Cake for Breakfast: 2010

Saturday, November 13, 2010

A Chilly Morning

Oh Provo...All this freezing weather makes me doodle and write poetry. I actually love to write and believe it or not have a notebook full of doodles, song lyrics, and poetry. I love seeing my younger siblings do the same; I really believe in creativity and developing your sense of self expression, and I've always kind of hoped to make something of my work as well. Here's a more recent poem of mine...don't laugh!

The Fog:

A stone’s throw out on a distant shore

there lives a woman in the wake.

She beacons sinners through the fog

and quietly lurking, listening, waits.

Upon a hill, a lighthouse still

sits quietly; a salvation's’ light

bequeaths the sinners through the fog

to warm themselves and spend the night.

Yet though they see the light afar

the murky sea is tossed about,

and through the god-forsaken fog

their eyes alight, and they swim out.

Sweet whisperings upon the hail

and fog scented with enticing breath
makes many men wonder, weep, accept

and clasps them in an icy death.

Eating Habits

My mom sent me this in a foreword and I found it very fitting.

This describes our Smiths' shopping experience every time. We are the ones in the "10 items or less" line with a cart full of everything from potatoes to toilet paper, trying to pack everything onto the little scale before something topples off. Until last week we didn't even know you could remove items from the scale before you paid...

Our first meal in Provo was a whole chicken in a crock pot with tons of onions, carrots, potatoes, and celery. We just threw in a balsamic marinade and let it chill..er...heat, for about five hours and it was perfect! I am so grateful to our friends and family, all of whom got us crock-pots as wedding gifts (just kidding...but we did end up with four total). This means more good meals are in store for the future.

--Segue!--

Speaking of good food....

When I'm not cooking, I'm eating...which means we have lots of time to invent new recipes and get creative with old ones we have. It's amazing to think that before I was married, the extent of my cooking knowledge was how to heat Ramen Noodles and Hamburger Helper. Since then one of our favorite activities has become cooking together, especially on Sunday nights. We had a ward break-the-fast this past Sunday, so I whipped up an Italian dish that we could cook up at the Stake Center. This Baked Spaghetti was partly my invention...so I'll take credit where it may or may not be due.

Baked Spaghetti
2 lbs ground beef
1 24 oz can of tomato sauce

1 16 oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 a green bell pepper

1/2 onion

2 cloves minced garlic

about a package of Spaghetti noodles
1/4 cup bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
Garlic salt
Basil
Oregano
1 1/2 cups cheese (I used half cheddar, half a 4-cheese blend)

Directions:
Brown the ground beef on medium then drain excess fat. Add the chopped onion, minced garlic, and bell pepper and cook, then add the tomatoes and sauce to warm. Add spices like basil, garlic salt, oregano, pepper, and anything else that you can think of, then cover and simmer for at least 20 mins. Meanwhile, boil the pasta until aldente, drain and put in a 9x13 pan. Add half the cheese and then about 3/4 of the sauce. Top with more cheese then the breadcrumbs then pop in the oven on 375 for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Vuala! Italy in a pan.

We also made a homemade cranberry pie for just us

Sorry I'm on a food kick. My AMAZING aunt Lisa and uncle Brian took us to dinner last night at Texas Roadhouse....and I will probably never be able to eat again!! They were opening a new restaurant so the food was free (with a requested donation to a charity) and they constantly circulated hors d'oeuvres for each table to try. As college students we indulged, and while most of us got stake and potatoes but were full by the time we actually got to the meal. It was such good food and great company. Thank you guys!

Captain Crunch Robot-Man strikes again on our kitchen counter! This is how we spend our study breaks

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Learning to Dance in the Rain

It’s been a bit of a cold month… in more ways than one.

Yesterday had a cold…it didn’t rain, but the sky leaked constantly from the time the sun was supposed to be up to when it came down at 4pm. Today, the cold was discrete; instead of the sloshy wet cold, it hid in clear air and slowly became a part of every once-warm inch of my body. It’s that biting cold that penetrates your skin and turns the air to tiny ice crystals that choke you and freeze your blood.

I’m positive that we have this weather to discourage any thought of deferring studies to go outside during Midterm season. Provo, you’ve done your job. I have no intention of going outside ever again. However, instead of focusing on Speech Anatomy, I can’t stop the onslaught of those kind of deep thoughts that come when gray clouds out the warmth in the world.

Mike and I just watched a tragedy called “Coco Before Chanel," a movie that showed me how grateful I am that I don’t live in early 20^th century France and that I have the Gospel. This movie portrays Coco Chanel (before her career as a major fashion designer) as an abrasive girl due to her abusive upbringing in an orphanage. The few times she opens herself to opportunities to love, she is mistreated and finally claims she will never marry (she falls for a married man). The movie ends quite suddenly just as she begins her career as a designer and after her lover dies. I wouldn’t recommend this movie… it seemed to drag on and there was too much vulgarity in it, and the tragic ending had me reaching for my Gilmore Girls reruns. I’m so grateful to know that my husband and I love each other completely, and to have complete trust in that love and fidelity in our marriage that seemed nonexistent, or at least widely unpopular, at that time. It’s times like these where I’ve truly seen that pulling together isn’t looking into each other’s eyes, but standing next side by side and looking in the same direction. Life gets hard, but it’s in learning to work through the trials together that we gain strength individually and as a family.

Dear Mike: PS, I love you.

We’ve had some tough things financially as of late (sorry! I’ll try to be more upbeat). We found out that our car is utterly broken down; the engine gave out and a couple weeks ago. So we turned this into a bonding opportunity…if any of you would like to strengthen your marriage, I’m teaching a workshop where we throw you in hot water and you must learn to swim, or at least tow a car together. We woke up one frigid 6am to tow the car to the repair shop. Mike laid in the snow to hitch our Escort up to a friends’ PT Cruiser and, as our battery was dead as well, he turned on his hazard lights as we rolled down University Ave. This was the first time I’ve 'driven' a dead car, and while I rode the break ok, the foggy window combined with the flashing lights ahead made it impossible to see Mike’s “stop” and “slow” arm signals from the window of the cruiser. After what seemed to take hours (though I’m sure it was only minutes) we rolled into the parking lot just as the tow rope snapped off! We needed about 100 feet more to get into a parking space so, undaunted, Mike picked up the rope. I’ll never forget the image of him, soaked from lying in the snow, rope over shoulder, hauling me and our blessed little car 100 feet in the dark, illuminated only by the translucent HONK’S DOLLAR STORE sign. He is my Superman.

We are learning to live and love and get by. A part of my tooth fell out as well recently, and though we don’t have dental insurance, I pray something will turn up. We’ve already been blessed so much…the tow rope choosing to snap right when we pulled into a parking lot, not on the road; the money we always seem to have each month, from nowhere; the fact that I pray and find my phone immediately, or don’t end up lost on a snowy road; the times I need just one friend and a couple in our ward come to the rescue. I know that My Heavenly Father watches out for each of us and I know that He truly sends others into our lives at the times we need Him most, and at the times where I feel like I may deserve it the least. I am so grateful for His loving Arms, and it’s just as my Dad says…just take things “one day at a time.”