Hazy Crazy Days

Lazily back to blogging, in the rainy summer months. I have recently:

Camped in the San Rafael Swell

Purchased one Dinosaur Quarry T-shirt, one pop-up tent, 2 pairs of Danskos, and a new serpentine belt for my car (luckily before the road trip began)

Finished an African drumming class through community ed

Started a sculling class on the Great Salt Lake.

Planted my container garden: Tomatoes, jalepenos, peas, radishes, and herbs

Read 4 of the books on my summer reading list

Hiked Frary Peak on Antelope Island

Gotten sunburned on Frary Peak on Antelope Island

Watched the US v UK World Cup match

Attended the Scottish festival

Baked a pie


Plans for the future include a hip hop class, bruschetta, more camping, and a water park if all goes well.

Ways to remember people

Moab was awesome. Hiking, off-roading, and rafting. Happy start to the summer.

Today I was cooking--I like to cook up a couple things at once--while listening to Debussy. Part of "Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun" sounds a lot like the original theme to Star Trek.

The results of my cooking extravaganza were a pot of curry and an invented salad of veggies and garbanzo beans with tzatziki dressing. The thought occurred to me that I have collected a lot of recipes and been introduced to new foods by my roommates. I've previously thought about how different music sticks out in my memories of some of the houses I've lived in, so I thought I'd remember them here.

Andrea Pimentel made incredible alfredo, and listened to Moulin Rouge and Eric Clapton and Diana Krall.

At Tina's condo, punk in general, the Vandals, Bowling for Soup, Rob Thomas, Tina dabbling in Eminem, Amber and the Goo Goo Dolls, and one particular song by J Lo and LL Cool J. And the advent of Homestar Runner, though not musical, was significant in our apartment. Tina made fajitas and crepes, and Kristi raspberry balsamic chicken. This was also the place I lived when Cafe Rio opened in Provo.

At the Shanty, I remember ice cream cake and "I'm just a teenage dirtbag" playing on repeat.

And the glorious Random House. Lots of Ben Folds and Puccini, a little Modest Mouse. And, oh, the food. The whole ward over for brunch every other week. Sarah's triple chocolate cake. Amanda introduced me to the wonder of onions, how to make marinara from scratch, spanakopita, and fresh mozzarella. Kjerstin concocted curries, and showed me how the sweetness of a little pineapple or pear really fills out the perfect curry, and that fancy party food is totally worth it.

Skipping a few years of high roommate turnover and less delicious food, in the Beige Condo there was Erienne introducing me to lovely Japanese food.

With Marlena I discovered I wasn't a huge fan of Vietnamese food (sorry) and a big fan of delicious Marlena Chicken: In a crockpot, chicken, bell peppers, carrots, paprika, and a bay leaf. And the importance of a rice cooker.

From Tricia (lots of Country Music) I inherited Tricia Chicken, a mix of zucchini, tomatoes, and cream of celery soup, Bruschetta Chicken bake, gingerbread scones, and by way of Annie, white chili.

Through the years I've inherited recipes from people I babysat for, too, among other places, but the gals I've lived with have definitely changed my life, and cooking skills, for the better!

Good Things

Working until 3:30 am on a donor was bad. But organ donation in good!

Having a day off to rest after working all night

My African drumming community ed class. So fun to play with rhythm!

Finishing my history class. It was my marathon. But I read, wrote, and talked, and it gave me confidence about going to grad school if I want. I would rock the house! (But not next year)

Peruvian food at my professor's house on the last day of class

Finally finally finishing and posting pics on Picasa from my Middle East trip in the fall: http://picasaweb.google.com/lgolsen

Spending today scanning in my Grandpa Olsen's photos and documents from World War II. He was a Seabee, and there's a picture of a very suntanned Allan with his sailor's cap at a jaunty angle that always makes me want to sing "We got sunlight on the sand, we got moonlight on the sea. . ." from South Pacific

Scanning in photos while watching The Office season 2, which I've only seen parts of

Indian food every Wednesday at work. Truly. I believe mint chutney may be my favorite food of the year

We got a $200 amazon gift certificate from a vendor at work, so we split it up and got $18 each. And I got ramekins. The possibility of chocolate souffle in my future is good.

Imagining camping trips for this summer. Moab? Goblin Valley? Yes.

More good things to come, I'm sure.

Summer Reading List

Since the semester is almost over, I'm starting to collect titles for when I can read for fun again, and not because my professor tells me to. The list so far:

God: A Biography

On Zion's Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape

Superfreakonomics

Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return to his Jewish Family
and/or
Choosing my Religion: A memoir of a family beyond belief(both by one of the authors of Superfreakonomics)

A History of White People (More normal than it sounds)

The Mysterious Benedict Society

I need some more fluff on this list. Maybe a Victoria Holt novel for the beach, at least.

Read any good books lately?

My Co-Workers are the Best Cooks in the World!

Not to rub it in, but I gotta tell you about the post-Easter potluck we had to day. We're all sort of foodies here, and the combination was inspirational.

First, because there always seems to be too much food, we spread assignments over both breakfast and lunch for a whole day of feasting. During our morning staff meeting, we ate strawberries, quiche, and lemon blueberry scones.

For lunch:

Garlic and olive oil drizzled crostini topped with chicken salad

Tortilla chips and southwestern dip: homemade fresh salsa with black beans, corn, cilantro, and a hint of pineapple

Spinach casserole with buttery Ritz cracker topping

Chicken Marbella, marinated with prunes, capers, and olives

Slow-cooked shredded beef sandwiches with provolone and horseradish

Oatmeal butterscotch cookies for dessert

Yes, it was a good day at work.




Do it yourself:
The crostini and chicken salad were both from Harmons grocery store

The scones, which I baked, can be found here: http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/bakingdesserts/r/lemonbluescones.htm

Here's a version of Chicken Marbella:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_marbella/

(Sorry for the long links. I'm having issues linking from a word. If anyone has Hyperlinking for Dummies tips, let me know)

Happy Easter!

Good weekend. I like all the food, friend, and family gatherings that happen with LDS General Conference. Ate Aebleskivers at friends house for Saturday morning conference breakfast.

Today I went to my grandparents' house for the afternoon session and dinner with them and my aunt and cousins. My Grandma is good at feeding people. A good way to celebrate holy days.

The Blind Date Project

A friend is doing an anthropology project on blind dating culture, and on racial preferences in dating. So she went on about 10 blind dates, and set up several of her friends (including me). I had a nice time with the guy--but I gotta tell you my favorite thing about it was that it reminded me of high school.

Going on a random creative date, just for the sake of having a date, not because you really liked the guy, was a classic high school tradition. Our activity added to this: because we had to wait a couple of hours for the other people to join us, we ended up at a toy store and bought one of those big styrofoam gliders.

We spent an hour or so at Sugarhouse park, flying our airplane and chatting. It was fun and mellow. Then, unfortunately, we met the other couple to go bowling at a very very loud place, which kinda killed conversation. Yeah, bowling and mini golf need to be retired as standby dates. Go fly an airplane at the park!



On another note, I saw a recommendable movie this week: "An Education." It was a Sundance movie, so it's a bit of a thinker and not the standard formula film. I'd like to have an English class to discuss it with :) Great filmmaking! Incredible acting, including people who only had a few lines, and an awesome, awesome soundtrack.

My friend who went with me didn't like it so much though--she said she lost a little trust in my movie choosing ability. But come on! Let's enjoy the unexpected, bittersweet movies along with chick flicks and action movies. "An Education" was great.