cooking

I love to cook. I love to eat. After hours and hours of "thinking work" with nothing tangible to show for it, it feels really good to come home and use my hands to chop and peel and grill and bake and actually have something delicious to eat. It feels meaningful. I read a book a couple years ago called Shop Class as Soulcraft that really resonated with my feelings on practical work. It made me gain a newfound appreciation for cooking, cleaning, yard work, service projects,  manual labor, pretty much anything other than research and writing. (Oh do I sound bitter about my thesis? Weird.)

I don't think I've ever apologized for the awful picture quality we have on here. On top of having a less than stellar camera, we basically live in a bat cave and don't get much natural light inside. Hence, the blurry dark photos. We did just inherit a nicer camera though (thanks parents!) and once I learn how to use it, maybe the food pics will look more appealing! I promise they taste good though. Here are some randoms from the last few weeks.

Spinach and artichoke grilled chicken

Artichokes nom nom. Good excuse to eat a stick of melted butter. 

Gazpacho- one of my favorite food memories from Spain

My attempt at 4th of July flag pancakes haha

ch-ch-ch-changes

Okaaaay okay I know I said I would update again soon, but I didn't. I feel like life has been on fast forward lately! The weeks go by so quickly.  Here are a couple points of news that have yet to be documented:

1) Started working part time at the LDS Church Office Building back in May. I work with the Research Information Division, doing research stuff about different programs in the Church. Specifically, I mostly work with Perpetual Education, LDS Family Services, Seminary & Institute, and Member Trends. I have to do a lot of statistics at work. Seriously wishing I had paid more attention in my research methods and data analysis classes! The work is really interesting and it's been a great experience so far. PLUS, the COB is right up the street from Matt's work so we get to carpool a couple times a week!! AND sometimes we walk to lunch with each other! I love love it. Another thing I love about working at the COB is on Fridays there are a lot of brides taking pictures outside in Temple Square, and sometimes I run into couples about to be married in the elevators in the parking garage. I love it. One thing I don't love: the dress code is "sister missionary", and people seem to take that pretty seriously.

Matt took this picture of me before I left for my first day:

2) Turns out I CAN eat wheat! WAhooo! I'm not a silly-axe anymore! I don't really feel like writing all the medical details here, but basically I had a couple scopes done and I just have other "conditions" instead, but they are ones I can take medication for, so it's all good. Life has been a lot different in the food department over the last couple weeks. For example, I had four orange rolls for breakfast this morning. And I made a whole batch of cookie dough and ate it all over the course of a few days. Yeah, I am aware I might gain ten pounds and I am absolutely okay with that. I feel like a baby eating food for the first time. I was ALMOST moved to tears when I had key lime cheesecake last week.

We picked up pizza before one of Matt's softball games a couple weeks ago and had a little picnic.

Look at me, I'm eating PIZZA!