Mouthing Off

Wendy and I hung out last night, and we got a little goofy.

Friday Night Jambalaya

Good-ole' southern food! Yeayah! There ain't nothin' better than a meal stocked full of meat. We made Jambalaya tonite for some of our friends, and this might be one of my favorite dishes I have mad so far. This was my first time attempting to make Jambalaya. It was also my first time eating it. It had bacon, ham, chicken, sausage, rice, and a few vegetables in it. we also had some cornbread. It was a perfect meal.

I love cooking for my friends. These dinner parties are always a lot of fun. We had about 20 or so people over this time. Vince and I cooked the Jambalaya, Josh made some amazing peach cobbler using a dutch oven, and various other people we invited brought some dessert items.

The way these dinner parties work is I normally pick a food item or meal type that I want to cook with, and then find a recipe online. Then I go to the store and buy all the food that is required for the dinner, then come home and cook it. Then everyone that we invite comes with $4.00 to pay me back for the food that I purchased, and we always come out about even. It works out really well.

I really believe in developing strong relationships with the people that I care the most about, and that's what these dinners represent to me. They aren't just an opportunity to socialize. They are the most important people in my life, either because I have had some type of impact on them, or they have influenced me in some way. Life is all about building relationships, and keeping them strong. That's what makes people happy.

Freeze!

Holy cow it has been cold in my apartment. We are going on 4 1/2 days without any heat pumping into the apartment. It's so cold in here that the frigerator is warmer than our kitchen! Seriously, I have been warming up my hands by grabbing my gallon of milk in the fridge. Due to a confusion between our newly married ex-roommate, and us still in the apartment, our gas got shut off instead of transferred to someone else's name last Friday. And since the gas company is closed on the weekends, we weren't able to call until yesterday. They said it would take a day to get it turned back on. Do you know what no gas means? That means no heat, and no hot water. That's right, Cold showers. It's not fun to have-to boil water, and then bathe with a sponge. We've been wearing our coats all day, and sleeping with layers. During the day, we open the door to let the warm air in, even though outside it's still only 25 degrees or so. Not fun shtuff. Luckily, it will be turned on tomorrow morning sometime. I am a little excited to enjoy heat again.

Winter Camping Practice

I am an aspiring touring cyclist, and I'm just starting to get my feet wet.

Either in the Summer or Fall of this year I will be heading out on a very long adventure that will last a little over 3 months. I will be traveling accross most of the United States via bicycle. For this reason, I am trying to prepare now for it by learning how to camp.

I have rearranged my school schedule so that Mondays and Fridays I have no school or work. This means that some weekends I will be going on 4-day cycling trips where I will be camping along the way. I will most likely be going an average of 60 miles/day, over 200 miles each weekend. This should give me plenty of practice with the riding, and also the camping aspect of the bigger trip I will be taking later.

Camping last night was fun, I really enjoyed it. I wasn't really cold at all, I was actually quite warm. I had to take off my shoes and jacket when I got in my sleeping bag because I was starting to sweat. Now, I will actually get a good night sleep when my body learns to get used-to the harder surface I will be sleeping on.

This week I will be buying a few more supplies, so that possibly by next weekend I can take a 2-day trip out and back somewhere and get a little bit more practice with camping and cooking, etc. I think I'm going to sleep outside again tonite, so I will just leave the tent up for today.

Wish me luck in my preparations, pray that I don't freeze to death.

4-Wheel-Slide

My roommate Josh's trip to church didn't start off too good. We live on top of a hill, and it had just snowed that morning. Josh decides to drive down the steep hill on the West side, thinking that his 4-wheel drive vehicle can handle it. Sad to say, but his 4-wheel drive turned into "4-wheel slide..." and he slid down accross the lane to the left side where he hit the guard rail with his front grill, and started sliding backwards. This video is of him the opposite direction of when he started his drive.

We had to come down and shovel all the snow away from his tires in order to get some friction on the road to go up the steep hill for a few feet before we turned down a less steep road. We made it, and were able to get to church in one piece.

Music and the Spoken Word

I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! They are just the most peaceful, and relaxing choir I have ever heard. Every Sunday morning from 9:30-10:00am they sing in the tabernacle for Music and the Spoken Word, which is a broadcast they have been sending all over the world for over 75 years. It is just amazing, and I'm glad that I only live 5 min from Temple Square and have the opportunity to attend it every Sunday. They sing songs that remind you of the Savior and everything that represents God's love towards men. If ever you feel weighed down by something, just listen to the Choir, and it will make you feel much better.

My First Try at Sushi

I love sushi so much, but it's so expensive that I don't get it very much. So, I decided to learn how to make it myself. It's not as hard as people think it is, they just have-to go to the Oriental food mart and hold the Oriental lady's hand for a few minutes while she translates to you what Katsuo-bushi, mirin, nori, and shoyu is, and how it's used in sushi.

The best way to learn how, is just to go to Barnes and Noble, and pick up one of those "learn how to make sushi" book/CD packets. The guy on that CD is very helpful.

I was really excited to make it, and it tasted great! I used raw tuna as my fish, and added a little bit of roasted sesame seeds and spinach leaves.

Next time I will include a lot more ingredients, and do a little bit better at making the rice, so it doesn't have the consistency of toothpaste like this one almost did.

New Year's Eve Activites

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun. First, in the morning I went Canoeing with a good friend of mine, Lorie. Then later I went to a New Year's Eve Dance in Houston. It wasn't that good, but the company was.