then and now

yesterday I went to a 4 hour accounting review session. Count em- 1,2,3,4. Don't worry, I haven't even scratched the surface on my studying yet. Ask me why dietetics majors have to take accounting. I don't have an answer for you, besides the fact that maybe while I making up diet plans for clients I might wanna kill 2 birds with one stone and do their taxes as well?

today I started the morning with my work out, like I've been trying to do the last couple weeks... sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But anyhow, this morning on my run I caught a whiff of cigarette smoke... something that is a rarity in Utah County, and it made me think of Spain. And I missed Spain a lot... but then again, I think that happens at least once daily. In Psych this morning we talked about all things sensory and how smells are linked to memories and don't travel through your thalamus first, just go straight to your brain. I wish I could have brought a bottle of Spain smell back to America with me. Anyhow, today is class time, study for test time, and then tonight I'm gonna go see her. Stephanie Nielson is speaking at BYU and I'm pretty excited. Then, our very own Chase Baker is playing a show in Spanish Fork. All we ever do is go to his shows... Mansion 34 is the closest thing he's got to groupies and it's great.

tomorrow I work all day, then take my test on revenues, dividends, and balance statements. Godspeed to myself... oh and it's pay day! But alas... it's also rent paying day so I get to pay an arm and a leg for that, too. Yay for paying through the nose for sub-par housing. Speaking of paying through the nose... watch this week's obsession.

i like it!

anyways, this weekend is general conference and I wanna go becuase I'm only a hop skip and jump away, yet I've got no tix and no one wants to stand in line with me. Ohhh well guess I'll just lay on the couch in my pajamas and watch it with a big plate of pancakes. That actually doesn't sound half bad.

And now I'm hungry. Anita and I didn't cook yesterday due to my marathon study session... but come next week, something delicious will surely be in store!

Okay time to get on with the day so ciao for now

something fishy

"does something smell like fish?"
was the question our friends Zach and Patrick asked as they came over last night, handed us over some re-gifted brownies (only to have the girls who gave them to them show up like 2 minutes later while Kels was in mid-bite... awkward? haha)
We all started smelling the kitchen. Yes, it did indeed, smell like fish. We began the search. High low, in apron pockets, in back pockets, no fish! We looked at our two friends and accused them, too. We'd played a harmless little prank earlier in the day, and, well, we feared a fish might be their retaliation.
Ding-dong. The home teachers came over. Jordan and I talked with our home teachers while Sam and Kelsey did more sniff search. Side note: my home teacher went to Spain on his mission. I almost had a heart attack of happiness and that is no lie.
Anyhow, they left, our other friends came back (it is a constant stream on people in this apartment) and we demanded they tell us where they hid the fish. They swore they hadn't done anything to our apt, but the smell was still there, and stronger than ever.
We smelled everything, and then pinpointed the smell to the pantry, and the moment of truth came when I opened up my door and was greeted by a black liquid dripping off my shelves. All the way down. I glanced to the source... my potatoes from Idahome were rotting nicely on the top shelf, bathing in a blackish fluid I wish to never smell again, nor do I wish it upon anyone else.
We did a lot of squealing and yelling and "don't touch it!!"ing and finally worked up the bravery to dispose of the bag of lovely reds. I then used a day's worth of Clorox wipes to clean up the black puddles I had on every shelf, and then it was back to anatomy, youtube videos, and no more fishiness. Let me tell you though... this crisis was definitely no small potatoes.  ha. ha. laugh.

a big thank you goes out

to the guy who who gave me a pen and a weird look when I realized I'd lost my last one in the grass today while I was studying outside. (it was a BEAUTIFUL day and, well, I know they're numbered) Thanks, buddy. It writes nice and flow-ily

to the woman at Cafe Rio who put my dressing on the side and gave me a hefty dollop of guac when me and Morgan went out for her birthday lunch. I played fat kid and almost ate the whole thing.

to the Accounting God for miraculously allowing me to score a 4/5 on my quiz when the whole quiz was Greek to me. I will continue to hang on to a thread in that hellish class

to Brittany for letting me use her shin guards yet AGAIN for my intramural game tonight. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Shin Guards... sounds like something I read before...

to the black girl that sat across from me today in the library and yapped on the phone about how she had high levels of creatine in her kidneys. Whatever that means, well, you offered me some comic relief. Maybe I'll sit in the no "shh" zone more often. (Though I had the urge to tell her to shut it a couple of times.)

and
to this week for going really fast. Thursdays are my Fridays, and the weekend is so close I can taste it... and it tastes like a lot of sleep, work, football, and family dinner. And lots of homework. Ha. Who am I kidding. I won't do any of it.
:)

Anita & Alyssa Cook

welcome to week two
tonight I got Spanish fever, so I broke out all the veggies, the rice, and the saffron from Don Quixote's windmills. Paella was made, and it was delicious.
I halfed my recipe because it was only me and Anita, but let me tell you.... by the way we were scraping that pan, it's a good thing we didn't make the whole thing. (I mean, as fun as it is to have bucketloads of rice expanding in your stomach, I'm pretty sure it'll thank me later.)

thankfully, I did not have to de-shell any clams for this one

Vegetarian Paella
- adapted from a mix of recipes I found online
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
some mushrooms, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 c peas
jar of marinated artichoke hearts (cheating. but easier than cutting up a dang alcachofa!)
4 T garlic
3ish cups of rice (my recipe called for 400 g, I measured it all thanks to my scale I got at DI. what's up)
4 c vegetable broth
12 strands of saffron
3 T lemon juice
EVOO, of course.
uno. chop your veggies, saute them all nice and good, but not for too long
dos. boil your broth in another pot stirring in the saffron for 10 minutes
tres. add the garlic to your veggies, mix for about 2 minutes, add the tomatoes, stir for another 2 minutes.
cuatro. add rice to veggies, stirring til rice is a little translucent (whatever that means)
cinco. add your broth, stir, stir, stir, and let simmer and reduce.
seis. when the rice looks about done add the artichoke hearts and lemon juice
siete. take off burner, let rest for about 10. (if you can hardly stand waiting that long)
ocho. a comer! marvel at that badboy, then dish it up and gobble it up.

oh just writing this makes me want to make it again. Do I miss Spain or what.
And now with a full belly I can get back to my anatomy homework and all the other things I know I've forgotten about. Oh, and no major setbacks occured in the kitch today, thanks for asking.

the smell of cadaver lab

makes you not want to eat for a week. I mean, as much as I love the aroma of formaldehyde in the afternoon mixed with a little embalming agent, shaken up with a little bit of "juice" as I like to call it, it's just pretty disgusting to look at corpses.

But amid that grossness, it is REALLY cool. Seeing all the veins, muscle groups, and the mustache of my cadaver friend today made me realize how interesting the human body is. Okay, back to studying.

Life is good, my bed is comfortable, and we got our TV working yesterday, finally. I am debating on whether or not to get a flu shot, hoping someone feels like giving me tickets to gen conference in a couple weeks, and trying to track down the culprit of the stinky smell coming from the kitchen. 

That's all for now. Be back tomorrow 

Anita & Alyssa Cook

every Wednesday in Mansion 34.
It's a great tradition we implemented as of the week school started, and it is here to stay. We cook vegetarian food, have good talks about Spanish speaking countries, and laugh about something stupid I do in the kitchen that usually results in a good crisis on a weekly basis.
Anyways, so far the recipes we've made have been so. good. Therefore, I am giving birth to my brainchild, and so while I am sure everyone is sad to see Wisdom Wednesday go, well, now you may commence salivation over this week's dish.

Chickpea and Zucchini Pasta

- from Real Simple magazine

::you shall need::
- however much pasta you plan on eating
- zucchini cut up into half moon pieces
- one can chickpeas, rinsed
- crushed red pepper flakes
- salt
- 2 t garlic cloves
- 2 T olive oil
- 1/2 c parmesan cheese
1. boil your pasta, reserve about 1/4 c of the pasta water when finished cooking
2. heat pan with oil, add zucchini and saute until soft, about 5ish minutes
3. add chickpeas, red pepper flakes (add less if you like a little less fire), salt, and onion. Stir around for a good 3-4 minutes.
4. drain pasta, add a little pasta water, and 1/4 c of parmesan. Stir it all around, add your bean mixture, and then add the rest of your cheese.
5. Divide, serve, eat, and love the fact that this meal cost next to nothing.

Let me tell you friends, this dish was good. Crisis of the week? The fact that the pasta pot's handle was loose, and I spilled all the noodles onto the counter when the handle decided to spin. Whatever, though. I just scooped up all those noodles off the super clean counter, and we ate.

5 second rule. just kidding

Anyways, that is the food. Life is going good, Accounting may or may not be the death of me and my GPA, and I had my first intramural soccer game today. I have no idea why I stopped playing soccer... it was kind of a dumb move on my part, but whatever we're back in it!!

And that is life. hasta luego.

twenty minute time kill

I discovered nectarines the other day. They're delicious and I don't know why I never ate them before.
International Cinema is becoming my home, seeing as I have to watch bucketloads of movies for my Spanish Lit class. (Which may or may not main me. I can't tell yet) Last night I saw Il Postino, and it made me miss Italy a lot, and wish I didn't have food poisoning when I was there. Pity. Guess I'll have to go back? The friends and I went to Slumdog Millionaire the other day, too. I cried. I don't cry. Basically I came to the conclusion that I need to go to India... but til then I will just get my culture dose from IC.
I posted it as my facebook status the other day, but I just can't get how funny this is. BYU is having a mustache contest for one of their fall festivals, and the winner of contest gets a discounted engagement ring. Oh BYU. 
It's getting to be fall and I like it. I can finally make pumpkin bread and cookies and cakes and whatever the heck else I want and it will feel seasonal and delicious. I can't wait for the leaves to change and the air to start getting crisp. (And I can't wait to break out the cardigans and my Uggs. Oh, how my feet miss the Uggs!)
Anatomy may just kill me. I am scared. I had lab yesterday, and basically I have to memorize every single crevice of the human skeleton. Ask me in a couple days, and maybe  I will be able to tell you where the cilca tursica is. Maybe. Hey, people have passed the class before, right? Right?
Winco has come to Utah and the bulk section makes me want to jump for joy and buy all their dried fruit. I love it.

Fin.

what I did on labor day.

no labor. that is for sure.
the homework was kept to a minimum. and I did this stuff instead
1. Kneaders. Unlimited french toast for 5 bucks was delicious, and everyone at BYU thought the same, so we ended up eating ours on the pavement of the drive thru. Don't worry, it was still fantastic. And because I am a fatty I out ate everyone. Skinny friends suck! (but I still like them)
2. Soccer. We had a little pick up game, and I slipped and slided all over in my turf shoes, which are not made for grass. Intramurals start next week and our girls' team is going to dominate.
3. Bicycle. After way too many months without the clanking of my old chain, I retrieved my rusty 10 speed from Grandma's garage, paid way too much to get it fixed up a little, and was happy to have a hobby again. Silver Bullet, I missed you.
4. BBQ. Sam's family graciously invited us over for some hamburgers and the like, only too bad I don't eat hamburgers. Don't worry- I had cheese on a hamburger bun.
5. Charlotte Russe. We did a little retail therapy and I got a new sweater. Too bad it's still a good 85 degrees outside.
6. Homework. Okay, the day is ending with a little bit of those things I shouldn't have kept til the end of the week, but I did anyways.
Oh well :) Anyways, looks like it's time to go put all my white pants away, and here's to only 3 days of class this week and Boise this weekend to see Miss Morales become Mrs. Cole.
Til next time, and Happy Birthday, Mom.
Oh, and here are some great vids for your viewing pleasure. Basically we've been obsessed with them all week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZKXAFqdlC4&feature=related
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrWu13Uh2Yw&feature=related

welcome to the mansion

in the location I have coined Mt. Everest. There is nothing like coming home at the end of a long day and being warmly greeted by 6.5 sets of stairs. I will have fabulous thighs by the end of the year... at least that is the plan.
And don't worry- I have only almost burned the place down once.... note to self: don't try to make breadcrumbs in the oven. Just buy them. If you do though, make sure to time them. If you don't and end up burning them to something resembling charcoal, make sure to take them out of the oven. The billows of smoke contained inside don't just go away.
Anyways, meet the family & come visit.