Romance and Cake Pans

I am a sappy romantic. We watched Shall We Dance last night and I am utterly amazed at the fact that no matter how strong I am feeling at the end where he rides the escalator up with the red rose in hand, I begin weeping. Well, not really weeping, but my throat closes off and my eyes get a little too shiny, and then of course no matter how hard I try I can't keep a pathetic, high-pitched sigh from escaping me. I love it.

Well, I write today with renewed resolve to become. . . not necessarily a quote-unquote blogger, but someone that keeps a record. I've always loved to write, and thinking back today, I was realizing that some of the times I've been the happiest happen to be the same times that I was dedicatedly (word? oh well, Shakespeare made them up all the time) writing. En plus, there are so many amazing things happening in my life write now and I feel completely ungrateful for them and like a complete. . .hmm, somehow 'clod' is the only word I can figure to describe the mental image I'm conjuring up right now, hmm. . .anyway I feel like a complete clod (ha! I like it) by not recording them all for others to read and assuredly laugh at.

I feel I should also mention here that my big sister told me to. :)

This last week has been an on-going refining fire. Not in the sense that people usually use that word, but in the sense that little by little I'm realizing that the job I'm in doesn't bring me happiness. I'm a cook at school up the canyon, and while there are plenty of good aspects of what I do, each day that I've gone to work, I've come home with a strong resolve that I was meant for bigger and better things. Not a cocky thing, but I guess I'm gaining a testimony in a way, that life is meant to stretch and challenge and make us better people. Once we're totally comfortable and have leveled out on the plain the only thing left to do is either find another mountain to climb or head back down.

I love challenge and stretching and being pushed to do things I'm not quite sure I can do. Yes, I do realize that all of this 'passion for problematic living' is being expressed while I'm not actually in the situation. Somehow it feels right, though. I want to grow and feel like I'm doing amazing things with my life and my culinary abilities, so I'm in the process of looking for something else. I'm really into baking right now- gourmet and artisan-type breads and pastries. It's so much fun to play around with. Thanks to my friend Stephanie, I have finally found the most incredible banana bread recipe known to man. No joke, it divine. Now that you're drooling (don't be ashamed, salivating over something delicious is completely natural), here is the recipe:

Cardamom & Almond Banana Bread

mix the following dry ingredients:
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
2/3 c oats
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 c organic brown sugar cane (you can use light brown sugar)
1/2 c dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom

separately mix the following wet ingredients:
1/4 c butter, softened
4 ripe bananas
1/3 c sour cream

Mix both dry and wet ingredients together. Mix in 1/2 c almonds. Coat loaf pan with cooking spray and pour in the bread batter. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour.

So so good- I promise you won't be disappointed.

It's actually quite weird, but I love the fact that I've know what I love since I was 5 years old and waking up early to watch 'Cooking at the Academy' instead of cartoons on Saturday mornings. You thought I was kidding about the weirdness, but I wasn't. Yeah, I never told the kids in my fourth grade class that I actually got cake pans and pastry bags for Christmas instead of something normal. They just weren't ready for that one. And to be honest, neither was I. I think I rattled off my brothers' gifts when they asked me what I got. :)

Anyway, I'm working on getting Reese as excited about food as I am, and I think all my hard work is paying off. She is becoming quite the little connoisseur. She loves to watch while I mix and bake and get dinner ready, and we shared a great bonding moment the other day while we shared a smoothie together on the kitchen floor.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago when we visited the Museum of Natural History up at University of Utah. Reese was so excited she giggled all the way into the building, and even walked around like the big kids for a few minutes. We had a blast! The museum is free on the first Monday of the month, and we decided that our 30 minutes through was the perfect amount of time with a one-year-old who's attention span is about 30 seconds at a time.

She really liked the teepee. :)