An obsession

So, anyone who knows me well, knows that I like to cook.

Wait, no..let's try this again. I LOVE to cook. In fact anything related to food is pretty much a-okay with me: Food Art, food shops, food ads, food shows, food cars (ie the Papa John sedan-who cut me off today on my way to work..was I upset? No, he and his car were food related) food animals?? Okay, so just put the word 'food' in front of it and you have at least a 75% chance that I'll accept it.

I'm crazy right? So read this: I'm sitting at my computer, it's about 12:30am. And I think to myself "I should head to bed, work tomorrow!" But what should happen? An email is sent to me, a RECIPE EXCHANGE email. So instead of doing what any normal person would do (save responding to the email for tomorrow when my eyelids aren't so heavy and I have more of a brain to work with) the thought of searching online for a recipe to send for this recipe exchange, has me so excited all of a sudden, that all my mind is preoccupied with is checking out my favorite recipe web sites and getting a fabulous recipe to send off.

I clearly have an obsession.

Elder Stephen Beacham

Ahhh! The day finally came. My brother Stephen officially left for his mission. He's now in Manchester, England at the missionary training center. He'll be there for two weeks and then transfer out to Dublin, Ireland where he'll be serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I lovingly uploaded this picture of the two of us at Olive Garden. Don't we look awkward, lol. It was our last meal together before he left.

How I shall miss my little bro: waking up to him belting Michael Buble at o'dark thirty in the morning, his original style of hip hop dancing in the kitchen, the midnight grocery store runs, Hulu nights. We had a lot of fun together :)

I know he will be a great missionary though. I've created a mission blog for him, if anyone wants to see how he's doing http://elderstephenbeacham.blogspot.com

Godspeed Elder Beacham!

Waffles worthy of a second post!

So, I don't normally post twice in one day....hmm in fact it's rare if I post twice in the same month. (I'm not an avid blogger) BUT this weekend, amidst car shopping and being spiritually rejuvenated, I also found the MOST AMAZING WAFFLE RECIPE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, yes it's THAT good. This is no exaggeration.

Make and eat these waffles and you might be surprised what wonderful things happen to you. Perhaps me getting a car could have some connection to the waffles...who knows, who knows.

Now before I give you the recipe, I must give credit where credit is due. The website where these waffles are found is teriskitchen.com. I don't know anything about Teri; don't know if she's some adorable old grandmother, keen on filling the world with her delectable breakfast foods or if she's simply a chef student who decided to make herself a web site, but I thank her from the bottom of my heart for these waffles.

And so I give you:

THE MOST AMAZING WAFFLES EVER

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (see variation below)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar (or sugar substitute that equals sugar portions 1:1, such as Splenda)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted (see variation below)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups reduced fat or nonfat milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Place the flour, sugar and baking powder in a medium bowl and whisk with a wire whisk to combine well. Add the eggs, butter, oil and 1-1/2 cups of the milk; beat with the whisk just until smooth. Add more milk as needed to thin the batter to a pouring consistency, being careful to keep it thick. Heat your waffle iron and bake according to manufacturer’s directions. Serve immediately.

Notes: The batter may be made the night before, covered and refrigerated. Add a little more milk before baking if it has become to thick. Waffles freeze very well. Just bake them a little lighter than usual, let them cool on a wire rack, wrap individual portions in waxed paper and place in a freezer bag.

ENJOY!

Mi Coche!?!? and conference

Turns out Puyallup has more than just a fair. They have a semi-annual car event called "the Wallup in Puyallup." All of the car dealerships in Seattle gather to one central location and people come from far and wide to peruse through the new and used cars displayed there (all of which are being sold for killer prices!!)

That's where I found this beauty. Meet my new car. A 2006 Toyota Camry. I'm in love. Can't stop driving......and driving ..and driving..

Sure beats the bus, that's for sure :)

Aside from getting a car, I also listened to conference this weekend. Jeffrey R. Holland gave a stirring testimony. His talk was probably my favorite, although all the talks were great.

Julie & Julia

This last Friday I was sabotaged! Nearly out the door to the singles ward movie night, my mother came home itching for a mother-daughter date. So after weighing the choices and realizing that it had been SOME TIME since our last mother-daughter date, I relented and freely gave up my original plans. My mother valued my decision enough to insist that I pick the activity. A sweet gesture from her. So gleaning from my previous plans, I decided on a movie date.

After checking the local theaters, deciding on a film and leaving a note for the boys, we drove to Woodinville to become AMC Loews on Garden Way's patrons for the 7:30 showing of Julie & Julia. My mother and I both love to cook and so naturally a chick flick about cooking was right up our alley. We grabbed our Milk Duds, Dibs (those tasty ice cream bites) and Junior Mints and sat ourselves down in a barely halfway filled theater who's main seat occupiers (ha, probably not a word but I like it) were people over the age of 40. I was surprised by the lack of attendance and the older age of those around us, but of course I didn't know anything about Julia Child before entering the theater.

The film was delightful. Meryl Streep does a great job being Julia Child. I can say that now after having spent a good twenty minutes on youtube looking up Julia Child after the film. Meryl was really able to capture Julia's character. And now that I've seen the French Chef and the era this woman was from, the crowd in the theater makes more sense. I applaud myself, having been the one to suggest this movie. It had my mother and I smiling and laughing all throughout it.

It was a good outing with my mother and to be repeated more often. We're both agreed on that.

I highly recommend Julie & Julia! Bon Appetit!

To see a good clip of the French Chef with the real Julia Childs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ohiUbQyDhk

Blessed garage sales

How I love my ukelele! My little bro picked this up for me at a garage sale the other day. It only had three strings on it (it was a $4 uke) but that minor set back doesn't keep me from still playing it (of course I'll get that last string put on though, can't play too much without your high G)

What a sweet brother to buy me such a gift (although I was frequently borrowing his ukelele before :)

I can already play a couple songs on the uke:

Find my way back home- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJzYy5encCk&feature=related

&

Beautiful Girl-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64meUVyq7jk&feature=channel

Important detail !!!

What a STORY!

Yea, uh...no biggie. I just fractured my thoracic 12 vertebrae cliff jumping over 4th of July weekend in Cali with some girlfriends.

1st time I've injured myself this bad. I'd never broken or fractured a bone before this.

The brace had me feeling like a superhero. I was kind of sad to see it go after the 4 weeks were up.

Now it's time for good ol physical therapy and my back will be good as new.