Baking like a MAD WOMAN!

So I have decided that I want to make baking a talent of mine. I'm sure those who know me are scoffing at this. Especially Mikelle because in the seventh grade I made sugar cookies at her house...and forgot the sugar. I definitely don't have the best track record. However, over the past year I have really stepped my game up and worked hard and I am proud to say that I am turning this weakness into an actual talent! I am constantly searching the blogs and cooking websites for dessert ideas. I make desserts at least twice a week (another reason the jeans aren't fitting so great these days :)) Seriously it has become an obsession.

Danny would like me to mention that the 2 weeks I was gone, he lost five pounds because I wasn't surrounding him with sweets.

I'm of course documenting the recipes with pictures like crazy so here are some of the desserts and recipes I've used. If anyone makes any of these and wants tips to make them easier/better let me know!!

The cake that started it all...

Hermione's Cherry Almond Cake from the Harry Potter Cook Book

-sorry I don't have the recipe with me but if you want it let me know. I don't care if you don't like cherries...cake...or fruit desserts you will LOVE this cake. I haven't served it to one person who didn't like it. Honest. The almond cake is so moist and the whipped butter frosting is so light it feels like you could eat it for days.

I'll continue with the Harry Potter recipes...

Homemade eclairs. So this was my first pastry. The batter is so much more difficult. You have to start by boiling some of the ingredients and then you basically throw the dried ones in and it makes this very strange dough that you have to form in to a "ball". It was difficult and not totally worth it. They were good don't get me wrong. But I worked like 6 hours for 9 eclairs. Just go to dicks and buy them :)

Hagrid's chocolate birthday cake for Harry...
Dan was very specific that I had to get the spelling wrong because that is how Hagrid would have done it :) Love dan. This was the softest cake ever! No really it made it impossible to frost! To be fair the cookbook said it would fall apart and look like it was from Hagrid and they weren't lying! However with chocolate frosting and a chocolate glaze to put on top it was quite the delicious cake. Or so I heard...I don't eat chocolate very much but everyone else enjoyed it :)

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook on amazon.com is amazing and has some seriously awesome recipes. I would highly recommend it and it's not very expensive either.

Next.

Piper (our niece) turned five in July and her mom Mandie wanted to give her a Tangled cake and we decided we'd try to make it all from scratch. It took forever but turned out so cute! And the best was when Pipes saw it she put her hands up to her face and whispered, "My tangled cake...it's perfect" That made it all worth it.

Seriously this turned out amazing. Mandie, Penny and I worked on it FOREVER! But like I said it was totally worth it.

Next.

My parents are avid gardeners. We have rhubarb in our garden and mine and my father in law Bob's favorite dessert is strawberry rhubarb pie. So again I searched and found a recipe for it and it was delicious!!!

Next.

My husband's favorite dessert (well one of them) is the red velvet cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory and I found a super easy recipe for it. However the red velvet wasn't chocolatey enough...so if anyone has an awesome one share it!!! This was such a beautiful cake and I am so proud of it.

Next.

We went to Idaho this summer for a concert and I had cinnamon roll pancakes and they were AMAZING. So I thought, "Guaranteed some awesome mom has an awesome blog where she's made these." and sure enough there was and it was delicious. They are super easy and the cream cheese icing is so tasty.

Next.

Alright! Everyone go to William Sonoma and buy the Marvel superhero cakelet pan! I saw it and knew that it was a great buy. The pan is so nice and these characters will be around forever. My grandkids will probably love spiderman. Seriously they are awesome.

The real challenge with these came with the decorating. I've been wanting to try something with fondant (even though I don't like the taste). So I did what everyone says to do and purchased Wilton Fondant but I also wanted to try to make my own. So I made my own marshmallow fondant...which tasted a little bit better but it was difficult to work with I thought. I think you just have to get used to it. But we made these for Kohen's third birthday and I used frosting for those ones and they turned out much tastier :)

And the most recent was the 14 12-layer cake. I was making it and forgot to throw the last to layers in the oven so it was 12 instead. You use Cafe Rio foil tins for each layer and then put a glaze between them all. They end up looking like a giant stack of pancakes. Then you put the glaze all around and I finished it off with my mother in law's amazing homemade chocolate frosting. I should have made more frosting though because I started to do the ruffle frosting on the sides but didn't have enough to finish.

So the cake turned out delicious! And so moist!

I am loving my new hobby!

Clearly

New York

So in August I was working and my boss Jason looked at me and said, "Would you like to go to New York."

I thought he was just asking a random question. But I found out that Walgreens just purchased New York pharmacy chain...Duane Reade. And the company was sending out pharmacists and technicians to train their employees on our software and workflow. He submitted me as an applicant to our district manager and within an hour I found out I as going to New York for 11 days!!!!!

I was ecstatic.

So Sept 3-14 I was in New York. I went with another technician from my store but we worked opposite hours so it felt like I was there essentially by myself. And those of you who know me know that I am VERY skiddish and nervous in big cities. Thankfully the first weekend my sister came up and met me and stayed with me for the first three days and helped me get more comfortable. But the coolest thing we did was the first day I got there...we went to the US Open of tennis!! It was so cool. Everyone there was so proper. It was like Ralph Lauren exploded. So we made it for a little of the womens match. But then we watch the number one player in the world. This little gem... Djokovic.

The open was so cool. Everyone was so quite while the game was going on and it was so intense. I loved it.

Carlie and I had a blast that weekend. NYC is so crowded it's overwhelming but then we went to Soho and Greenwich village and those were amazing. Seriously so many restaurants I couldn't even choose where to go!

One night we went out with some of her friends to a taco place called Tacombi. Amazing. The closest thing I've had to street tacos in Mexico since we were there. There was a VW bus in the middle of the restaurant where you picked up your order. I got a pork and pineapple taco. To die for.

Here is where you wash your hands.

OMG. I came across this little guy while wondering William Sonoma. And I am obsessed with it! I originally bought it with my nephew in mind. We had a superhero bday party for Kohen's third birthday when we got back and I knew these would be just right.

I was there when Fashion Week started. In NYC they kick it off with Fashion's Night Out. It was incredible! Basically what happens is every store in Manhattan has an event and the proceeds from purchasing certain products goes towards the NYC aids foundation. Basically anyone who is anyone in entertainment, fashion and music is there. I searched out all of the events and saw that Leighton Meester was performing at Tiffanys and I knew I wanted to go and see her. Walking down 5th ave. during FNO was surreal. Seriously the energy was insane. Everyone is dressed up and excited and dancing and shopping. It was so much fun! So I got to Tiffanys early because I wasn't sure about how all of this would work, but you don't have to pay you just have to get there before they quit letting people in. So I got to wonder that amazing store for two hours and I was on cloud nine. I could look at diamonds and jewelry all day long. It was a very dangerous place to be and want to shop...I did a little damage :) they had drinks and cute little disco ball cake pops and even glitter macaroons and they were delicious! Then Leighton came on and sang with Check in the Dark. Highly recommend. They were awesome. Most of the songs she has released are very teen bop dance songs. Not with these guys, it was a lot more folksy and toned down. They are coming out with a CD together and I'm very excited! FNO was awesome and I'm so glad I went. I can't believe I almost didn't go! I was nervous to go to something like that by myself but it was amazing!

So...I ate my way through NY. And I discovered the Black and White cookie. I had never heard of it before...no I don't watch Seinfeld...I guess there is an entire episode about it. I ate these little guys nearly everyday. (Jeans are a tight squeeze now :)) It was worth it. I ate giant pizza for a dollar a slice every night, fell in love with Shake Shack and still salivate when I think about their burgers and it was all delicious!

So then the second weekend I was there Carlie came back and my Mom came out! It was so fun to have her there and I was so happy. We shopped and hung out and played and...went to Wicked. Are you kidding me? Best thing ever. We had such a blast and I was so happy they came to visit me :)

It was so crazy being there on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The city was so quiet. The security was wild. There were army men with huge guns at some of the subway entrances and they would personally check every single car going into the city. Even shuttles from the airport. Full on checks including kicking tires and opening the back to each car. It was surreal. So many police men and army around all of the time. It made me feel safe and happy that they were taking so many precautions.

This trip was so cool for me. I enjoyed it so much. Even though it sounds like I played a lot I worked way more. I worked everyday for 8 hours minus two days off but I made the most of the days and hours that I wasn't working and I'm so glad that I did. But I will say it was the longest I've ever been away from Dan and I got really sad. When I got home it was so great to see him...but he left 8 hours later to go to Florida for his interview...which went really well :) It was an amazing trip but I'm so glad to be home.

Life

I have so much to update on and I'm going to do them all on separate posts just to keep everything straight.

So last time was a little dramatic. To say the least. Danny took his DAT two days after that post and to say he did well is an understatement. This kid got in the 92nd percentile of anyone who takes the DAT. I could not be more proud of him. He worked so hard and it all payed off for him. When he called me after he left the test (results are immediate for the DAT) and he told me he got a 21 I had to stop myself from crying. It was the biggest relief I have ever heard because with that competitive of a score he will get in somewhere and I'm positive of that. So that was the best day to date...then it got even better a month later. Danny called me to say he got his first invite for an interview to not just any school but to University of Florida...our number one pick!! We were ecstatic. Danny is up to SIX interviews. We are so excited and I could not be more proud of him.

His interviews include...
1-Florida
2-Nova Southeastern (another Florida school)
3-Case Western (Ohio)
4-VCU (Virginia)
5-Marquette (Wisconsin)
6-UNLV (Las Vegas)

How awesome is that! I'm so proud of him.

So after Dan had gotten his third interview I was starting to get a little sad and I was convinced that I wasn't going to get one...then at 2 in the morning the emails came!! I have THREE interviews so far!

1-Midwestern (Chicago)
2-Midwestern (Arizona)
3-University of Colorado

Now you might be thinking those Midwesterns count as one interview. Not really. They interview, accept and reject completely separate. Even more of a difference is the AZ campus is only a three year program instead of the usual four year. So yes, you bet I am counting them as separate interviews. But I think they are trying to test my dedication because my Chicago interview is Sept. 28th and my Arizona interview is Sept. 30th. So I'm going to be a traveling fool! But I'm so excited!! I feel bad because I tell everyone and they probably think I'm being annoying and bragging but honestly I didn't think I would get even one interview so I'm just crazy thrilled! I'm a little nervous for the Midwesterns because they are group interviews and I haven't talked to one pharmacist who has had a group interview. And then Colorado is one on one---yikes. Stressful to say the least. To be honest I interview quite well usually so hopefully this won't be an exception. So if you'll notice we still don't have interviews that are in the same state-so hopefully there are more to come.

People keep asking me if I have a gut feeling on where we'll end up...and I do. If I was a betting girl (which those who went with us on the cruise know that I am :)) I would say we end up at Midwestern, AZ. I'd be surprised if Dan didn't get an interview there...or to ASU which is close by, so we'll see. It's still really early. For example, University of Washington doesn't even interview til February. So we are very grateful and feel very blessed to be getting interviews already.

Honestly. One person we owe a huge thanks to is Dan's brother Randy. He is at UF doing his residency in Oral Surgery and has been through this whole process and helped us so much with choosing where to apply to, personal statements and most importantly applying early. Next of course is all of our parents they have been so supportive and amazing with helping us out. We have lived at home with my parents so we could save up for this year...which ended up being even more expensive than planned. And thanks to our parents we can still have a savings because of all the help they have been...seriously forever indebted. Because everything is so expensive...applications, DAT/PCAT, supplemental applications, flights with only 2 weeks notice and the worst is yet to come....when schools accept you there is usually a small window (like a few weeks) where you have to accept or decline their offer. If you accept you have to pay them a retainer to hold your spot. These can cost upwards of $1000! Thank goodness those won't be for a while. This has been a stressful experience but I feel like we are finally getting to the fun part. And it finally feels real. A year from now we will be living somewhere else. On our own. Just the two of us.

I'm so excited!

Dan and I really are doing so great. I have an exceptional husband. He's the best man I know. We've been married a year and a half and I can honestly say we don't fight. And it's not because things get bottled up and we're going to explode one day because we definitely have discussions about things but it's never an argument. We've never had to apologize for mean words said. We are just really happy together. Something we have tried from day one to incorporate into our marriage is the Proclamation to the World. and specifically when it says...

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

These nine things can guarantee a happy marriage. I think the main one I take from this list is respect. If you are in an argument with your spouse and your yelling...stop and think...one of you is probably not respecting the other if you are yelling. I don't think I've ever seen Danny yell. At anyone.

Lately I feel so blessed with my life and the decisions we've made together. I can't wait to see where we end up next year. All of the speculating about where we are going is so worthless when I think about it. We know that we'll go wherever is going to be best for us and that if we end up in Wisconsin (eek) there is going to be a bigger reason for it.

Consoler of the Lonely

When I've been studying consistently for long periods of time...like 10 hour days at the library since June...a song starts to creep in my mind.

Consoler Of The Lonely
by the Raconteurs...

"Haven't had a decent meal
My brain is fried
Haven't slept a week for real
My tongue is tied

Lightbulbs are getting dim
My interests are starting to wane
I'm told it's everything a man could want
And I shouldn't complain

Conversations getting dull
There's a constant ringing in my ears
Sense of humor's void and numb

And I'm bored to tears"


Seriously. This is how the past few days have been. Rough.

"haven't had a decent meal" check

Nope, I haven't. Just seven eleven hot dogs and slurpees daily.

"My brain is fried" check

Like I said...10 hour days.

"Haven't slept a week for real" check

Not that I sleep that great normally anyways, but this week has been particularly rough getting my little mind to shut off and quit thinking about the different circulatory systems of invertebrates...I'm not joking.

"Sense of humor's void and numb" check

I watched a friends episode the other day and could barely crack a smile. Those who know me real well now know the severity of my exhaustion.

Applications...
Preparing for the PCAT and sending in applications has been such an emotionally exhausting process. Danny and are applying to...a ridiculous amount of schools. 23 each. I submit my application through a organization called PharmCas which takes all of my info and shoots it off to all of the schools I picked. Not bad right? No, each school requires separate applications (i.e. fees) for your "full" application to be reviewed.

Included in this "application" are my transcripts, letters of recommendation from professors and pharmacists, more money, community service, research hour, the PCAT score and your personal statement.

I knew all of this was coming but the part that was the hardest was to write the personal statement. Trying to "jump of the page" while only highlighting your good qualities and still seeming humble is quite the task. I felt like I was essentially pouring my heart and soul into 4500 characters (including spaces and punctuation) and trying to convince these people to accept me.

Then each school wants a supplemental application. More money, more retelling of service, research and self-boasting (sure self-boasting is a word) but they would like these to all be redone and not be repeats of what they heard in the application they received from PharmCas. Apparently they want me to get really creative in talking about myself.

Sorry this is getting really boring I know. But it is my life.

Why this sudden out pour of information and frustration? I took my PCAT today.

How did I do?

Well I got about average to a little above average. Most would think I'd be pretty happy with that...not really considering I had a couple of practice tests where they would have put me in the top 15%. I'm not sad or glad with how it turned out. It is all relative. If I get in, then it was awesome. If I don't...then it sucked. Obviously I'm being dramatic and my acceptance is based on a lot more than the PCAT but today it feels like the most important part.

I can't wait for the day that I don't have to worry about some random board of admissions accepting me.

My physics TA from a year ago is Thad Roberts...google him you won't be disappointed I promise. He is brilliant. And a book just came out about his adventure called, "Sex on the Moon" by Ben Mezrich. (Same author that wrote "Bringing down the house" (book that turned into the movie 21) and "The Accidental Billionaires" (book that turned into The Social Network). I am serious google Thad Roberts. Great story. Anyways we were talking to him yesterday and he was asking how studying was going. And he said, "Man, I remember back when all I had to think about was getting the right acceptance from the right people. Don't worry, eventually you'll be able to not give a shit about whether anyone accepts you. It's awesome."

I realized that whether I get in or not I will eventually get to this feeling of not caring whether or not someone accepts me. But right now this is all I have to think about. And I won't even hear from schools about my fate for months...some possibly even next year.

So...the limbo land continues. Just have to wait it out.

By the way, wish Danny luck. He takes his DAT on Friday.

OH! And hey at least my sister is coming home this weekend and we are going to Katy Perry in Idaho...I'm stoked.


My final thought...Florida please let me in. I even more my UF t-shirt today. Hopefully that counts for something.

Wendover

A few months back Danny and a bunch of our friends decided to buy these groupon discount passes for the funbus to Wendover. We love going to Wendover...we may have a slight gambling problem. So we buy these passes and it ended up being like 10$ for each of us to go and we got a free buffet and they give you money to gamble with. The times comes and they are almost expired so we decide it is time to go! When the weekend came only four of us could go. Dan and I and our friends Dallas and Janee. None of us had ridden the fun bus before and so we decided we would go on the 7:30 bus. We thought you could decide what bus you returned on. NO! You have to come back on the bus you came on, and we got on the latest bus and they announced after a half hour of driving that they would be picking us up at 3:45 AM!! We were all stunned. So I searched on my phone and there is a sad little theater in Wendover that plays three movies each night and they had a midnight showing of the new Pirates movie. We had already seen it but it was better than losing more money in the casino. So we get to the buffet and it is 9:30 but by the time we sit down it's 10:00 and the buffet ends at 10:30 sharp! You would have thought we had never eaten before. They had the seafood buffet and the four of us took shifts collecting crab, tuna steaks and filets. It was hectic but so awesome! So we play a few games and start heading over to the movie theater because the movie started at 12:30...we get there after a 20 minutes walk and it is closed! My iPhone lied! It was telling me the times for the next day!! So we went all the way back and kept playing in the casino. I am happy to say we ended up for the night! It was such a blast and Dal and Janee are always so much fun to hang out with. We finally made it home at about 6:30 AM and crashed for a few hours and then went to work. But it was well worth it, good food, great friends and gambling :)

Sadly I only took one picture. I'll do better next time!

Limbo Land.

So it's official...Danny and I have sent off our applications to dental and pharmacy school. We are applying to about 23 schools each! Yes that is more than most people but most people only have one person applying. With the two of us applying and needing to get into the same school it's going to be pretty tough. So now we just wait....and study for our tests coming up in three weeks!! So soon I can't even believe it. So our days consists of being at the library studing for those. I feel like we are in limbo land. We are planners, and we have no clue where we are going to be a year from now. We could be in Florida, Buffalo (no I'm not joking, we actually applied to a school in Buffalo, NY) or not get in at all and still be living in Utah. We won't here back from schools for quite a while...some pharmacy schools don't even start interviewing until February! So we are just going to be in limbo for the next year if feels like. Hopefully we'll find out sooner but who knows.

Anyways...

Things have also been really great lately. In May Amber and the babes came home for a visit. And we finally got to meet baby Beckam and he is adorable! It was so fun to be able to just snuggle him for hours. He's just so sweet and we get pictures now and he's growing so fast! I can't even believe it. It was so fun to get to see them and of course Jaynie is cuter than ever and so fun. When they first got off the plane the three oldest kids linked up and were walking around like they are the best of friends. So cute.

Lately Dan and I have been cooking lots from the Unofficial Harry Potter cookbook and the recipes have been really yummy! The best was this cherry almond cake with butter frosting. I hate to brag but I've got to be honest...it was awesome. My mom even said it was the best cake she's ever had...and she isn't a big cake person so that's saying alot.

Then we made homemade butterbeer. So my uncle told me just to mix carmel sauce with cream soda and then for the froth to mix carmel with heavy whipping cream and pour it on top. Well I decided to search the internet for a recipe I thought sounded more authentic. So I take all this time to make this yummy sauce to mix with the cream soda. It had rum flavoring, sugar, vanilla, vinegar and a few other things. Well after an hour of making this sauce I realize that I have discovered a very expensive long way of making carmel sauce. Haha I should have just done what my uncle said. It was pretty good but it was soooo sweet. Making it a little to sweet to drink. So not exactly like the butterbeer in Universal Studios but pretty close.

So like many, I have discovered a new love of pinterest. It is awesome. And I saw this yummy picture of a dessert....

It looked awesome and I thought...wow how could that not taste good? Chocolate chip cookie dough for the bottom layer, oreo cookies, and brownie mix to top it off...Well it takes an hour to cook and it ends up coming out pretty hard...and the flavors don't really go together. None of us were that impressed. I get really sick of trying recipes that LOOK really amazing and then you make them and they're just...meh.

Anyways, I've got to get back to studying. Hopefully I'll have more yummy desserts to share on the next post!

Mackenzie Childs I love you.

I should really be mad at my mom for ever showing Mackenzie Childs because it's become an obsession of mine and my college butt can't buy any of it! Thank goodness for wonderful husbands, mothers and mother in-laws who will surprise me for Christmas and Birthday presents...but those aren't coming again for 8 more months! Just have to wait and build up my christmas list. So here are the new items I am currently pining over.

The frame. The paper towel holder. The tile. The knob. The canister (with two other sizes that I love). The fun rug.

You should go to the website (www.mackenzie-childs.com) they have the funnest things! The courtly check is so classic and pretty and then they have so many fun floral designs I love it.

I must also mention that today (hopefully) we will be getting a new nephew!!! We are so dang excited! Little Beckham Cruze Sanovich will be here hopefully before the end of the day. Danny and I are so excited to get another nephew. We are just sad because Randy and Amber live in Florida so we are going to have to be patient to get to meet him. Hopefully they'll come home in a couple months. I'll post pics of the little guy when we see him!