CANADA

Here are my favorites from my Canada trip. We had so much fun visiting family and it was wonderful spending time with my parents. We definitely will need to go back again soon. 10 years is too long to wait between visits! So, let's commence the photo onslaught!

Four generation photo - Grandpa Dudley is my last living grandparent, so I thought I should snap this while I still could

Pictures from Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. Pretty cool place. And Matt's solution to a windy day with Evie asleep in the stroller

This is the actual jump.

The view from the cliff was incredible!

Pictures from the carriage ride my Dad and I took at the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston. The mountain in the background is Old Chief. It's an iconic part of that area.

My Mom and Aunt Lori were cackling about something.

Clockwise from top left: Cool solar lamp in my aunt's garden, Uncle Larry making Dasiy dance for her treats, My Dad and his sister Shannon and her girl Sarah, Dad and Matt with the swollen Bow river in the background, Evie taking a bath in the super awesome sink at Aunt Lori's, Evie wrapping Uncle Larry around her finger

I love the picture I caught of Matt sneezing in front of the Cardston temple.

Such a great picture.

Flowers, flowers, flowers... Lettuce! ... Flowers

Arrr, matey, don't be stealin' me chew rings!

These were at the botanical gardens at the Calgary Zoo. So beautiful!

Animals at the zoo

Butterflies, a peahen and some gorgeous poppies.

My Mom and Dad's reactions to "Smile!" and then, the apple of their eyes.

These poppies had just "popped" that night and the petals looked like crinkled tissue paper. Pretty cool.

The crowning jewel of all the temples (in my opinion)

I just loved this snapshot.

Well, let's just say it was a full two weeks in Canada and I'm so glad we went. (But I'm also glad we're home) We had such a great time and hopefully we'll go again soon!

 

Holiday Baking

So, I've gotten a bee in my bonnet about holiday baking/candy-making. I just have to make a mess in the kitchen or I'm going to implode with boredom. So, without further ado, I present to you this year's holiday baking list!

• Chewy Gingerbread Bars
• Cookie Dough Truffles
• Creamy Dreamy Fudge
• Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Shortbread Cookies

My mouth is watering already. Now, the worst part - grocery list making and grocery shopping. If I could figure out a way around these two tasks, cooking would be much, MUCH more enjoyable. As it is though, I happen to love cooking, so I guess it's a good thing that there is something to prevent me from cooking (and baking!) myself, and my family into an oblivion. :) I'll post pictures when I'm done! And if you're local and want some, let me know. I'll have more than enough to share!! :)

And if you find yourself with nothing to do over the next three evenings, might I suggest the Apex Nativity Celebration? It's a three night long celebration of Christ at the Mormon chapel in Apex. There's hundreds of nativities from all over the world, beautiful decorations and paintings displayed and wonderful music. And on Saturday night, there's a performance of Handel's Messiah with a full choir and orchestra. It's an amazing event and I highly recommend seeing it!

Unexpected things

So,  you know how I talked about auditioning for Hello Dolly? Well, it bore some unexpected fruits! I was talking to a friend of mine at church about it and then her son piped in and asked if I would be the head director for a musical our church is putting on. I was so excited and nervous at the same time! I don't have a lot of experience and all of that experience happened years ago, but I love musical theater so much! However, I know how the youth can be and told myself that it really wasn't going to happen and for a while, it looked like that was going to be the case.

But is isn't! It's actually happening and I'm so excited for the opportunity to work on this! We're doing a 40's musical review that will be set in the 40's during a ward bond benefit dinner. I'm writing the script (there will be very little dialogue) and we're using most of the music from another review called All Night Strut. I wish we could just do All Night Strut, but we're keeping it to a one act show and ANS is two.

Our first meeting is this week and I'm scrambling to get things together and to thing of a story that can flow easily in between the songs. I'm also equally grateful for the prescence of Courtney, my "assistant (which actually will be her telling me what to say and sound director-ey) director. Honestly I think she should be the head director and me be the stage manager or something, but she's leaving on a mission a few weeks before the production so she declined.

Any way... I can't wait to get into this project and I'll try to post pictures periodically about the show! I hope you all will come! I'll definitely let you know when the show dates have been finalized!

Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am so grateful for so many things this year! I'm thankful for my family, for our home, our jobs, for living in a country with so many freedoms, for my education, my kitty, the nice things I have, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This year for Thanksgiving Dinner, it was just me and Matt. We had baked salmon, with arugula salad, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans, roasted sweet potatoes and beets.

For dessert we had an apple and pear galette. I got the recipe for the galette on allrecipes and it was pretty good. My crust was a little dry and crumby, but it had a good flavor. Click here for the link to the recipe. I added some sugar and salt to the crust to give it more flavor. I also used pumpkin pie spice instead of the spice mixture (because cardamom was 10 bucks for a little bitty thing!). I just realized that I forgot to add the brown sugar in the mixture, but I didn't miss it at all! I also brushed the crust with some egg whites (because I had some left over from something else) and sprinkled the whole thing with a little sugar in the raw. Any way, it was Matt approved which for a pastry is incredible! Try it! You'll love it! Here how it turned out.

Ummmm.... Heck Yes!

I've had some pretty amazing culinary adventures as of late, but I only have pictures from one of them. Yesterday, I tried recreating Cafe Rio's Pork Barbacoa Salad. I think I came pretty close, but I haven't had it in a while, so I may not be as close as I think I am. Any way, after searching for some recipes, I made up my own. Here it is:

Pork Barbacoa Deliciousness

• 3-5 lb. Pork Roast
• 1 7oz. Can of chipotle chiles in adobo
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Garlic minced
• 1 tsp Dry Mustard
• 1 1/2 cans of Dr. Pepper (or 18 oz)

Mix all ingredients except for the roast in a bowl, chilies and all. Place the pork roast and the sauce into a slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours. At the end of the 6 hours take out the roast and shred the meat. Put about half aside for other purposes (like yummy barbecue later!). In another bowl, mix the following ingredients:

• 18 oz Dr. Pepper
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp (or more if you like the heat) Franks Red Hot Sauce
• 1/4 cup Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet barbecue sauce
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic minced

Once you have the sauce mixed, reduce in a pot on the stove until the sauce is slightly thickened (about 5-10 minutes on medium heat). Mix in with the shredded meat and eat.

I think it's pretty good regardless. It know it's a little labor intensive, especially with making a whole new sauce, but the chilies added a great kick to the meat, but left the cooked liquid too spicy (It stings the nostrils). Any way, we used it to top a Cafe Rio-esque salad. Basically layer the following:

• tortilla
• rice
• beans
• lettue
• pico de gayo
• pork
• cheese
• squeeze o' lime

Also, I found a goo tomatillo dressing here. I actually used the recipe for the initial cooking liquid from her blog as well. I made up the second sauce on the fly with what I had. :) Any way, it was delicious.

My second adventure happened this afternoon on my way home. I stopped into the bakery on Salem Street in downtown Apex. I told the lady I wanted chocolate something and she suggested this.

I can't even remember what it was called, but I think it was something like, "The most delicious chocolatey thing you'll ever put in your mouth, ever." Ok, not really, but it should be called that! It was rich and creamy, but not too rich (which given it's size is a good thing!) I didn't eat all of it in one go, because I had to run, but boy did it fix my chocolate itch. If you ever find yourself in downtown Apex, you should definitely stop in and get this, or one of the many other delicious desserts they offer!

Recipe time Part Duex!

It occurred to me that I haven't been very good about posting Teri-original recipes on here, so I thought I should share with you one of my new favorite things: smoothies!

Now I know it doesn't take a genius to make a smoothie, but there is a science to it (sort of). A good smoothie should never require too much extra ice to be added, as it dilutes the flavor, and it should have a wide variety of flavors. Here's my favorite one right now:

Teri's Berry Smoothie

• 1 cup frozen tropical fruit (My mix had mangoes, pineapple, kiwi and melons)
• 1 cup frozen berries (My mix has blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries)
• 1 small container of strawberry yogurt (think yoplait sized containers and the like) 
• 1/2 cup or so (you might need extra depending on your blender) apple juice
• roughly 4 ice cubes

Put the liquid and yogurt into the bottom of the blender and pile the fruit in on top. Blend. Add more apple juice if needed. One of the tricks to getting a smooth texture is letting the blender run for about a minute once the mixture become visually the same. You want there to be a hole down the middle of your smoothie while it's running, so that everything can get down to the blades eventually. Once you've let it run for a minute, add the ice cubes one at a time until the hole down the middle disappears. (You may need more of less than the amount of ice cubes indicated. It's not going to be the same for everybody) I've also experimented with adding protein powder. While this makes a pretty good, easy breakfast for me, it makes the smoothie really frothy, so only add the protein powder at the very end so it doesn't explode out of your blender like mine almost did this morning.

If you have any left overs, store them in an airtight container in the freezer, but use it within the next month. To thaw, set it in the fridge for about an hour and half. That will get it to a similar consistency as when you started out! I hope you enjoy!!

I am the best wife ever*

*According to Matt

Saturday, I was craving something warm, gooey, and chocolatey. I think this qualifies. And can you say, "Holy block of butter, Batman!"

After a somewhat disappointing dinner disaster (say that five times fast!), I was looking forward to something delicious. (What can I say, I'm just not into fish)

Matt, through his traveling, has come to appreciate a certain restaurant called Flemming's. Since he doesn't have to pay for it (because it is *really* expensive) he goes there every week and every week he gets the chocolate lava cake for dessert. He loves it. He would write sonnets to it if he were lyrically inclined.

So, when I got the chocolate itch, I decided to satisfy it with this. Mouthwatering, isn't it?

As much as I would *love* to claim the credit for this gustatory masterpiece, all brownie points are owed to brandielle at Tasty Kitchen. I found the recipe via Tastespotting, which found it at The Pioneer Woman, who got it off of Tasty Kitchen. It was a long way to go for deliciousness, but it was worth it. The recipe can be found here.

I think, next time I won't leave it in the oven as long because my ramekins are on the small side. I would also like to note, that I halved the recipe and it still turned out great (which doesn't always happen in baking)! Also, Matt said (before I even asked him) that it was a "Make Again". That's a really good sign (because Matt is pickier than most three year olds).

P.S. - What do you think of my new apron? I made it with my mom when I visited. my favorite part is that one of the lines on the apron says, "If we were meant to pop out of bed, we'd sleep in toasters." Amen to that.

Baby you can have whatever you like

That was Matt's reaction to my desire for a new ring. Well, not exactly. He gave me a price limit, but said if it makes you happy, then go for it. I've been waiting to post this until I got my ring cleaned again and could put up pretty pretty pictures! :) Here it is!

Isn't it beautiful? It was my anniversary present. It's the best. I just stare at it all day and sigh. Isn't that dumb? My old ring is nice, but it's just not me. I thought it was, but what do 19 year-olds really know about themselves? Come on!

Matt and I have been talking about this for a few years now and the five year mark seemed like a good one. :) In all fairness, Matt got an equivalent present: a ginormous flat screen. Can you say, "Thank you tax return?" :)

The Dodo

While staying in Utah, I had the opportunity of catching up with my Sister and Brother-in-law and their adorable son at a restaurant called The Dodo. Apparently, they're known for their sandwiches, but being a little bored of sandwiches at the time, I went with the cobb salad. I honestly think that the cobb salad is one of the most perfect dishes ever, especially when eaten with The Dodo's honey mustard dressing. I cannot describe to you how delicious it was! I was literally honey with some whole seed mustard mixed in. It was mustard-y without being overpowering and wonderfully sweet. And the dressing totally counter-balanced the saltiness of the mounds of bacon and other toppings! I swear the salad was actually bacon (actual bacon, not "bacon" bits) and hard boiled eggs with a side of lettuce. I had them leave the dressing on the side and actually took most of the salad home with me. I had it two days later and it was still as crunchy and delicious as the day I ordered it. Ah, it was heavenly. I would definitely recommend this place if you're looking for an interesting, non-chain restaurant in Salt Lake.

Recipe time!

Ok, so I love recipes that are super simple (ie. less than 10 ingredients and less that 5 steps) and this one is so great! A couple of weeks ago, our Relief Society teacher brought in these bags and asked up to smush them up with our hands. So, we smushed! And at the end of the lesson (which I cannot for the life of me remember what it was about), we had fudge! Crazy, right? It was delicious! I was craving chocolate big time tonight so I decided to try it out myself. I even got a little crazy and mixed in some mini marshmallows in half of it.

Family Fudge
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter or margarine

1. Place all ingredients in a zip lock back.
2. Force all the air out of the bag.
3. Mush around until the mixture is homogenous

This is a great idea for an FHE snack! During the lesson, have everyone in the family take turns squishing the bag and at the end, you'll have fudge! I found that double bagging was a necessity as I popped the first bag with my overzealous squishing. If you have leftovers (which I highly doubt), store them in the fridge in an airtight container. 

It was legen, wait for it....

...DARY!!!

As of December 19th, 2009, I am officially an alumna of North Carolina State University (Go Wolfpack!). I can't believe that I made it. I thought the day would never come, but it did!! The ceremony was awesome. It was the most low key graduation I've ever been to (and mostly likely will ever attend). There were less than 20 graduates from the entire Food Science, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Science department and some of them weren't even there. We didn't have to line up and walk in. We just sat in the seat with our names on them. And when we got our diploma (covers), we walked up, they shook our hand, handed us the mic and asked us to say something. The speaking part took us all by surprise. I don't think they've ever done that before, but since there were only about 15 of us, I think they were trying to draw it out (but I can't figure out why they would want to do that). Any way, after that, we adjourned to the cafeteria at St. Mary's (which is surprisingly nice and well decorated) for Holwing Cow ice cream. And that was it. We mingled for a few minutes and then went to Village Deli for lunch.

I was glad to have my family there, but it was so stinkin' cold that we didn't want to take a family picture outside. Actually, that picture is one of the 12 pictures taken the whole day. I don't have any of just me or me with my family. Craziness.

Any way, I'm glad to be done. So, Happy Christmas everyone!

P.S. - If anyone hears of any nutrition related jobs, let me know! Thanks!

Update: Fair, Friends, Fun, & Family

So, I have been a bad, bad blogger. However, in my defense, I am finishing my final semester of my degree. I have a lot to do!! So, in the spirit of saving time, here's an update on everything that's been going on lately!!

• Fair: I went. I ate. I won!! :) I only went twice this year (kind of a bummer), but we had fun! I went with Megan and Greg and then again with Matt. In exciting news, I entered a candle into the state fair craft competition (in the rubber stamping, miscellaneous division) and I won second place!! I was really excited!
• Friends & Fun: We've had a plethora of house guests in the past month! We had our Charlotte friends come and visit for Halloween. We had such a great time! And one of our friends used her costume to tell us that she was preggo! Congrats Scarlett!! Last weekend we had our Virginia friends come visit and in the process we made new South Carolina friends! It's been so wonderful to have the space to have everybody over and even more wonderful to have the company! (And looking over this past paragraph, I have realized that I'm an exclamation point junkie. Sorry. No more exclamation points for the rest of this post. I promise.)
  
• Family: I'm an aunt again! (I'm sorry but I couldn't not use an exclamation point) My sister had her beautiful baby girl yesterday. Eleanor Ruth Wheatley was born 8 lbs 6 oz. I went up to see them yesterday and had a wonderful time seeing their family grow.

I don't have access to all the pictures yet, but as soon as I do, I will upload them. It's been a crazy month and I know it will only get worse until the end of exams, but I will make it. I am really excited to graduate in a month and two days. Wish me luck!!

Best date ever

So, Matt and I went on the best date we've ever had. The date started out with me changing my outfit about 20 times (this is no exaggeration) and doing my hair and makeup. We then rushed out the door and headed to Cookout for dinner. I got the BLT, hushpuppies and a shake and Matt got a burger and fries (the perfect dinner). After cookout, we drove over to the fairgrounds, parked on Beryl street and walked over to Carter-Finley stadium where, awaiting us, was this:

After we found our seats (which were pretty bad, surprisingly), a few minutes later the best band ever (in my opinion) took the stage. I cannot believe that I actually saw Muse live in concert! And you know what, they sounded great! They actually sound like their recordings (which very few musicians do), only better. It was kind of sad that the stadium wasn't packed and that I couldn't be closer, but the stage set-up made our crappy seats not so bad. We got some amazing pictures! Muse played for almost an hour!! I couldn't believe it! I was expecting them to play3 maybe 4 songs and then leave. It was a real treat to listen to them for an hour!


Then there was a 30 minute break and then U2 took the stage. Matt is the U2 fan in the family and after listening to their concert, I realized that I knew quite a few of their songs and didn't know it. U2 put on a good show and mostly, I was impressed. I just hated that we were packed into the stands like little sardines. That was the only bad part of the evening.


After U2 was done for real (they leave a few times and came back), we left. This is what we had to wade through:


After we made it out of the stadium, we hoofed it back to our car, where unlike most of the people who parked closer, we got in a car and drove away. There's nothing worse than getting into your car and then sitting in it for 45 minutes to an hour, while you're waiting for the traffic to thin out a little.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening. The temperature was perfect (not hot or cold), the moon was out and there were hardly any clouds. We even got a few snazzy (overpriced) souvenirs. *sigh* It was a perfect date.

Girl's Camp: Intro

I am the assistant director for the girl's camp in our ward. I have wanted this calling FOREVER!! After serving my 8 month sentence in nursery (which cured me of ever wanting to have children), I think the bishopric decided to throw me a bone and let me be part of girl's camp.

This past week was girls camp at a really nice place in Randleman NC. We were "camping" (I use the term very loosely) at a Woodmen of the World campsite which included cabins with air conditioning (which technically we were only allowed to run at night), a mess hall with air conditioning, large swimming pool with a deep end and diving board, archery range, shooting range, high ropes course with a zip line and a putt-putt course.

I'm still in the process of getting the pictures off my camera and sorting through the good ones and the bad ones, so pictures will have to wait, although there are several on facebook, if you're willing to look for them.

I honestly think that pairing me with Sister Starritt (who was really in charge) was inspired. We balanced each other out really well. I have never gone camping before where I had to pack everything that we would need for the campsite, but Sandy thought of everything. I brought several things that she didn't, though. I brought all the meds (which was very fortunate because we had a couple of girl's get sick over the week). I also brought extra bugspray, sunscreen and other things like that, that Sandy forgot. I think ultimately, though, I supplied the energy and enthusiasm.

I firmly believe that 90% of how wonderful, or how terrible a situation is comes from our attitude towards it. If you believe you're going to have a great time and are always upbeat and positive about a situation, then chances are, you're going to have a great time. But, if you focus on the negatives of a situation, that's all you'll think about and that's all you'll remember. Having this in mind, I made it my job to excited about everything at camp (Even the KP and bathroom cleaning duties). And it made a lot of difference! Even some of the girl's who didn't really want to be there were excited! We all had so much fun (even when it was cold and rainy or hot and humid!) and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Spring Break : New Hampsire

*note: I'm sorry this has taken so long, but I seem to be getting busier and busier everyday. Bleh.

Once we were in New Hampshire, we set about deciding how to surprise our nephews Zach and Ryan. Adam and Jenny didn't tell their kids we were coming so we could surprise them when we got there. We ended up deciding on hiding behind their couch and then popping out and shooting them with nerf guns when they came downstairs. Jenny got a few pictures! It was great, at first, they boys weren't sure what was going on, but then it clicked! It was hilarious!


We then accompanied them to scouts that night and caught up with them and the kids. The next day, Adam had the day off from work, so we played outside in the snow. We made snowmen and had snowball fights with the kids! It was great!





The next day, we went back into Boston and went to the museum of science with the kids. We stayed for a while and then Adam took us back to the airport. It was great to see them and their kids. I haven't seen their whole family in a long time and I couldn't believe how big Ryan, Zach and Jessie were! They were so sweet and rambunctious! And of course it was lovely to get to know Wesley and Bryce better. It makes me wish that our families lived closer together. So, spring break was good and busy! Now, I'm going to go about keeping my head down and pushing through until the end of the semester. Wish me luck!!

Chocolate

Our ward decided to do a monthly cooking class hosted by different people each month. This past month, I volunteered to host and teach the class for February. In keeping with Valentine's Day, I decided to do a chocolate night. Here's what was on the menu:

• Chocolate dipped strawberries
• Oreo truffles
• Chocolate chocolate chip cookies
• Death by Chocolate

The ladies that came were hilarious! Perhaps it was the extra endorphins from the chocolate or the company, but everybody was laughing and having a great time! I think the hit of the night was the Death by Chocolate. It's my brother's favorite dessert. He always asks for it for his birthday. It's really easy. Just layer chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, chocolate pudding, whipped cream and heath bar bits. Just keep layering until you've run out of something!! The other thing that people loved the most (but told me about afterwards) were the chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I baked them off at the end and most people took them home to their families. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com (one of my favorite recipe sites). I think these were the best chocolate cookies I've ever had. Here's the link : Cookies! Make them. You'll love them!

Photo courtesy of allrecipes.com and foodie.blog.co.uk