Bragging Moment

I am a cooking guru. Seriously. My Mother-in-Law told me so last night.

So next time you (or I) doubt my abilities. Remember. Mother knows best. :)

...that song will surely be stuck in my head now...

A National Disaster

It has come to my attention that a travesty has occurred in our country.

I CAN'T FIND FULL FAT YOGURT ANYWHERE!!!!

Seriously. What is with that?!

I hate America. Go control yourselves so that those of us who aren't obese can still eat the things we like. (Yes, I'm still hurting over the loss of super-size fries. Yes, I could order 2 large fries...but I'm American, so I'm lazy).

But really, I can't make proper indian food without full fat yogurt. Do you know what happens when you put low fat yogurt into curry? It curdles!

How do you get that perfectly creamy texture? You use full fat yogurt, that's how.

So I cannot make proper ethnic foods which creates a decline in the "melting pot" that America prides itself on being.

The first candidate who can get me full fat yogurt, Republican or Democrat, gets my vote. (And I'm registered to vote now).

Ready go!

Also, if anyone else locates it at a grocery store in the Provo/Orem area, PLEASE let me know. Thank you. :)

Yummy Bread for Me! ...And Andrew I guess.

In Japan, I ate this wonderful bread called "shokupan". My favorite descriptive word for this is "fuwa fuwa" which is the "sound" that something fluffy makes. Japanese are funny. :)

Anyhow, the bread is just that, soft and fluffy.

This weekend, I tried a new recipe from this month's Cook's Illustrated magazine. It was for cinnamon raisin bread (which I love and have not had in years) and best of all, the base that they used was a recipe for shokupan!

That picture was taken just after it came out of the oven. I wasn't supposed to slice into it for 2 hours after that and by that point, I didn't think to take pictures so sorry you can't see the interior. I wish you could because it was beautifully marbled with cinnamon and it made the BEST toast! We already ate both loaves. Seriously.

It was an all day process but it was worth it. I started at 10am and finished baking at 5pm. If I had a slightly larger kitchen, it might have gone a tad bit faster and I am sure it will go faster now that I know what I'm doing. Yep. I'll definitely be making this one again.

I'd post the recipe here but I'm too lazy to type it out and I doubt any one is actually going to undertake this bread anyhow. If you do want the recipe though, I will consider typing it up for you because I love you. Just kidding, I do, but I already promised my mom I would e-mail it to her so while I'm at it I can put it up here. Only if someone out there wants it though. =P

EDIT: Well, since I already typed it up. Here is the link to the google doc. =P

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

If At First You Don't Succeed, Fall On Your Butt Again.

Remember that time that I went skiing?

Probably not, because the last time I went was almost 2 years ago and at that point, I had faked a dislocated knee 10 minutes in and spent the rest of the night in the lodge. In my defense, I HAD dislocated my knee...I just had also happened to have relocated it and pretended it still hurt.

aaaaaaaaaanyhow. That was almost 2 years ago.

This:

was yesterday.

Yep. Yesterday I went skiing again. Sometimes, when you are married, you do things you really don't want to do just for the sake of your husband. It just so happened that this weekend, he could find no other skiing buddy except for me and so I had to put on my brave face for him.

Let's not think that Jessica is a completely loving and selfless human being. I was extremely conflicted all week and nearly bailed several times. In fact, I nearly bailed at the resort too, but Andrew is a wonderful husband and even though he's far and above my skiing level, he stuck with me and helped me each step of the way. And to be honest, I kind of DID want to go.

If I got nothing more out of the day than a bruised tailbone and a sense of pride that I was able to face my fears (with many tears and shaking legs) for my husband, then it would be worth it. But I did get more out of the day. I got to see just a little bit of something that Andrew really really loves and I have a greater appreciation for it.

Will I go again? 

Probably only if they can design a way for me to fly up the slope and skip the whole stupid lift thing. I never fell on the slope...just getting off the lift. It is not my friend.

But it was fun. :)

And we got a popcorn sized bucket of fries. Who can complain about that?! It might have been worth the lift ride. =P

Slow Cooker Chocolate Cake

Due to popular demand, here is the recipe for chocolate cake.

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) Betty Crocker SuperMoist Chocolate Fudge cake mix
• 1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 4 whole eggs
• 1 cup water

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 cup mik chocolate chips

Directions

1. 1Spray a 4 quart slow cooker with cooking spray or grease inside with butter/margarine/crisco
2. 2In a large bowl, add the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, oil, and sour cream and beat until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. 3Pour mixture into the slow cooker and cook on high for 1 hour, then turn down to low and cook for 3  more hours or until cake is set. Every slow cooker cooks at a different speed so make sure to check it at 4 hours. The cake will still be moist but not soggy.If you can, remove pot from slow cooker so cake does not continue cooking, or unplug.
4. 4Dish up big scoops from the pot and serve warm with warmed fudge topping or Hersheys syrup, a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and nuts!

NOTE: Every slow cooker is different. My slow cooker cooks at a higher heat than my mom's apparently so I would highly recommend frequent cake checks toward the end of the cooking time to avoid over cooking.

Happy Commercial Holidays!

I don't really believe in Valentines day, or rather, I don't believe in celebrating it. I mean, why should I make a huge deal out of something I'm supposed to do every day anyhow?

Oh, because I get food. That's why.

For me, Valentines day is just an excuse to eat things that I normally don't. An excuse to make waffles in the morning. And an excuse to eat chocolate cake. An excuse to buy Filet Mignon at the store and cook it up.

So it's not Valentines day, but that's the reason Filet Mignon was on sale and also the reason we bought it. We cooked it up tonight because we have more time tonight than we will on Tuesday, and also because well, we wanted to eat it today.

Yes, I know you're jealous. I have steak and the most amazing husband and a nice camera. It's ok though, life is not perfect. My kitchen is too small to actually back up enough to get the whole meal into the frame with my 200-300mm macro lens.

The funny story? After I ate this steak, I realized that I have a shorter macro lens. =P Oh well. Live and learn.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go serve myself up some ooey and gooey chocolate cake from the crockpot. :)

Portfolio Potentials. I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

Ok everyone, in about a month and a half, my portfolio for admission to the BYU Photography Program is due! I need everyone's help choosing 10 photos to submit. Remember, my fate rests on these photos so if you could kindly let me know which of these pictures you like best, and if at all possible, WHY (I don't care if you know nothing about photography), please let me know!

Also, if you think one of the photographs could be better than it is, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me. You don't have to be technical, "brighter colors" tells me what I can do to fix it.

This is going to be a long process for me and I'll be updating with all the new pictures I take between now and the deadline. Eventually, I hope to have all these in a Google+ album and/or *gulp* on facebook (yeah I deleted that, but I might have to reactivate it for a little while) so that as I add pictures, you can keep up with it. I will let you know when that happens. I NEED input so you will be helping me SO much!

EDIT: HERE IS THE G+ link!

I numbered all the photographs so that when you comment, it is easier to identify. The corresponding numbers are found below each photograph.

Thanks everyone!

PS. For easier, streamlined viewing, you can click on a photo and view all of them (except the last one, which won't load for some reason) side by side in the G+ lightbox. The numbers in there should correspond with the numbering system here, as well.

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It's An Up and Down Adventure

There is probably a good reason that the "life is a roller coaster" metaphor has become more than cliche. It's because it is true.

A while back I posted that we owed taxes.  That was a simple post that didn't give you the full effect of what I was feeling at the time. I'm still not gonna give you the full story because that is a sob story if I ever heard one. Trust me...LOTS of tears.

But time heals all wounds and now I think I'm back on the upswing.

The basics are that yes, we owe taxes. Quite a bit more than we expected. There is still the matter of the clutch that we need to replace in our faithful car AND the fact that I was silly (read: "stupid") and counted my chickens before they were hatched. Counting on getting a refund from the government, I went against my best judgement and a let Andrew buy a new pair of skis before we filed our taxes.

Don't be like me, people. If there is anything I've learned from this, it is that nothing is guaranteed.

But moving on past my stupidity, I'm trying to look at the bright side. You might think there could be no bright side to owing the government money...and there really isn't. But there is a bright side to the situation in general.

To start with, lets look at our blessings. Andrew and I have been IMMENSELY blessed since we were married. We went from a couple that couldn't even afford an engagement ring, to being able to support ourselves independently. 

There is a good reason we owe taxes. I don't get taxes taken out of my BYU paycheck as long as I'm a full time student, and Andrew got 2 semesters worth of pell grants last winter semester. With that extra money we were able to purchase our own car insurance after getting in a car accident soon after we were married, pay of the doctors bills from my surgery, and put some money in savings.

That money was untaxed and so like I said, there is a good reason we owe this year, so I can't be mad. In fact, I can only be thankful that we were so blessed last year to have such an abundance.

Another thing I'm grateful for is that we do have money in savings. Often, I tend to look at the smaller picture and grump about the fact that we've never been able to achieve our savings goal because of all the unexpected, large expenses that come up. However, if I look at the larger picture, we've always been able to cover those expenses and keep a decent amount still in the account. 

Are there habits we can change? Yes. Could we have more in savings? Of course! But the point is that we have that cushion and this year is no different, we have the money to pay our taxes without creating an awful burden on our finances.

That brings me to what I was thinking about this afternoon. Obviously, taxes are going to leave a huge dent in our savings account. It's not the neverending supply of money that we all wish we had. Some things need to change in our spending so that we don't get into real trouble.


Some things need to be sacrificed. With Andrew not working weekends anymore, I had hoped that we could take more weekend photography trips to places like Bryce Canyon and Zion's. With the clutch near ground out, we're kind of stuck here, and with having to fix it, we won't have the money to travel. I'm learning patience.

We communicate more and we communicate better. Don't get me wrong, Andrew and I always talk. But you would be surprised at how a conversation about finances can quickly turn into a conversation in which we both share our hopes and dreams for our future, and then we feel closer together. If you don't buy that, it just makes both of us feel better about life because we know the other one has our back and we know that we value each others thoughts, needs, and opinions more than we do that new pair of skis or new camera lens. The money is ours and the goals are ours too.

This whole situation has made me really look at our priorities. We've been trying to get out of debt for a while now but now I realize how much more we could have if our money was ours. Don't get me wrong, we only have about 8,000 dollars in debt. Not bad for 2 full time college students.

It doesn't look like we'll be out of debt on the exact timeline I set for us, but we're trying our best and that's all the Lord has ever asked of us so really, it should be good enough for me. We're on our way, and we are not trapped. The debt was necessary, but we control our debt, not the other way around.

We have to be creative now with our spending. Gas isn't as high as it COULD be, but its not as low as it was either. We have to find ways to drive as little as possible (something difficult given that we both love to drive). This means more time spent at home, or within walking and biking distance. Luckily for us, Provo is fairly pedestrian/bike friendly and the weather is mostly cooperative. It could be worse, we could live in Arizona where you can't survive outdoors but you can't afford to survive indoors either. =P

There are expenses that can be cut out altogether, like eating out. Lucky for me, I love to cook. We decided that from now on, when we get a craving, instead of going out and satisfying it immediately, we put it on the week's grocery list and we'll try to make it together. It teaches both of us patience, and saves us money we would have spent at the restaurant. This also helps us to spend more quality time together and to learn something new together.

I've found that when you're married, working part or full time, and going to school, date nights are far more difficult to come by than when you were single. You live with your spouse, you see them all the time. While you don't mean to, you do start to take them for granted. More appropriately, you begin to take the time spent with them for granted. Even if you have a whole weekend, it is hard to do something special when you have laundry and other errands to do. On top of all that, sometimes its hard to make the extra effort to do something out of the ordinary.

Since we need to be creative with our spending, this almost automatically makes date nights more exciting. Activities now seem to present themselves almost as easily as "dinner and a movie" used to. I've also found that reading the school newspaper can give me a lot of ideas. The Friday paper always has several 2 for 1 specials advertised so Andrew and I can still afford to go out.


All in all, while finances are tight and times are hard, they are quite possibly the most magical they will ever be and I'm grateful for all my blessings in disguise. :)

And if you're wondering what the bold phrases are, they are my blessings. :)

My Hand Smells Like Chili

Last time my hand smelled like chili, I was so hungry I wanted to eat it. Right now I'm at home so I can eat whenever I want so I'm in no danger of self inflicted canabalism today. Thank goodness right?

The reason that my hand smells like chili is because, you guessed it, I'm making chili. I'm cutting it a lot closer than I would like, I was supposed to have it in the crockpot no later than noon, but it went in at 1 instead because I was lazy and didn't get out of bed til 9:30, at which point I put bacon in the oven, and got back in bed. Then I proceeded to not get out of bed until the bacon was burned beyond recognition. Whoops.

Anyhow, the missionaries are coming over for dinner at 5 so I'm hoping and praying that the chili is done. It DID say 4-5 hours on high so at least it will have 4 hours...

In other news, Andrew got new skis today. He's excited and now we have to sit down and make a financial plan so we know how and when we can afford his bindings. We were not counting on owing taxes...clearly.

In other other news, my new filter came. It works like its supposed to, but it leaves a purple cast to all the photos that I cannot fix in lightroom. So either I start taking vintage photos, or I give up on the filter. Oh well, it was 16 dollars for a reason. I'm still tempted to try to return it and get a set of 60 inch reflectors instead. Those at least come with 45 5 star reviews for the 10 dollars I would spend on them and they would definitely come in handy since I'm doing an anniversary shoot in a couple weeks.

My friends "hired" me to take some pictures for their anniversary. I've been looking forward to it for weeks now and I'm brimming with ideas. I met up with her and we planned out what shots we definitely want to try and discussed locations and stuff. I'm super super excited. And by hired I clearly meant I'm totally doing it for free.

Speaking of photography, last week, our friends Kaylynne and Jared came over and we played Pandemic. We love Pandemic, if you have not played it, you are missing out and highly suggest you locate a copy ASAP. Anyhow, that game is HARD but together, we achieved the previously unachievable. We irradicated one of the diseases.

Trust me. This NEVER happens. So I had to document the momentous occasion. Ignore the camera shake...I forgot to set the self timer to negate it. Sad day, it was an epic picture otherwise. The other picture is just a picture that I took in class the other day and thought was cool. The unfortunate thing is...I took them at ISO 800. BLAH.

There Are Only 2 Things in Life You Can Be Sure Of

Death and Taxes.

I can officially die now, because I OWE taxes this year.

It's like a milestone or something and I can officially move on to the next thing.