I was making my bread this morning and I was doing so well. I thought I had done everything right - even starting the yeast in warm water. Well, I put the bowl of dough in the fridge to rise (odd, but that's why they're called refrigerator rolls) and then looked at the counter to clean it and realized there was a bowl of eggs that I neglected to put in with the wet ingredients! I took the dough out of the fridge, poured the eggs in and tried to stir them in. Well. It didn't work very well. So I turned the mixer on. And it was a little better, but not really. I added some flour. And what do you know! It started to look like real dough!
Anyway. I put it in the fridge - it rose to double in size (good because it was a cool day and I didn't want to turn on our little furnace) and I pinched off some dough balls and baked some rolls!
And they were delicious! And very tasty. Full of flavor. I was quite proud of myself for averting an almost disaster of 8 cups of flour and two yeast packets and 4 eggs! It would have been a big waste. And now I'm going to make some cinnamon rolls with the rest of it. mmm....
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Happy Dayz
Wow. What a great weekend so far and I still have a day ahead of me! After a long Friday at work, a friend and I had some shopping therapy at the mall. She was looking for jeans - so we headed to Nordstrom where they have Sevens (or so we thought - N now doesn't carry Sevens because they are not as good quality as Citizens, so no one was buying them) and Citizens. News flash for me since I just bought some a few months ago. Oh well. I like them and they look good on me. The employees at N's are so helpful - shopping assistants really - that they always have us (I had to at least try on a pair) try on things they suggest. And her suggestion was Paige jeans. I had never heard of them. But apparently Paige was the jean model for Citizens and then she went off and made her own line (I am recounting all of this for you because I'm thinking that you're like me and you had no clue about Paige or her new jeans line). Well, these are the MOST COMFORTABLE jeans in the whole world (and they cost less than Citizens). Seriously. They fit perfectly, they are higher in the waist - don't create love handles - and they are stretchy, so you can squat down and no feel the back pull. I am definitely going to buy some. Someday. You should too. They will make you look good and feel happy. And I'm not getting paid a cent for promoting this. My friend got the Paiges.
#2 good thing that happened at the mall. Banana Republic (where I buy 95% of my clothes) had a 40% off all tops and pants (so basically everything except scarves because the hand bags and jewelry were also 40% off) in the whole store. And they had a pair of 6L (my size) black dress pants which never go on sale online- and are never in the store unless someone ordered them online and returned them to the store (that was the case here) - were 40% off. That's a good deal! I also needed shoes - I really need to revamp my shoe wardrode - but there were no sales on the shoes I liked. Darn.
Saturday morning - I was going to go on a bike ride up Emigration Canyon - haven't done that ride yet and I was excited to do it. But we had a lot of rain Friday night and the roads were still kinda wet. So thanks to Facebook, I saw my friend posted that she was up here at Sugarhouse Park doing a 5K run/walk for the American Heart Association. So I high-tailed it up there and joined them in the run and then for the heart walk after. It was so fun to be outside early on such a beautiful day! Really the weather was perfect. It was fun to see her and catch up and to see her at work with the teens from the Boys and Girls Club.
I didn't have plans for the afternoon, so I came home and did some seriously cleaning and organizing. I threw out a lot of old papers and odds and ends that I don't need. I think I need to do another run through to get rid of more stuff. I just don't need the stuff. I'm trying to be like my Paige jeans friend. She has very little that clutters her house. I admire her for it. That's not to say I don't like having my tent, backpack, frisbee, camping chair, holiday decorations, ice cream churn, extra pillows, books, basketball, rollerblades and such. I think she has a lot of that stuff, it's just still at her parent's house. So I don't feel so bad. But I still think I can be better organized. And through my cleaning up I found several things that I had been missing, so I was thrilled - one was quite important and contained highly confidential things in it.
I had to go to a wedding reception yesterday evening up in Midway, so I decided to leave early and hit up the outlets on my way. Again - Banana had many items 40% off, but I didn't want any of them. I did find a really cute sweater for just $20, so I bought it.
Then I headed over to Midway and I was just guided to the house. Seriously. I don't know how I got there. It was a new subdivision, so it wasn't on google maps or my gps. I was a little early, so I just turned into this subdivision to look at the houses (I thought the place I was supposed to go was still a few miles down the road). As I drove through the neighborhood, I started seeing street names that started with 'Dutch'. The house I was going to was on Dutch Fields Pkwy. So I knew I was actually close to where I needed to be. I thought I had passed the street my reception was on (still trying to kill time) and drove around more thinking I'd come back to it. Well, then not paying attention to the street names anymore, I drove right up to a bunch of parked cars, saw a beautiful young lady in a wedding dress and decided since it was exactly 6:00 and I was exactly at the house for the reception, I would get out and go on in. This family has the most beautiful house. The dinner party was in the back yard., There was a tent with a dance floor and dinner tables set up all around. Since I was by myself, I was a little self-conscious. But this nice couple came up to me and started chatting. Everyone was so nice there - my friends have really good friends. It was just such a happy and comfortable group. I left thinking that's exactly how I want my wedding reception to be. I want to marry into a fabulous and fun family like Anne did (I already know my family is as fabulous as Anne's, so no work needed there). I'm so happy for her.
Then the night ended watching BYU LOSE BIG to Utah. What a sad game. I feel bad for the players who must have gotten really chewed out after the game. But it really was unbelievable. Darn turnovers. But what was even better was the Utah fans I was watching the game with weren't overjoyed for the win because they knew the high score was mainly due to just really bad mistakes on BYU's part, not because Utah was playing exceptionally well. It's not much fun to see your team win a sloppy game.
Thank goodness football games don't have a lot of control on my emotions. I went to bed last night just really fulfilled and happy. And now I'm going to attempt to make bread.
#2 good thing that happened at the mall. Banana Republic (where I buy 95% of my clothes) had a 40% off all tops and pants (so basically everything except scarves because the hand bags and jewelry were also 40% off) in the whole store. And they had a pair of 6L (my size) black dress pants which never go on sale online- and are never in the store unless someone ordered them online and returned them to the store (that was the case here) - were 40% off. That's a good deal! I also needed shoes - I really need to revamp my shoe wardrode - but there were no sales on the shoes I liked. Darn.
Saturday morning - I was going to go on a bike ride up Emigration Canyon - haven't done that ride yet and I was excited to do it. But we had a lot of rain Friday night and the roads were still kinda wet. So thanks to Facebook, I saw my friend posted that she was up here at Sugarhouse Park doing a 5K run/walk for the American Heart Association. So I high-tailed it up there and joined them in the run and then for the heart walk after. It was so fun to be outside early on such a beautiful day! Really the weather was perfect. It was fun to see her and catch up and to see her at work with the teens from the Boys and Girls Club.
I didn't have plans for the afternoon, so I came home and did some seriously cleaning and organizing. I threw out a lot of old papers and odds and ends that I don't need. I think I need to do another run through to get rid of more stuff. I just don't need the stuff. I'm trying to be like my Paige jeans friend. She has very little that clutters her house. I admire her for it. That's not to say I don't like having my tent, backpack, frisbee, camping chair, holiday decorations, ice cream churn, extra pillows, books, basketball, rollerblades and such. I think she has a lot of that stuff, it's just still at her parent's house. So I don't feel so bad. But I still think I can be better organized. And through my cleaning up I found several things that I had been missing, so I was thrilled - one was quite important and contained highly confidential things in it.
I had to go to a wedding reception yesterday evening up in Midway, so I decided to leave early and hit up the outlets on my way. Again - Banana had many items 40% off, but I didn't want any of them. I did find a really cute sweater for just $20, so I bought it.
Then I headed over to Midway and I was just guided to the house. Seriously. I don't know how I got there. It was a new subdivision, so it wasn't on google maps or my gps. I was a little early, so I just turned into this subdivision to look at the houses (I thought the place I was supposed to go was still a few miles down the road). As I drove through the neighborhood, I started seeing street names that started with 'Dutch'. The house I was going to was on Dutch Fields Pkwy. So I knew I was actually close to where I needed to be. I thought I had passed the street my reception was on (still trying to kill time) and drove around more thinking I'd come back to it. Well, then not paying attention to the street names anymore, I drove right up to a bunch of parked cars, saw a beautiful young lady in a wedding dress and decided since it was exactly 6:00 and I was exactly at the house for the reception, I would get out and go on in. This family has the most beautiful house. The dinner party was in the back yard., There was a tent with a dance floor and dinner tables set up all around. Since I was by myself, I was a little self-conscious. But this nice couple came up to me and started chatting. Everyone was so nice there - my friends have really good friends. It was just such a happy and comfortable group. I left thinking that's exactly how I want my wedding reception to be. I want to marry into a fabulous and fun family like Anne did (I already know my family is as fabulous as Anne's, so no work needed there). I'm so happy for her.
Then the night ended watching BYU LOSE BIG to Utah. What a sad game. I feel bad for the players who must have gotten really chewed out after the game. But it really was unbelievable. Darn turnovers. But what was even better was the Utah fans I was watching the game with weren't overjoyed for the win because they knew the high score was mainly due to just really bad mistakes on BYU's part, not because Utah was playing exceptionally well. It's not much fun to see your team win a sloppy game.
Thank goodness football games don't have a lot of control on my emotions. I went to bed last night just really fulfilled and happy. And now I'm going to attempt to make bread.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Garden of the Gods
I did really enjoy Old Colorado City afterwards as well. We had some fabulous peaches from the farmer's market and delicious greek food at Jake and Telly's.
Nevada road blocks
The second one of the haul truck was on the main street in Elko. They were doing road construction and had to move all the cones for the wide truck to get through. That was a first-time excuse for being late. These trucks are typically just seen at the mine sites- not in the city!
And more Canada
The CN tower is the structure that looks like the Seattle Space Needle. This picture was taken from the conference room I was in for a few days - 38th floor. Lake Ontario is the wide open blue space beyond the buildings.
I went to a Jays game - sat on the 4th row just beyond first base!
Proof that there were Canadians there
And the Hockey Hall of Fame was in the food court below my building. I didn't go inside, but I looked at the entrance and felt like that was sufficient for me!
More Toronto
Sorry for the random pictures, but I'm trying out posting from my phone. And it works! And I can even send two pictures to be in the same post. Perhaps I'm a little behind the times, but at least I'm progressing with my technology know-how.
The glass floor at the CN tower. My two compadres were too scared to stand on it, so I took pictures with their phones for them. It's about 145 stories high - to where I'm standing I think.
The downtown financial district
Big Spender
After three weeks of eating out at restaurants for every meal or gorging myself with delicious family meals on the weekends, I finally went to the grocery store. I think I thought I was still cooking for my weekend companions because I found a lot of good recipes and bought a lot of good food. I know the only reason I went to the grocery store the week before my traveling started was to get a couple items for my excursion to the cabin. Then the week before that I think the only time I went to the grocery store was to get things again for the cabin and campout with my dad. The week before that I think I went grocery shopping just for my weekend trip to Zions (see a trend here?). The week before that I was in Nevada most of the week.
And so it's been a while since I've been home long enough to actually look for some recipes and plan meals to cook without the food going bad before I eat it. So today started off with a trip to the Salt Lake Farmer's Market. I was in search of peaches. And I bought a lot of good ones. And raspberries from Cache Valley. And a couple tomatoes and zucchini. Then I came home, looked up recipes to use these things with and started making a grocery list of the missing items. The list kept growing - thanks in part to some delicious sounding recipes like risotto and herb-butter shrimp pasta. After searching through this week's grocery ads, I had my plan of attack set up to get the best deals.
Off I went to Smiths. Then home to put everything in the freezer and fridge. Then off I went to Sunflower Market. Wow did I have fun there! I'm going back much more often. I'm happy I forgot the pesto at Smith's because I got a huge jar at Sunflower for the same price. Shrimp were on sale so I got some to freeze. And raspberries were 2/$3 for a small carton that's usally $3.50 or $4.00. They have a bulk section, so I got some rice flour to use with my zucchini fries (Tami inspired) and what's that healthy stuff - qinuoa. That was on sale too in bulk, so I got some of that to try. They even have a bulk spice section so you can get just a touch of something instead of buying a whole jar of a spice you'll use just once. They just had all sorts of great stuff at some really good prices. It was a lot of fun.
So after my three food stops, I ended up spending more in one day than I usually do in a month on food. (which also equals to about what I was spending on two days of food when I was traveling.)
So I made the delicious herb-butter shrimp pasta linguine. It was really good. You know it's good when you take a bite and think - yep. I would buy this in a restaurant. That's what I thought. It was good. But I got so caught up in making it that I forgot about the zucchini fries, so I'll have to do those another time. And then I was pretty full and satisfied, so I put off making my fruit dessert. Because I kinda want to eat it when it's super fresh.
Three choices for tomorrow's dessert:
peach gallete
raspberry lemon tart
peach-almond crisp
I think I'll make them all at some point - it's just a matter of which one to make first.
And so it's been a while since I've been home long enough to actually look for some recipes and plan meals to cook without the food going bad before I eat it. So today started off with a trip to the Salt Lake Farmer's Market. I was in search of peaches. And I bought a lot of good ones. And raspberries from Cache Valley. And a couple tomatoes and zucchini. Then I came home, looked up recipes to use these things with and started making a grocery list of the missing items. The list kept growing - thanks in part to some delicious sounding recipes like risotto and herb-butter shrimp pasta. After searching through this week's grocery ads, I had my plan of attack set up to get the best deals.
Off I went to Smiths. Then home to put everything in the freezer and fridge. Then off I went to Sunflower Market. Wow did I have fun there! I'm going back much more often. I'm happy I forgot the pesto at Smith's because I got a huge jar at Sunflower for the same price. Shrimp were on sale so I got some to freeze. And raspberries were 2/$3 for a small carton that's usally $3.50 or $4.00. They have a bulk section, so I got some rice flour to use with my zucchini fries (Tami inspired) and what's that healthy stuff - qinuoa. That was on sale too in bulk, so I got some of that to try. They even have a bulk spice section so you can get just a touch of something instead of buying a whole jar of a spice you'll use just once. They just had all sorts of great stuff at some really good prices. It was a lot of fun.
So after my three food stops, I ended up spending more in one day than I usually do in a month on food. (which also equals to about what I was spending on two days of food when I was traveling.)
So I made the delicious herb-butter shrimp pasta linguine. It was really good. You know it's good when you take a bite and think - yep. I would buy this in a restaurant. That's what I thought. It was good. But I got so caught up in making it that I forgot about the zucchini fries, so I'll have to do those another time. And then I was pretty full and satisfied, so I put off making my fruit dessert. Because I kinda want to eat it when it's super fresh.
Three choices for tomorrow's dessert:
peach gallete
raspberry lemon tart
peach-almond crisp
I think I'll make them all at some point - it's just a matter of which one to make first.
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