End of Spring Break

What a glorious week. I'm still basking in the beauty of sleeping til 8:00 am everyday, only working two days and our fun filled weekend. *Happy sigh*

Friday Justin and I went to the Provo Temple with his old mission president and his wife along with about 20 other Brasilia returned missionaries. President Aidukaitis is now a general authority in the Quorom of the Seventy. He is amazing. So full of love and genuine kindness. His wife is so sweet and only had kind words and a huge bear hug for me. The temple session was great and we left feeling so lifted and enlightened.

Saturday was Justin's birthday! I wanted to make it special but Justin doesn't like people to fuss over him and hates being the center of attention. Instead of doing something grand, I tried to do things that he loved loved loved doing. So we started out the day by eating breakfast at Pancake House. Then we went to the Einfeldt's house to work on this road bike. Afterwards I told him to go to the Field House to play soccer with all the foreigners while I wrapped presents and filled our apartment with 71 balloons and bright blue streamers (his two fave colors). After he got home we went to a Mexican Market and picked up some Brasilian goodies. We took our brand new climbing gear and went to Momentum in Sandy for some rock climbing. Now we are seriously considering getting a summer membership so we can go more than once a week. After rock climbing we ate way too much churrasco at Braza Grill, his favorite Brasilian restaurant.
Yup, those are the things I knew he would love, so I made sure his day was great!

Sunday I put together a huge Brasilian dinner for my family and my Aunt Cathy and Grandma. Unfortunately, there are no pictures which I can brag to you about how amazing I am for making all this food. Instead I'll just have to brag verbally. The menu?

Appetizers:
Pao de Queijo (which my family started calling Cheese Biscuits to make me mad)

Dinner:
Salad Braslian Style
A beef stew dish I learned from Alice in Brasilia with bacon, bell pepper, onion, carrot and tomato
Black Beans (not from cans, mind you, these were the real deal)
Pinto Beans (for sure not from a can)
Vinagrete (an amazing tomato, onion, pepper mix with vinegar, oil and sugar)
Farofa (a manjoica flour sauteed with carrots and fried banana)

Drinks:
Braslian Limeade
Guarana

Dessert:
Passion Fruit Mousse

Though definitely not as good as the food I ate in Brasil, it was comparable. It will be a long time til I do this again. The beans alone took 5 hours of simmering and I cooked for a grand total of 6 hours hands-on. All and all, it was fantastic and I am amazing. :)

Start of Spring Break

We were pretty much burned out by the time last Friday rolled around. Allergic reaction to eye drops, three days at work with no break, five exams and three late night cram sessions made for a hellish week. This is Justin's organic chemistry write-up, which accurately portrays how much he cared by the end:So on Sunday we jetted down to southern Utah for a much needed break. My girlfriend and her husband were nice enough to let us crash in their baby's room for the two nights we stayed here. Charise is such a cutie. Her new baby, Jax, is even more adorable.
Monday we hiked Angel's Landing which left me so sore I could barely walk.Tuesday we got up early and hiked the three Emerald Pools.

What's next? On Friday Elder Aidukaitis and his wife are flying in from Argentina to do a temple session with the Brasilia returned missionaries. Saturday is Justin's birthday and this year it's gonna rock. More to come...

Lentil Soup

I am an on-again-off-again health freak. Lately I'm on the health freak thing. Luckily my husband is super patient and never complains. Sometimes I wonder if he gets sick of it though. The problem is that I'm like my father. In theory I'm all about eating healthy, exercise, blah blah blah... But the truth is that I'm a french-fry-a-holic and that I love comfort foods. At least I can balance it out with a love for asparagus, beets, brussel sprouts and spinach along with an obsession with anything ethnic.

Anyway, this is my absolute favorite healthy vegetarian recipe that I thought I would share. Justin also loves it, which is saying A LOT for someone who sometimes is as picky as a 5 year old. Warning though, I NEVER measure when I cook so some of these are going to be off.

Red Lentil Curried Soup:

About 1/2 cup chopped carrots
About 1/2 cup chopped celery
About 1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
1 sweet potato peeled and chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger (I use fresh)
2 splashes soy sauce
2-3 TB curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp tumeric
Enough chicken or vegetable stock to fill the pot 2 inches above level of contents
1 lb. red lentils
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Sautee first 3 ingredients in olive oil for about 5-10 minutes in large stock pot. Add rest of ingredients except lentils, coconut milk and cilantro. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Taste and adjust spicing if needed. Add lentils. Simmer for about 35-40 minutes until lentils are cooked all the way through. Add coconut milk and cilantro. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

It takes a while to make, but so worth it with all the vitamin A you're getting as well as a healthy, filling warm meal. Love love love it!!

A new take on pan handling

Yesterday we got Jamba Juice for my sore throat. Saw this dude on our way home. Definitely made our day.

Favorites of the week

I did this a few years ago when my girl-BFF left for her mish to Manchester. So, I'll copy it and do it over again in honor of my favorite Evelyn whom I dearly miss and can't wait for her return in May. I might just wet my pants when she comes home (especially if she's picked up a smashing British accent.)

Favorite things of the week:

Breakfast- ice cold grapefruit. Man on man do I love grapefruit!

Music- I'm really loving Alicia Key's "Element of Freedom" album. Everytime I listen it just gets better and better. Especially "Love is Like the Sea"

Clothing- My black Stoic fleece is my new bestie. It never lets me down and I love the ginormous hood.

Water source- when I posted this in 2008 I wrote "filtered water from the water cooler at work" and this has not changed. HPC spa water is simply the best.

Deal- Sadly, I do not shop very much anymore. But on Valentine's Day Justin's employer, Backcountry.com did an employee deal where you could get climbing shoes AND harness for $45 so we bought two of them. Usually shoes alone run about $100-$300 so we lucked out.

Saying- Any contemporary term for pregnant. It drives my sister, Caroline, crazy to hear people say "preggers" "prego" etc. So it's funny to me.

Political- Health Care Reform. What a joke on all sides of the issue.

TV- US hockey beating Canada. And the closing ceremonies. Loved it!

School- My kinesiology class is the bomb. I love learning about injuries and prevention and rehabilitation mixed with advanced anatomy. It's so great.

Smell- I bought some candles from Bath and Body Works. Pineapple and Caribbean margarita. They smell amazing and make it seem less wintery in the house.

Anatomy- I'm in love with legs. It's what sets us apart from 90% of the animal kingdom. Being bipedal is amazing. I have always loved Sartorius and Rectus Femoris, but Fibularis Tertius and Biceps Femoris are starting to really grow on me.

Social- last weekend we had a blast snowshoeing with Marianna and Brandon then playing Wii Mario Brothers. I only fell in the stream once and Justin only face planted once. Haha.

Possession- I really like our Subaru. It's nice having a gutsy outdoor car that is fuel efficient.



And here are some pictures of Evelyn for your enjoyment.