heart-shaped plate

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”

- George Bernard Shaw

Guys. You know I love food. LOVE it. My roommates have nicknamed me "the granola" or "pumpkin" or just plain old "ultimate chef" (huh?). More than once, I've had a roommate hover over my breakfast/lunch/dinner plate and ask me what I did and how I did it and can-they-please-have-a-bite? Then they ask me what the secret ingredient is. Well, love is always the answer. Duh!.... And..... practice. If you want to like what you eat (and if you want your body to like it, too), you have to practice. Figure out what you like, and eat it. But make sure it's real food. Real food always tastes better. Seems like a no-brainer, but in this world of processed foods, we sometimes forget. Did I just admit to being a food snob? Why yes, yes I did. And I have no shame.

Sooooo anywho, the ultimate foodie, amy mathews kunihiro, has asked me to do a blog about food...specifically food for valentine's day. I do not own a fancy-schmancy camera, nor do I live in a place with great natural light. Therefore, I will probably be breaking some kind of copyright laws when I use pictures from other bloggas. But hey, I'm just sharing the wealth with you all. Here are some deeeeericoius foods I have been needing to make lately. And ones I think you should cook for your lover, if you happen to have one. I set it up by meal, because I'm just that nice.

for breakfast....

pancakes of course. these ones look taaaaaaasty-tasy. joy the baker has a zillion pancake recipes. aka we are breakfast-soulmates. I betcha didn't know that breakfast soulmates existed. Well, guess what, they do.

pumpkin spice pancakes

oatmeal cookie pancakes

buckwheat baby with salted caramel syrup

for lunch...

a yummy soup perhaps? and a roll or some other kind of carb. hey, it's valentine's day. I never said carbs weren't real food. Try these sweet potato muffins..they're flippin' good.

white bean and kale soup.

this sounds like it would be healthy (which it is) and therefore gross (which it's not). I lived off of this for a week...mmm. Really good with freshly-grated parmesan cheese on top.

for dinner...

chicken gyros with tzatziki sauce. homemade pita is optional...but honestly, it shouldn't be. storebought pita=cardboard. whole wheat homemade pita=a soft, nutty pillow of utter and insane deliciosity. OR there's chicken tikka masala. jamie oliver's is da bessst. seriously, favorite meal. or there's italian food. I know someone in Hawaii who is particularly fond of pasta...

spaghetti with lemon and olive oil

dessert must include chocolate. MUST. when you are brave enough, you can try them all. oooh just looking at them makes me esssited.

chocolate cheesecake squares

salted fudge brownies

glazed chocolate cake with coconut flakes

peanut butter pie with cookie crust

(sounds like pure insanity because it is)

what, you aren't full yet? don't worry, here's some nummy-nummy side dishes!

mini cheese tarts with blackberries

sugar and spice candied nuts

caesar salad deviled eggs

sweet potato fries

Alright, I think this is enough to induce a food coma. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! Love yourself and eat something tasty.

okay, ew

I'm gonna use this blog for something I rarely use it for: venting. You may or may not enjoy it.

1) those commericals on TLC about weird addictions. seriously, gag me with a spoon. so sick. why are they on public tv? I'm still gagging.

2) soggy sweet potato fries. Red Robin, c'mon, if I'm gonna pay you 79 cents to be a little bit healthier, you better make those fries CRISPY. As in, I should hear a "crunch" when they enter my mouth.

3) two pairs of acid wash jeans spotted on campus this week....on both boys and girls. ack.

4) rags. I am a paper-towel kind of a girl. And the rags in our sink multiply like rabbits. I don't even bother using them...if I see one sitting there looking all moldy-like, I just carry it back to the washer asap. I guess I'm a rag supremacist.

5) when people eat foods together that should not be eaten together. I guess this is just the foodie in me or something, but f'real, you can't eat graham crackers and canned corn for lunch! what?!

6) please, for the love of all that is good and right in this world, stop wearing holey sweats to the grocery store. Holey in all the wrong places, too. I think that you're confusing the produce aisle with...your bed.

7) when your hair is so thick that you have to blow-dry it for so long that you start to break a sweat and then your hair sticks to your neck and your shirt sticks to your back and it's like, why did I even shower after that workout? There was no need.

8) that thing when people hock a loogie (thanks dad) in their mouth and then...and then...they...they swallow it. {kid history reference} And the worst thing is, we all know it, because we heard them hock the lugie, and then nothing happened afterwards!

9) sorry for that last one, it was pretty dang gross. but while we're on the subject, can all of the boys at this school please stop spitting everywhere? kthanksbye. (I realize that this pretty much contradicts the last thing I said, but hey, there are bathroom sinks and kleenex and other things. am I right?)

10) THIS

list of happiness (gasp!)

Did you just choke on something you were eating? Sorry! It's been awhile since I did a happy list...I know. And it's not even Monday, for cryin' out loud. That doesn't mean I can't make a happy list, though. Happiness is not limited to one day, young jedi. Make happy list for every day of the week, you can.

1) being in da mood to cook, and I mean seriously... it's like the Food Network up in hur, all day long. In the past month, I made: kale and white bean soup (two times, it was yummy), banana shakes up the wazoo, sweet potato muffins, pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip muffins (ok now inhale), homemade pizza, sixtygagillion loaves of bread, homemade yogurt like a pro (also two times), egg sandwiches, lemon salmon+roasted zucchini, chicken gyros with tzatziki sauce and homemade pita bread (*dead*)...that's all I feel like remembering right now. Would you like to hire me as your live-in cook? Okey-day! (you only get to offer me the job if you're Batman/Christian Bale, aight?)

2) being so zoned out in Spanish class today that when the boy behind me said "Okay McKenzie, let's trade seats" (so we could gather in our groups) I just stared at him for 10 full seconds. And then he said, "Uhhh" and I said "Oh!" And jumped up out of my seat really awkwardly. I'm surprised my head didn't hit the ceiling! Oh wait...no I'm not. I may have amazing reflexes, but I'm still five-two.

3) because of number one (plus good old-fashioned exercise, duh), my clothes. don't. fit. any. more. In a good way. But I'm too stubborn (or is it poor?) to buy new ones. So I just have to pretend that I like my pants to be super-baggy and stuff. There's nothing wrong with wanting to bring the 90's back.

4) re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird for my superheroes literature class. The first time I read it, I was ten years old...so it definitely made more sense to me this time around. It's still just as stupendous as it was back then. Oh, and the movie? If you haven't seen it, stop reading this and go watch it now. NOW.

5) using a thesaurus to find "stupendous" so I wouldn't have to use "awesome" again in that last paragraph. Oh yes I did.

6) the weather, which constantly fools me into thinking it's almost spring. I have gone lots of mornings without my coat because by the time I get home in the afternoon, it's really really nice (okay, probably 35-40 degrees, but still). In the meantime, I freeze my nalgas off. Lovely.

7) a lovely email from student records saying the following:

Mckenzie,

We have reviewed your graduation application and it looks like with the completion of your courses this semester you will be able to graduate this semester. I am forwarding your graduation application on to the Dept. Chair for his approval. Let us know if there is anything we can help you with or answer any graduation questions you might have.

BOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't even care that they forgot to capitalize my K. That's how happy I am.

8) the hot pad I bought to make yogurt, which also doubles as a "make McKenzie fall asleep about ten times faster" tool. The only downside: I have a harder time waking up. I literally feel like I'm buried under ten quilts and man, it is just so niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice under there. I think it might also be making my dreams weirder (didn't know that was possible).

9) when a boy I thought was cute actually dropped the h-bomb today ("let's hang out"), he became ten times less attractive. I was surprised at my reaction. I guess I really am maturing, huh. I wondered when that would happen.

10) automatic cure-all if you are having a bad day: make a happy list for yourself, eat a smoothie or something with pumpkin in it, take a walk/go for a run/just go outside, read from the Book of Mormon, smile at someone, smile at yourself, listen to a good dancing song. And dance to it. I mean really dance.

letters 'n things

I've decided writing letters is becoming outdated. And that makes me sad. Because writing letters and receiving letters is probably one of the most bombtastic things ever.

I love imagining people's faces when they get a letter from me. Especially if they didn't know one was coming. It's lovely to imagine that the last person to hold that letter was your friend, and they were thinking of you when they sent it.

Letters may not be an instant message, but they sure get the message across. I'd venture to say they more than get the message across--it means that somebody took some time out of their day to have a conversation with you, to put pen to paper, and fold it up nicely and seal it in an envelope. And then they walked outside in the chilly air for just a few seconds to put that envelope into the mailbox and send it off on a little adventure. I may or may not be an English major...can't you tell?

One of my goals this year was to write a letter every week. So far I have succeeded. If you count packages, too...which I do.

If you comment on this post maybe you'll get a letter from me. If I know your address, that is. Whoa, did I just bribe you for comments? Guess so. Ever since I got rid of facebook nobody reads this anymore. Sigh. I'm still here!

confesh sesh

there is beauty in this confession session. am I right or am I right?

1) I said "confesh sesh." Meaning I spoke in abreev. Do you want to know the last time I spoke in abreev? Well, chances are it was probably when Chelsea B. was still around. She and I were flu in that lang.

2) Since I went grocery shopping on Tuesday, I have eaten one and a half of my avocadoes...and oh yeah, I bought five. Five avocadoes. FIVE. Ok...so we're good here, right?

3) This week has been yet another one of staying up wayyy past a reasonable hour. And by the way, I've always wondered what that phrase meant. How can an hour be reasonable? Does it think rationally and make decisive arguments? I've been in Rhetoric classes for wayyyyyyyyy too long.

4) Because of my insane load of homework, I have had to learn to let some assignments go....and that is something I have never done. It's pretty weird. You know what else I've had to let go of? My Friday nights. Goodbye, lazy weekend. Until we meet again!

5) Last night I had a dream that everybody (well not in the whole world...but a lot of us) was in this giant warehouse and there was a huge blizzard happening outside. Then, dad wanted me and Ike to go drive around in it. I woke up right before that really bad decision went down. Why do I always dream about apocalyptic things?

6) I have more freckles now than ever before. Or maybe I'm just noticing them because my skin...is finally clear! I have waited to say that since I was pubescent. Also, I've always wanted to use pubescent in a sentence. Two birds, one stone, people.

7) When it snows, I get really excited, because then I get to let the snow land on my hair. And puddle-jump. Because so far, the snow this winter has not consistently stayed snow. So much for Rexburg being a "dinosaur" in the wintertime.

8) I straightened my hair not once, not twice, but three times this week! This is cool because I haven't straightened it for awhile. I've been wearing...um...fish-tail pigtails to class. Whoa..two animals in one braid. I'm so weird!

9) When I can't fall asleep, I make up recipes. Sheep-counting does nothing for my taste buds, okay? Why count when I can create?!

10) Ever since Isaac uttered the words "taco bus" on Tuesday, I've been thinking about it. Ever. Since. I may or may not have a problem. And the problem is that the taco bus is not parked in my apartment's parking lot.

11) Today I got really excited for spring for the following reasons: short-sleeved shirts, running outside, leg-freckles, and all things lemon. Are you excited now? Oh yeah...and GRADUATION.

12) I've been listening to this dude a lot lately. Take my advice and do the same.

13) I think oranges are the yummiest fruit in the winter time. Cold, juicy oranges. Mmm. This confession session has been mostly about food. Which I think is a confession in and of itself.

a human jukebox

Somebody told me I needed to update my blog. I know all of you (how many of you are there, like five?) are wondering where the heck I've been. I'm not in the social networking part of the internet anymore, which really hasn't affected my life too much. Except for the people-getting-engaged part. They act offended when I don't know...oops. Guess I'm prehistoric now or something. Anywho, that's why you don't know about my life too much anymore. I don't blog, I don't facebook..but I still use pinterest and tumblr! Yay!

Wow, this post is incredibly boring. I always think of funny/clever stuff I could blog about during the day, but then 9 o'clock hits and so does the procrastination monster. He tells me that I need to stop reading 20-page articles and answering endless busy-work questions. So I agree with him and attempt to write a blog post. Which fails... And then I'm more tired than I was before. Oh, the life of a college student. Soon I'll be an ex-college student, and that will be a wonderful day.

In the meantime, here's what I've been eating/listening to/thinking about. Maybe I'll start blogging for real after April 6th...

• double chocolate cheesecake=the reason I left Dan a really awful message last night. Sorry, dan-o. I really am. We all know what sugar does to me.
• the hush sound. I knew I liked them before, but then they were given to me by a certain individual on a mixed CD and apparently now I cannot stop listening to them. music is so weird that way. p.s. music in portuguese makes me laugh a little bit, just because I can't for the life of me understand it, and then I try to, and it's just...bad. Me trying to understand it...not the music. Ok, goodbye longwinded and pointless postscript.
• camping, I just need to go as soon as the snow melts. my desire to be outside is reflected here big time.
• mexico, always.
• ernest hemingway, why must your paragraphs be so long?
• estimate of how many pages of reading i have done in the last month: upwards of 5,000. It ain't pretty. And none of that is recreational reading, btw.
• I have probably made at least six loaves of bread this month alone. And the hippie references (toward me) are through the roof lately. That's what I get for growing my own yogurt and stuff.
• 50,000 recipes (ish) dreamed up in the margins of my notes.
• 1 lesson done did and taught in relief society.
• I haven't slipped on the ice yet, but I almost went down today in a lovely flailing motion.
• Songs learned on the guitar: one (that's two halves of a song actually)
• Awkward hugs given/received: a jillion. okay three in particular come to mind.
• I dusted off my Moleskine full of poems and poetic thoughts again, cuz my right brain needs a place to get away, just like me. It doesn't do well in 3-hour long classes all about how Obama writes his arguments.
• more freckles than I've had in awhile. rexburg=mexico? not even close. but in this regard, it is. and I guess the taco bus is a derivative of Mexico. Let's call it Mexico Lite.
• sharing my music taste with everybody who wants to know. hence the human jukebox...heheheh. get it? drum roll anybody?? kaitlyn, that was a shout-out to you.

• coincidences/serendipitous encounters...you don't even want to know what kind of mind games fate is playing with me right now. And for the record I know that coincidences and fate do not exist...I just like pretending they do so I don't get too frustrated with where they really come from. :)
• matching socks, and the lack thereof in my sock drawer. It's getting (slightly) embarrassing to be wearing half purple/half green. But I can dig it.
• Justin Vernon and his crazy genius. He seriously is the craziest guy ever. But holy smokes, his music...his MUSIC. Ack! Not fair, I tell you.

The long and short of it: I'm still the same ol' awkward, reddish-brownish headed, freckle-faced, music-obsessed, overthinking, right-brained fool who is trying to get through the last eight weeks of school. That's right, EIGHT WEEKS.

Ahhh, deep breath.

this blog used to be funny.

(if you don't know who this is...yeah I just don't even know what to say to you.

here's a crash course: this and this)

funny...and updated.

But you know what, my classes have been off the heezy lately. And you don't even wanna know what that means.

While I figure out how to be funny/sane again, here is a brain barf..er...journal entry from just last night. I apologize in advance for talking about my legs again. I just can't seem to get off of that subject on this blog. Or in real life. Ha.

{Something smells like chicken noodle soup and it's making me hungry.}<--that's the title, btw

Also, I haven't shaved my legs in 2 weeks, what?! That's kind of sick. But on the other hand, it's flippin' FREEZING here and walking to the library feels like the climb to Everest with the wind chill and all. Ok, maybe not that dramatic. The point is, my legs are going to stay unshaven for at least a few more days. The End and Amen.

Can you tell that this is a brain barf? I figured the title would be a dead giveaway. Seriously, that soup or whatever is cooking (at 10 o'clock at night...hmm) smells GOOD. I'm going off-topic..which isn't breaking any rules because this is a brain barf, folks! I wore 4...no 5 different coats today. Not at all once, of course, because that would be RE-donkulus. And yet, maybe it would be genius. I wasn't a fan of the wind today--it ruined our "snowstorm" which was supposed to strike this morning. Boo. I choose snow over wind any day. Back to my coats. I'm going to rate their effectiveness in this crazycrazycrazy cold weather.

1-my Mexican "drug rug" (don't hate). A solid 7, and it could be higher but I didn't wear it outside and really test its abilities.

2-BYU sweatshirt, 5. It's losing it's fuzziness. Unlike my legs...haha! Ahem. Anyway.

3-brown old navy coat, 0. It's just for decoration after all.

4-grey AE hoodie. A 4, it's way too small, meaning I have grown since age 16! So I guess my doctor was wrong-o when he told me I was done growing in 6th grade. That's right, 6th grade! Do you know how tall I was in 6th grade? Probably not as tall as you were.

5-my winter coat, a 10 of course. Now I just need sufficient coverage for my leggies, cuz my leg hairs+jeans aren't that much protection.

Dude, I can't believe how much I got done today! When I woke up, I was dreading everything that I was going to have to attempt. But somehow, by focusing on one thing at a time, I did it. What the junk? Maybe it's because I deactivated my facespace until April...yeah, maybe. In between classes, I worked on a huge assignment for English 450 (it's kicking me in the pants, seeeriously) and exercised. And worked at the RC (it's a miracle I still work there...I seriously thought about quitting this week because I was so swamped). And made a legitimate dinner. And had scripture study. And looked at moccasins on the internet because I really want some. And listened to lots of indie music, which only made me want to go to Coachella more and see Justin Vernon in the flesh!!!! Sigh."

I'm telling you...on a crazy scale from 1-10, my journals are a 15.

And so is the whole no-snow-in-Rexburg but snow-in-the-Pacific-Northwest thing. These are the things that keep me up at night, friends. Moccasins, Justin Vernon, and the wind practically blowing this apartment to smithereens.

p.s. you need to watch this right now. right. now. ya hear?!!