of foil and pour over half the olive oil. add the thyme sprigs, fold foil around garlic so enclosed completely.
3. place foil parcel on a baking sheet with the butternut squash and brush squash with the a T olive oil.
4. roast the veggies for 25 minutes. reduce temp to 375 and cook 20-25 min more, or until the squash is tender.
5. heat remaining oil in a pan, cook the onions and ground coriander gently for about 10 min, until softened.
6. squeeze roasted garlic out of its papery skin into the onions and scoop the squash out of its skin, adding it to the pan. add the stock, 1 t salt and plenty of black pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
7. stir in the oregano, cool soup slightly, then puree in food processor or blender.
8. reheat the soup without allowing it to boil. serve in bowls with salsa and oregano garnish if desired (but we didn't and I didn't miss them. the soup is plenty flavorful by itself!)

a smooth, creamy soup (without cream-- just the great creamy texture of veggies), the deep, nutty flavor of roasted garlic, the sweet subtlety of butternut squash-- absolutely amazing! Caroline thougth this was the best dinner ever!

I am in love!

Ships that have Sailed

No pictures of the girls on this post. Just a lot of thoughts. Here is an instance when my blog is my journal. so only read on if you are actually interested in what goes on in my head. If not, if you just like the funny posts, you are under no obligation to continue. I promise, I won't get my feelings hurt. :)

During our long day of flying to come back out to Idaho, Eric and I had opportunity to talk about a million different things. But the one that really stuck out to me--because I haven't taken time to really think about it...EVER-- was our discussion about 'wishes' or 'desires' or 'dreams' or whatever you would like to call them. A discussion about all the possible things we almost did with our lives as far as education and profession goes. Now I'm not talking about when you are 6 and you want to be a firefighter or when you are 10 and think you will be the next Jane Goodall (um, yes, that was my goal in 3rd-5th grade). Those dreams are valid, but my thoughts revolve around the choices in HS and college that shape your 'career'. Do you ever have those 'what if' moments? Like I said, I had never really thought about all the things I almost did, until now. Suddenly 'what if' is more on my mind.

I love art. and I love biological science. In my younger years, I was pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. I'm not even kidding when I tell you that at the end of 10th grade I told my adviser I wanted to illustrate biology textbooks as a career. I think I would have been amazing at it. Eric tells me there is actually HUGE demand for qualified science-artists who can illustrate what the intellectuals can't. But, that ship has definitely sailed. I don't remember much biology. And this field would not afford me the interaction with people that I thrive on.

I thought about being an architect. The art and engineering was both lovely and challenging... but I was intimidated and scared to pursue such an ambitious field. Plus, BYU didn't have an architecture program. If they had, I might have given it a shot. But that ship has sailed too. I am neither prepared to go into such a rigorous field nor confident that I could design anything fabulous. I guess I will just have to be one of those admirer/critics that appreciates fantastic architecture when she sees it.

Then I was going to be an industrial designer. Again, that combination of art and science was so intriguing to me. But I got in there and realized I was not trendy enough to make really great designs, nor skilled enough to really master all the industrial materials, nor interested in the huge time commitment and ridiculous work hours. I didn't fit in the program and really didn't see myself fitting in the profession. Again, I can admire great design when I see it... but don't want to be the one making it.

I thought I'd make a pretty fabulous landscape architect because I love gardening and being outdoors. But I got talked out of it (I won't say by whom), which I think is a shame. Because I could have been great in this field. But that ship has sailed too because going into landscape would require full time education which I'm not willing to do with little kids... and let's face it, when they aren't little any more, I probably won't want to do it then either. I'll probably keep it as a hobby-- or at least be an annoying client looking over the shoulder of whomever comes to trim our trees when I'm 50. :)

I thought about floral design-- the hands on, almost sculptural elements were satisfying along with the 'outdoorsy' quality to it. The foil, of course, is the business side of things. Plus it could easily digress into floral grunt work and lose that creative, stimulating quality. It can't be all weddings and events, there are also the 'boring' bouquets and balloon thingies.

I thought about illustration because it is a career with a more stable paycheck. I could definitely have done that, and I suppose that door hasn't entirely closed, but it would require self-marketing and business sense.... which, shamefully, I don't possess much of. Which, by the way, is why I would make a terrible 'artist'. I'm not interested in trying to get into the gallery scene, which is where the money is to begin until commissions come in. And that's just it. I'm not eager to seek out commissions.

I love sculpture. That hands on thing again. And I can do it outside or work with natural materials like wood and stone that are just so satisfying. I'm very good in sculpture too, it comes naturally to me. And my work is actually-gasp-right up there with my competition instead of mediocre (like my painting). but it is a)expensive. equipment and materials. b)space consuming. equipment and materials. c) time consuming. I want to focus on my family. and d)marketing. the bane of my artistic pursuits. I guess sculpture will just remain a strong desire-- or a very expensive hobby, if we ever have the money to make that a reality.

Then there are the fields like culinary arts that would be amazing because I LOVE to cook, I love the intellectual, scientific challenge of it combined with the sculptural element to food presentation. Or there are the performing arts that I would have LOVED to actually do something with-- musical theater particularly. Though I'm not the best dancer, so that would probably have been a flop. Still, there are always community productions...

So then we come to teaching. Because that is the field I'm actually pursuing. I can take the art I love--and all those talents at appreciating good design that I DIDN'T create-- and combine it with an art history intellectualism I'm good at and teaching skills that aren't too shabby either... and voila! you've got a career that is flexible enough to allow me the familial focus I demand, stable (hopefully) so I'm actually employable, artistic but without business savvy, and intellectually challenging. I think this is the best I'm going to get at this point. And I think I'll be good at it. and I am excited to teach.

but sometimes I wonder...

especially those hands-on or science-oriented fields that would be so fun...

what if...

But you know what? An entire fleet of possibilities has sailed. And it won't do me any good to mourn their departure. I'm not on a leaky rowboat or anything, I've got a decent rig--- and my beautiful family is here with me too. So while it may not be the first dream or the most exciting or exotic dream I've had, it is a fit. And for those of you who successfully caught the ship I dreamed of catching at one time or another, I'll admit sometimes I'm jealous of you. But I also don't begrudge you your happiness. Maybe I'll take a vacation tour on one of your ships some day. In the mean time. I've got a ship to sail (aka, a paper to finish) and a family on whom I need to focus. Today is infinitely more vital than possible tomorrows of yesterday. So to all those ships that have sailed...

bon voyage.

Allans Visit #3 Appliances Nightmare

Wouldn't you know, when one appliance breaks, they all follow suit. When it rains it pours, I guess.

Our fridge had been on the fritz for a while, leaking and stuff. Maintenance had been out to look at it and said they'd get back to us on what might be the problem. Well, Saturday morning we woke up and opened the door... and discovered the fridge must have finally bit the dust completely because it was no longer cool inside. We emailed maintenance, pulled out an ice chest and some ice, and deposited all extremely perishable items inside, leaving the condiments in the fridge.

No big deal. Under control.

That afternoon, during lunch preparations (remember I was hosting 3 extra adults and of course wanted to put on something delectable and special for the occasion), I began an oven preheat for our Sweet Potato fries. And suddenly, sparks started to shoot out from under the oven door accompanied with fire cracker sound effects. My mom and I were the only ones in the kitchen at the time and we both squealed. Turns out the filament burnt out. Can't use the oven for fries or pineapple. Luckily, our neighbors were kind enough to lend us the use of their oven for the fries and the broiled pineapple. Also, luckily, our stove still worked so we could pan fry our Teriyaki steaks. For a moment there was a scare because the burner wasn't getting warm, but then Eric thought to check the breaker, and sure enough the oven burn out had kicked it off. Reset, no problem. And suddenly we were extremely grateful for the functioning stove. Plan B without an oven would have been to fire up the charcoal grill. So, I began the somewhat ridiculous process of walking between our house and our neighbors to stir, flip, adjust temperatures, rotate, season, etc, etc, with Eric spearheading the cooking at our place.

No big deal. Under control.

During the final 20 minutes of lunch prep, when some things are at the ready to eat stage and we were trying not to let anything burn or get cold while the rest finished up, maintenance showed up at our back door with a temporary replacement fridge to hold us over until Monday when our new one would arrive. So, while trying not to let things burn, shuttling back and forth between our kitchen and the Harris's kitchen to check on the sweet potato fries, trying to make the Pineapple ice cream shakes before the ice cream melted completely, etc... we had to empty the rest of our fridge and freezer, deposit everything on the non-existent counter space, quickly spot-clean the nastiness that was revealed to have been hiding under the fridge, and keep out of the way of the crew moving things around. It was pure craziness.

No big deal. Under control.

Thankfully:

• when the fridge went out, we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet. If we had, we wouldn't have been able to fit all the perishables in the ice chest.
• since we were eating in the living room anyway, there was no rush to try to clear EVERYTHING off the table right away. Since it was piled high with all the contents of our broken fridge--and the temp one was significantly smaller--trying to put everything away was kind of time-consuming. We could eat and then get to it.
• our neighbors let us use their oven. repeatedly. even when they had to run to the store, they trusted me to go on in.
• we got a temp fridge. and then we got a new fridge!
• the stove still worked.
• and perhaps the biggest one of all: Caroline slept til right after all the craziness was over. Can you imagine if I'd had to stop right in the middle to nurse a hungry, crying baby? Oh man, I shiver just to think of it!

Appliance Nightmare? No big deal. Under control. :)

Vice and Virtue

A quote from Friedman essay about literature, but with much greater application:

"Its vices are the defects of its virtues"

This really resonated with me. Does it ring true for you?

• 
  
  The unmotivated/unambitious vices are usually paired with the virtue of being easy going and not a worry wart.


• 
  
  The vice of being high-strung, inflexible, rigid usually goes with the virtue of being organized, planning ahead, detail-oriented.


• 
  
  The vice of being sensitive, easily hurt, emotional goes with the virtue of being empathetic, caring deeply, feeling freely.


• 
  
  The vice of being hasty, blindly jumping into things, rash goes with the virtue of being a risk-taker, brave, fearless, spontaneous, eager to see an idea to fruition.


• 
  
  The vice of timidity, inaction, lost opportunities accompanies the virtue of caution, careful research, and logical analysis before decision-making.


• 
  
  The vice of shirking work, avoiding responsibility, being light-minded, shallow, cliqueish usually goes with the virtue of being social, fun, energetic, friendly, talkative.


• 
  
  The vice of eating too much with the virtue of appreciating delicious food, being able to create delicious food.


• 
  
  The vice of laziness with the virtue of restfulness or playfulness.


• 
  
  The vice of work-a-holic, busy, forget-the-real-meaning-of-things person with the virtue of hardworking provider, ambition.


• 
  
  The vice of pack rat with the virtue of valuing memories.

I am a planner, a culinary artist, empathetic, ambitious, memory lover. Now you know all my vices too. :)

I think that when the Savior promises all our weaknesses can become strengths through His Atonement, it does not mean he will root out of us those innate characteristics so that we can no longer recognize ourselves. He will simply help us to transform them over to the virtuous side of them. We will still be ourselves, but our best selves.

Neighborhood Halloween Shin-dig with my first Tiered Cake!

Halloween decorations in preparation for festivities. Mostly I just wanted to document how awesome my spiderweb job was.
Last month I started brainstorming about Halloween cake decorating ideas. Such a fun holiday, I couldn't let the creative opportunity pass me by. I decided I wanted to try what is called a topsy-turvy cake or Mad Hatter cake. Tiered. Lots of cake. and I'm only 1.2 lbs away from my current short term weight goal, so there is no way I was going to eat all that cake. I knew Eric, as voracious a junk food consumer as he is, would need help to eat it all. So we decided to invite some neighbors for a lil get together. Perhaps that'a a lil backwards? Don't people normally decide to make a cake because they are throwing a party? Oh well. I digress. So. Just neighbors. Just cake. Just casual. No stress.

I spent the month "researching" how to do the cake, brainstorming ideas, and planning an "attack" on the various steps of the cake making so that it wouldn't become a stressful last minute deal. I got a lot done on Friday during Gwen's naps. That made Saturday's construction both relaxing and fun! I had a blast working on this project!

The cake had 4 "firsts" for me:

1. first topsy turvy
2. first tiered construction
   
3. first fondant application
   
4. first homemade fondant

I learned a ton and had a blast doing it! Don't be honest if you think it looks bad. But other than that, what do you guys think? I was pleased as pie! (or cake!) :)

If you'd like to see the online tutorials I used, follow these links:
how to make a topsy turvy cake
how to make and apply homemade marshmallow fondant (which is way tastier than regular kind)

Moroccan Deliciousness

A couple of weekends ago, we had our 2nd Culinary Challenge dinner: Moroccan. Oh man, was the food DE-LI-CIOUS!!! I won't post recipes here. If you want them, check out our brand spankin new blog for our monthly international feasts!

A few feast highlights:7 veggie couscous with authentic northern African Harissa paste

traditional chicken dish called Bastilla (I think) covered in delicious spices and baked in philo dough

and a fantastic (and GORGEOUS) rose petal and cardamom ice cream served in real roses

and a few friends highlights (I will leave off names in case they would prefer it that way):
But that wasn't everyone. That'll be next month, I guess. Maybe we'll actually get the lil girls to pose with us too. :) Remember, for recipes, visit our new blog!

Culinary Challenge Debut: Caribbean!

I love to cook. And I have exotic interests. I love not only cooking international cuisines for the challenge they hold, but eating the uniquely flavored cultural results. I have been toying with the idea of an international dinner group for some time after seeing something similar on a friend's blog (thank Brooke). I finally decided to put it all together and was blessed enough to find 3 other couples who not only like to cook and enjoy a challenge, but have supportive spouses who also enjoy eating foreign foods. We've decided to have a monthly culinary challenge dinner. Our debut was Caribbean cuisine.Justin and Brianna brought their Dominican Republic expertise to the table with a light cabbage salad and some fried plantains.

Jamie and Trent brought the most delicious coriander flavored rice stuffed avocados for a lovely side dish.Eric and I prepared some grilled halibut with a spicy orange sauce.

We enjoyed the choice of non-alcoholic pina colada (which was definitely more pina than colada) or fresh limeade with key limes.
And what could be more refreshing than the fresh bananas, pineapple, and mangos with frozen yogurt that Linzi and Mike prepared?

Wouldn't you know, I failed to take a picture of the guests? I got great shots of their food though. Everything was exceptional! I'm thinking about starting another blog just for this group that contains all the recipes. What do you think?

Pickles and Pests

Eric and I had 10 cucumbers ripe at one time. Perfect. We put together a batch of bread and butter pickles, which are not only my favorite kind of pickle anyway, but are tons easier than the ones you have to soak in a brine for 2 or 3 days. So here they are!

On a more tragic note: we lost 3 of our 6 zucchini squash plants almost over night because of squash vine borers. A fourth is in critical condition after undergoing intensive surgery. Inexperienced physician-- me. Eric keeps teasing about a malpractice lawsuit if the plant doesn't recover. Well, I was willing to try anything. Those nasty lil vine borers took our other 3 plants so quickly, I felt helpless so see them go from lush and fruitful to yellow and flopped on the soil within 24 hours. And with this 4th plant, as soon as I saw the entry hole with sick worm excrement leaking out of it I knew we would lose it too if I didn't do something. Rodale's suggests injecting with nematodes, which I figured would be the least amount of stress to the plants, but I went to 3 garden centers and none of them carried any. It must be a newer technology for fighting these nasty grubs. My only option, then, was to slice part of the stem, peel back the layers, find the grubs and kill them by hand, and bury the surgical site as best as possible to allow it to heal. Well, I did my best. Found 3 gross fat white grubs chomping on the inside stem of my precious yellow crookneck squash. They are dead now. Compost.

I've been babying the plant since. It is flopped and dead looking. All those beautiful 7-9 squash still only 2 inches at the longest. I really understand the scripture "it greiveth me that I should lose this tree" and I haven't even been laboring in the garden for more than a summer cultivating these seeds. Oh, the absolute agony our Lord must feel when he sees mankind falling from healthy faith into decay of apostasy. His hope lies in the faithful. My hope lies in the 5 small and young leaves that haven't yet succumbed to the stress and loss of 3/4 of their stem lifeline. I am praying the plant pulls through. If not, I will be very sad. Those nasty lil buggers. Anybody else lose their squash to these disgusting vine borers?

Food is a Love Builder

Eric and I had an Asian film marathon last night. My idea. (Are you surprised? :) I'm so blessed that Eric loves me enough to put up with my passion for Asia... even to the extent that he'll watch 6 hours of depressing/strange Chinese and Taiwanese films with me. Ah... what a lucky girl I am. :)

One of the films we watched was filled with food. It played an integral part to the characterization, expression of emotion, and symbolized suffering or fulfilled love. Very intriguing, especially since you get to watch authentic traditional Chinese food being prepared in minutes. (they make it look so easy!) But something that really struck me is how valuable food is to relationships. Really. I mean think about it. When you want to celebrate, what do you do? Make a big meal (Thanksgiving and Christmas), eat out at fancy restaurants (anniversaries and birthdays), bar-b-que (Fourth of July, Memorial Day), etc. When you want to spend time with friends, you invite them over for dinner and a movie. When you want to show someone you are thinking of them, you bring them cookies or brownies. When a neighbor moves in, you offer to bring over dinner or --ha ha-- jello! New baby? Food. Funeral? Food. Wedding? Food. Dating? Food. As a wife and mother, one of the ways I demonstrate love and sacrifice is by making delicious meals for my family. And when Eric wants to show his appreciation for me on Valentine's Day, he makes me fancy Italian.

You know how girls often remember events by visual elements ('I was wearing the light blue button up shirt', 'you had on that red and purple tie', 'the leaves were just bleeding to rusts and bronzes', etc)? Well, Eric (and perhaps guys in general?) always remember the food. If I want to jog his memory about a person or place, mentioning clothing or accessories gets me nowhere. I have to talk food ('we had the awesome dessert pizza', 'they had the best steak!', 'you remember, she brought the ham wrapped pickles to the party'--that example, btw, is something Eric actually said to me last week!). Memories are tied to food.

Spending intimate time with loved ones often begins with cooking a favorite meal together, picnicing at the park, sharing a bottle of martinelli, etc. Isn't our relationship with food interesting? How it actually is a catalyst for bringing people together too? Why do you think that is?

Strawberry Jam

Jam without pectin proves to be a long process of condensing the berries and sugar to thicken it. I LOVE the caramel-y flavor the slow boiling down gave the strawberry-cranberry preserves (recipe found in Frances Bissell's Preserving Nature's Bounty, if you are interested), but I just don't know if I can take the 3 1/2 hour process for any future batches. I mean it isn't as if regular pectin jams don't taste good or anything; they are delicious too. (There is also always the possibility that I did it too long. Since it was my first time, I wasn't sure when it was really "set" and ready to funnel into the jars. Perhaps for a seasoned jam connoisseur it would only take 1 hour?) Either way, I'm very proud of this:

My first non-freezer jam sealed in a real water bath!
Woot woot, summer canning here we come! :)

P.S. for those of you, like me, who have never cooked jam before, the pink in the above photo is a foam that comes out as it boils. We skimmed it off before putting into the jars... and it made a delicious topping on our frozen yogurt!

Tornados Usher in Eric's B-day!

How's that for a dramatic title? Okay so it might be a little deceptive. We did have a tornado warning on Eric's b-day, but it was only for about 30 minutes.
Back to Eric. He's an old man now. All of 26. yup. We didn't really go all out for celebrating on his special day because he had study catch-up to do (he went hunting turkeys last week and needed to put in a pretty full day to make up for it... it was worth it! He came home so happy and ready to hit the grindstone... well, more or less. That doesn't mean he's excited about it.) So, our celebrations were small but lasted all weekend!

I surprised him with Japanese sushi for dinner. My first time to make it (Korean style is different with no 'scary' ingredients), so I wasn't brave enough to go raw fish. I did walk over to the Tensuke Market with Anita, Charlotte, and Gwen on our walk to snag some fish eggs (a delightful bright orange!), some BBQ eel (disappointingly bland), pickled plums (which actually turned out to be apricots and were INTENSELY flavorful-- a lil goes a long way!), and packets of wasabi (wonderfully pungent) to enjoy in our sushi. My favorite ingredients were definitely the avocado, the fish eggs, the fake crab, and a surprisingly exciting mango/wasabi combo!

Of course, those 30 tornado minutes would coincide perfectly with Gwen's bathtime on her way to bed... and we didn't want her to get too off kilter... so here she is, enjoying Daddy's b-day in the only safe room in our apartment: the small downstairs bathroom. She sort of liked her bath in the ice chest! :) How often do you get to "play" with your baby in an ice chest full of water on your birthday?

We gave Eric a hair cut. This pic with Gwen is as close to a "before" shot as we dared get. It was getting pretty, um, interesting. Now he says it is the shortest it has been in our marriage. But it'll be nice to not have to touch it up again until after the Boards! See the top photo for the "after" shot!

And perhaps my favorite part of the extended b-day celebrations was the dessert. It took several days before we actually had time to make it, but it was worth it! And I was actually pleasantly surprised at how quickly and easily everything came together! Asian-style Banana fritters with a lime-caramel sauce... most certainly on the 'no-no' list for me, but an indulgence I absolutely couldn't resist!

I love you Hon, you are the best! No really... I cannot imagine the dismal life I would have without you. You bring me so much joy. I am grateful for eternal families because that means I always have YOU to look forward to forever!

Baring my Soul

I used to keep an excellent journal. From Junior High, Highschool, and my first 2 years of college, I was an almost daily diligent writer. Then my mission happened, then 2 majors happened, then Eric happened, then working full time happened, then Gwen happened... and my journal writing has petered off to non-existent because I'm so pooped by the end of the day. So it occurred to me that my blog is a way to recapture that journaling habit. I post daily happenings and experiences. I only need to add some personal soul baring, and it is a bonafied journal. Here's to radical honesty:


I cringe every time I see a photo of myself.

Is that what I really look like? I don't feel that frumpy, but it definitely looks that way.I gained quite a bit of weight during my pregnancy with Gwen. Pretty normal, as far as pregnancies go, but I haven't really lost it. Just redistributed it. And since I was trying to get back in shape when we got pregnant, I have quite a ways to go before hitting my target. I decided during all the Easter festivities that as soon as the holiday was over I would finally go on a healthy diet. True to that commitment, I spent a few hours yesterday researching healthy caloric and nutritive intake levels for lactating women. I talked to friends who have been on successful healthy diets (not just the crash kind) to find out some tips and secrets for lasting motivation and enduring results. And then it really started to sink in.

This is going to be HARD work.

I have a long way to go. We got a scale last week so I've spent the week tracking my daily weight. I hover right around-- am I really about to share this information to the entire online bloggerdom?-- 170 pounds. Since my target is 145 (that's what I weigh when I'm fit and muscular. Without the muscle, it should be even lower for my height.), that is a 25 POUND LOSS! Those aren't going to peel off overnight, folks, or even in a couple of months. We're talking long term commitment if I want to reach this goal. It'll be difficult because:
a) I LOVE food! And gourmet international cooking! To me it sounds like a culinary disaster to replace key flavor ingredients with low/fat free substitutions or to skip those recipes altogether. Who wants to have feijouada without the various fatty meats? What if I want to grill lemon-barbeque pork ribs in the summer? What's a good chowder without cream? I know there are alternatives, but most reduce the flavor and therefore, enjoyment, of the food. I want complete freedom to pursue any recipe I find that sounds delicious, not a stunted range of options. Plus, I love to bake and enjoy cake decorating... how can I not eat it when it is sitting right there? This will be very challenging for me.
b) I am tired. and busy. It will be just too easy to make excuses for skipping my exercise each day.
c) but mostly because I am not sure I can really do it.

I'm afraid.

I'm afraid I will give in to temptation. I'm afraid I will lack willpower. I'm afraid I'll tire of healthy menus and snacks and indulge a little too often in a non-healthy recipe. I'm afraid there will be holidays, birthdays, and special social events that threaten my consistency. I'm afraid the weight will be stubborn in coming off. I'm afraid I'll compare myself to other, more successful postpartum moms. I'm afraid I will become frustrated. I'm afraid I will lose motivation after a short 2 weeks. I'm afraid I will fall terribly short of my goal. I'm afraid I will never feel confident about my figure again. I'm afraid I will never feel satisfied looking in the mirror again. I'm afraid of giving up and consigning myself to frumpdom for the rest of my life. I'm afraid I am not going to be able to do this. I'm afraid I don't have what it takes to stick it out to the end of my goal. I'm afraid of failure.

*sigh*. I know I can't have faith and fear at the same time. All things are possible if we put our faith in Christ. Funny to think that my diet matters to Him. "Fear not; Only believe"

I can't really ask you to pray for me and my 'diet' because that just sounds like a really shallow prayer. But if it occurs to you sometime in the next 6 months to pray for me to stick to my nutritional plan, I would be really grateful. I need all the support I can get. My plea is the same as the father who brought his sick daughter to Christ for healing and needed help doing his part:

"Lord, help Thou mine unbelief".

Thanks for letting me bare my soul.

Thinking Outside the Box for a "Not-Your-Typical" Easter!

We decorated eggs on Friday. Well, I didn't want to make a big mess with egg decorating, so we just used toothpicks dipped in food coloring and stippled onto the eggs in a real "avant garde" method! Fun, SUPER easy clean up, and made me feel like I was one of those Dutch egg painters that do the really detailed paintings on the shells. We had so much fun experimenting with the Lawrences and have some pretty creative results:

We had our egg hunt on Saturday (indoors-- Eric was worried the neighbors might see. :) and saved Sunday for focusing on the Savior and His supernal Atonement. The ward choir production went really well and Eric's solo/duet was beautiful! And then we came home, put our grumpy baby to bed, and proceeded to cook...
As you also may know, we don't buy our meat from the grocery store. We buy it from the Department of Fish and Game... ha ha, what I mean is, Eric buys tags and licenses and then hunts the meat and fishes the fish himself. (okay, so technically since Eric hasn't had time this year it was mostly his Dad that did the hunting and we just benefit from the meat that he shares). Anyway, a traditional American Easter dinner might have ham in there somewhere... but Eric has never hunted wild boar and we aren't even quite sure how we would go about curing the meat into ham... or whether it would taste anywhere near as yummy anyway... so we opted to do something a lil different: we had fried butterflied duck breast medallions on a bed of spinach and salad greens with blue cheese stuffed baked pears all drizzled with a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette dressing. Sounds exotic, no? Well it was surprisingly EASY and absolutely DELICIOUS!!! 5 for flavor and 5 for ease of preparation! Here's the recipe:

4 duck breast halves, butterflied, breaded in 1/2 cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and pan fried in 1-2 T vegetable oil
4 pears, cored (go up from the bottom using a melon baller or spoon if you want the entire pear whole or cut in half and core if you don't care), filled with 4 oz crumbled blue cheese, then baked in the oven (lay on their sides, otherwise cheese will melt out) on 350 F for 10-15 minutes until soft.
lay out spinach and desired salad greens on plates, place warm duck in center, and arrange pears on side. Drizzle all with desired vinaigrette dressing (I highly recommend Kraft Sun-Dried Tomato). Wualah! Delicious!
For dessert we had Hazelnut Torte with strawberries. Sounds amazing, and was good, but not compared to dinner. And it was a lot of work. The hazelnut crust was definitely a WOW, but the strawberries and cream layers could just as easily have been plain ole strawberries in whipped cream. Not gross, by any means, but not the rich dessert I thought it would be. Maybe next time I'll make it a cream cheese icing layer instead of whipped cream. Anyway, 4 for flavor and 3 for ease of preparation. I'm including pictures, but if you want the recipe, you'll have to let me know.



So there you have it, a lil different, not-your-typical Easter.... Easter Allan-style!:)