♥ My FAVORITE Salad ♥

I know, I know, I'm not a salad eater. Mostly, it's because I HATE the most useless vegetable on earth, the iceberg lettuce (my boss, Lynda, calls it a vehicle for salad dressing). When I am in the mood for a salad, I prefer a spinach salad and if it's not available then it's usually the Caesar salad. I came up with this a few years ago and I call it my WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) salad. Basically, I was in the mood to make something healthy and took my favorite veges and threw it all together.

1 Cucumber (I prefer the English variety as it has less seeds)

1 Avocado

1 Bell Pepper (I used a yellow one for tonight's salad)

Cherry tomatoes

Fresh Mozzarella

Half the cherry tomatoes. Cube everything else. Toss in a bowl. What you see is what you get!

The juices from the tomatoes, cucumber and ripe avocado should be enough to coat everything else to make it look like you've dressed them with a creamy salad dressing and the natural flavors are strong enough that if you need to add anything, it'll just be salt/pepper. I have tried to make this dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette, but I like it better without. I love to eat this chilled on hot summer days! I guess now that I've made this bowl I'll have some to last me for at least 4 meals. Good thing I love it, huh?

Es Alpokat

One of my favorite things in the world is es alpokat (avocado shakes). It transports me to days gone by in Indonesia. There's not a blender or magic bullet at work, so I couldn't make myself some today for lunch, but what is a girl to do when she just bought a bag of avocados from Costco? So, I just basically poured chocolate syrup on the avocado and had it for my dessert. I've had the avocado in the fridge, so it was nicely chilled and with the chocolate syrup it was not unlike eating a creamy ice cream.

I'm picturing some of you cringing in disgust as you're reading this post, just as some of my co-workers did today. BUT when a few of them tasted the combination, they were pleasantly surprised and said that they would probably eat it again that way.

Okay, with that, how do you make an avocado shake? In Indonesia they use avocado, ice, condensed milk/cream/evaporated milk, palm sugar, a squeeze of lime/lemon juice and blend. I have no set recipe and who would have palm sugar handy in their homes, so my recipe is simplified and it's something like this: a whole ripe avocado in my trustee magic bullet, a couple of ice cubes, some milk, some chocolate syrup (optional), and whir away, add a wee bit more chocolate syrup to make some pretty design in your glass and enjoy the smooth, creamy concoction. Ahhh ...

Maybe I'm not so cold-hearted after all ...

After the incident with a pan handler a couple of weeks ago, I thought about the incident throughout the week and felt bad that I had assumed the worse of this man and realized that had I been this poor student needing to get home to bury my mother, I would be just as distraught if not more so ... then I saw him downtown on my way to work one day last week, approaching a elderly couple! ARGH!!! Unfortunately, I was driving down Main Street and could not stop to yell out my window and warn this couple.  So, let me give you the details in case you're ever approached downtown:

• Young man in his 20's claiming to be a poor college student (with only $11 in his bank account);
• Shaved bald head and clean;
• Both times I saw him in khaki pants and tan long-sleeved light plaid-patterned shirt;
• Claims to have just lost mother to cervical cancer;
• Needs to catch a bus to go home within the hour;
• Claims that church is partially helping him, but needs another $30 for bus ticket;
• Even offers to have you buy the bus ticket to ensure that the money doesn't go elsewhere;
• If you tell him you don't have the money, he'll quickly turns off the water works and quiver, snaps at you and walks away.

It occurred to me (and confirmed by a friend who works in this area professionally) that if the church was helping anyone in this situation, the bishop, his counselors, RS/EQ Presidents, will get said bus ticket and will not allow anyone to beg to get the funds necessary.  I was also reminded that the Church have suggested that we not give to pan handlers, instead pay your tithes and offerings (which benefit people in need) or donate to a legitimate charity. Being kind and charitable doesn't mean you have to be a sucker.

Recently spotted at the World Cup

Here is a picture of some of the fans with their vuvuzelas.  This plastic horn has been a somewhat controversial addition to soccer matches that creates a buzz on TV and in person.  Imagine being in a stadium with 40.000 of these in the hands of excited fans.  You may be interested in knowing who the fellow in the middle is cheering for. 

 

Let God and Heaven be your GOOOAAAAL!

Kirby: Why does no one miss me when I miss church?

Like Kirby, I don't think I'm missed much when I'm not in church. I've not ever seen a zucchini or brownies on my doorstep upon returning home on a Sunday night.

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Kirby: Why does no one miss me when I miss church?

By Robert Kirby

The Salt Lake Tribune

July 8, 2010 02:49PM

Until last Sunday, I hadn’t been to church in more than a month. Work or family obligations kept me away, although there was that one Sunday when I just couldn’t be bothered to get dressed.

A month isn’t even close to a personal record. I once ditched church for several years. Later, even when I went regularly, there were times I couldn’t go. Sometimes, I simply didn’t want to.

For example, when I worked the graveyard shift as a cop I opted to stay home and sleep instead. The last thing anyone needed in Sunday school was a badly sleep deprived and armed me.

For Mormons, church attendance falls into two separate categories: active and less active. Either you go all the time (active) or you go anywhere between occasionally and never.

While active attendance is technically anything over 96 percent, there are Mormons who wouldn’t miss church for the amputation of a limb never mind the Super Bowl.

Less active Mormons — and there are way more of these than the other — tend to be more flexible about nailing down a pew on Sunday. Reasons for not attending church range from “It was my dog’s birthday” to “None of your #@%! business.”

Ward response to a suddenly less active member varies. Sometimes the home teachers will come by and check to see if you’re still alive. The bishop may see you and stop to say that you’ve been missed.

A zucchini or some brownies might show up on your porch. On rare occasions it’s the ward busybody stopping by to casually mention that you’re going to hell.

In any case, the response generally depends on how big of a hole you left by not showing up. Everyone notices (and worries) when the bishop or the Relief Society president misses more than two Sundays in a row.

Conversely, a guy like me could get hit by a truck filled with goats and it would be months before it occurred to anyone to wonder why the meetings were more reverent.

It probably works the same in other faiths, although some are considerably more tolerant about attendance. One of my friends considers himself an “active” Catholic even though he only goes to Mass a couple times a year.

On the other hand, I know people who attended a fundamentalist church/compound just once and haven’t come back out since.

The reasons for attending church (or not) are probably as numerous as are people. My own are entirely selfish. I go because it reminds me to be nicer than I’m otherwise inclined to be.

When I showed up last Sunday, no one asked where I’d been or said they had missed me. That’s OK. I figured they just needed the break.

The Last Airbender

Two hours of my life I'll never gat back.  I had such high hopes because it is an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but it turned out to be one of the worst movies I've seen. It's pretty much a movie about super humans with the wrost reflex.

• Case 1: You see a fire ball thrown at you, you can command the waters to go towards it and douse it, so WTHeck are you waiting for? An invitation?
• Case 2: You're a fire bender and you had just been turned into a human popsicle by a water bender, why can't you just heat yourself up and melt the ice? Duh!
• Case 3: You're under attack and you're an earth bender ... I doubt that getting a stone to fly out at the speed of a mile an hour is going to destroy your enemies. Just saying ...

Really, M. Night, go back to film school! Quit spending so much money on CGI and pay someone to write a better script and get actors who can act!

On the bright side, I think I want to try out taichi.

I'm cold-hearted that way ...

Walking towards the office this morning, I was stopped by a clean-cut young man (20-ish).  In a quivering voice, he said, “I know you’ll probably say no just like everybody else, but I just lost my mother to cervical cancer and I need to get on a Greyhound bus in about an hour. I only have $11 in my account and I’m short $30. Look, you can come with me to the bus station, if you want …”

“I’m sorry …” I started to say, when he cut me off (waterworks instantly stopped) and snapped back, “I know, you don’t have any money!” and walked away. WOW! I was going to say, “I’m sorry for your loss …” But he’s right too, I wasn’t about to give him $30. I'm cold-hearted that way ... But, man! He needs to be acting in Hollywood!

For Team Edward

Full Moon Lift Ride

Here we are at Sundance, ready to start our adventure on the full moon lift ride up the mountain ... Let's see if we'll still be laughing ...

Waiting for the sun to set before going on the lift ....

Don't ask me why, but I've taken a liking to photographing my feet in various places. Here they are dangling from the lift on our ride up.

Oh, hey ... there's the moon we've been after all night ... I need a better camera.  This picture didn't do the beauty of the full moon justice.

The altitude made us silly.

So glad Julie suggested that we do this. Sundance offers full moon lift rides in the months of May through September. $10 for adults for about a 45 minute ride. While the ride can be quite romantic, don't let singleness stop you from enjoying the ride with friends and/or family. We got there shortly before 9:00 PM to buy our tickets but waited until about 9:30 to get on the lift to ensure that we'll see the gorgeous full moon. I would recommend that you go there even earlier, enjoy dinner at one of the restaurants at Sundance, then take the ride (parking was a wee bit of a nightmare as we were leaving). Click here to be directed to Sundance's webpage about the rides. Julie, Janeen and I highly recommend it! Oh yeah ... I'd bring a jacket or sweatshirt, it got a bit chilly.

Aloha oe, Pinky! Thanks for the shout out!

Our friend, Pinky, is taking a leap of faith and moving back to California next week.  Tracie and I got together with her one last time at the SpagFac where we like to hang with her. Aloha oe ... until we meet again! We'll miss you, Pink! Good luck in sunny CA!

On our way out of the restaurant, I kidded Pinky about how hurt I am that she has not EVER done a shout out for me on her blog for my birthday.  Mind you that Pinky LIVES for the Sundance Festival and since I was unfortunately born at the end of January when the festival is going on, I have no place in Pinky's life during that time of the year ... Well, she more than made up for it. She not only gave me a shout out, but also a mini biography of sorts on her blog today.  It's All About Inge! Enjoy! Thanks, Pink, for the hilarious shout out!