Being Canadian

I'm proud to be Canadian. I like to believe that I don't normally go around being obnoxious about it, but I am proud of it. I usually make it back up to Canada to visit a couple times each year, but it's still nice to have an experience down in the US once in a while to help feel connected with the Great White North. Here are a few of the things that have happened since I've been back in Provo after Christmas.

1. I went to a BYU hockey game. I had only ever been to one other hockey game down here (back when the BYU team was still the Provo Ice Cats), and I had forgotten how fun it was. I'm pretty sure you could have described me as giddy when the teams took the ice.

2. I used the word "dandy." This probably sounds silly, but some

body asked me how my day was the other day and I told them it had been dandy. At this instant I felt a certain connection with home. I think part of it is connected to hearing that word used a lot on Hockey Night in Canada. Another part of it is due to an episode of the Simpsons where the Simpson family ends up in Toronto. At one point Bart and Milhouse end up crashing through a curling match and the announcer says "What's this? Two young Yankee Doodles have turned this matched into a dandy."

3. I listened to O Canada. I was walking home one day, listening to some of my music on my mp3 player, when O Canada, performed by Big Sugar, came on. I was very happy to hear this.

4. I made Nanaimo Bars. For our grad seminar this week we had a cultural and culinary exchange. We were asked to bring food related to our home country or another country/culture with which we are familiar. I decided to represent Canada by bringing Nanaimo Bars. They are always a huge hit anytime I make them. This has nothing to do with my cooking, Nanaimo Bars are just plain delicious. Anyway, it was fun to make them and share them for the seminar, but I think my Canadian pride was affected the most when I got home. There were some bars left over, so I decided to take them to share with my dinner group for dessert. When I uncovered them, one of the girls there said they looked like "fudge cream brownies," or something along those lines. I replied and told her that they are called Nanaimo Bars because they originated in Nanaimo, B.C. This was followed by a short discussion about them possibly being the same thing, just called something different. We're friends, and this was all very friendly conversation, but inside I felt myself getting very defensive, with my thoughts being something along the line of "they are Nanaimo Bars, not fudge cream brownies. Nanaimo Bars are Nanaimo Bars, and they are Canadian. These are not fudge cream brownies. Even if you call them fudge cream brownies, that's not what they are. They are Nanaimo Bars" It's not as if this was going to be a source of contention or anything, but I was very happy when she ate one and informed me that they were not the same thing as fudge cream brownies.

Delicious Nanaimo Bars

Picture taken from www.eclecticcook.com

Dinner

So, I'm kind of proud of myself right now. Yesterday I was watching "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" and the host, Anne Burrell, was making risotto. Well, I decided that I'd try making my own risotto. I found a recipe online (on the Food Network website, of course) for lemon risotto. I think it turned out pretty well. I realized after finishing it though, that I had forgotten an ingredient or two, so it can still be improved. Also, I didn't have the right kind of rice and I didn't want to buy more rice just to make it, so I tried using my plain old long grain rice that I already had on hand. It worked okay, but it didn't get as creamy as it would have with the right kind of rice. I definitely think that I could do a better job in the future.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that for dinner today I made myself Garlic Balsamic Chicken with Lemon Risotto. There's a picture below. The plating isn't wonderful (slicing the chicken and adding a little bit of garnish would have made it look much better), but you have to remember that this is just me living in a college apartment making dinner for myself. If I was making this and trying to impress a girl with it, I definitely would have fancied it up a bit.

Florida

This last Christmas I had the opportunity to fly out to Florida and visit my sister, Kimberly, and her family. I caught the red eye after my last final and arrived in Orlando around 11:00 the next morning and stayed for about a week. These are some pictures, mostly borrowed from Kimberly, of my trip out there.

It was nice to see Charles and Aerie again. Charles warmed up really quickly and pulled out a book to read as soon as we got home.

We went out to eat at Panera. My sister told me that they sold wonderful lemonade, so I got some. Apparently Charles thinks it's pretty wonderful too.

We tried to go to a boat parade, but it was postponed a day due to rainy weather. This lone boat came around to announce the delay. The next day we went back, but all of the boats turned around before reaching our end of the canal. Well, not all the boats, the same boat that came the night before managed to make it down to us.

Aerie helped me make gingersnaps.

We went on a wilderness drive and saw some neat birds.

We also saw an big alligator. A bobcat ran out in front of the van as well, but we didn't get a picture of it.

Aerie and Charles love dancing. Here they are spinning in a circle together while Aerie sings "Baby" by Justin Bieber.

Books in 2010

I've mentioned before that I enjoy reading. If I haven't on this blog, I definitely did on 100 Things. Anyway, here's a list of the books that I read during 2010 and the order that I read them in. I don't really get a lot of reading done during the school year. Most of these were read during the summer.

1. Believing Christ - Stephen Robinson

2. Nobody's Safe - Richard Steinberg

3. Double Cross - James Patterson

4. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

5. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

6. The Second Chair - John Lescroart

7. Fever Dream - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

8. The Face - Dean Koontz

9. Sleeper Spy - William Safire

10. The Four Phase Man - Richard Steinberg

11. One Door Away From Heaven - Dean Koontz

12. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

13. Chain of Evidence - Ridley Pearson