Great Macaroons--the Recipe (With Photos)

I've made these twice in the last 3 days, once for a baby shower and another batch for my husband to share with his coworkers, and they are always a hit.  Macaroons are inexpensive, really easy, and fast!  A great treat to bring to an event.

Here's what you will need:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
In a bowl you will mix the following together with a spoon:

• 1 14oz bag of sweetened, shredded coconut
• 4 large egg whites
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt 
• 1/2 tsp tsp vanilla extract

(Later you will need 1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)

I do not recommend eating this. But it sure smells good!

Drop spoonfuls of the mixture on parchment lined baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.  Unlike cookies, the macaroons will not spread while baking, so they can be close together.

I like to get my rows and columns set up first.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until slightly golden (the house will smell SO good!)

Remove and cool slightly, you can transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.  (I skip the wire racks, they seem to cool fine on the baking sheet.)

After cooling on the baking sheet for about 1/2 hour, melt 1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I only use Ghiradelli, but any will do).  Dip the bottom of each macaroon into the chocolate and place on parchment lined plates. Refrigerate until firm. 

Store in an air tight container for up to 7 days (if they last that long!)
Makes approximately 30 cookies.

Yummy!!

Super Kid, Super Photo

This little charmer is my nephew in a costume one of this uncles made for him.  My brother took the photo and I added a little editing.  Together we have the best parts of childhood, full of hope, imagination, and potential.  Up, up, and away cute boy!

Art That Becomes a Part of You

I just read a post on Facebook that said "11 Lessons That Jane Eyre Can Teach You."  All of a sudden I had a flashback to the first time I read Jane Eyre, a personal favorite.  It is common knowledge that the book was ahead of its time, and it is one that I believe is not an acquired taste.  You either love it upon your first read, or you don't.

All of us have our favorite pieces of art, music, film, and literature.  All of us remember certain times when we first discovered those favorites.  They become a part of us and stand the test of time without wearing our their welcomes as we get older.

I don't why that article suddenly sparked this thought in me, but it did.  Here are a few favorites and when I discovered them.

Since Jane Eyre was the reason for this post, I'll start with it...

When I was a freshman in college at Brigham Young University, and away from home for the first time, my roommate was a very nice girl from Colorado.  She was amiable and quiet, but rarely home, a year older than me with a boyfriend, and in the ROTC.  She had a best friend who would often come looking for her and waiting until she came home.  One day this friend came to do just that, bursting with enthusiasm over just finishing Jane Eyre and wanting to tell someone about it. As I was the one home at the time, she told me, giving me just enough about the plot to interest me but not enough to spoil the ending.  She must have done well, because I read the book, loved it, and still love it.  As far as the film adaptations, I've seen about 6 of them, and the casting of Mr. Rochester is, in my opinion, almost more crucial than the casting of Jane.  The 1980's BBC version with Timothy Dalton is the one that comes closest to my vision when reading the book, with the 2006 version with Toby Stephens coming in at a very close second.

 

My freshman year was a year of great exposure to wonderful things.  It was also the year I heard Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera for the first time.  They were both incredibly popoular.  Phantom's story is pretty basic, and easy to follow from just listening to the soundtrack, but Les Miserables is not.  Because my roommate was gone so much, I became especially close to the girls across the hall.  One of them, Gail, who is still a close friend, came over with her cassette (CDs were very, very new.) Over the course of 2-3 hours we listened to the entire thing, pausing between songs for her to tell me the story and preface what I was about to hear.  I was awestruck at the power and beauty of the music.  About a year later we saw it onstage in Salt Lake City.  It remains one of my favorites.

 

If you know me well, then you know the name of my favorite film.  Singin' in the Rain put itself in the top spot as soon as I saw it. I was in grade school when I watched it on TV at my grandparents' house.  I'm guessing it dethroned The Sound of Music because of my age, but it remains at the top, just as Gene Kelly remains my favorite actor.  (One of my greatest regrets is missing an opportunity to meet him in person because of a wedding my family had to attend.)  Although Singin' in the Rain is not a complex story, like some of my other favorite films, I love it for its seamless and unfailing buoyancy.  It is my permanent remedy for a really bad day (fortunately I haven't had one of those in a very long time) and it succeeds upon every single viewing.  And, there is something about this film that makes it feel like its mine, maybe because it has been a favorite for so long.

When I decided to switch my major to Humanities halfway through my sophomore year of college, there was a great need within me to attach myself to the beautiful creations I learned about.  That is the reason I could not be just an English major or just an Art History major.  I needed all of it, and I still do.  I am always on a quest for beautiful, clever, impressive creations in all mediums.  It is a strange thing that drives me to find a great book, a great film, a musician, or an artist I've never heard of.  But at the beginning there was Renoir.  Like with my favorite film, my favorite artist is also "mine."  I love his work, his treatment of women on the canvas, and every time I think of him painting in his 80's with brushes strapped to his arthritic hands, it breaks my heart.  That many of his paintings reside in The Norton Simon Museum, minutes from where I grew up, means I can visit them in person several times a year.

I try not to get more cynical as I get older, but the world can be a horrendous place.  One way I balance my own sanity with the garbage the media throws at us is to hold on to the fact that beautiful things do exist if we look for them.  They aren't the mainstream or the most popular, but they are much more enduring and uplifting.  They're out there. Go find them.

 

The Bletchley Circle

More and more I find myself departing from American TV and transitioning to British TV.  Not an easy task considering that we canceled all of our channels about 2 months ago because we simply weren't using them.  But thanks to the Roku, and therefore Netflix and Amazon streaming, I'm constantly on the hunt for high-quality shows.

Now that I'm done with Lark Rise to Candleford and Cranford, the hubby and I have begun 2 others.  There's Titanic the series--not bad, kind of a backstory to the Harland & Wolff shipyard and its happenings, and The Bletchley Circle.

I've been wanting to see The Bletchley Circle for ages and could never find it.  And, like so many British series, it's more of a mini-series, with only 3 episodes in season one.  Still, it is so good that I even started it from the beginning to include my husband.  I still haven't seen the 3rd episode.

Factually, it addresses Bletchley Park, an estate that was used during WWII as a home base for code-breaking and deciphering.  Many of these brilliant code-breakers were women, like the 4 fictional characters around which the series is based.  The estate still exists today as a museum.

After the war, these women were expected to sign a confidentiality agreement so that no one would think they did more than "clerical work," go back into their traditional roles and become wives and mothers.

The series shows a small blip of their work during the war and then fast-forwards nine years, when a serial killer is terrorizing London and one of the Bletchley women begins to see a pattern in his movements.  At the risk of exposing her wartime secret and alienating her husband, she rounds up 3 of her colleagues from a decade before and attempts to put together clues being overlooked by Scotland Yard.

As soon as I saw the trailer, I knew it would be good, and I was right.  I highly recommend it.  It's available on Amazon streaming, and you may have to pay around $1.99 per episode, but it is worth it. 

My House is My Castle

It's been 3 days and I can still hardly believe it.  We closed escrow on my house in California. I am not one of those people who dismisses the space they live in.  I get very attached.  I know it is just a house, but when you make the efforts I make to turn a house into a home and sanctuary, letting go is difficult.

This is a house on the street I grew up on, across the street from the house I grew up in.  I thought I would live the rest of my days there.

I grew up not giving much thought to the house.  Until I had it painted and bricked it was always a light salmon pink with white shutters.  I never went into it until I considered buying it.  For most of my childhood it belonged to an older woman who lived there alone and didn't associate much with the neighbors.  It was a "kids' street" during the 70's and 80's, so an older neighbor and her house didn't hold much interest for me.

Eventually she passed away and her relatives turned the house into a rental.  Tenants came and went over the years until the owners sold it to a family.  When the husband and wife got divorced, I bought it.

There is more to the story that some people know, but I won't go into that now.  Suffice it to say, this house was my dream home, even though it isn't that big.  The inside is full of light and charm and windows letting in cheery sunshine.  Shortly after my purchase my mom and I scoured the area for moving and estate sales.  Most of the house was furnished from amazing finds that I have never seen before or since.

From 2005 until 2010 this house was my castle.  I hosted my family there many times, always taking pride in decorating it for the holidays.  When my grandparents both passed away in 2008, this was going to become the new "Christmas Eve" house.  Little did I know that I would host the holiday only once.

There are dream houses, but there are other dreams too.  And let's face it, a house, no matter how much you love it, cannot love you back.  So when I met and married my husband in 2010, a choice had to be made.  It was an easy choice, because my husband is most definitely first in my heart, but a tiny part of me stayed attached to the house, which we kept rented for 3 years.

In retrospect, everything turned out exactly the way it should.  I'm glad we held onto it for a while.  It has allowed me to distance myself emotionally from it and to accept that we have no plans to return.  Time has made me feel more at home in our house in Washington, which I really do love, with all of its quirkiness, because it is the home my husband and I found together.

Goodbye my little castle.  Thank you for those 5 years.

A reminder that there is still much good in the world...

A true story out of Thailand.  Have a tissue nearby.

I'll get you Instagram...

OK, there are still some online trends I'm trying to master. (Instagram and its collages.)  Call me a late bloomer.  And there are others I've tried and just have no interest in.  (Twitter--sorry, I cannot live my life through hashtags.  I think it is #beyondridiculous, #dumbtrendsthatwontgoaway, #addictivetimewasters.)

So, Instagram it is.  And no, I don't plan to put any Instagram photos on Twitter.  But the settings are very fun to play with, although the 2nd picture looks better on my iPhone's screen than on the iMac.  Not sure why.

Anyway, 2 photos from my recent trip to Utah, already edited but with a little Instagram extras. 

Things I Have Been Enjoying Lately...

Just my luck that as soon as my cold went away, my hubby started a work schedule that has been very hard on us both.  Probably harder on him, because of the hours and physical demands, but hard on me because I'm barely going to see him for about 3 weeks.  I'm reveling in our dinners together and trying to make them as nice and as yummy as possible.

So, that is something I have not been enjoying.

But I have been turning my attention to other things when I'm not taking care of this very demanding house (the work is truly never done.) After months away from it, I've reintroduced myself to the "Washington Anytime Library," an online borrowing service that is SO much more convenient, quiet, and easy to navigate than going to an actual library. (Our local library, while nice, isn't very strict about noise level.) 

I started using this service less and less because it seemed like I was always having to wait for the books I borrowed, sometimes for weeks.  But now the site tells you right in the search whether or not the book you're looking at is checked out or not.  Sweet! 

I have 3 books out right now, all free!

I Still Dream About You, by Fannie Flagg
Why Smart Kids Worry, by Allison Edwards
and
The Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson

It's obvious that this site has been revamped lately.  For the better, I say. 

My book club seems to be fading away, so between this service, the Amazon Lending Library, and Goodreads.com, I think I'm set for a very long time.  Gloomy weather is coming up soon, so I need my arsenal of good books!

This morning I finished The Witch of Blackbird Pond, our October selection.  I probably read the whole thing in 4 hours and was riveted the entire time.  I discuss it on my book review site HERE.

On the TV/movie front, Eric and I recently saw The Impossible, the true story about the family who endured the tsunami in Thailand in the early 2000's.   Can I just say WOW, and more wow.  An amazing film, incredibly realistic special effects, and a story that grips you by the throat and doesn't let you go for 2 hours.  We both thought it was great.

We've also been watching Amazon's new exclusive show Under the Dome.  What a train wreck.  Based on a Stephen King novel with new episodes being added every Friday, we've watched 8 so far of the available 12.  Each time we just shake our heads at the ridiculousness of it all.  Yet, we go back for more.  It's a good show to watch together because we can pick it apart together.

On my own, I've been greatly enjoying the BBC's Lark Rise to Candleford. Since Eric hasn't watched it with me yet, I can forge ahead with as many episodes as I like (I already got him hooked on Downton Abbey and Doc Martin. Never could get him into Call the Midwife.)  I can honestly say I have not enjoyed a series so much since Downton.  It is positively delightful with a bevy of wonderful characters and multiple story lines.

We decided to give up our cable TV 2 months ago so we have no channels in our house.  I must say, I don't even miss them.  With the channels available on the Roku (Netflix, Amazon streaming, BYUtv) we are more than set with high quality options.

And, with the exception of a little bit of rain here and there, I've been enjoying the sunshine during these last weeks of summer.  My dog and I take a nice, long walk every day, usually somewhere between breakfast and lunch and see the flowers, the nearby lake, the kids playing at the playground, and our fellow walkers.  All of us drinking in these rays that will leave us in another few weeks.  I've endured 3 rainy winters in the Pacific Northwest so far, so I'm preparing for a fourth.  Admittedly, I enjoy autumn much more than I ever did now that I am not teaching, and the holiday season always keeps me busy.  It is gloomy January that feels a bit long--spring still feels so far away.  But I'll be fine.  I'm not one of those seasonally depressed people.

So, what about you? Have you been enjoying any good books lately or basking in the glories of nature?  There's always something.

Education Week 2013!

As usual, it takes more time to prepare and recover from a trip than to actually be on the trip.  But I'm home and rested, photos have been trimmed and edited, and now I'm ready to share them.  (If you're a Facebook friend a lot of them will look familiar.)

The last time I was in Utah was in 2009 for a roommate reunion.  I drove then, as I did this time.  But there were 2 differences this time.  This time I took my trusty canine companion, Bailey, the well-traveled dog who has now been on 6 long road trips in 4 different states.  The other difference was that my starting point was Washington State and my halfway point was Meridian, Idaho.  In the past my starting point has always been California with St. George or Cedar City, Utah being my resting places.  I'm not a straight-shot driver!

Besides the adventures of my destination, I couldn't help but make certain observations on the road.  For instance, based on my experience living in 3 different states over the years (CA, UT, WA,) I can strongly say that when it comes to courtesy and giving drivers space, Washington drivers rank the highest, with Oregon close behind (since we live so close to the Oregon border.)  Here are 5 states' worth of drivers from best to worst...

BEST       1.  Washington
                 2.  Oregon

Distant     3rd.  California

WORST  4. Utah
                5. Idaho

Idaho has its strengths though.  BEST drive-through carwash I've ever been to, and the hotel clerks at the La Quinta were really nice.  So were the rooms, and La Quinta hotels are dog-friendly, a great plus for me when I'm traveling alone with my pooch. Idaho was also the best at getting my windshield riddled with bugs.  Wait, what?  I guess it's all in how you look at it!

I left very early on all of my driving days (around 6am) and put in about 8-10 hours on the road.  Driving at night on a long trip is not for me, partly for safety as a woman traveling alone.

After arriving at our friend, Darla's, house in Orem 2 days before Education Week began, it was time to rest and plan our days.  My mom joined me, flying into Salt Lake City the day before.

We spent the next day in downtown Salt Lake, acting the part of the tourists.  We took a tour of the Conference Center, which I had never seen, and Temple Square, which is always a great place to visit.  We ate a yummy lunch at the Garden Restaurant on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (formerly the Hotel Utah)and visited the very large and impressive flagship store for Deseret Book.  The thing that impressed me the most at Deseret Book and at the BYU Bookstore was the beautiful artwork.  Such lovely paintings depicting Christ, the pioneers, temples, or scenes from the scriptures.  Really, really beautiful.

Here are some pictures from that fun day!  Click on them to see them full sized:

(These photos were all taken by me and belong to me.  

Please ask permission to use them. Thank you!)

Outside of the Conference Center

Inside the Conference Center--an AMAZING building!  It seats 21,000 people comfortably, the largest indoor place of worship in the entire world.  And it is so beautiful, both in the large hall and in the hallways surrounding it, which are filled with pieces of art.

View of Temple Square from the roof of the Conference Center

Another view from the roof, this time you can see the Utah State Capital Building in the back and the red McCune Mansion in the front.  I would've liked to have visited there, because I love historic houses, but there wasn't time for everything.

Yes, I took this picture!  This is the view of Temple Square from the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  A little iPhoto magic was added to make it look aged. One of my favorite photos from the trip.

The fountain outside the Church Office Building.

Mom in front of the Church Office Building.

The gorgeous Salt Lake Temple. I saw an incredible painting of this exact view minus the tourists and the big shadow at Deseret Book in Portland, Oregon, a week later.  So tempting!

Mom and me standing on the newlywed pedestal.

The Joseph Smith Memorial Building is shaped like an "H," but I was grateful to get this view with lots of flowers in the foreground.

There are no words.

The Church Office Building.  Big.

Another view of the temple.  Do you see a few red twinkle lights on the tree on the right?  A worker was already decorating for Christmas!  He had been working on that one tree for 3 weeks.

The Assembly Hall at Temple Square. Great gothic architecture.

Purely aesthetic.  I love pathways and lampposts.  

The next day Education Week began!  And so did the morning rush.  Each day we were up at 6:30am, out of the house by 8am, and pulling into the parking lot at the Marriott Center at BYU at 8:30.  The  Marriott Center in the huge indoor stadium on campus, used for graduations, special guest speakers, and basketball games.  The accompanying parking lot is one of the bigger ones on campus, but still a hike!  Despite that, we felt grateful that we were able to park in pretty much the same area each day.  It made finding the car a lot easier when we were so tired in the evening.

The week cost around $60, and with that fee you get to attend class series on a myriad of topics.  If you begin a series and decide to leave it and attend something else, that's OK too.

I attended a series on Abraham Lincoln that was very fascinating.  It covered Abraham Lincoln's spirituality and his relationship with God, which was very profound.  I'm tempted to do an entire blog post just on my notes from that class.  I also attended several on church history, one of my favorite topics at Education Week, a couple on marriage, one on temples, and one on the Sistine Chapel.

Another series I was faithful to was on music, given by Janice Kapp Perry and Marvin Goldstein.  Janice Kapp Perry is one of the most prolific (if not, THE most) composers in the LDS church.  Marvin Goldstein in a pianist who has a wonderful style that I could listen to all day. 

Walking through campus was a joy, and it brought back so many memories of my years there.  But I was still astounded at how much it has changed and how many new buildings have been built.  It reminded me of Disneyland a bit, because there are always changes being made, yet the spirit of the place remains the same.

Here are some campus photos I took:

It wouldn't be BYU without the Brigham Young statue right in front of the administration building.  Someone commented on how ironic it is that a clean shaven version is the one used on campus.  Way to keep with the dress code, Brother Brigham!

The extension of the library never fails to astonish me.  This project began right when I was graduating in 1994, with the quad area being completely torn up.  Now the quad is multi-level, allowing the students in the subterranean floors to have natural light while working on their studies.  Amazing!

Looking across the quad at the library with its fancy new entrance.  (OK, new to me!)

Along the middle of the quad are those little glass squares, which are skylights for the library floor below it.

Another view of campus.  Library skylight in the foreground, the HFAC (Harris Fine Arts Building,) and "Y" Mountain in the background. 

Trying out the panoramic feature.

On the 3rd day I decided to walk the trail to my old stomping grounds, the Cannon Center, my freshman cafeteria.  You can buy a food card for the week and stay in the dorms too.  I ate there twice.  $10 for all you can eat, and the food was dang good!  Like most everything else on campus, the Cannon Center has also had a major make-over since I was a lowly freshman.

The Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni Building, built in 2006.  I took a class here one day. 

Inside the Hinkley Center, including the shovel he used for the groundbreaking ceremony.  This building is such a fitting tribute for such a great man.

Our days on campus ranged from 10-14 hours during that Tuesday through Friday.  There was time for little else, but it was great.  By Friday, I was running out of steam and I woke of with a sore throat that developed into a nasty cold by the end of the day.  I only attended 2 classes instead of my usual 4.  It was a crummy way to end the week!  By the time we got back to Darla's house that evening I was a runny mess and just beat.  I went to bed at 5pm, only getting up for dinner.

The next day I assessed how I was feeling.  I had made a commitment to visit my friend, Chris, and his family in Spanish Fork while my mom and Darla went to visit a lovely lady from our California ward so many years ago.

My mom and Nora, who was turning 105!!! Doesn't she look great?

On the way back from my visit, I drove through downtown Provo to check on the progress of the Provo City Center Temple construction.  The building was once the Provo Tabernacle, which was destroyed by a fire.  I can't wait to see what it looks like when its completed.  We have to drive 60 miles to the nearest temple, imagine having 2 of them right there in your city!

Construction on the Provo City Center Temple--cool!

Despite my cold, I hit the road bright and early the next morning, rolling into the La Quinta once again at around 1pm.  I was so glad to be partway home and able to rest.  I just vegged for hours in my room and ordered a pizza.  It's called vacation!

The next day I left a little bit later, knowing that the time change would give me back an extra hour.  I arrived home around 3pm and found a Welcome Home sign on the door and flowers waiting for me in the dining room:

There is 2 of everything because Eric was babysitting his nephew and he wanted to be included in welcoming me back.  That night we went to Sizzler for some shrimp and some salad bar.  I was SO tired!

All in all, a really good trip.  It was so nice to be on campus and attend classes.  I'm a school nerd, I love things like that.  I loved popping into the BYU Bookstore each day and browsing through their overpriced souvenirs.  Bought a lot of 89 cent pens though! 

If you ever have the chance to attend Education Week I really encourage you to go.  We are never too old to learn something new, and the energy on campus, full of people from all over the country who are eager to be there, is really special.