This post has no double meanings. I will write about the lasagna I just created.
I am not a huge pasta fan. I just feel hungry and fat after eating pasta. Actually, mashed potatoes have the same effect. Anyway, I've been trying to incorporate noodles into our diet a little more since we've been married, since Garrett loves them, and I love him. A lot!
We recently bought ground turkey at the store since we've been sticking with chicken for the past several months. It's nice to mix things up once in awhile, and the beef was ridiculously expensive for a ridiculously high fat content.
Today I was pondering the contents of our cupboards, when my brain actually processed the mostly empty box of lasagna noodles I usually end up ignoring.
Realizing we don't have ricotta or cottage cheese, I decided to wing it and use greek yogurt.
I cooked the ground turkey with onion, garlic, oregano, basil, and parsley, and added finely ground frozen spinach. Why not add veggies when possible is what I say! Especially if it only enhances the way it looks, and doesn't take over the dish.
Add tomato sauce.
I layered things in the pan: sauce, noodles, greek yogurt mixed with egg, and pasta, doing large layers between the pasta. Topped with shredded mozzerella cheese. Bake in oven for too long. Burn mozzerella... oops.
Take out. Stab fork into lasagna, put prematurely into mouth, burn mouth. Pause to see if I can still taste.
And it is so dang delicious! And there are no grease gobbets floating on top of the lasagna, nor in the bottom of my empty dish.
And I am happy and my eternal manfriend is happy. I and I feel victorious that I make healthy, yummy food.
The end.
PS. We are going to rent a puppy this coming week! It's a christmas present from my beloved. And I am excited. *happy sigh.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Sunday, February 2, 2014
January Happenings
To quickly sum up what we've been up to:
We are still waiting to hear back on Ph.D programs. We are really hoping to get into Clemson, SC. We've even found a great apartment complex to live (10 minutes out of the city, home to other graduate students, technically town-homes so there are no upstairs neighbors!!!! I'm very excited about this possibility.) If we get accepted, another post will be written on the details.
I have just been offered a position at doTERRA! It's exciting. I've also been contemplating getting training as a phlebotomist or another clinical science. Needless to say, I've been spending a lot of time sprawled on the floor, working on things. Garrett decided to record it.
In news this week (the panic section) I lost our mail key. After fruitless hours of retracing footsteps, sweeping leaves, going through the recycling and garbage, we gave up. Fortunately our landlord had a copy (which is probably illegal) and charged us only $10.00, as opposed to the $40.00 the post office would have charged. Whew! Clearly we aren't too concerned about our mail being stolen.
We've tried to be better about blogging...
Complete with goofy pictures...
We had a romantic dinner: Napkin folding talent goes to the illustrious Garrett.
And built a fort in the living room.
To be honest, Garrett was the mastermind. I mostly stood around and took pictures and applauded his creativity. Oh. And I grabbed our books and chocolate.
Books of choice: Sherlock Holmes spin-offs. I would HIGHLY recommend this series if you want an integritous Irene Adler with a lot of fun historical faction.
Chocolate!
The other morning I woke up to find this:
I followed the foot prints to a mysterious letter....
And discovered an invitation by my eternal manfriend to the Valentine's Dance hosted by our Stake!
He's a pretty great eternal manfriend!
Interject the pretty great eternal manfriend:
I have a really great eternal womanfriend. Here was her cute and tasteful reply to my invitation to the Y-ball. This lovely note was accompanied by hearts all over my pillow and some tasty treats.
We are still waiting to hear back on Ph.D programs. We are really hoping to get into Clemson, SC. We've even found a great apartment complex to live (10 minutes out of the city, home to other graduate students, technically town-homes so there are no upstairs neighbors!!!! I'm very excited about this possibility.) If we get accepted, another post will be written on the details.
I have just been offered a position at doTERRA! It's exciting. I've also been contemplating getting training as a phlebotomist or another clinical science. Needless to say, I've been spending a lot of time sprawled on the floor, working on things. Garrett decided to record it.
In news this week (the panic section) I lost our mail key. After fruitless hours of retracing footsteps, sweeping leaves, going through the recycling and garbage, we gave up. Fortunately our landlord had a copy (which is probably illegal) and charged us only $10.00, as opposed to the $40.00 the post office would have charged. Whew! Clearly we aren't too concerned about our mail being stolen.
We've tried to be better about blogging...
We had a romantic dinner: Napkin folding talent goes to the illustrious Garrett.
And built a fort in the living room.
The other morning I woke up to find this:
I followed the foot prints to a mysterious letter....
And discovered an invitation by my eternal manfriend to the Valentine's Dance hosted by our Stake!
He's a pretty great eternal manfriend!
Interject the pretty great eternal manfriend:
I have a really great eternal womanfriend. Here was her cute and tasteful reply to my invitation to the Y-ball. This lovely note was accompanied by hearts all over my pillow and some tasty treats.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Garrett: With a 97% critic rating, 89% fan rating, and the outrageous claim that 2001: A Space Odyssey was "one of the greatest films of all time" we jumped at the chance to see the film for free at BYU's own International Cinema.
Had we known the film would leach away our precious time and energy with painfully prolonged, pretentious scenes of spacecrafts and alien deserts, we never would have left home last evening.
Despite being pleased with the last half a dozen films we had seen at BYU IC we were sorely disappointed by this acclaimed cult classic. In danger of sounding like a heretic I will acknowledge the following: FOR ITS TIME, the cinematography, scientific speculation and accuracy, and music score were likely unparalleled. However, as one who tends to appreciate the historical arts, I was more than happy to walk out of the plebeian movie (grateful to have paid nothing) at the hour mark, whilst an hour and forty minutes remained.
Fortunately we were preceded by 2 Dozen people, otherwise we might have felt sheepish slipping out early. AND, After reading the predictable synopsis upon our return home (in less than on minute) we felt satisfied with our decision and luckily saved the evening with a few episodes of Studio C.
Michelle: To be honest, this movie has never been anywhere close to the top of my to-see list. But, I figured it was probably a good one to sit through, to glean whatever bits of value and cultural importance I could. Garrett's suggestion that we see this cult-classic film was the motivation I needed to actually view it. I'll also confess that I didn't research the premise of the movie at all, and had no idea what to expect or be prepared for. I only vaguely remember seeing bizarre clips from it as a child (the big floating fetus, Hal's red glowing light, and the fluffy pink Ikea style chairs), and was only mildly interested to see how they fit together in the movie.
Fortunately, we made no-bake cookies ahead of time to sneak into the show in the event of a mid-boredom stupor. This was wisdom on our part.
As I previously mentioned, I had no idea what to expect (other than the glowing light, pink fuzzy chairs, and a baby in space), so when a pretty Utah landscape with apes pulled up to the screen, I decided to squash my incredulity and wait it out. The next thirty minutes brought occasional bursts of stifled laughter, as I silently coached the ape-actors on their non-apelike presentation. I tried to draw parallels between the evolution and values of man to what was happening on screen. And then I got bored. When they never brought back the baby apes (portrayed by actual baby apes (so cute!) and not actors), I slumped down in my seat and broke into a cookie that Garrett (also slumped over) offered me.
FINALLY we were permitted a bit of action and change of scene. (A gigantic domino piece magically appears, and, we are led to believe, instigates the behavior of blood lust among the apes).
I won't rehash the entire movie. Ahm.... Or rather the 60 minutes we sat through. I'll just say it was unbelievably and painfully long. Spending three minutes to show a space station peacefully spinning in the heavens would try anyone's patience. It's like trying to sing a perky upbeat hymn (Welcome Welcome, Sabbath Morning; Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel; There is Sunshine in my Soul Today; etc.) at the pace fit for a funeral dirge. As Garrett mentioned, many people left the theater around the same time. As we packed away the cookie wrappers, I was amused to see the reactions of audience members still present:
Slack jawed and bleary eyed (I assumed they were there for a class assignment)
Wide eyed and attentive (movie cult followers)
Asleep (influenced by the award-winning musical score)
In my opinion, it's irritatingly cryptic, pretentiously artistic, and agonizingly slow.
After complaining/exclaiming to several individuals, my dad remarked that it's rumored the writers and producers were on LSD. I would believe it folks. It seems that certain movies contain elements that would lend themselves nicely to a trip.
All bitterness aside, we look forward to our next trip to the International Cinema!
We recently saw a Spanish horror film, The Orphanage, that was deliciously and beautifully done. (I speak as a horror-movie pansy).
Had we known the film would leach away our precious time and energy with painfully prolonged, pretentious scenes of spacecrafts and alien deserts, we never would have left home last evening.
Despite being pleased with the last half a dozen films we had seen at BYU IC we were sorely disappointed by this acclaimed cult classic. In danger of sounding like a heretic I will acknowledge the following: FOR ITS TIME, the cinematography, scientific speculation and accuracy, and music score were likely unparalleled. However, as one who tends to appreciate the historical arts, I was more than happy to walk out of the plebeian movie (grateful to have paid nothing) at the hour mark, whilst an hour and forty minutes remained.
Fortunately we were preceded by 2 Dozen people, otherwise we might have felt sheepish slipping out early. AND, After reading the predictable synopsis upon our return home (in less than on minute) we felt satisfied with our decision and luckily saved the evening with a few episodes of Studio C.
Michelle: To be honest, this movie has never been anywhere close to the top of my to-see list. But, I figured it was probably a good one to sit through, to glean whatever bits of value and cultural importance I could. Garrett's suggestion that we see this cult-classic film was the motivation I needed to actually view it. I'll also confess that I didn't research the premise of the movie at all, and had no idea what to expect or be prepared for. I only vaguely remember seeing bizarre clips from it as a child (the big floating fetus, Hal's red glowing light, and the fluffy pink Ikea style chairs), and was only mildly interested to see how they fit together in the movie.
Fortunately, we made no-bake cookies ahead of time to sneak into the show in the event of a mid-boredom stupor. This was wisdom on our part.
As I previously mentioned, I had no idea what to expect (other than the glowing light, pink fuzzy chairs, and a baby in space), so when a pretty Utah landscape with apes pulled up to the screen, I decided to squash my incredulity and wait it out. The next thirty minutes brought occasional bursts of stifled laughter, as I silently coached the ape-actors on their non-apelike presentation. I tried to draw parallels between the evolution and values of man to what was happening on screen. And then I got bored. When they never brought back the baby apes (portrayed by actual baby apes (so cute!) and not actors), I slumped down in my seat and broke into a cookie that Garrett (also slumped over) offered me.
FINALLY we were permitted a bit of action and change of scene. (A gigantic domino piece magically appears, and, we are led to believe, instigates the behavior of blood lust among the apes).
I won't rehash the entire movie. Ahm.... Or rather the 60 minutes we sat through. I'll just say it was unbelievably and painfully long. Spending three minutes to show a space station peacefully spinning in the heavens would try anyone's patience. It's like trying to sing a perky upbeat hymn (Welcome Welcome, Sabbath Morning; Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel; There is Sunshine in my Soul Today; etc.) at the pace fit for a funeral dirge. As Garrett mentioned, many people left the theater around the same time. As we packed away the cookie wrappers, I was amused to see the reactions of audience members still present:
Slack jawed and bleary eyed (I assumed they were there for a class assignment)
Wide eyed and attentive (movie cult followers)
Asleep (influenced by the award-winning musical score)
In my opinion, it's irritatingly cryptic, pretentiously artistic, and agonizingly slow.
After complaining/exclaiming to several individuals, my dad remarked that it's rumored the writers and producers were on LSD. I would believe it folks. It seems that certain movies contain elements that would lend themselves nicely to a trip.
All bitterness aside, we look forward to our next trip to the International Cinema!
We recently saw a Spanish horror film, The Orphanage, that was deliciously and beautifully done. (I speak as a horror-movie pansy).
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