Category Archives: me

cooking class

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For years I have thought it would be fun to take a cooking class. I’ve taken cake decorating, but never cooking. I don’t know why, but they really intimidate me. Actually, any class where I don’t know anyone intimidates me, but I just power through it, I guess.

Well, yesterday I’m in Whole Foods (I love this store and am so happy that for the three weeks I’m in California, it’s just across the street…but that’s another post for another day) picking up some things for lunch and happen to see the class schedule. And, to my delighted surprise, the class yesterday was a souffle class; something I have never attempted before because they scare the crap out of me.

Before I could even think about it (because I wouldn’t have done it if I had), I signed up and paid for the class. The rest of the day gave me time to get both excited and nervous. By about 6:45 (15 minutes before the class started) I was ready to just forfeit the money, but then I got over that and headed over to Whole Foods (a couple of minutes late…didn’t want to be the first person there).

It was absolutely lovely. There were only for of us; a mom, her son, an attorney, and me (oh, and the instructor). It took a second before we all warmed up to one another, but warm up we did, and soon we were all moving, stirring, whipping, chopping, etc., etc. And I learned a great, new folding technique that ensures much less flattening of the egg whites (the key to souffles is air…thus the name “souffle” which means “breath” in English).

With a little over two weeks here, mainly on my own (I’m house-sitting for my sister), I have every intention of taking a few more classes. If I get really daring, I may even take one that doesn’t involve baking (regular cooking, where you have to season things and can improvise, is not my strength).

Of course, me being me, I didn’t hesitate to ask if I could take pictures, so here they are. All of the recipes are on Epicurious.com. If I have a little more time, I will link them in later.

Gruyere and Parmesean

Orange (absolutely divine)
Strawberry with a strawberry and rhubarb garnish (totally fat-free)

Bittersweet Chocolate (a fabulous death by chocolate – obviously, as a total chocolate addict, this was my favorite…although I really enjoyed all of them)

did i ever tell you…

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about my crazy trip to Spokane to spend 2o-hours with a Canadian I met online?

about running with bulls in Pamplona?

about the time I went cliff jumping at Lake Powell and belly flopped from 25 feet?

about my sister’s attempt to feather my hair (with scissors) when I was 7 and she was 10 while my mom was on one of her girlfriend trips to Europe?

about my first real kiss (and just how old I was)?

about being an exchange student in Belgium?

about the time Justin and I (at the ripe young ages of 7 and 8) got lost while walking back to our condo from Lappert’s (the ice cream shop in Princeville)?

that my sister and I still speak Gibberish when we don’t want people to understand us…and we’re both in our thirties?

about the time my bag was stolen in Barcelona?

about the time when I was a tattoo artist (okay…it was only permanent makeup)?

about how I went to beauty school after I graduated college to become an esthetician?

about the time when I went diving with sharks (just little reef sharks), or the ship wreck I got to explore?

about winning an award for a paper I wrote in my Honors English class about when my mom died?

about the time I sang back up for Paul Anka?

about the time I ate a caterpillar?

that we used to have a half-pipe in our backyard?

about the time I hit a gypsy in Rome?

about the time I got on a train from Lisbon to Madrid without a ticket and thought it would be a good idea to try and hide from the ticket agents?

that I would still go t.p.-ing when I was a sophomore in college?

about the one (and only) time I shoplifted?

about tracking grizzly bears in Yellowstone?

about the time I got my dad’s Pathfinder so stuck that we had to leave it and come back the next day to dig it out?

about bursting into tears while discussing sexual transgression during a religion class my freshman year? (the tears and topic were unrelated, but it was pretty funny)

that I often reflect on my life and wonder why I have been so blessed, even with all of the hard stuff?

please stay tuned…

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I’m alive. I promise. I just have lots going on. But here are a few quick updates…because I keep forgetting to share them.

  1. The trip to Africa is not happening…for various reasons, the main one being our school (the one we support) in the Congo is about to lose their meeting place (a little shack where school is held), so at this point raising money is much more important than traveling over there. But my shots were not in vain because they are all good for at least two years, so when we go next year, which is the plan, I am fully vaccinated.
  2. I started training my replacement this week. I don’t think I’m very good at training someone to do what I do. Part of it is that I am a pretty intuitive person. Part of it is that my brain moves from subject to subject so quickly that I can’t just teach her one thing without interrupting myself 25 times. And part of it is that there is just so much to learn and do. The good news? Only eight more days of work and they are sure to go by quickly with everything I have to teach the New Girl.
  3. I lost 5.4 lbs last week. Which is great since the week before I gained .8. Do you love how I share the drop, but didn’t mention the increase?
  4. My summer plans are falling into place…I just have no idea how I’m going to pay my bills. It looks like I will be spending my summer bouncing between my siblings. I’m really excited to have a “break” before school starts and to be able to work on Sowers stuff in a big way, along with a new opportunity that looks to be both lucrative and great for the resume. I’m sure things will work out financially…isn’t that what student loans are for?
  5. I have not been running like I should, but will be shortly (I’ve had a cold for almost two weeks). In order to ensure this, I’m running Wasatch Back, entered in the lottery for St. George, about to sign up for the Hobble Creek Half and definitely running the Las Vegas full. If I get in to St. George, I will be running two marathons in the space of two months. It should be a good time.

I think that’s it on the updates. I have more posts coming, but I have a serious case of “I can’t write anything because I have so much to say and can’t figure out where to start or how to say it”. So until that goes away, this will have to do.

the death of an experience

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Yes, that’s how I feel about it. I want to experience everything. If an experience is in the realm of possibility in my world, I want to have it. This is one of my many diseases…maybe the worst one. Anyway, this whole decision process has been awful. The reason being, whereas I feel like either option would be fine, one would be an entirely new experience, the other would not be.

You would think that would have made it easy, but as in so much of my life, often what I want is not what is best for me. I don’t want to wax too philosophical or spiritual (I am both, but I choose not to be Chez Blog), but after much soul searching and every attempt to feel really good about going to Vanderbilt, I just couldn’t make it feel right. I don’t know if any of you have had similar experiences, but it’s very frustrating. And I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Well, if you want to go to Vanderbilt, you should just go there.” If only it were that easy in my world.

Vanderbilt would have afforded me lots of opportunities. They have an amazing program. Over the weekend I met some people with whom I hope to stay in contact, even after telling them that I’m not going to be in their class. I fell in love Nashville. I’m not sure why I applied to Vanderbilt in the first place, which only added to my desire to go there; like it was meant to be. On some level, I think it was, in the sense that this whole process has made me grow in ways I had not expected.

Last night, I was still not totally decided. Or maybe I was, and have been for months, but I wasn’t ready to let go of the experience. And I wasn’t super excited about staying here. Maybe that’s a little bit of an understatement. And if this school in P-town is where I feel like I should be, shouldn’t I be happy about it? Shouldn’t I be excited? Shouldn’t it feel like the best choice ever? Shouldn’t that experience be just as enticing as the one at Vandy?

I guess not. I think that the instant gratification expectations inherent to our society make it so that people often don’t understand making a decision based on anything other than what they want right in that moment. I could be wrong, but it seems like a plausible theory. I could list all of the pros and cons (yes, there was a list…and it was long and uber detailed), but at the end of the day, it wasn’t about the list (it was pretty much sixes anyway), it was about what felt right.

In any case, I am staying in P-town. It’s official. I paid my deposit and “signed on the dotted line” so to speak. (It was really just a bunch of clicks of the mouse, but you get the idea). I am still going to avoid naming the actual school on here…I don’t want it to be easily searched…but I am planning/hoping to do some blogging for the program. It will be in a different location, and this blog will be put on the back burner. I have a feeling things are going to get pretty crazy.

Oh, and for those of you who missed out on what I will be doing in school, I am going to be earning an Masters of Business Administration, concentrating in marketing, and emphasizing in how to remain sane as single, thirty-something, female in Happy Valley. It should make for some interesting “Dear Yous” over the course of the next two years…yes, those will not be going anywhere.