March and April Outings

We know that everyone has been on the edge of their seats anxiously waiting to hear about the latest adventures of Jules and Alex.  And waiting, and waiting, and waiting....

And now at last we finally have adventures to share.  Here are some assorted highlights (and lowlights) of our lives.

California

Jules took a well-deserved break from work to fly (or flee) to California in March. It was one of the best vacations she has had in recent memory, and here is a summary of her time there.

Lydia provided fitness advice when working out together at the nearby gym.  Jules probably need it more than she realized when several days later she had a bad case of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness- occasionally Jules learns some useful information since she lives with an athletic trainer) and had trouble walking straight from Thursday through Saturday.  Jules also enjoyed cooking with Lydia and going with her to her ladies Bible study. 

Ryan took a couple days off, so one day he took me to Ikea (it's a Swedish company that makes quality, inexpensive furniture), REI (a very cool sporting goods store), and a restaurant supply store (I saw some of the largest spoons and whisks I have ever seen.  I think one of them was three feet long). 

I also had some culinary adventures eating sushi for the first time and Vietnamese.  It was some of the best soup I have ever had and now desperately want to try to find a good Vietnamese restaurant here in KC (Alex was joking during a phone conversation that I had eaten Japanese and Vietnamese, while she savored her Mac and Cheese.)

On Saturday, Ryan, Lydia, and I drove up into the mountains and went sledding.  We had fun throwing snowballs and screaming (to clarify, I did, and Lydia may have) as we careened down the hill.  The mountains were gorgeous with all the mounds of snow, and I have never seen so much of it in my life!    

The next day we all went to the beach and sat on the rocks for a while.  We then went to see the redwoods, and that experience just made me feel awestruck.  It brought to mind that verse in Psalms "What is man that you are mindful of him?"  It is so humbling and encouraging all at once to stand by those immense trees and be reminded that God cares about me.

The last day I enjoyed worshiping with my family at church.  We then hit a restaurant called In and Out, grabbed some frozen yogurt (what Alex and her family refer to as fro yo), and dashed to the airport. 

It was a wonderful time away from work and cold weather, and thanks to my wonderful brother and sister-in law for providing a relaxing and fun week. 

Kitchen Calamities

While Jules enjoyed the flavors of California, we must not overlook some of our cooking mishaps.  While talking to each other over the phone, Alex expressed relief that Jules was not there to witness the kitchen filled with smoke, the smoke detector going off, and the fire department driving up (well, maybe that last one didn’t happen).  The cause of all this chaos was a package of frozen chicken instructing the user to microwave chicken tenders for a time exceeding what was needed. 

Alex:  since Julianna was not here, she didn’t get the story straight. One of the goals of this blog is accurate reporting, so we will get the right facts.  Yes, the smoke alarm went off but that was it—no kitchen filled with smoke or fire trucks.  The package said to heat in a microwave for 16 minutes or when able to be pierced by a fork.  After 4 minutes I checked the chicken and that’s when the smoke alarm went off.  I tried to poke a fork in the chicken and it literally shattered- it’s probably not a good sign if dinner shatters.

Jules has herself been frustrated with cooking instructions while baking a chicken pot pie.  The ingredients called for 1 ¾ cups of chicken broth from a 32 oz container.  Does that even make sense?  Jules only realized her mistake after mixing the entire container with the other ingredients.  After some quick calculations (see, there are some reasons to have a calculator handy in the kitchen, Alex) she doubled the recipe and asked her roommate to watch the stove while she made a mad dash to the grocery store for the needed ingredients.  Thankfully, the entrée was salvaged, although there may have been some problems with the pot pie overflowing in the oven.....but let’s just end on a positive note.

The Park

Do you ever have those terribly embarrassing moments that only seem funny months or years later?  Well, Jules finally got to that point where she can share about her most recent calamity (or comedy). 

Alex has been training for a half-marathon, and she decided that she needed a partner while braving the wilds of the nearby Johnson County park.  Since Alex knows her roommate dislikes running, she suggested taking the bike with so that Jules could ride alongside her.  Jules was rather excited about it, and rashly agreed.

Alex may have realized this was not such a grand idea after Jules asked how to use the breaks on the handlebars and how to adjust the speed.  Did Jules fail to mention she had not ridden a bike in over ten years, and she had never used a ten-speed (Jules didn’t need more than 3 or 4)? 

After trying to nonchalantly walk the bike past other people in the parking lot, Jules had a hard time finding her balance on the bike and almost crashed.  Fortunately Alex was gracious enough to slow down and let her walk down the winding hill until they got to a flatter section where Jules could get used to the contraption.  Thankfully she was able to stay on the bike and managed not to collide with any other park visitors.  (Note from Alex: Jules was a great sport to help me in my training and rode the bike for over an hour to keep me company and well-hydrated—Thanks!)

Kitchen Quotes

Here is even more evidence that Alex should keep her mouth shut in the kitchen because sometimes it is better if her strange thoughts remain in her own head where they belong.

~While eating our blue corn tortilla hips, Alex remarked, “Doesn’t this look like India?”

Jules’s response:  “See this one (a very small piece)?  That’s Monaco.” 

Alex scooped the last fragments out of the bag:  “I just ate the Aleutian Islands.”

~ After doing the dishes which had been used to cook granola and peanut butter Thai chicken, Alex said:  “If you condensed the dishwater, you would have a peanut butter granola bar.”

So if you have made it to the end of this blog you did better than Alex who fell asleep on the couch while Jules typed away writing this entry.

Valentines and Various Ventures

 

Since the weather the last few weeks here in the Metro area has been fairly blah, we have tried to liven up our own little world in other ways with everything from hula dancing to making disasters in the kitchen.  A few weeks ago, Kansas City got hit with another snow storm, dropping about a foot of snow in the area which slowed things to a crawl (good news about this:  Jules was able to leave work early.  Yay for half snow days! And her commute only took an hour instead of 2.  She is also very glad for a car with good defrost; a co-worker could not get her car windows to defrost, so she opted for a motel close to work). 

After shoveling our cars and a few others out of the parking lot one evening, Alex talked Jules into watching a documentary on hula dancing.  Alex found the DVD at the Johnson County library (you never know what exciting discoveries will be made there) and thought it was actually an instructional video on how to hula dance.  It wasn’t.  It turned out to be a very dry documentary filmed in the early ‘80s about hula instructors called kuna hulas.  Jules was a great sport and indulged Alex in yet another one of her crazy ideas.  It also helped that we watched half of it while pressing the fast forward button.  Jules made the more sensible choice in finding a DVD of highlights from the 2008 Olympics.  Who doesn’t love rewatching some of the best moments ever (although we were wondering if half of the clips including Michael Phelps might be excessive)?  Alex was also disappointed in the lacking coverage of one of her favorite sports:  badminton (there was only a 3 second clip).       

            Just last week we were headed out the door to attend a dinner for the young adult group for our church, Julianna commented on how glad she was that it had finally stopped snowing and how tired she was of winter weather.  Within seconds, the first few flakes of yet another snow fall floated down into the glow of the headlights—she had spoken just a little too soon.  Finally this weekend it warmed up enough so that the grass is finally visible again in the area.  The hope of spring is just around the corner....Maybe.

            Cooking seems to be a frequent theme of this blog.  I’m not sure why this is.  There is a plethora of blogs about how to cook great food, and this site is not one of them.  This is probably focused more on how not to cook if you want great food.  Anyway, a few weeks ago our Bible study had a dinner and we volunteered to bring dessert.  Julianna made Cherry Disaster (her family named it this after a Thanksgiving day in which this dessert initiated a series of events in which everything that is sweet and sticky seemed to get dropped on the floor:  cherry crisp, punch, fruit salad, etc). And Alexandria concocted some Kansas Dirt.  After this cooking spree, our kitchen looked liked a disaster and was pretty dirty.  Alex made the Kansas dirt in honor of Kansas Day but found out that Johnson County individuals do not celebrate Kansas Day with quite the same gusto as people throughout the rest of the state.  At the dinner, which was served on fine china with very nice crystal, Alex realized that dirt in a flower pot might not have been the appropriate dessert selection to bring to such a classy shindig.  However, it contained large amounts of chocolate, so it went over well with the women in the group. 

            Other exciting news as far as cooking goes: Julianna buying a freezer.  We have recently found a cookbook entitled Once a Month Cooking.  Alex thought this sounded like a great idea since she doesn’t enjoy cooking at all, but she might be able to handle doing it once a month—if she absolutely has to.  This involves spending one crazy day cooking and then just freezing everything to use throughout the month.  So far it has worked out fairly well and the new freezer really helps with the extra space.  Alex commented that she felt a little bit like a squirrel scurrying around gathering food to store in for the winter.  The whirring freezer noise reminds us of being in a blizzard, which is not quite the effect we were hoping for. 

            This past weekend we kind of celebrated Valentines Day.  As far as I (Alex) am concerned the best part of any holiday—especially Valentines Day—is the food.  One important lesson I have from my mother about cooking is that to make up for your food being poor quality, presentation and atmosphere are key to a great dining experience.  (Side note: Don’t get me wrong, my mom is a great cook but she always goes above and beyond in regards to presentation).  Therefore, we had a festive dinner despite the fact that the main entrée was pancakes instead of filet mignon.  (Actually the only thing I know about filet mignon is that it is usually taken from the quadratus lumborum muscle.)  We lit candles, turned on our red Christmas lights, and I pulled out my new red griddle.  We turned the pancakes pink with food coloring and made them shaped like hearts.  To finish it all off we had ice cream pie.  Ice cream pie is possibly one of the best desserts since all it requires of the chef is to melt some ice cream—even I can handle leaving the carton of ice cream out on a counter for a few hours.  And of course to top the evening off we watched some chick flicks (the other good thing about Valentines Day besides food). 

          We were also grateful to Jules' parents who took us out to dinner at an Italian restaurant.  After eating appetizers, salads, soups, and bread, none of us could finish our main course.  But who doesn't love eating amazing leftovers the next day?  Julianna was also delighted to get flowers, and Alex used her artistic abilities in arranging them.  They now brighten our dining room.  Thank you! 

"I've missed my cooking, too!

This is what Julianna exclaimed at our first dinner back in the apartment together.  Unlike some roommates who would like to escape from living with each other, Jules and Alex were ecstatic to see each other again after Christmas break.  These past few days we have spent catching up with one another and with activities around our home.  There has also been more laughter than our neighbors probably appreciate (Of course, maybe the couple below us are complaining.  But it’s a mystery because they speak Chinese, so we never know what they are saying.)

This week has been relaxing for some, but those who have to commute are going to be glad when the winds change and blow from the south, bringing 70+ degree temperatures.

Last evening a snow storm hit the metro area, bringing chaos to the rush hour commute.  Apparently everyone thought, “Since the storm is coming, I am going to leave early and beat all the other crazy drivers going home.”  

But the snow had a mind of its own:  “Not so fast, buddy.  I’m going to make you stay out on these roads to enjoy me as long as possible.”  And that is what happened for Jules and her fellow co-workers.  She left around 4:25 pm and felt carefree, thinking, “I should be able to get home around 5.”  An hour and a half later found Jules in a different state of mind, for she had driven in that period of time what normally takes less than ten minutes. 

Thankfully, Miss Garmen GPS took control when she decided to off-road it, guiding her down roads less traveled (and more snow-packed). This made a huge difference, since she didn’t have to stop at all the lights that were only letting one car through at a time.  She finally made it home safe and sound after over 2 hours on the road. 

During the next day at work, Julianna was able to put her commute in perspective when her cubicle-mate was stuck on the roads for 3 hours and 45 minutes.  Now she understands what her mother meant when she was younger: “You can have fun playing in it, but I have to drive in it.” 

Others of us are still on Christmas break from classes and feeling very carefree for the time being (that feeling will vanish once Alex enters the halls of learning again).  Alex enjoying sitting on the couch all afternoon curled up with a good book watching the snowflakes dance across the sky.  Also the next morning when everyone else who lives in this building was up before the crack of dawn to scrap snow and ice off their vehicles before trudging to work, she remained nice and warm as she snuggled deeper into her flannel sheets. 

Random quotes for the week:                                                     

• While deciding which Christmas decorations we should put away:  “But if we only leave the lights up, I’m going to feel like I’m in a red-light district.”  
• Alex displaying her new cookware:  “I have a new fire-engine red girdle...I mean, griddle.”  A fire-engine red girdle results in a completely different mental image.
• “My pancake has a hard lump in it, like a tumor... I should probably stop palpating it.”
• Jules served edamame (for those who aren’t so citified such as Alex these are soy beans) as the vegetable at dinner one evening this week.  Alex had never eaten these before in her life and needed a demonstration on the proper way to eat them.  Alex then asked Jules, “What did you call these, I keep thinking enema but I know that can’t be right?”

Basically from the quotes this week it has been decided that Alexandria would just be better off if she didn’t talk in the kitchen (or better yet, Alex should just stay out of the kitchen all together.)

Jules:  Alex is actually a pretty good cook, and I have been spoiled with coming home late this week and finding my roomie cooking dinner.  I know this won’t last, so we are thinking up some solutions.  More on that to come.

Our Weekend

Note:  This blog posting was written 5 weeks ago but somehow never found its way to being published. We apologize for our long absence but Julianna is now gainfully employed (and therefore a real young professional!) and Alexandria has been very sporadic in her time at our apartment due to adventures to exciting places such as rural Missouri and western Kansas.  Anyway, without further ado, our blog.

So, Julianna and I haven’t updated our blog in awhile—we really do apologize from the bottom of our hearts to all 3 of our dedicated readers.  This entry isn’t about anything special but just what we did this weekend- pretty ho-hum.  Actually, this was the first weekend in several weeks that we got to just hang out around our apartment—it was great.  We started off the weekend right with pizza and strawberry fizzies.  Then we dove into watching White Christmas.  Really what beats Danny Kaye tap dancing and Bing Crosby singing?  Saturday morning we went to church for a ladies brunch.  We had a fancy breakfast and cheesecake for dessert.  Most of these ladies are moms and probably would be appalled if their children ate cheesecake for breakfast but had no problem doing it themselves. 

We then continued our quest to figure out how to hang curtains over our sliding glass door.  This has been a project for months.  After looking at numerous styles of curtain rods and deep discussion, we finally selected one we thought we could make work.  We also want our blog to be educational, so here is our section on home repair from Jules and Alex. 

We found that our sliding glass door had a large gap at the bottom that wasn’t sealed—this could partially explain all the cold air rushing into our cozy apartment.  Not having the equipment or the know-how to do anything more advanced, we stuffed cotton balls into the gap with our meat thermometer.  It seemed to work, at least for now. 

We then were debating how to hang the curtain rod since we lack any power tools here, except our blender and food processor.  We selected zip ties as our fastener of choice (we seriously considered duct tape-Handyman’s secret weapon-but decided we should be a little classier).  In making some adjustments to the rod, we did have to drag out our tool bag.  I asked Julianna to hand me some pliers and instead she gives me a wrench.  (Our tool bag only contains a hammer, pliers, and a wrench so she did have a 1 in 3 chance to get it right). We were successful and now have beautiful curtains to help keep the chill out.  While Martha Stewart may not be contacting us anytime soon to help hang her drapes, it works for us. 

Other home improvement projects include selecting artwork for the walls.  We choose a couple of posters at Hobby Lobby but then upon returning home realized that we bought one of the posters that we already had in our dining room that we had been staring at for several months- oops.  We were hanging a poster in Alexandria’s room and couldn’t quite get it to hang straight.  To fix this problem Alex taped a nickel on the back for extra weight so it would lean the other way.  Everyone has heard stories about people finding important documents or large sums of money hidden behind pictures on the wall so someday a lucky person will look on the back of that poster and exclaim “Look, Alex’s whole fortune- a nickel”.  

In addition to running to Home Depot twice this weekend, we went out on the town Saturday night.  Friday was Alex’s birthday, so Julianna took Alexandria to dinner at Jack Stacks to celebrate.  It was amazing Kansas City BBQ.  (Note from Alex:  If I must live in a city I am grateful that this city takes BBQ seriously- one of Kansas City’s redeeming qualities).  I think we could both just sit there and relish the smell of BBQ for quite awhile, but to make it better we even got to eat some.  After stuffing ourselves to the brim, we then ventured out into the cold night with snowflakes swirling all around to drive and look at the Christmas lights.  There was some spontaneous belting out of Christmas carols, burst of ooohs and aaahs, and some impressive light displays.  We then finished the evening off with a sappy Hallmark Christmas movie (The Christmas Card)—what a great way to finish a fun weekend.

Key quotes for the week:

~While watching White Christmas:   

•       If desperate for a pick-up line this is probably not a good option.  Phil:  “Speaking of families, I read an article just the other day about citrus fruit and its effect on children’s teeth...uh, are you interested in children or families or other things like that, Miss Hanes?
•   When trying to trick Bob into proposing to Betty by pretending they’re engaged, Judy remarks to Phil:  “You’re not exactly superman, but you’re awfully available!”
•     Judy:  “You do find me gay, amusing, charming, fun to be with?                                                    Phil: “Sure, but I feel the same way about my cocker spaniel.”

~The Christmas Card:  Laurie disgusted at the end when they drop the curly fries so they can kiss:  “Get your priorities straight!  Kissing or curly fries...always go with the curly fries!”

~ After struggling to measure strings of popcorn and cranberries to the appropriate length, Julianna blurted out “Shoot!  Forget measuring this!”  She has gradually loosened up on this particular perfectionist tendency.

The Great Debate

Disclaimer:  I, Julianna, in the position of editor, do solemnly swear that Alexandria’s comments have not been tampered with in any way and accurately reflect her opinions.  That said, I choose to disassociate myself from her narrow viewpoint and oppose even posting this ridiculous discussion.  However, if you choose to keep reading, I hope you will not be completely swayed by her arguments. 

Alexandria:  Over dinner Julianna and I often ponder the deep questions in life.  Tonight the discussion became very heated.  You may wonder, “Are they arguing over pressing issues such as eliminating national debt or reducing poverty?” We weren’t.  The debate tonight centered on chick flicks and the fact that most of the cute guys in these movies have dark hair.  While Julianna conceded that most of the guys in the movies do have dark hair, we did have a lengthy argument (and it still continues).  As a rule I tend to like guys who are TDH (tall, dark, and handsome), whereas Julianna seems to go for men with lighter hair.  Therefore, our disagreement could be due to differences in taste, but we tried to remain as objective as possible while searching for the answer. 

            First we had to set up the appropriate qualifiers and operational definitions as any great researchers would.  We narrowed the field of movies to only include chick flicks and romantic comedies.  This in itself created some controversy.  Next, we had to determine what counts as dark hair versus not dark hair.  After watching several clips of our favorite chick flicks, we determined that dark blonde is still blonde and light brown is still brown.  It would have been helpful if we had a color palette to reference.  Julianna did suggest that we go down to the local drugstore to compare to the hair coloring samples they had (we did not actually do this in case you were worried).  

Our next operational definition was whether the guys in question were actually cute or not before they were to be considered in our pool of subjects.  This led to another debate- whether or not the gentlemen in English dramas such as Pride and Prejudice could ever be considered cute.  (I am of the opinion that any dudes sporting mutton chops cannot rate very high on the cuteness scale.  We also had to Google mutton chops to verify the definition.)  Another side of the argument that was brought up was the fact that a very high percentage of dudes in movies have dark hair so those with light hair are not given equal screen time.  The rebuttal to this was that most movie stars are considered good-looking and therefore naturally have dark hair. 

            Next we had to present the appropriate evidence to support both sides of the case.  To support Julianna’s case for cute blonde guys, the evidence included Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, and Matt Damon.  All of these gentlemen did qualify as being blonde and having acceptable ratings on the cute factor.  However, Matt Damon was excluded since his normal movie genre is nothing close to chick flicks or romantic comedies.  Zac Efron was debatable since we are not 13 or huge fans of High School Musical,but he has been in a few other movies which made him more legitimate.  There was simply no debate about Matthew McConaughey; Alexandria conceded on that one. 

Besides these three actors, every other cute guy in a chick flick that we could think of has dark hair.  This led into a discussion on what qualities are the most important in determining if a man is good looking.  Hair is definitely near the top of the list, followed by eyes and smiles.  However, that is a debate for another evening.  All in all, it was a great girls dinner:  we finished off a whole frozen pizza, discussed cute guys, and even watched snatches of a few of our favorite chick flicks.  What more could you ask for?

Fall

What do you all love about fall?  After several e-mails and remarks about not being able to leave comments, we were able to tweak the settings so you all can do so anonymously. 

There are so many things that we love about fall.  These are a few of our favorite things (if you like, you can pretend that we are singing in our best Julie Andrew’s voices)

Julianna

1.                  Christmas songs—Ok, I know some people are absolutely opposed to listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but I say you can never have too much of a good thing.  Maybe it’s also because when I was younger we would start in October to practice for our Christmas piano recitals and choir concerts.  Nowadays, my roommate Alexandria just gets to enjoy me unknowingly humming “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” (Alex interjecting:  It does get old after awhile, especially since you’ve been humming it over and over since July!)  Now that our local radio station is playing Christmas music, hopefully I can get some other songs stuck in my head. 

2.                  Pumpkins—There is something festive about pumpkins, and this (is it a fruit or a vegetable?) food item brings back fond memories.  Instead of carving them, my brother and I painted them with rather sad results on my part.  We had fun all the same.  My parents also bought pumpkin trash bags that we filled with leaves; of course jumping in them prior to raking was much more fun.  Another random memory involves filling our plastic pumpkin baskets with lots of candy on Halloween when we went to our church to play fun games.

3.                  Other fall activities—As I walk outside, I can inhale the amazing scent of barbecue and smoke from the local diner.  This reminds me of amazing times during youth group bonfires and high school retreats; doesn’t everyone love staring into the flickering flames and roasting marshmallows for smores?  And then there’s the hayrack rides and playing hide and seek in the dark.

4.                  Weather—After experiencing a humid summer, the transition to fall is always refreshing.  There’s something wonderful about waking up on a fall day and being able to wear a jacket in the morning and experiencing a perfect afternoon.  The air is cool and crisp, and the beauty of God’s creation is displayed in the glorious colors of fall.  The reddish brown, gold, and orange leaves contrasted against the blue sky both amaze and humble me.  God desires to reveal Himself to us in fall despite “the fall” of mankind and my own “falls” when I try to do things in my own strength instead of His. 

Alexandria

5.                  Leaves—I love crunching leaves under my feet.  As a kid walking home from school, I would cross to the opposite side of the street just to walk through the leaves.  Even still I love to stomp, crunch, and kick leaves- I just secretly hope no one is watching me do this.  Another one of my favorite things about fall is nature’s fireworks.  Each fall I anxiously wait for the first leaves to change colors.  I have several favorite trees based on their display during autumn. 

6.                  Halloween—One aspect of my childhood that sticks out is the variations in my Halloween costumes.  As a toddler, I went as Big Bird and Minnie Mouse.  I then progressed from cartoon characters to architectural landmarks.  In first grade I was the Statue of Liberty.  The next year I really wanted to go as the Golden Gate Bridge, but for some reason the logistics on that didn’t work out.  I instead went as a picnic table.  My younger brother and I once went together as Vikings; I had great yellow braids to go with my Viking helmet.  Last year I dressed up as the Tree of Knowledge for the kids program I helped with at church. 

7.                  Football— Football and fall just go hand in hand.  There is no better way to spend a fall afternoon than tossing the old pigskin around.  There will be more on football and fall in a later blog.

8.                  Food—I am all about seasonal eating.  There are so many great fall foods.  Julianna has started making soups now that it is cooler.  I love making fall desserts such as apple cake or pumpkin bars. We also have enjoyed drinking tea and hot apple cider.  And then there is Thanksgiving.  Fall has so much to offer culinarily speaking.

There are many great fall foods but we have included the recipe for pumpkin dessert bars from Alexandria’s Bible study leader Rebecca. 

Julianna:  Thank you, Rebecca!  I got to enjoy this recipe Alexandria made, and it was amazing!  Enjoy!

• 1 package yellow or spice cake mix (set aside 1 cup)
• ½ cup melted butter
• 1 egg
• Mix and press into a 9x13 pan

• 1 can pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• Combine and pour over crust

• 1 cup reserved cake mix
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup butter
• Mix together with a fork and sprinkle over top of filling.
• Bake at 350F degrees for 45 minutes.

Conquering the Kitchen

The score is currently 3-1 (Although there is some debate about this).  This has nothing to do with athletic endeavors.  This game is not for the timid or the faint of heart.  (Warning:  don’t attempt this yourselves.  Remember we are untrained unprofessionals).  We are talking about the score of cooking disasters in our kitchen.  These disasters include some ill-fated muffins that lost a battle with the laws of physics, some spicy tacos since the cook has a faulty sense of taste and didn’t realize how much seasoning to put in, and lots of odd groans and others crashes, clangs, and bangs. 

Neither of us claims to be Julia Childs (although we enjoy watching the movie Julie and Julia together) and I (Alexandria) for one had very limited experience since I had never cooked for myself before moving here.  However, we have celebrated some successes; comforted each other after devastating defeats; shed tears; and laughed a lot in our kitchen together. 

One success was a casserole that was made up from about three separate recipes since we didn’t have the ingredients for any single recipe.  It basically consisted of throwing in leftovers from the freezer and some random cans in the cabinet.  Surprisingly it turned out pretty good but it was a one time only deal that can’t be replicated again—like a classic piece of artwork. 

At another time, Alexandria walked by as Julianna was making dinner and saw her with a calculator and hands covered with biscuit batter.  Julianna’s response was, “Oh shoot.  I was hoping you wouldn’t walk in here and see this mess.”  (Only accountants use calculators while mixing up biscuits.) 

Alexandria is not very confident in her cooking skills but has tried a few recipes out of Backpacker Magazine since she figures “If people can whip these up on the trail at 10,000 feet, surely I can manage it in our kitchen.”  One of these recipes was for Apple Granola bars.  They turned out to be a hit.  However, the next two batches turned out to be more the consistency of plywood.  To make these chucks of plywood edible required eating them crumbled on top of large amounts of ice cream- so it all turned out well in the end.  Or could it be intentional sabotage to necessitate eating of said ice cream?  That would also help even up the score of this cooking adventure. 

One of the not so successful dishes was a quiche in which the cook (Julianna) forgot to add the eggs- kind of a main ingredient in any quiche.  Key lesson:  set aside main ingredients and note where you’re at when interrupted by phone calls.  Anyway, the quiche turned out to have the consistency of a cheesy spinach sauce.  Salvaging this disaster involved taking five coffee mugs (or tea mugs in our case since we don’t drink coffee, remember?) sprayed with PAM and cracking an egg in each cup before placing it in the microwave for a minute.  The sauce was ladled over the eggs to complete this rather interesting dish that hopefully will never be repeated. 

There are many things about our cooking we hope not to repeat again or forcefully ingest twice.  But if you, dear reader, should ever have similar mishaps, we may be able to offer assistance to make your recipes edible.  All in all, we are big fans of eating, so we continue this quest to become chefs (even though Alexandria would be perfectly happy eating PB&J all the time).  Each day is a new test to hone our skills and rise to the challenge.  Please feel free to offer us advice and/or share your own cooking mistakes and how you dealt with these problems.