Computer Problems

Eric here. I tried to turn on my old laptop the other day to see if there was anything on it that I might still use and it wouldn't even boot up. Turns out the hard drive somehow got erased... so I shot it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

No these are not people in line for a soup kitchen at 4 am on a snowy morning.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. I did my first turkey! Besides grossly underestimating the cooking time we finished eating at 8, haha. I think my highlight of the evening however was the Pumpkin Chiffon Pie. It doesn't need to be baked, just forgotten about in your fridge until that lovely moment when you remember that is there. It seemed to be a hit. Believe it or not my recipes all came from Oprah's holiday cooking class on Wednesday... haha. You can get the recipes through this link or I'm including the pie one below. We hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends. We look forward to seeing most of you in a few short weeks!

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Ingredients:Serves 8

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs , separated, yolks beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
4 1/2 cups heavy cream , whipped
1 (9-inch) graham cracker crust
Shaved dark chocolate
Combine gelatin, 1/2 cup of sugar, salt, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg in a saucepan. Stir in milk, egg yolks and pumpkin. Cook over medium heat until thick. Chill saucepan in refrigerator until partially set—about 1 hour.

In a bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in 1/2 cup of whipped cream. Fold egg white mixture into filling. Pour filling into pie crust and chill for 1 hour.

Just before serving, top with remaining whipped cream and sprinkle some shaved dark chocolate on top.

Why I love my job...

This was the backseat of my car on Halloween.  Train conductor, the Hulk and Zoro.  

Season Opening

Our neighbors hauled a truckload of snow down from the mountain and had a snow boarding party in our front yard. 

This was also the night we went to Muse for Battle of the Bands to see our friend Jake play the drums.  He plays for A Band Called Riley if you want to look them up.  Don't forget the Big Gulp! :)  The last band was late late late getting the stage set up and I will tell you why...

Band name:  Hot Parents 

Genre: Dance, Techno

Set up:  PVC pipe box contsruction with stretched sheet and flood light= shadow dance box!

Favorite lyrics:  "No! NO! / Don't touch me there! / That is /my no-no square!"

This band was fun mostly because they didn't take themselves too seriously. For example, the skinny Asian guy on the keyboard and guitar was wearing a black spandex body suit with a painted white face with two small black circles on his cheeks.  He had glasses and shaglike hair to go with his black cowboy boots and would randomly go dance behind the PVC-pipe-sheet-dance-screen.  Members of the audience were invited to come and dance behind the screen that was behind the band while they played also.  Lots of people did.  Random and fun.  

Also the question of the weekend:  To cut or not to cut?

Season Opening

Our neighbors hauled a truckload of snow down from the mountain and had a snow boarding party in our front yard. 

This was also the night we went to Muse for Battle of the Bands to see our friend Jake play the drums.  He plays for A Band Called Riley if you want to look them up.  Don't forget the Big Gulp! :)  The last band was late late late getting the stage set up and I will tell you why...

Band name:  Hot Parents 

Genre: Dance, Techno

Set up:  PVC pipe box contsruction with stretched sheet and flood light= shadow dance box!

Favorite lyrics:  "No! NO! / Don't touch me there! / That is /my no-no square!"

This band was fun mostly because they didn't take themselves too seriously. For example, the skinny Asian guy on the keyboard and guitar was wearing a black spandex body suit with a painted white face with two small black circles on his cheeks.  He had glasses and shaglike hair to go with his black cowboy boots and would randomly go dance behind the PVC-pipe-sheet-dance-screen.  Members of the audience were invited to come and dance behind the screen that was behind the band while they played also.  Lots of people did.  Random and fun.  

Also the question of the weekend:  To cut or not to cut?

Pilot Valley

In October Eric, a visiting Hydrogeologist from the Czech Republic named Brutus, and I all packed up a van and ATV's to go the flattest place on earth:  

Pilot Valley, NV.  Located here:  

View Larger Map

The video is of us four wheeling across the most narrow part of those salt flats on the map.  We had to locate a few wells on the west side of the valley and collect some electromagnetic conductivity data with the EM equipment BYU had rented which we strapped on the the ATV's with bungee cords.  While going across we encountered what looked like the remains of a poor cow, from a nearby ranch, that had got caught on a hot day in the middle of the desert valley.  Even though there was a layer of mud under the salt crust it's one of the driest places in summer.  Eric's survey area seem to be plagued by dead things haha.  We set up a similar study by Utah Lake a few days before this trip located here (dead center):

View Larger Map

We went to check on the wells we had augerred the day before and in the middle of Eric's research site an old geriatric racoon decided to call it quits during the night apparently.  It made data collection not the most pleasant experience.  Especially when Eric, who is a TA for the 3D Seismic Visualization class, took everyone to the lake for some hands one instruction.  By that time the stench of this rotting animal was awful.  So awful that the professor told the class he would give extra credit to who ever removed the carcass.         These kids better get an A.                              

Good times being a geologist for a week.  SCIENCE! (whew) 

Gerbil love:  This morning Eric says, "Marge loves me more than you."  

So excited to have kids,... HA!

Provo quilting qualifications...

Sara's wedding gift and my first quilt!  Thanks for being the guinea pig buddy.  Haha.  Also, quilting for the first time in Provo is perilous.  When I would ask questions in many of the quilting fabric supply stores around town, I would get a sideways look followed by this conversation,

Q: Why are you making a quilt?

A:  For a wedding gift.  It's my first quilt.

Q:  Are you married?

A:  Yes...?

Q:  Where are your kids?

A:  Ummm... I don't have any.

Q: And you're making a quilt?

I guess I'm only half qualified.

Catching up on posts...

I took this quiz a week before the election, and the day after my history professor called Obama a marxist.  I remember looking around the classroom to find a stranger who also found this funny and to silently laugh with aaaaannnd there was no one.  Haha, the results of this quiz also made me laugh, so of course I had to add this pic from my cell phone that would have been the Nov. 4th post had I written it.  

You are a Social Moderate (50% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (20% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

A blogging disgrace

I feel like this is that moment when you realize you didn't intentionally forget to write in your journal for six months but did, except it's a blog.  The slideshow is an album of everything from our last post:  shooting Nicole's, Eric's cousin, wedding in June, trips around Utah this summer and fall, photos of food that we've made, our gerbil marge, BYU blue, research on ATV's in Pilot Valley, NV, for Eric's thesis, my first quilt (wedding gift for Miss Sara Buckwalter), Eric's guitar, Eric's sister Martha's family etc.  (Raising right hand for Girl Scout's honor):  I promise to be a better blogger.  More to come...

I made something yum this week.  I have no idea what to call it.  Here's the recipe: 

Artichoked Peppered Pasta with Chicken (?)

1 can quartered artichoke hearts drained and rinsed

fettuccine (how ever much you want) 

1lb chicken

salt and pepper

olive oil

2 cloves garlic minced

1 c chicken stock

1/4 c white wine

2 T butter

1 t basil

salt and pepper

1 tomato diced 

1 marinated canned red pepper

Marinate artichokes in a little olive oil.   Put on a pot of water to boil and salt the water generously to get the pasta going.  Prepare the chicken (breast or thigh) by brushing a grill or cast iron skillet with olive oil and season to your personal liking.  I usually salt and pepper both sides and grill.   Drizzle olive oil in a large sauce pan on medium heat.  Warm garlic for about a minute in the olive oil and add chicken stock, white wine and and butter waiting for each to reach a boil before adding the next.  Let the liquid boil off by half allowing it to reduce down to a sauce.  Season with basil, salt and pepper to taste after reducing sauce to a simmer.  Dice tomato and slice pepper into bite sized pieces, drain off the olive oil from the artichokes and add all three to the mixture.  Coat in the sauce stirring well.  Remove chicken, when cooked through, from heat and let rest five minutes.  Drain pasta and put in a large serving bowl.  Slice the chicken into bite sized pieces and incorporate it into the sauce.  Pour mixture onto fettuccine in serving bowl and gently toss.  Voila!  

In other news, Eric and I took a bite of the seductive Apple and bought a Mac.  HA!  It's great.  We walked into the store and after we walked out I had spent my entire summer wages on ONE purchase.  A year ago I was unemployed, eating ramen and cheerios and selling my plasma.  I don't think I've ever spent that much money at once.  I looked at him in horror and said, "Imagine what it will feel like to buy a house."  Three months of work to put a five year old, runs for ten minutes, melt your pants off, besides the ridiculously loud fan, laptop into high school graduation present history.  It feels good.  Eric and I don't have a TV, we usually watch our favorite shows online, so we opted for the 24" to watch movies on.  It is gimungous.  I was standing in the store asking myself if we were crazy, desperately hoping I wasn't going to have buyer's remorse.  So far so good.  Get a Mac.  They give out free iPods like planned parenthood does condoms.    

Our Family! haha

Last weekend we also went on a hike with Aden and Jaehee.  The day before I had gone to an intermediate yoga class and I thought my arms and legs were going to drop of my body.  Then we went on a four mile hike up American Fork Canyon.  Whew!  Up at the top there was snow that covered the trail and on the way back we skied down the slopes.  Jaehee and I were not equipped with Eric's size 14 shoe skis.  We weren't as graceful or adventurist as the boys: we mostly butt scooted and rolled down.  I rowed with my walking stick.  I almost survived the hike except for the stream I tried to leap across and instead slipped on the rock, broke my fall by breaking my walking stick and rolling over found my right leg dabbling in the stream barely 100 ft from the end of the trail.  As the wife of an adventurist geologist I attempt to look like I can handle the outdoors.  I thought I could delicately leap across that stream just like I thought I could mountain bike a little elementary trail recently after not riding a bike in almost ten years.  The fourth time I fell I found myself upside down in a bush after being unable to find the breaks to slow down whilst descending down a small hill.  Why couldn't I find the breaks?  In my previous fall, at the top of the hill, I was so out of it and determined to press on that I didn't notice that as I got back on the bike that the front wheel had done a complete 180 degrees and was backwards thus the breaks weren't where I thought they were.  ...I make attempts.  It makes Eric laugh at least.  That's enough for right now I think.  

Wednesday we leave for Pennsylvania to take photos for Nicole, Eric's cousin's, wedding.  We're excited.  Family in PA, the two of us, two cameras, a flash, six lenses and 10 GB.  That's a good recipe.   

Mmm breakfast: grape juice, crepes with raspberry jam and lime juice, hash browns and bacon.  It was yummy to say the least as well as smoking up the entire apartment.  Our place, especially the kitchen has no ventilation.  When boiling water the windows in the kitchen and bathroom fog up and vice versa when taking a shower.  So naturally when bacon is sizzling on the stove Eric stands at our front door and opens and closes it really fast so the fire alarm doesn't go off.  For some reason our apartment is also cursed when it comes to onions.  If you are chopping onions you are also quite possibly sucking fresh air from the open window and maniacly blinking into the breeze.  Eric has more sensitive eyes than I do so he often ops for his chemistry goggles when cooking in the kitchen.  haha.  The important thing is that just because there is poor ventilation doesn't keep us from getting in each other's way and fighting over space to cook.  It's where we like to spend most of our time.  In fact!, I made something particularly yum this week.  I have no idea what to call it.  Here's the recipe and picture: 

We have jobs.

Finally. We both have jobs, so now we both get to pay taxes. I've been busy as a teaching assistant for BYU's geology field camp class. We're doing a big mapping project where each of the students is assigned a few square miles out in the mountains west of Utah Lake and they are to make a professional style geologic map. It's actually a lot of work, but its a lot more fun when you're the T.A. and you're getting paid to go hiking in the mountains while helping the students and pushing the occasional boulder off a remote cliff. Meanwhile Sarah is working for a chiropractor. She takes care of a bunch of office stuff like scheduling appointments, doing the insurance claims, developing x-rays of spines, and most importantly-- improving the music selection on the doctors ipod which plays throughout the office. Of course, I'll probably end up paying her a visit if the geologist boulder pushing instinct in me is not soon suppressed.

Kimchi-ed

I had a job interview today. I got ready, looked professional and with my lucky interviewing bag set forth to gain employment. I thought it went really well until we were about to finish and I was asked, "Do you have a blog?" I answered yes and wanted to add, "Well sort of. It's a sorry excuse of a blog and we started it back in October when we decided to get married and have since in the past 7 months not touched it once which is really not representative of us as a couple because we are fun and adventurist, like good food and to travel and take pictures, and go to school and are busy and well, our blog is a sorry sight, or site." Literally. Indeed my possible future employer may read and enjoy my run on internal dialogue but whether or not I get the job it's high time something gets done around here.

In other news Eric started field camp today, or Geology 410, and I think he is the only TA. It should be interesting what stories he has to tell when he comes home. Being a TA has it's quirks. Last fall I remember him picking me up to go on a sushi date and while we waited for our California, Alaskan, Crispy Spicy Tuna and eel rolls, he pulls out some papers he had been grading for the intro geology class at BYU. For sure he knew the ways into my heart... having previously been an English major it was fun to look at the first efforts of freshman student writing in their first semester which were rife with run on sentences, poor grammar and non-existent sentence structure with the occasional plagiarisms from Wikipedia. Oh to be a TA. We had a good laugh and good sushi. This past weekend we went and took pictures. Eric is teaching my how to become a worthy photography assistant. Haha. It's been educational. I'll include some of our "work." We went over to Aden and Jaehee's for Bulgolgi, yum, and later, made Kimchi. Eric served his mission in Korea and it's good to have a jar or two on hand, especially when it costs half of what a jar at the grocery store would(6.99) to make.

Husband is getting home soon and because I am currently unemployed and doing BYU Independent Study at home while he is out at work this means I get to improve my domestic goddess skills. Time to make dinner. Growing up we would go home to visit Grandma Lil and Grandpa Jake in Dodgeville, WI, and there would be a huge box of pasties waiting for us from the local bakery. I'm attempting to capture the taste of childhood at grandma's house. It's proven a bit elusive. Off to adventures in the kitchen, over and out.

Sunday: taking pictures Center St Provo

Handsome husband

Living room lampshade:

Rainy Saturday: we got monopoly!

Wednesday: Springville Art Museum

Cool water windmill thingy

Tuesday: Trip with Aden to InstaCare for a broken collarbone.