Youth Conference Food - Recipes are Coming

Youth conference for the Buffalo Stake YM/YW was held September 11-12 at Seneca Lake, NY. The area is beautiful and youth conference was a fabulous experience.

I was in charge of the kitchen, and the food turned out well! It was a blast to cook in a professional kitchen and to have the huge Hobart mixer, the gas range, 6 huge ovens, proofing ovens. . . and the dish machine (cleans and sterilizes dishes in about 90 seconds) - amazing! It wasn't until everything was over that I realized we had taken exactly 0 - zero! - photos of the kitchen, food, helpers, etc. And for a group of volunteers who had never worked together before, we had a good time and got everything done. Positive experience all around.

Anyway, several people requested the recipes I used, all of which came from our family cookbooks. The next several posts will be the recipes. If anyone wants/needs the quantity versions I used at the camp, just let me know and I'll post those, too.

Cilantro Lime Rice

I created this for dinner last week, and it turned out really well. Hope you like it.

Cilantro Lime Rice

2 cups rice
4 cups water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
2 large limes
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Put rice, water, and bouillon in pan, bring to a boil, cover and reduce to heat to low. Cook until rice is tender and water is absorbed.

Meanwhile, grate the zest from the 2 limes, juice one of the limes, and chop the cilantro. When the rice is done, add the zest, juice and cilantro and stir all together.

We used this in burritos, soft tacos, and as a side dish, and it was good. And was still good a couple of days later for leftovers.

Not really gone, just really busy

Well, friends, I've been a complete slacker in the blogging department. In almost every other department of my life, too. It's been over 2 months since my last posting. . .

Mark and I drove to Utah the first of July, enjoyed some good times with our family, and Mark flew back to Buffalo after our family reunion. I stayed for a couple more weeks and then Diane drove back with me. We had a great time seeing the country, and saw lots, and lots, and lots of cornfields.

A few days after arriving in Buffalo, Mark and I left for a week at girl's camp, then another trip to Utah for me (for work), then a wonderful pioneer trek youth conference, and now we're in NYC so Mark can attend a class. In the meantime I was called to be Relief Society president and we started looking for a house in our ward boundaries. It's all been good, but has also been somewhat hectic.

Something had to give, and this time it was the blog. But things are calming down. So, if anyone is still following this, thanks for not giving up on me, and I'll promise to do better!

Read Any Good Books Lately?

My last posting got me thinking about books and reading. I love to read and never remember not being able to read. Mom and dad set a great example of reading. From my ealiest days, I can still remember going into the living room and seeing both of them reading. Granted, there wasn't much competition coming from our small black & white television set. . .

Back in the days of Smith family vacations (decades before the invention of personal DVD players), we'd take books to entertain ourselves during long drives to destinations in the western United States. One year my brother Merrill received a set of James Herriott books for Christmas. We took them and devoured them during the trip. As soon as one person was finished with a book, it was passed to the next, and so on, and so on. I don't remember the destination of that trip, but I do remember the books.

For years during my childhood, we'd go to the Bookmobile which would be parked on Pages Lane in front of Dick's Market in Centerville. The trip to the Bookmobile was always anticipated as a sort of treasure hunt - what would I find to bring home to read that week? There was always something new.

Books can create immediate connections between people. I just found out that Tony, Mark's dad, loves John Grisham books. My mom gave me my first Nancy Drew mystery because she read them when she was a girl. My brother Clay got several of us in the family reading books by Vince Flynn. (Warning - don't start a Vince Flynn book on a work night. You won't be able to put it down until you have read the final page.) If you love dogs, or if you just want a good laugh, read "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be" by Farley Mowat. My dad got me reading Tom Clancy books - The Hunt for Red October is a classic, and the step-by-step description of the start of a war in Red Storm Rising is unforgettable.

Mrs. Goodrich, my third grade teacher, introduced us to the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She read the books out loud to us and made history come alive as we then studied the pioneers. And who can forget the Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery? Good stories, good morals, and a great way to escape for an hour, an afternoon, and sometimes even a weekend.

With a few years' growth, Jane Eyre and Little Women came into my life. The people in the books became more than characters in a book, almost like old friends that you meet again after a long separation. I'll admit that every couple of years I'll pull out Jane Eyre and Little Women and read them again. Sure, some of the language is dated, the book spines are cracking, and the pages are dusty. . . but what's a little dust among friends?

I'm seldom without a book, or three, that I'm reading at any given time. It's my favorite way to unwind, clear my mind, and take a mental vacation. So, have you read any good books lately? Let me know. . . perhaps it will be an opportunity to make a new connection.

The Paper Bag Princess

Twenty plus years ago I "discovered" a wonderful book called The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. Its about a princess who finds out who she really is by using resourcefulness and creativity to overcome adversity. This was a girl power book before anyone even knew what girl power was all about. It's also a cute story with a great message (which I've used in a few Relief Society and Young Women lessons over the years).

What triggered these memories? Mark's nephew's wife is expecting twin daughters and the shower is in just under two weeks. Instead of a card, they've requested a children's book to build the girls' library. So, this book was my first thought, and I wasn't sure if it was still being published. The answer is a resounding "yes!" In fact, the book is having it's 25th anniversary. I guess a few million other people have also discovered this charming tale. If you haven't read it, consider getting it and reading it. Barnes & Noble has it in the children's section, or it's available on Amazon.com. Enjoy!

Being Prepared

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about preparedness and what it takes to be prepared for whatever life throws at you. And although none of us know what the future holds, one thing I've learned is that it's never what you expect. But that doesn't mean we can't be prepared in some basic areas like having our finances in order, getting out of debt, preparing a will, having a basic food and water supply to last anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 years, and being emotionally prepared for change. Easy to say (or write, as the case may be), but not always so easy to do, and I have a long way to go.

Living in an apartment with limited living space, let alone storage space, it's been hard to get real excited about provident living, food storage, gardening, etc. However, last fall we cleaned off a couple of shelves in the basement and just organized the cans and boxes of food that we already had. It was a start. I bottled tomatoes and applesauce and added those to the shelves. It was another step in the process. Two weeks ago I planted 7 tomato plants and 1 cucumber in the tiny planter box that separates our apartment from the owner's garage. Again, it's a baby step, but everything we do adds up to increase our peace of mind.

So now I want to put in a plug for my sister's blog: www.positivelyprepared.blogspot.com. The subtitle of her blog is "fun with food storage, finances, and more" - but trust me, that's only the beginning. There's information about budgeting, gardening, getting out of debt, and some great ideas for getting and using food storage. Way to go, sis! Keep up the great posts.

There's a quote that says "Wisdom is knowledge rightly applied." Well, I have knowledge about a lot of these things, and now I'm starting to apply what I've learned, and hoping, one day, to be a little closer to wisdom.

P.S. I'm also learning that establishing food storage with a man in the house is VERY different than doing it for 1 woman. Another little surpise about married life - it's a lot better for the relationship to store things that everyone in the house likes. Now I just have to figure out how to get it on the shelves before it gets eaten. Any ideas?

Back in the Saddle. . .

Well, after more than a month of no posts, I'm back. Back to Buffalo after spending the month of April in Utah. We had an exciting time (much fodder for the blog):

• Wisdom teeth removed - OK, not so exciting, but really, how exciting do you want your wisdom teeth to be?
• Saw The Phantom at Hale Theater - incredibly well done!
• Wedding shower for Brianna
• Huge Easter egg hunt (estimate about 2,500 eggs in the yard)
• Easter dinner - and the weather cooperated beautifully
• Lunch with mom, sisters, and sisters-in-law
• Board meetings in Deer Valley
• Dinner with friends
• Tyla and Joey graduated from BYU - Congratulations!
• Cheron and Jared G. sealed in the Salt Lake Temple - Congratulations!
• Brianna and Jared B. sealed in the Manti Temple - Congratulations!
• Reception for Brianna and Jared - fun company, beautiful yard (thanks Ryan and Lezli), and great food (thanks Katie, Diane, Patty, Lezli, Jackie, Nancy, Marni)

Whew! More info and photos to come.