My Favorite Tune to Run to...

is the Glee Cast cover of Beck's "Loser."

The beat is nice and lazy.

I am nice. Also, I am lazy.

Which makes me think that this song is perfect for me.

(Except, I don't think I'm a loser.)

What's Cookin', Wednesday?

Summer is garden season, y'all. At my house, we have one. Nothing is better than garden tomatoes, but since those aren't ready, let's go for zucchini. Mmmmmm... yummy plain, yummy sauteed, yummy in bread, yummy, yummy.

Know what else is yummy? Chocolate cake. Know what's yummy in chocolate cake?

Zucchini.

Like, for reals.

Which brings me to...

This Week's Kitchen Adventure:

Chocolate and Zucchini Cake [recipe found here]

I've made zucchini bread before (PS. it's delicious!), but I wanted something a bit more dessert-ish this time to make Rick happy. He has a terrible sweet tooth, as you can see by his blog. So, I was a-surfin' the net, and what should I find, but a blog called Chocolate & Zucchini?!! Surely they would have something dessert-ish with a title like that. Yessiree-bob, they did!

Then I thought, "Well, hey! I've got zucchini in the garden. Heaps of it. I won't have to go to the grocery store this time, cos I've got all the stuff at home." Turns out I had to go buy eggs anyway. You can't grow those in gardens. Just so's you know. Cos eggs come from chickens, see? All we have is my little brother's puppy and a couple of fish. Useless things.

This is our zucchini patch:

This is a zucchini before you pick it:

Cool, huh?!

Important!! Slice zucchini in half length-wise and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds before you grate it. I got halfway through grating it when I realized what a mistake it was to skip that step. (Which, by the way, they did not tell me to do in the recipe, but I should've known to do it anyway.) It wasn't my fault though! I was watching Gerry Butler sing his guts out in Phantom of the Opera, and I was kinda distracted at the time. But I quickly mended my ways.

It should look like this before you grate it:

In the recipe, it says you can substitute oil for butter, which I did. I wish I hadn't. I know it would've been better if I had used the butter. But I forgot to put the butter out to soften, and did I want to unwrap it and nuke it for a few seconds in the microwave? No, I did not. That's how lazy I am. However! I was innovative in other areas. My brother had a bag of white chocolate chips that he let melt into a lump in his car. Silly boy. So I stuck it in the freezer, pulled it back out, chopped it up, and used those instead of plain chocolate chunks. Mostly because I didn't have plain chocolate. 

Also, for whatever reason, I didn't have a 10-inch pan, nor did I have an 8 1/2-inch square pan, so I used a half sheet pan, and cut the cake into small squares. It only took 20 minutes to bake (instead of the 30-40 minutes estimated for the other pan sizes), but I think you could bake it for as little as 15 minutes. It was a little dry when I tasted it. Partly because of the no-butter thing, and partly because of how long I baked it. But after I covered it, it moistened up a bit. And the white chocolate in it was RAD.

Super delicious, folks! You can't even tell there is zucchini in there. Not in the texture, not in the taste. Next time, I think I'll add a 1/4 cup more cocoa, or melt up some semi or bittersweet chocolate and mix it in. I would've made frosting, but I didn't have the stuff for it. Plus, I'm technically trying to stay away from sugar and sweets, but I ate like seven pieces last night (not to mention all the junk I ate at Matt's wedding). Hello six-mile run today!! 

Yeah. I know. The girl who used to DIE during the mile-run in junior high and high school picked up running this summer. What has the world come to? I run almost every day now. I ran six miles on Monday. Ran three yesterday. And my slightly protruding zucchini-chocolate-cake-cream-puff-mint-brownie tummy is saying six miles is definitely on the menu for this morning. 

I sure hope this cake is gone 

by the time I get home from that jog.

Face to Face

Inspired by dialogues between Steve and Dog at Gloria Rarebell (see sidebar for link)...

Chessie: Why? WHY?!

Mean Painful Zit on Chin: Because. I. Can.

Sometimes, I Need to Be Serious...

and not so goofy all the time. This one of those times.

It's been a long time since I've talked about special things. Things that I usually keep in my heart of hearts, pull out on the weekends in the early mornings when I can look at them without sleepy discouragement blurring my eyes.

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You could call me a Mormon. That might be a little more familiar to you. I say it proudly over on my left sidebar. (If you want to learn more, you can click on the picture.) I know many of you share my particular beliefs, I know many of you are Christians as well (though I don't know which denominations you belong to), and I know some of you are anti-religion, and/or don't believe in God. That's just fine. But I do believe in God, and today is one of those days where I feel so strongly that he exists.

And since this blog is a place for me to be honest, to share my testimony, what I believe and what I know--well, I need to talk about it. I hope you will at least take the time to accept that these beliefs are the driving force behind the kind of person that I am and that I am striving to be. Whether or not you agree, I hope you will think of me as an honest, genuine human being. I say these words because I believe them to be true.

I'm not here to preach or to debate or to point out the differences between you and me. I'm simply going to tell you that I believe in God. I believe in His son, Jesus Christ. I believe the Holy Ghost is given to us to guide, inspire, and teach our spirits truth. I believe that a prophet guides us even now. I believe that Thomas S. Monson is that prophet today. I believe in the power of the priesthood. I believe in families. In moms and dads, and sons and daughters. In husbands, in wives, in brothers and sisters. In friends. I believe in love. And I believe that love and bonds between families and friends last so much further beyond death. I believe in ever afters. I believe in eternity.

I don't think that we could feel so strongly for one another, to work so hard to take care of each other, to cheer each other on, to strengthen and support one another, if we weren't working towards something much greater than what our limited human knowledge here on earth can understand. I don't think that we have come into each other's lives merely by coincidence.

I haven't met most of you, but you have shown me unbelievable kindness, charity, and friendship (the most beautiful aspects of humanity) through your comments and emails. I wish I could tell you how much of a difference you have made in my life in the past several months. It's people like you that teach me that there is something greater than what each one of us can do by him or herself. People coming together in love is what makes this world a beautiful place.

And that love, which can transcend distance, language, culture, time, and ultimately death... is not something I believe just showed up. I believe that it has always been and it will always be. It's so deeply ingrained in us, because it is a godly characteristic, and I believe we are God's children. Our parents know how to love us, and we'll know how to love our children, because God first loved us. I honestly believe that. We wouldn't know how to do that if a precedent had not been set for us. And I think that pattern was set long before this earth came into existence.

My very favorite scripture (aside from 2 Nephi 4) is found in the Book of Mormon (though I love the Bible as well), 3 Nephi 5:20. Mormon is speaking, and the most powerful lines from the verse read as follows, "I have reason to bless my God and my Savior Jesus Christ...that he hath given me and my people so much knowledge unto the salvation of our souls."

I have so many reasons "to bless my God and my Savior." So many! You, dear Groupies, are one of them. Thank you. Thank you so much. You are a significant part of why I value my life just the way it is. I'm so grateful for you. I have other reasons too: a healthy body and mind, a wonderful university where I can learn, a roof over my head, plenty to eat, a job, a family, and the dearest of friends.

So, those of you who believe in God and His son, Jesus Christ... 

what reasons have you to rejoice? 

Those of you who may believe in other gods, 

what reasons have you to bless them? 

And those of you who may not believe in any god, 

what are you grateful for? 

Because if nothing else, 

I think we can agree that the GOOD in this world

far, far outweighs the BAD.

Have a wonderful week! I'll talk to you soon!

:-)

You're Right...

I was avoiding it.

Groupies, it was really, really fun. He picked me up and we went this tiny little Chilean restaurant, where I charmed the pants off the couple who owns it with my charming Spanish. It's true! I used to be fluent, you know, and while I'm not great, I'm pretty much amazing next to the average Asian/gringa-ish (to the core) person you meet on the street. They loved me. :-)

Then we drove the 45 minutes or so to the rodeo. Talked the whole time. His family was really nice and sweet to me. Asked him if he was wearing cologne (because although he smelled good, it was different). Turns out his roomie sprayed it on him.

Roommate: "Dude, are you leaving?"
YSB: "Ye--" *squirt in the face*
His delicious scent is yet a mystery.

from left to right: 

YSB's left eye and nose, photo-bomb (niiice!), and me

We joked through the whole thing, and then we saw the little carnival next door which had a ride that neither of us had been on since we were like 14 years old. So after we got tired of the rodeo, we excused ourselves, and he bought us tickets and we rode the Zipper. It seemed really slow and lame at first, but then it got crazy and we got flipped and spun like ten times in a row without stopping. We were laughing so hard our stomachs hurt, and when we got off, our tummies were still hurting, but that was because we both felt sick and dizzy.

Despite the occasion interjection of "Ow. I still feel sick!", we kept laughing and talking the 45 minutes or so back to my house. Hugged me on the doorstep, told me to call him if I was up in Logan (and I had told him earlier that I was spending the weekend up there anyway), and that was that. We texted a TINY bit the next couple of days (mostly he let the convos die), and I actually ran into him with his roommate while on a walk with my roomie (he lives much closer to my house this fall than I thought he did), but he was kinda aloof-ish, so I felt kinda silly and we just excused ourselves, because it didn't look like he'd do the polite thing and invite us in.

Anyway, I thought Friday night went extremely well.... but it doesn't look like it will go beyond that. If he had any interest in me to begin with, I think it has died. Oh well (story of my life). I had a ton of fun anyway! One of the better dates (of the very few) I've been on. Props to YSB for that! :-)

What to Say... (Continued)

Hi impatient Groupies! 

I've missed you!

It seems you have missed me too!

Do you know how happy that makes me feel?

Like super duper happy. For reals.

Sorry, I know I have been absent for quite a bit. I have gotten some emails demanding (quite nicely) for some updates on my life (Steven and Elle) and dessert (Rick). 

*shakes head* 

You guys. You make me laugh.

Well, let's see. Updates, updates.... Ah! On Saturday, I went to Lagoon (our local amusement park) with two of my old roomies (Abbie and Cort) and we rode rides like there was no tomorrow. We even did the Sky Coaster, which is where they strap you in harnesses and haul you up to 150 feet on a cable and then let you go flying. I have never been so terrified, screamed so hard, nor had such a thrill. It was amazing! 

Yes. We are that pretty. All the time.

Then I rode back with Cort to Logan (where we go to school) and spent Saturday through Wednesday morning with her. I didn't realize how homesick I was until I slept through an entire night without waking up. Most nights, I've only been able to sleep 3 or 4 hours at a time. I got better rest in the last four days than I have this whole summer.

Cort had to work in the mornings, so I went running, got my hair cut, shopped a little, practiced taking cheesy pictures of myself. 

Like this one:

Haha, looks just like my header. Which I need to change.

When she got back, we talked for hours, took naps, went on walks, played in the park, visited our married friends, went to dinner, watched She's the Man (roomie tradition), played card games, and I just soaked in the glorious fact that I was not at home, and that I got to enjoy the first Sunday of the summer where I DIDN'T have to work. Seriously, such a great weekend. It had its little boring, slightly rough patches, but.... a mostly perfect five days!

And last night, I went to the wedding reception of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Jessika. She is the one in the middle in the pretty white dress. Lady in the black is Kelsha, possibly the funniest girl in existence. Don't ask why she was holding the bouquet. I have no idea. She blogs too. You can find her on my sidebar. I'm too tired to make a link.

Oh, sorry. I'm the short one.

Yes, Rickers, I know I was supposed to cook something, but I wasn't in my own kitchen, plus I was running out of money. I'm on a budget too, Mr. Eats-a-Lot-of-Treats-in-Harry-Potter-World. So not fair! However!! I promise the next thing I make (next week) will be a delicious dessert. Are we cool with that? Okay. :-)

Oh!!

I almost forgot to tell you!

Silly me.

I forgot my toothbrush when I packed, so I tried to get one at the nearby gas station convenience store. But they were out!! So I had to walk to the grocery store (cos I was too motion-sick to get back in the car) to buy one. Come on now, what gas station runs out of toothbrushes? Travelers need things like that never to run out. Isn't that what inventory is for? Silly people. 

What to Say....?

:-)

Have a good weekend, Groupies!

I'll talk to you later.

(the smiley face means it was good)

Back to Normal...

My lip is lip-like once more.

Thanks for all the concerned wishes! 

Pretty sure they healed me.

That and an allergy pill downed with tons of water. 

:-)

Based on Today's First Post...

My Facebook status would be:

Chessie is making out with a bag of frozen peas.

(but only if I wanted to advertise that I had a fat lip, but I don't want to)

Holy Fat Lip!!!

I don't know what it is with bugs destroying my face in the middle of the night, but either a mosquito or something heinous snuck into my room and decided to give me the kiss of death.

He was probably the bug from last summer's facial debacle, 

and I think he decided to pay me another visit.

On my mouth.

Oh. My. Word.

The swelling has spread across most of my top lip.

That lip is usually only slightly plumper than the bottom.

Have you ever seen anything uglier?

AND I have to work today at noon!

It is 8:20 as I type!

How will I get any good tips at all,

if I'm not cute and adorable for all those

walker-pushing senior citizens?

How?

HOW??

More importantly, what if this lasts until tomorrow?

Oh, the horror!

What Else is Cooking?

Oh, you know.

Party with friends on Thursday night.

A rodeo on Friday night with YSB (I'll let you figure that acronym out).

And Lagoon (local amusement park) on Saturday with the roomies. 

One shift of work between now and next Wednesday.

Looks like things worked out. 

:-)

Also, I loved every. single. one. of your comments. In real life, you'd say, "Suck it up, Chess. Be a man! Rub some dirt in it!" (Name that movie!) But here, in the Land of Bloggy-ness, it's beautiful. You don't make fun of my supremely overdramatic tendencies. You support it. You offer sweet, comforting, and heartfelt advice. You are so much more patient with me than I am with myself. And hey, if you can relate, so much the better! Where else in the world can somebody find such awesome people? How am I so lucky?

Seriously.

This is me sending you all a hug. 

And I don't give those out to just anybody, you know.

What's Cookin', Wednesday?

On Friday night, I went and ate where I work, because it's cheap. Yay, employee discounts! One of my coworkers liked what I was wearing (cos we never see each other in street clothes), and she asked me if I "was one of those super colorful types." I looked down at myself. I was wearing pink, silver, and gold embroidered flats, blue jeans, a hot pink belt, a purple shirt, a multicolored long necklace, and I'm sure I was wearing bright earrings. Then she reminded me how I wore a yellow headband, pink earrings, a turquoise hair tie, and a purple ribbon a few days before.

I laughed.

I guess I am.

I'm a pretty colorful person.

I love wearing them and I love seeing them.

Especially on rainy days up at school.

That's when I wear every color that can possibly go together. 

And I love eating colorful things too.

Which makes...

This Week's Kitchen Adventure:

Mango Slaw with Cashews and Mint [recipe found here]

Um. So, so, so delicious. I couldn't get enough of it. It's so crispy and light and refreshing, with such an amazing tangy bite to it. A perfect summer snack! Smitten Kitchen is one of my favorite blogs to read because even though there are plenty of baking recipes, there's such a variety of other things to make. I've got my eye on so many other recipes. Definitely check it out!

(See the pretty colors?!)

I've decided you need colorful tools to match your colorful food. Remember my purple knife? Well, I bought a cheap little mandolin grater to match it.

But I ended up using only the knife, because the mangoes were a bit too ripe to use the mandolin grater. Oh well, I can still use it for other things. And for whatever stupid reason, the red bell peppers were out at the store, so I bought an orange one. Who runs out of red bell peppers?!! I ask you. I also added a tablespoon of lemon juice to the lime just because I felt like it. 

And boy, did I snack on those cashews. 

Mmmmm... my favorite!

(Drooling just thinking about it!)

On a Positive Note,

I made something absolutely delicious to eat. 

Come back here tomorrow to find out more!

(And maybe the tragedy won't be tragic anymore. Who knows?)

Cry for Me!

Wail with me.

Sob tears of utter despair with me.

I demand it.

I have never demanded anything of you before, 

but I'm demanding it now.

Become over, uber, melo and all other types of dramatic with me.

Cos I am not a big enough person to demonstrate

the BAZILLION ways of drama I'm feeling...by myself. 

I need you now, Groupies. 

Turn into tweeny girls with me.

Let me explain.

Remember my double-tragedy? Remember how saddening it was? This is worse. This is like a kajillion times worse. Like, oh my word, I did a faceplant on my bed, and totally kicked my feet and howled into my pillow. That kind of worse. Girls will know what I mean. Guys, you should probably tell me what your version of that is. I'm dying to know.

I went for a little run last night. When I run, I sweat. You probably do too. So then when I got home, I did some stuff around the house, drank some water, checked my email. (Checked Facebook.) Then I got in the shower around 10:00 pm. Then I got into bed. Did some reading. Surfed the net. Chatted with Jen and Erica. Finally, much later than I should ever, ever be up, I grabbed my phone to set my alarm. Which is when I noticed I had two missed calls and a voicemail. Which is really big news when you're me. 

See, I have this terrible habit of forgetting I have a phone. I leave it in my room and never answer, because frankly, no one but my mother and my grandma ever call, and I see them all the time anyway. So, it's not that I'm ignoring anybody, but I'm just so much of a social nobody down here that I usually don't need to haul my phone around. Which then leaves me open to missing calls and having to listen to voicemails.

One number I didn't recognize. Plus he/she didn't leave a message. So I looked at the next call. It was his name. The boy whose delectable fragrance haunts my dreams (okay, that's exaggerating). The one I have kinda had a jonesing for since March. He had called me. While I had been in the shower. To borrow Suzy's words, "Of all the ratsiest things!"

I listened to his message with wide eyes, crunched up at the head of my bed, knees drawn up under my chin, because that's what I do when I get nervous. Also, when I see a spider. And it went sorta like this

"Hey, this is _____.

I'll be down in the Valley this weekend,

and thought we could get together 

and maybe do something.

Call me back when you get this."

Squeal with me. I demand it.

Now imagine with me. Imagine the horror I felt when I realized this was the weekend I have a family reunion. A family reunion where I'm making the obligatory appearance and then taking myself to Logan to hang out with my dear friends. The weekend where, if all goes well with my work schedule, I am taking myself to the city in which he is residing for the summer. 

Have you ever heard of worse timing? 

I haven't had one thing to look forward to this entire summer,

but this weekend with my friends,

and now this scheduling trauma happens to me.

Oh my word.

You want to do a faceplant for me,

don't you?

What do I do?

(New FB friends: you understand that this can never, never, never, ever be discussed in FB world, right? If he somehow finds out, then it will be my fault for posting so openly, but I would hate to destroy the fledgling relationships we are building here. Haha. No, but seriously. I'm serious.)

The Fast is Over!!

I'm back on Facebook. 

I didn't miss much in the past 3 weeks.

Typical.

Ahhh, but I did some profile stalking,

and some FB rejecting,

and some photo-gazing.

I missed that.

Yes, I did. 

:-)

No, Old Man with the Walker...

I will not marry you.

But thank you for the offer. 

Please understand,

it's totally you and not me.

I just need someone closer to my age,

who can whirl me around a dance floor.

I just don't think you and I can have that kind of relationship.

But I'll be happy to get you a fresh glass of iced tea,

and an ice-cream cone.

Those are the kinds of questions you can ask me. 

:-)

What's Cookin', Wednesday?

I have decided to put my obsession with food blogs to use. 

Here is the goal for the rest of the summer, 

and, hopefully, the fall too:

Bake or cook something new every week,

and tell you about it on Wednesday.

Just because it sounds cool to do it on Wednesday.

Deal?

Don't worry, I'm no foodie,

but how will I ever join the Cult of True Womanhood

if I don't learn how to cook?

This Week's Kitchen Adventure:

Strawberry Bread [recipe found here]

Yesterday (Tuesday) found me washing dishes and remembering that we had several cartons of strawberries that were about to give up the ghost. So I decided to salvage what I could and make this recipe that I had bookmarked for quite awhile. My Baking Addiction is a great blog. I'm addicted to reading about her addiction. Convenient, isn't it?! Intriguing recipes, lovely pictures, and an easy-to-use format. Good stuff!

Anyway, I doubled the recipe, and, instead of leaving all the strawberries chopped, I mashed about a third of them, so the strawberry flavor would infuse the batter as well. It turned out beautifully! The result was a super moist and dense bread that was almost like pound cake. I served it to Grandma, the family, and my friend Marie, with little packets of honey butter (that often find their way home from work in my apron. Oops!) Huge hit! I'm not quite the failure in the kitchen that I thought I was! (Just kidding. I make a pretty mean banana bread.)

(I'm no photographer, nor do I pretend to be, but this is what it looked like)

I think I'll make a couple changes the next time I make it. I'll add at least a cup more of strawberries and toss them with some flour so they won't sink quite as much. It's delicious just warm with butter, but if you wanted to be fancy, you could always make a nice vanilla frosting or glaze.

I wonder what it would taste like if I combined the strawberries with mashed and chopped bananas.... hmmmm.....

Why the Ban?

Simple.

I waste too much of my life on there.

So when I feel it getting bad,

I say, "No, Facebook! I banish thee from my sight!"

For a few weeks anyway.

(And.... I'm talking to the people I'm already FBFs [Facebook Friends] with,

cos I like to keep you Groupies and FBFs separate. 

I dunno why. Just one of those things. 

Hope you don't mind! Cos I still love ya!)

Not That This Matters, But...

As of today, my self-ban from Facebook has been two weeks strong!

Only one week left,

and I am available to stalk all your profiles,

gaze at all your pictures,

make fun of all your statuses (status-i?),

and ignore all your requests....

Just kidding.

(Mostly.)

:-)

Double Tragedy...

(sorta)

*sniffle*

Tragedy #1: My roommate Cortnie has been feeling a little lonely and out of sorts. She is up in Logan by herself, and I didn't have to work today or tomorrow, so last night I thought I might go up and surprise her with a visit. Fortunately, I checked to see if she would be up there before I actually went, but she had gone home to her family in Montana. I'm very happy she's with her family, but I'm sad because I miss her and I was really excited at the possibility of visiting her.

Tragedy #2: Yummy-smelling boy and I were doing a bit of texting, and I was telling him about my plan to possibly surprise Cort, and he said that if I did make it up there, he and his buddies were having a BBQ on Saturday, and that I should come. But since I wasn't going to be able to visit Cort, I couldn't justify the gas money to get up there, so I had to decline. It was a total bummer, and I may or may not have whimpered a little in pathetic girlish despair. Don't judge me! (You haven't smelled him.)

Is that, or is that not, tragic?

That's what I thought!

*sniffle*

*sniffle*sniffle*

:-(