All Aglow

Friday night I headed downtown to catch the lights being turned on on Temple Square. It ended up being relatively warm, making the crowds and people with strollers and slow-walking people worth it. Here's a few pics from the night:


There's nothing I love more than seeing the city get ready for the holidays, with lights not just on Temple Square but down Main Street and 300 South. It makes the city and streets feel magical, and I can't help but marvel at their beauty.

BYU Wins!

All is right with the world, and the rest of the year can now be enjoyed.

Holy War 2009 was exciting and a little nerve-wracking: penalties, players throwing punches, bad calls, OT. When Hall made that pass to George and he crossed the goal line, Jared, Emily, my mom and me just started jumping up and down and cheering. Ahh, the sweet feeling of victory.

Jazz Game: A New Thanksgiving Tradition

My usual Thanksgiving tradition, besides turkey, cheese rolls, and pie, is going to see a movie. This isn't a long-standing tradition; I've probably only been doing it the past four years or so. This year, though, the Jazz had a home game on Thanksgiving, and my mom and sister (along with my cousin Phaedra) have season tickets. So I put my movie tradition on hold for a day to attend the Jazz game with my my mom, sister, brother, nieces, nephew, and cousins.


















All the kids have their own jersey and looked so cute all dressed up for the game. It was all little Mo could talk about from the moment he woke up on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, he refused to take a nap before the late-starting game and ended up like this during the fourth quarter:

And to mark the momentous gathering of cousins, we took this picture to send to Grandma. Jared bought his jersey that night so he wouldn't be out of place, Marilyn was forced into buying the Jazz jacket she's sporting, and Phaedra bought the Men's Medium shirt for Karen all so when Grandma shows it to visitors we look good.

A Cadre of Cousins

That's my brother Jared, cousin Phaedra, me, cousin Marilyn, sister Emily, and cousin Karen. we are pretty awesome. It was a super fun night.

Another Turkey Day Down

Let me just start by putting it out there: the rolls were not a success, and even though the sweet potatoes turned out perfect, it appears no one in my family besides my mom enjoys nuts in their sweet potatoes. So while everyone was enjoying gobs of mashed potatoes on their plates, the sweet potatoes didn't get the same love.

I got up early this morning to start on the rolls. I doubled the recipe so that we would have enough; if there's one thing my family likes, its bread. Well, being the under-estimator and general non-planner that I am, I didn't have enough flour or a big enough bowl. I tried my hardest to make it work, but after two hours the dough was still the same sad size. In the trash it went and off to Smith's we went for some store-bought rolls.

The Bourbon Sweet Potatoes went much more smoothly, even if I did have way too much and no one but my mom and me ate them. I'm still counting it as a success. And next time I'll just make regular candied yams to please my traditional eating family.

Dessert was also a success, even if my two cheesecakes and my mom's two pies are way too much for just four adults and three little kids. There will definitely be enough to tide me over all week. So even though I feel like my duties for Thanksgiving didn't turn out just as I would have liked them to, it wasn't ruined. All that really matters is that I spent the time with my mom, brother, sister, nieces and nephew.

And being the dork that I am, I asked everyone to go around and say what they were thankful. I got many eye rolls, and no one seemed that into the idea, but the kids sure were cute about what they were thankful for. And since none of you were around my table, let me give you the blog version of what I'm thankful for: a place to live, a job, my functioning body, friends who take care of me, family who loves me, my bus pass, sleeping, food, reusable shopping bags, clementines, music.

Getting Ready

Tomorrow is Turkey Day. This is my first Thanksgiving home in two years, and I've decided to sort of become co-host of the day. To take the burden off my mom I am in charge of dessert, the sweet potatoes, and rolls. This might sound simple, but I'm making all of them from scratch. Well, I'm not growing the yams or making the cream cheese, obviously, but nothing is coming from a can or store bought.

I found a recipe online for Bourbon Pecan Smashed Sweet Potatoes. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow. I really hope it goes well, because I really love sweet potatoes and would really feel like something was missing if there weren't any. The past two years I had Thanksgiving with Maria and Marky Mark and both times this is the type of sweet potatoes they made. Seeing as how anything straying from the accepted norm doesn't always go over so well with my family, this could end up being disastrous. (Going to the liquor store for the bourbon was quite fun; I definitely felt out of place and that everyone around me could tell I had no idea what I was doing.)

As for the rolls, I'm making them from a recipe from a friend's Aunt who made them while I was in Salmon. They were the best rolls I've ever had. I've never made them before, and I love rolls more than I love sweet potatoes and would feel like a complete failure if they didn't turn out being somewhat edible. I would have to declare Thanksgiving officially ruined.

Thankfully, though, my desserts are to die for and tried and true. My signature dessert is White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake, which is cooling as I type, and always gets great reviews. I've also made a Decadent Peanut Butter Pie that is setting in the fridge. So if nothing else goes right, at least we'll have something sweet to drown our empty stomachs in.

I Love SLC

Just in case I'm giving off the vibe that I'm not happy in Salt Lake, or that I regret my move back, let me tell you about my wonderful Saturday and the simple events that made me realize that I really do love this city.

First, my friend Cat and I caught an early temple session at the Salt Lake Temple. I haven't been back to this temple specifically since taking out my endowment in August and it was great to be back inside the beautiful building that has so much history. It took the Saints forty years to build it, having to stop and cover it up with dirt a couple times, and is such a marvelous edifice to the determination and hard work of the early Saints that I can't help but admire it.

Later in the day I was then able to have lunch and run some errands with my mom and nieces and nephew. I cherish the moments I get to spend with them and I love seeing how they each grow and become their own little people with distinct personalities and quirks. As we shopped for some Thanksgiving needs, I realized that this will be my first Thanksgiving home in two years.

In the evening I headed downtown, one of my favorite places to be in Salt Lake. It was such a lovely, warm night that I walked from a building a co-worker helped paint a mural on to the Gateway shopping center. Even though the streets of downtown are nothing like the crowded sidewalks of New York, there's a certain peacefulness in it that I love. I walked by Temple Square and realized that pretty soon it will be lit up with lights on every tree.

While at The Gateway wasting time before the Jazz Game, I happened upon a free concert. Jon Schmidt, a local Utah musician, was going at it on the piano, playing beautiful Christmas arrangements and getting the crowd ready for the lighting of the tree. And when the tree was finally turned on and lit up in its dazzling colors, I admit that I got a little emotional and excited for the coming Christmas season. There's something about the lighting of a tree and its simple beauty that gets me all nostalgic for Christmases past.

And after all that, I was able to spend the evening cheering on the Jazz to an overtime win with my sister and cousin. A great day in this second city that I love.

Este Pizza

Este Pizza, a cute little NYC pizza hamlet in the heart of Sugarhouse. Saturday night my sister and I got pizza from there. It's definitely a place to return to and dine-in--there's a mural of the 1 and A trains on the wall, a collage of metrocards (I still have all my metrocards from my time in New York), and it just has a great NYC vibe. The pizza's also pretty good. For those who like their pizza New York-style, there's also Big Apple Pizza, where we would've gone if there hadn't been an hour and fifteen minute wait. I'm always looking for things here in Salt Lake that will remind me of New York. Maybe that's bad and a bit masochistic, but some days I just miss it so much. This is what a few of my friends in New York had to say about leaving the city that never sleeps, so you don't think I'm the only crazy person who still talks about New York after leaving it.