Dominican Drinks and Desserts

I loved how much fruit there was in the Dominican. Just take a look:

While there, I tasted and enjoyed a lot of fruits I had never even heard of: guava, starfruit, noni, tamarindo, zapote, and red bananas (to name a few).

Also, I learned about the many varieties of mango. For the record, the best are the reddish green ones. They are not too stringy and not too small. 

Besides eating them plain, I loved fruit shakes and drinks. My favorite shakes were made from either papaya or zapote:

Many people would have literal "lemonade stands" where they would sell freshly squeezed fruit juice (with lots of sugar) in the street. While they usually sold juices such as lemon, lime, or orange, I also liked the more exotic juices, such as passionfruit and tamarindo:

Another common drink is Morir Sonando. Think Orange Julius, Dominican style.

Dominicans often blended dry oatmeal in their drinks, to give it a milky flavor and a thicker texture. They even sold dry mixes with oatmeal:

It sounds weird, but it actually tastes pretty good. 

The other great thing is that people would sell ice cream (either store bought or home made) from their homes. A unique but surprisingly delicious flavor was helado de batata (sweet potato ice cream):

They would divide them into little plastic bags and then sell them for 10 to 15 pesos (less than 50 cents). You always felt like you hit the jackpot when you found out someone made these in the area you were working in. 

When we had time on P-days, sometimes we would go out to eat. One of my favorite dessert shops was Yogen Fruz, which sold frozen yogurt mixed with whatever toppings you wanted: from the  waffle cones to tropical fruit.

Also, since it is technically a fruit- the avocados in the Dominican are HUGE, cheap, and delicious.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Una Noche a la Dominicana

Happy Dominican Independence Day!!

To celebrate, Matt and I will be attending a fiesta hosted by the BYU Student Association for Latin American Studies. I have high hopes for this event--there will be dominican food, music and dancing. 

Speaking of food, I recently found this awesome site: http://www.dominicancooking.com/recipes. Which, as you can see, has authentic dominican recipes. I'd just like to highlight those dishes that I ate most frequently on my mission:

La Bandera ("the banner") as they call it, is the most basic of dominican meals: rice, beans, and meat, occasionally with a modest green salad on the side.  This is what we would get if we were going out for "fast food." I think I ate this meal at least once a week in my second area.

I did not like plain white rice on my mission. Because of this, I either covered the rice with beans, or I would get Moro de habichuelas (Rice cooked with Beans), Moro de guandules con coco (Rice cooked with pigeon peas and coconut), or even Arroz con maiz (rice with corn):

Anything I could do to flavor it.

Either way, rice was served as a part of every meal. Even with spaghetti: 

Yup. To be honest, while I ate these meals and appreciated them at the time, they aren't ones that I would ever choose to make again.

The following recipies, however, ARE foods I would make again. Mostly because they are delicious and fattening. Up first: fried plantains. Best eaten with ketchup.

Second: empanadas. 

This is like a fried pastry. Dominican empanada dough is generally made with flour, and filled with meat, cheese, eggs, or vegetables. In my first area, I had two empanadas every Monday morning for breakfast. 

Third: Quipes

Quipes are made with whole grains and stuffed full of ground beef.  I was not able to eat these too often, however, because they were more of a party food, like for Christmas.

I'll stop for now, since I'm getting hungry (and this post is getting long), but stay tuned for a follow up post about dominican drinks and desserts!

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Sochi 2014 Olympics

We have loved watching the Olympics almost every evening over the past two weeks. What a treat. I'd like to share my favorite moments:

The tie for first in skiing. Both had interesting backstories (injured but came back for one more try and the other is a pop singer on the side).

 I thought it was great that they highlighted that he was a young father, and dedicated to his family.

I love all things ice skating. The ladies round especially. We were pulling for Yuna Kim (Korean bias), but I thought Adelina rocked her performance. And Carolina- way to come back and live your dream.

Also, the great brother and sister team at the bottom right. Did you see the clips they showed from when they were kids? So cute.

What a heartwarming backstory, and a great reaction to winning. Proving that getting any medal is special.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Baby Shower

Today I threw a baby shower for my cousin Jen, who is due to have a baby girl at the beginning of April. This was kind of a big deal because it was the first "shower" I have ever thrown. I kind of didn't know what I was doing, but it all worked out in the end. 

Let's start with the basics: group games. I didn't want to do anything too corney or extensive, so I chose two short games- "How Big is Mommy's Tummy?" and "The Price is Right." The ribbon for the tummy game I got at Michael's. They have a nice little baby shower section tucked next to the wedding section. I also thought it would be cute for the guests to write notes to the baby, hence the "Wishes for Baby" papers on the right. 

Luckily I got most of this done ahead of time, since I got sick the week of the shower and couldn't do much. However, if you want decorations in a pinch, Zurcher's came through with the purple puff ball strands in the pictures below: 

And the tablecloth I randomly got at Dave's Market. My only regret from the shower is that I didn't remember to take pictures until cleanup (hence the empty rooms). I wish I could have taken pictures of Jen opening presents and of all the people who showed up (specifically my relatives because I love seeing family) but you'll just have to take my word for it that people did come and it was great. We had a chocolate fondue machine running and I'm pretty sure I ate 10 chocolate covered strawberries. 

It was great to see my aunts, cousins, and mom at the event. They all helped set everything up, and I couldn't have done it without them. Also, Jen got ADORABLE baby clothes for her little girl. (Seriously, I love baby girl clothes. It's like my favorite section to walk through in the store. So much cuteness.)

Rhetorically,

Rebekah

Writing Conference

While I have attended several writing conferences in the past, I wish I would have taken advantage of this particular conference earlier: Life, the Universe, and Everything (LTUE). LTUE is one of the
cheapest writing conferences I have ever seen, and to beat the normal price, they offer free admission to students. It is a three day conference focusing on all things related to Science Fiction and Fantasy. While all three days are full of information for authors, they also have events for artists, gamers, and film junkies.

LTUE is mostly targeted to those who are pre-published or newer authors. While the guest of honor (Orson Scott Card) and special guests (Brandon Sanderson being among them) all have a lot of published works, there were also panelists who had only published one book. It was great to get a variety of perspectives and meet new people.

I also enjoyed seeing familiar faces such as my ex-roommates Allison Hymas and Sarah E. Seeley, and friend Chad Morris, all whom are authors.

 I attended the following one-hour sessions:
-Agent or No Agent?
-Write What You Don't Know
-Why Economics Matters
-Henchmen Don't Have to Suck
-From Start to Finish: Drafting the Manuscript
-This is Your Life
-Drawing Upon Folklore
-Writing for Boys
-The Best Books for Children and YA
-Lovable Bad Boys
-Writing Children's Books
-Description in Writing

If you do the math, I spent approximately 12 hours at the conference over a three day period. And yet I could have gone to so much more. I think I only went to about a third of the conference, since it started every day at 9am and lasted until 9pm.

Nevertheless, I had a fabulous and enlightening experience, and an increased desire to continue my writing. We'll see if that desire is enough to get me to commit to writing daily. If I learned anything from all of the mothers at the conference, it is that you can make time for writing, even if it's only during your children's nap time. The trick is making it a priority. And I still haven't quite figured out how to do that yet- I've got classes, work, exercise, church, and a summer job hunt all bidding for priority status right now.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Valentines Day

Matt's Carrel. He didn't see it coming. I decorated his carrel the night before while I was at a "writing conference." (I went, so I wasn't lying, but I left early to do his carrel). The small pink book on the table was a photo album so he could take the pictures down and store them.

I sent Matt on a short scavenger hunt throughout the house. He had to figure out the end of each rhyme in order to find where each candy bar/ sweet was. Here are some examples: 

1.     Pool table- sweettart

If you’re good with a stick and feeling cool, 

Go to the table where we play _________

2.     Shelf- starburst

This next one is tricky, don’t second-guess yourself

You’ll find your clue on a bathroom ________

3.     Front room fireplace- big hunk

If you’re feeling cramped and need some space

Go to the front room by the fire__________

4.     Backyard deck- snickers

Is the door locked? You’ll have to check--

Through the kitchen to the backyard _______

7.     Entertainment room TV- u-no

Wanna watch the Olympics? Do you have some time free?

Check out the space around the _______.

Since we were celebrating Korean style, we went out for Shabu-Shabu in Park City. Shabu-Shabu is a a traditional Korean/ Japanese meal where you start out with a portable gas stove and a bowl full of boiling broth (see pictures below). You slowly add raw materials (vegetables, thinly sliced raw meat, and noodles) and they cook in the broth and add flavor. It was a unique experience.

And I made Cherry yum-yum for dessert. The heart is made out of cherry pie filling, which is also found underneath the whipcream/ cream cheese topping. Thanks to Matt's mom for sending me detailed instructions!

Gun O'Clock: Revisited

To understand this blog post, it is important to read this post first.

Although we have received great pleasure from shooting the alarm clock in the morning, there has been one main problem: turning it off. The gun o'clock was designed to be turned off when you actually got up and pressed the button. However, the button is not clearly marked, and so if you don't have the instructions nearby, you wouldn't know how to do it.

The most recent occurrence of these problems is when Matt pulled it out of storage for the first time on Sunday. After many failed attempts to turn it off (Which button is it? I pressed all of them!!) on Monday and Tuesday, I resorted to hiding the clock in another room, buried under a pile of blankets. And yes, I tried taking out the batteries and couldn't get the little screw to come out.

Also, as previously mentioned in my last post, the battery problems usually involve the clock face going blank, leaving the impression that it turned off (or is broken). However, minutes later the numbers will again appear (sometimes with the correct time- as if nothing had happened. Other times the it will reset but creepily remember when the alarm should go off).

While the gun o'clock is a great idea, the past glitches and the problems I had over the weekend have caused me to re-think my perception of the "perfect gift" I thought it was a year ago.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Amateur Artists

Our FHE activity. The theme was "swirl." I am very grateful to Matt for not getting mad at me when I accidentally "swirled" paint over some of his art.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Toenail Art Update!

For all of those who loved this post--here's the last four months of toenail art!

For those who didn't see the post, here is the explanation: I paint my toenails once a month, based on the season or a holiday in which the month resides. I only do this once a month because it usually is fairly elaborate and takes at least an hour to do.

November- my own creation, because I couldn't find any good thanksgiving themed toenail art that I liked.

December- based off of several ideas from pinterest. I think the trees turned out the best.

January- based off of pics from this blog: http://toetats.blogspot.com/

February- Pretty in Pink. Also based on ideas from Pinterest.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah