A Guilty Pleasure

Or maybe not so guilty. Well, maybe because I check it several times a day I should feel guilty. But it just makes me smile. I'm talking about getting my daily lolcat fix. Yes, I know it's old news to so many of you, but I've jumped on the bandwagon fairly recently. And I think it's hilarious.












And for all of you (cat) haters out there... It's not just about cats!

Not so Gourmet

So I started volunteering for a chef a little over a year ago. Chef Jim Light was teaching gourmet cooking classes at the Kimball showroom in Salt Lake City. Kimball recently decided to remodel, I don't have the whole story, but they talked it over with Jim and decided to remodel into a new Viking cooking school kitchen. It's a space that still functions as a showroom, but has five fully functional industrial gas ranges, convection ovens, a high-speed convection oven, a steam/convect oven, several large fridges and freezers, a few induction-style hotplates, and lots of fun Viking accessories. Somehow Jim got in contact with the Viking people and they've organized a cooking school out of the showroom. It's going to be a pretty great thing! I'm really excited about it. Jim has invited those of us who were his culinary assistants to assist in the new cooking school. There was a meeting in Salt Lake last week as sort of an introduction to the whole school thing. There was a cooking school guru lady from Viking cooking school headquarters there to give us the rundown.

Now, I met several of Jim's volunteers when he was doing his own thing, and several of them were experienced in the kithen, but didn't seem to have all that much formal training, as it were. I guess that's mostly what I was expecting when I showed up. Or at least a little bit of that. I mean, I know that the curriculum was being vastly expanded, and that Jim would need more staff to help teach, but I guess it hadn't really computed. So I show up and sit down at the table. There were about a dozen or so people. We start the training and after awhile someone suggests that we all introduce ourselves. People start giving their names and experience. One lady trained at the CIA and has taught at a cooking school for years, one guy has cooked in some pretty good restauraunts for 16 years, one guy had to leave in the middle to go do what I'm pretty sure was a cooking spot for a local news channel, and so on and so forth. I'd say I was a little intimidated. I know my way around my kitchen, but I haven't had any formal training at all, other than what I've obsrved from helping with Jim's classes.

So there was a snack break, with sandwich makings with some great sourdough bread, meat, and cheese platters. There was also some brie, but I couldn't remember whether or not you were supposed to eat the rind or not. So I waited until I saw someone else eat some before I did. Not that I mind looking like an idiot from time to time, but I do try to avoid it where possible. Turns out you do eat the rind, or as Wikipedia informed me when I looked it up later, "The white mouldy rind is edible, and is not intended to be separated from the cheese during consumption." It doesn't sound very appetizing, but is actual quite tasty. So I did end up getting to eat lots of cheezy goodness and keep up the appearance of non-idiocy as well.

Well, that is until I decided to munch on some purple grapes. I sure do love those purple grapes. They go well with cheese. Anyways, I was listening attentively to the Viking chef lady (that description brings a pretty funny picture to mind, btw) calmly popping grapes into my mouth, when one slipped right out of my fingers and down the front of my shirt. Not that my shirt had anywhere close to a low neckline, so I must have hit it at just the right angle. As it turns out, the grape was rather chilly and ended up nestling in an area that was rather warm. And I wasn't in a position to remove said chilly grape from it's warm resting place. There were people seated both to either side of me and across the table from me. I couldn't exactly commence a fishing expidition down the front of my shirt in the midst of a bunch of professionals, now could I? After about an hour or so I was able to angle my body in such a way so as to discreetly pull the grape out. It was, by now, a very warm grape. After a bit I was able to discreetly place it on my plate. After that there weren't any further distractions and I was able to pay attention to the rest of the meeting.

So even though I may be a little bit intimitdated by my whole lack of experience thing, I'm really excited to have this opportunity! I'm looking forward to learning all I can!

Quote of the Day 15 Jan 09

I keep running into all of these great quotes in random places. In an effort to share them with the world I'm going to post a few of them up here. Here's the first one:

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do."
--Goethe

I really need to be do-ing more, and finding new ways to apply the things that I know. I feel that I haven't been blessed with all of the wonderful learning opportunities in my life just so I know a lot of things. I need to find some way to go out and apply what I know to make the world a better place in a way that only I can. There is only one of me, after all. There are probably things that only I can do. And I do feel willing. But am I really doing all I can? Definitely not. There is so much more I can do. I just need the courage to take on the responsability of doing more.

50 Random Questions

I was recently berated for not having posted anything on my Blog for a month or so. So for your blog-reading pleasure, here's 50 random questions answered by me.

1. Where were you 3 hours ago?
Asleep in bed.
2. Who are you in love with?
I'm not telling.
3. Have you ever eaten a crayon?
no. What a weird question!!
4. Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?
Yes. Part of the box of 'Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Aluminum foil' is pink.
5. When is the last time you went to the mall?
To pick up some sheet music.
6. Are you wearing socks right now?
yes.
7. Do you have a car worth over $2,000?
Only if you count sentimental value. He's been good to me.
8. When was the last time you drove out of town?
To go to band practice last Saturday.
9. Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?
I tried. It was sold out. I Redboxed Hellboy2 instead.
10. Are you hot?
I'm in the lab. I'm always cold in the lab.
11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Hot Chocolate.
12. What are you wearing right now?
Green T-Shirt, leather belt with my name on it, dark jeans, green Chuck Taylors, Scorpio neclace.
13. Do you wash your car or let the car wash do it?
Car wash usually.
14. Last food that you ate?
Ladyfingers. Dipped in my Hot Chocolate.
15. Where were you last week at this time?
At my computer. Typing my dissertation. Where I should be right now.
16. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?
Yes. I bought the most recent derby winner from shirt.woot
17. When is the last time you ran?
hmmmm.... That's a tough one. There hasn't been anything (or one) to run after these days.
18. What's the last sporting event you watched?
I saw part of the sugar bowl. You know... the one where Utah "seal-clubbed" Alabama...
19. What is your favorite animal?
I'm going to have to go with Toast on that one.
20. Your dream vacation?
I'd really like to go to India at some point in my life!
21. Last person's house you were in?
My own. Other than me? Adam's house watching '24'
22. Worst injury you've ever had?
I broke my brother's leg. With a van. I don't really get hurt all that much. I do have tendonitis right now from using the track pad of my laptop a little too much...
23. Have you been in love?
Nope. I'm pretty sure that takes two people, and most of what I thought was getting pretty close to that turned out to be pretty one-sided.
24. Do you miss anyone right now?
Yep.
25. Last play you saw?
'A Christmas Carol' My roomate was one of the carolers.
26. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
I don't have secret weapons. Weapons, yes. Secret, no. What you see is what you get.
27. What are your plans for tonight?
Potato Bar at Mary's, then probably American Idol at Kari and Robin's. Maybe.
28. Who is the last person you sent a Facebook message or comment?
The Major. He was up when I was getting ready to go to bed. I said hi.
29. Next trip you are going to take?
I'll probably go visit my mom at some point.
30. Ever go to camp?
Yep. Girl's Camp.
31. Were you an honor roll student in school?
Yep.
32. What do you want to know about the future?
Whether or not I'm going to get to work at ARUP.
33. Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?
nope.
34. Are you due sometime this year for a doctor's visit?
Yep.
35. Where is your best friend?
Probably at work.
36. How is your best friend?
Good as far as I know.
37. Do you have a tan?
Nope. Those are discouraged when you're being lasered.
38. What are you listening to right now?
The really loud fans and general loud background noise in the Mass Spec lab.
39. Do you collect anything?
Hobbies.
40. Who is the biggest gossiper you know?
Like I'm going to post the answer to that one on the internet... but did you hear about Michelle's weekend?
41. Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over?
I wanted to see if my beater car could do 100mph going down the hill outside of Beaver a few years ago. It can.
42. Have you ever drank your soda from a straw?
Yes.
43. What does your last text message say?
"Ward FHE Tonight at 7:30 in 3211 WSC (on campus). Pizza, Games etc. Bring an extra pair of socks."
44. Do you like hot sauce?
Sometimes. Not on ice cream though.
45. Last time you took a shower?
This morning.
46. Do you need to do laundry?
I've got a good 6 days before that becomes necessary.
47. What is your heritage?
Mostly English, with a little German, French, Norwegian, and Scottish thrown in.
48. Are you someone's best friend?
I'm not sure. I feel like I'm a really good friend to a lot of people, but I'm not sure if I'm in the 'best' category.
49. Are you rich?
Not in money. But in family definitely. An embarrasment of riches there. If you've met my family you understand. :-) I wouldn't trade them for anything!
50. What were you doing at 12AM last night?
Finishing watching '24' at Adam's house

I Can Too Dunk!

My mom has told me a story about when I was in nursery. This is the 18 mo - 3 year group for children at my church, for those of you unfamiliar with this term in relation to people. I don't remember all of the details, but the story basically involved me teaching all of the other kids how to dunk the graham crackers they gave us as a mid-church snack into the little cups of water and then eating them soggy. I'm not sure where I learned that particular trick, but I still really enjoy dunking things. But not basketballs. I would probably really enjoy that trick if gravity didn't have it in for me like it does, but alas... I see no dunking of basketballs in my future.

I've spoken with several people that asserted that they have a harsh anti-dunking policy for themselves. Some people are very much against the crumbs, floaties and/or sinkies that are considered inevitable and acceptable occupational hazards for those of us who are habitual dunkers. Some people make a few exceptions. Like for Oreos, but only the name-brand kind, and the like. I like to consider myself a fairly open-minded person, and started to declare myself an equal-opportunity dunker, but realized that I don't like all dunking equally. Indeed, my preferences vary greatly depending on the dunked item and dunking medium in question. I think this means I'm dunkist. Sad.

Anyhoo... I started to ponder all of the things that I have dunked, and decided to make a dunking enjoyment chart. The columns are things that I have been known to dunk, and the rows represent the things I dunk the other things into. The number of hearts represent how much I enjoy that particular dunking combination. I wanted to use little smiley faces, but I don't have photoshop on my 6 yr old laptop so I can't get a higher resolution chart right now. Besides, the little white smiley faces ended up looking like blobs, and the little black faces looked like pumpkins. So little hearts it is!


You might notice some interesting things. Like for instance, that I really enjoy dunking saltine crackers into chamomile tea. Strange? Probably. This stems from the 15 months I spent in Argentina as a missionary for the LDS church. Chamomile tea is common there (té de manzanilla). When I first arrived in Argentina, my first missionary companion was an Argentine that didn't eat breakfast. I have always been a big breakfast eater, so I had to fend for myself. I didn't really know Spanish very well back then so it was a struggle for a bit. I found sweetened té de manzanilla and saltine crackers (with or without dulce de leche) to be a satisfactory breakfast. It grew on me, and I enjoy it to this day.

Milk and Hot chocolate (preferably with a little Pero mixed in to cut the sweetness just a bit) are fairly interchangeable with a few exceptions. Milk is superior for bread dunking (especially chocolate milk... Mission influence again. Chocolate milk and fresh bread was my regular dinner for 6 months or so), but hot chocolate is better for ladyfingers and shortbread. Bits of buttered toast should only be dunked in soup, just like french fries should only ever be dunked in a milkshake/frosty. Preferably chocolate. I don't dunk donuts. Even Dunkin' Donuts donuts. Call me crazy, if you must. Just doesn't do it for me.

And despite the original use of water as a dunking medium, it ranks pretty poorly now that my dunking world has expanded to include so many other things. It'll still do in a pinch, but it is not preferred. I have dunked my phone in water, but that was entirely unintentional. And not very tasty. So it didn't make the chart...

My Favorite Picture of Dad...

I absolutely love this picture. It is just so representative of my dad. He sure loved his sheep! I took this picture a few summers ago back in Clint, TX. The grandkids were there and he went and got a baby lamb for them to play with. It was super cute. Yesterday was Dad's birthday, and I've been remembering him and his big heart and gentle spirit.

How to clean your basement

1) Find a cool place to live right next to a huge park.

2) Make sure whoever installed the sprinklers for said park does shoddy work.

3) Move into house that has incorrectly installed sprinkler main for the park right next to basement window well.

4) Lie in bed listening to peaceful sound of rain early one morning. Preferably a Tuesday morning at about 7 AM.

5) Wait... it's not raining! Run down the stairs to discover 6 inches of standing water in your basement.

6) Put shoes on. The window well filling up with water will put enough pressure to break even a double-paned window.

7) Quickly move everything irreplaceable up to your 2nd story bedroom.

8) Keep removing the leaf bits/other debris that keeps clogging the drain. The drain that is stationed at a high spot on the basement floor.

9) Carefully pick up all visible shards of glass and place in unused plastic trash can.

10) Not-so-quickly begin the process of moving everything else upstairs.

11) Take a breakfast break.

12) Feel overwhelmed. Carry one thing around while you pace the basement trying to figure out what to do next.

13) Greet the landlord and his general-contracting/carpet cleaning buddy, Von, as they come survey the damage.

14) Direct the extra hands the landlord brings in to help move stuff around.

15) Move love-sack into upstairs hallway (where you will have to jump over it every time you want to go in or out of your room) to make more room in the living room for boxes.

16) Once basement is empty and the cement has sucked up all the water it can, sweep to get as much debris off of the floor as possible.

17) Watch an episode of Scrubs and eat lunch while Von 'power cleans' the basement with his carpet-cleaning equipment.

18) Begin long process of washing all fabric items that got flooded.

19) Leave carpet-drying fans in basement for 4 days straight.

20) Step back and enjoy how clean your basement is!