Goal ##: Go camping in a yurt

Although not included in my original 99 goals list (I didn't know what a yurt was then), I made a goal and made this happen...10 months ago (yikes--how did I get so behind?!).

Anyway, yurts are AWESOME! They originated with Genghis Khan, traveling with his fighters over mountain passes. They would need a warm place to stay for the night and wah-lah! The yurt was born. (or at least that's the story I liked best)

Who would have thought that this central asian dwelling for nomads would have made it to Utah? But it did. There are dozens of yurts all over the state. They range from being a camping experience (snow shoe or cross country ski in, build a fire, stay the night) to a 5-star dining experience (travel to the yurt in a a horse-drawn sleigh, be served gourmet meal by waiters, etc.), and cost adjust accordingly.

We were able to stay really economically:

Lodging:

Sun-Thurs: $50/night + BRORA membership=$65

1 night/8 people: $8.125

Gas:

130 miles, 2.5 hours away, at the end of HWY 150

30 mpg = 8.66 gallons of gas

x $3.30 = $28.60

/4 people = $7.15/person (2 cars, 8 people)

$6 Forest Service user fee/car = $1.25/person

Gear:

snow shoes $9/day from BYU Outdoors Unlimited or $10 in Evanston

Total per person cost: $16.52 w/o rental

Not bad, right?

If you get a little cabin fever in the winter and need your fix of the outdoors, this is a GREAT way to do it! Cheap (if you do it right), warm (in fact it got too warm!), beautiful, and fun. See?


We stayed in the Lily Lake yurt system, owned and operated by Evanston, WY Parks and Rec (if you're interested, call them at (307) 789-1770.

And if you do, here are some tips:

• bring chips and salsa. Seriously--it tastes so good after snowshoeing!
• bring "dinner in a bag" (aka freeze dried meals)
• start hiking in with plenty of daylight
• sleep on the bottom bunks (the top bunks get ridiculously hot at night)
• bring games to play at night
• go when there's a full moon--it's really cool to get out of the yurt and hike in the moonlight
• go when there's snow, but it currently isn't snowing...it obscures the path

My dollar for completing this goal goes to Mrs. Sanchez. A little 70-year old lady from Mexico that sells tomales in my city. I've seen her and wished I carried cash. This GoFundMe account was a way that I could still support her.

Goal #44 Missionary work: post 20 Mormon-themed things on Facebook, Twitter, or my blog

This "goal" may seem a little strange, so I want to explain it first. I made this goal because I want to be more transparent about my beliefs.  I know that in person it is obvious that I am a person of faith, but my online presence is a little more guarded.  And I want my online self to be an accurate reflection who I am and what I think about.

Without further ado, here are my 20 "things:"

1. Invitation to listen to October 2013 general conference (where the leaders of our church give timely messages to the whole world, broadcast online and on tv).

2. Quoted one of the twelve apostles on Twitter

3. Posted a blog post explaining general conference on Facebook. I think it's a really well-written post, if you wanna read the real thing.

4. Wrote in my thought blog (this blog is what I'm doing, the other--updated less frequently--is what I'm thinking about) about trials and suffering, and the how the purposes of God in my life are accomplished by them. Here's an excerpt:

5. Posted a quote from a prophet

6. Shared a resource I found for studying the scriptures. It has commentary about each chapter!

7. Tweeted in Portuguese and English during the Christmas devotional...just noticed that I got the hashtag wrong on the Portuguese one--dang! (The 2014 Christmas Devotional is Sunday, Dec 7th at 6pm MST)

8. Asked for prayers, and definitely got some!

9. Shared a video that explains what we think about the purpose of life. Watch the video here.

10. Invited people to hear me speak in church.

11. Tweeted/Instagrammed a picture of the view from the Provo Temple

12. Shared a quote I loved from church. The sister who taught the lesson is so wise!

13. Shared a video the Church produced during Easter. To this day I think it is one of the most powerful testimonies of Christ I have seen. Watch it here!

14. Changed my cover pic to the general conference announcement

15. Tweeted during the April general conference. Read the original talk here.

16. Shared a new way to be grateful (not an explicitly Mormon post, but it's part of what we believe)

17. Shared how to stand up against indecent broadcast material (also not explicitly Mormon, but something we believe).

18. Tweeted during the general women's meeting

19. Tweeted during the October 2014 general conference. The three talks I mention are here, here, and here. :)

20. Shared a website from a Baptist minister who tells why he loves the Book of Mormon and why everyone should read it. So interesting!

And, as a bonus, I'm posting this new Christmas video today! As with many other goals, I hope the practice won't stop with completing the goal, but become a habit (remember my budgeting goal? I budget faithfully every month now, and LOVE it).

It was really fun to go back through Facebook, Twitter, and my other blog to write this post. I found little gems of my faith sprinkles throughout my posts about grad school, fun things with friends, current events, life hacks, products and services I love, and things that make me laugh. I think I got the mixture just right. This is me. This is my life.

As with every goal I complete, I'm donating a dollar to charity. The dollar for this goal went to Typhoon Hayan relief.

Goal #72 Try 100 new recipes: 18-19/100

One of my favorite drinks (my all time favorite drink is lemon lime flavored Airborne...I know it's weird) is horchata. My favorite Mexican dessert is Tres Leches cake ("three milks"). And I recently had successful experiences making both!

Horchata is this delicious rice-cinnamon drink. It sounds weird if you haven't tried it, but I promise it's REALLY good. Here is the recipe I tried. I chose it because 1) the author is Mexican 2) you use real rice in it and 3) it uses sweetened condensed milk. All Brazilian desserts have sweetened condensed milk, so I figure it might be the same for Mexico...and let's face it--sweetened condensed milk is delicious!

I think it would have been a really good recipe...if I had had a colander. But alas, a pasta strainer lets all the blended rice bits through. So it was pretty grainy. I still give it 4/5 stars.

This is NOT what mine looked like...but you get the idea

I also made an EASY version of Tres Leches. Easy, as in, it uses a boxed cake mix! Hallelujah! Betty Crocker says to use her yellow cake mix, but I used her white one. The three milks I used were sweetened condensed milk (!), evaporated milk, and whipping cream. Yum. The cake basically marinates in the three milks, producing a really moist, sweet cake. Instead of using Betty Crocker white frosting, I used Cool Whip, which was a great, light complement to this rich cake. And I top mine with strawberries. It was excellent. addicting. a total crowd pleaser at dinner group. and Mexican culture night. Mmmm 5/5 stars!

Mine kind of looked like this. :)

Goal #38 See 5 documentaries: Vegucated (5/5)

Last night, instead of going to a huge dance with my roommates, I stayed home and watched a documentary. Normally I would have felt "guilty" for following this instinct. However, I've been listening to the book "Quiet: the Power of Introverts In a World That Can't Stop Talking," and thus totally felt justified in staying home on a Friday night. I've considered myself an extrovert for years, but I identify with about half the things in this book, so I guess I'm considered an "ambivert." Whatever. All I know is I felt like chilling, and I chilled. Boo-yah.

After mulling around Netflix, I settled on Vegucated. A documentary of a converted vegan helping three other New Yorkers go vegan for 6 weeks. Prior to this documentary I've thought of vegans as a bit extreme. Not only no meat, but also no animal by-products?!

Growing up on an urban farm, I raised animals for 4-H--mostly pigs, a few veal calves, and one steer over the years. Going to the Del Mar Fair for a week each summer to show my animals was the highlight of my childhood. I always cried the day my animals went to the butcher, but it was just a fact of life. My family raised a few animals for our own consumption as well, but I never ate them. This was mostly because I was insanely picky (the only "meat" I could handle was chicken nuggets, and only certain kinds of chicken nuggets at that!), but also because I knew the animals. After becoming less picky (which happened at age 19...), I was fine eating animals I didn't know. Meat tastes good! I just don't think about the fact that I'm eating the muscles of animals. That's kind of weird.

Then a few months ago my friend got Netflix...and shared her password with me. :) One of the first documentaries I watched was Food, Inc.

I thought I was going to think this movie was ridiculous and extreme, but I wanted to know what the crazys thought...and it actually changed the way I thought. It changed the way I thought of the industry and especially of Tyson and Monsanto. It was hugely impacting. Since then I've eaten less meat. I haven't cut it out, but I've eaten significantly less. I'm not even trying, I just feel less of a desire.

So last night I figured I'd see how the vegans viewed things. The movie focused mostly on moral/ethical reasons, not on health reasons. They cited studies, especially the China Study, to show that introducing animal products into our diets increases all sorts of diseases. The majority of the film, however, showed how animals are treated and how even "free range" chickens have only 3 square feet of room. One of the most interesting things was when one of the new vegans called a up an "organic" "free range" "grass fed" "ethical" producer and ask them specific questions. It made me realize that you can't trust labels. It also made me want to have my own chickens. :) Growing up we always had 6-12 chickens running around our yard.

Vegucated is interesting. It's low-budget and biased (of course), but I appreciate what it showed me. It reinforced what I thought and felt after watched Food, Inc. Green smoothie, anyone?

My dollar for completing this goal goes to Typhoon Haiyan Relief.

72. Try 100 new recipes: Brazilian food (14-17/100)

As you well know, the World Cup has been going on the past month. What I didn't know was how much of a fan I am!! I've never been one to watch any sport, especially on tv, but I religiously watched Brazil play in the World Cup. :) It's the first World Cup that I've ever paid attention to. I was studying abroad in Israel during the 2010 World Cup, otherwise I probably would've cared to watch Brazil (I served my mission in Brazil 2008-2009).

This month was filled with soccer and....Brazilian food!! Everytime Brazil played I made something good to eat with my nieces and nephews. Here are some of our exploits:

Sorpresa de Uva (Grape Surprise)

• put one tablespoon of butter into a pot
• add an entire can of sweetened condensed milk
• Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly (wooden spoon or wire wisk) until when you tilt the pot, you see the mixture easily sliding away from the bottom of the pan. This is usually after it's been boiling a little while. When in doubt, cook longer.
• Pour the mixture out onto a greased plate to cool
• When it's cool, add 1ish cups of powdered sugar little by little, kneading it into the dough
• Add a drop or two of green food coloring
• Roll a little ball of the dough and then spread it around a green grape
• Do this until all of the dough is gone. 
• Stick them in the fridge until cool

It's pretty delicious. Even though ours did NOT turn out like the picture! (we didn't cook the mixture long enough over the stove...)

I'll give this recipe 4.5/5 stars. It was still a fun, delicious treat, even though ours look like aliens. :)

Brigadeiro, Beijinho, and Bem Casado (respectively, brigadier, little kiss, and well-married)

Brigadeiro, Beijinho, and Bem Casado are all varients on the same tune. I had made brigadeiro and beijinho dozens of times, so they don't count, but this was my first time making Bem Casado (essentially the previous two put together).

Brigadeiro starts like Sorpresa de Uva: 1-3 tbs of butter and a can of sweetened condensed milk over medium heat. This time you add 3 tbs cocoa powder to make it chocolate. Remove from heat at the same point (when it's "freeing" itself from the bottom of the pan), cool, and make little balls. You roll the little balls in chocolate sprinkles. E pronto! (and ready!)

Beijinho is the same thing except coconut flavored instead of chocolate. You add 3 spoons of flaked coconut to the mixture on the stove and then roll it in flaked coconut instead of sprinkles.

Bem Casado is the marriage of the two! Rolled in sugar.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the ones we made, but hey--these ones are cuter anyway! I do have a picture of the variant we made up ourselves...brigadeiro branco (white brigadeiro--it's just the butter and sweetened condensed milk) rolled in a variety of different things! Coconut, sprinkles, sugar, and cinnamon sugar. The cinnamon sugar mixture "won" and earned the nick name "snickerdoodle bombs."

Stroganoff de Frango (Chicken Stroganoff)

One of my favorite Brazilian dishes! It's chicken in this creamy pink sauce over rice. I've made it before but wanted to try a different recipe. I ended up making a hybrid of FOUR recipes. Here's what I did:

• oil in the bottom of a pan with a good amount of diced onion and fresh garlic (well I didn't do that part but I would've if I'd had fresh garlic!)
• Add in 3 chicken breasts' worth of diced chicken, and cook on medium heat

• add half a bottle or so or this: They don't have "creme de leite" in America and this is the closest thing.

• add in a little more than half a small can of tomato paste
• add a drained can of corn
• Now play with it until it "looks" right and tastes right... which is why Brazilian cooking is SO hard!
• I added several squirts of ketchup and a spoon of mayonnaise (which one of the recipes I'd looked at recommended). My old recipe used Worcestershire sauce and also added mushrooms (which I enjoy but didn't think my nieces and nephew would)
• When it's "ready," serve over Brazilian rice (put some oil in the pan first, add diced onion and garlic, when the onion is translucent add the rice, and stir it all together, then add the water) and top with crushed Ruffles! In Brazil they sell these chips as tiny sticks, which are the perfect topper for this dish, but crushed Ruffles will do!

We made this lunch during the epic failure of a game that was Brazil vs. Germany. It was so sad. We consoled ourselves in good food. My sister told me that every time I made a treat, Brazil won, and when I made a meal, they lost. Which of course was very sound logic, so I made a treat for the last game. ...and they lost. Alas correlation does NOT imply causation! dang it..

Bolo de Brigadeiro (Brigadier Cake)

The cake is pretty much like a normal chocolate cake made from scratch. The frosting is brigadeiro, but with some creme de leite (I used the last of that Mexican crema) added at the end to give it more consistency for spreading. Then you throw chocolate sprinkles on it. You should have seen me trying to coat the sides with sprinkles...it's hard! 

cheering for Brazil! Except for the Haylee cheering for Oranje

Good thing we can still be friends...

And Sabrina said, "Let them all eat cake!"

72. Try 100 new recipes: Nuts About Berries Salad (13/100)

Made this salad for my parents and myself the other night and LOVED it! Delicious, delightful, flavorful, and much more interesting than a normal salad.

It features pecans AND slivered almonds, raspberries AND blueberries, and balsamic vinegar in both the chicken and the homemade salad dressing. Simple enough and quite a lovely combination of flavors. This one gets 5/5 stars. I'll definitely make it again.

I got the recipe from this blog. Props to a Facebook friend for posting it!

The directions said to cook chicken with some salt and pepper in balsamic vinegar.
I'm guessing this is how you do it?!?

The final product. Mmm!

So, if you're looking for a fun summer meal, bon appetit!

#13 Experience 10 New Things in Provo (8/10): Go to poetry night at the Coffee Pod

FIVE years ago my friend Lisa told me about this awesome date she went on. They went to the local coffee shop where they have open mic poetry every other Thursday. She said it was fabulous, and I've wanted to go ever since, thinking it might be like the poetry slam I loved in high school. Wrong.

At long last, I put it together. I confirmed that the poetry was happening that night (no, they don't post it on their Facebook page, and it's not a normal every-first-and-third-Thursday kind of thing--it really is every other Thursday!). I had to call a few times because the first girl who answered had no idea and wouldn't give the phone to someone who might. That should have been my first clue.

I really wasn't impressed. It started over half an hour late and seemed pretty disorganized. Most of the poetry shared was original (yay!), but most of it was pretty poor quality and vulgar.

I'm glad I finally made it happen, but I think I'll organize my own poetry nights from now on. Speaking of which, Provo has a rent-a-puppy business...anyone up for a Puppies and Poetry night?

It has potential, don't you think?

## Compete in a Game Competition

Hi folks! Sorry it's been FOREVER since I last updated this! I promise I've been doing stuff. ;) And I'm going to slowly get this caught up now! Btw, I decided that ## is what I'm going to assign things I complete that aren't in my official 99, but, in fact are things that I would've included had I thought of them while I was writing the 99. They must be done deliberately (i.e. decide to do it then make it happen), and this qualifies! Now, without further ado, my post:

I've wanted to compete in a game convention for several years, but I'm never in CA during one! And this year I happened to be in CA over Memorial Day weekend, which is when the Gamex Strategicon Game Convention is. Does that sound nerdy? Cuz it is!

I'm a bit of a closet game nerd. I very openly geek out about how excited I am about what I'm learning, buuut not so open with the fact that I play nerdy strategy games. Secret's out! I started playing strategy games at least 10 years ago, because my brother-in-law (who is super cool and there's no way I'd think of him as a nerd!) plays them. He got me and my two brothers into them, we got the neighbor kids into them, and boom! We're all playing strategy games! We started out with basic Euro games like Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, San Juan, etc. Now I pretty much only play strategy games when I'm at home, but let me tell ya, it's my favorite thing to do with the fam!

Now for those of you who've never been to a game convention, let me tell you: it's got all SORTS of nerd! Role playing games, computer games, build your own terrain and then play the game on top of it games, etc. It's got all sorts of people, from a 7-year-old girl who wanted me to read the cards her because she "can't read good," to really ancient men (but mostly middle-aged guys). If it's a tournament, you can winner "Dealer Dollars" for placing, and then you can use those to buy games in the dealer room!

The Hilton in LA. Can you find the lady with purple hair? :)

Sabrina the nerd

Kingdom Builder final round! I'm the blue guys.

Got third place!

Bought a new game with my dealer dollars! #soexcited

It was pretty awesome. And I'm super excited about the game I won! Wanna play it with me?

*This goal's dollar goes to Typhoon Haiyan Relief*

#13 Experience 10 new things in Provo (7/10): Crandall Historical Printing Museum

Guys!! Best kept secret in Provo! The Crandall Historical Printing Museum was AmAzInG! I loved every second of it. Friends have told me about this museum for a while but I never went because you have to schedule a tour in advance. But, lucky for me, my entire print design class went as a field trip. :) I got class credit for completing this goal!

Gutenberg Printing Process

This video is a demonstration of how Gutenberg would have cast his moveable type using a handcaster tool (that he invented).

And here's the demonstration of how the actual printing press works! This is the ONLY working model of a Gutenberg printing press.  Pretty cool stuff.  We've come so far.

 And the final product! Here's the first half of the Bible (it took two books to print it).

Copy of the Gutenberg Bible (painted letters are done by hand afterward)

Printing of the Book of Mormon

Sixteen small pages fit on the press at once

This is an entire page that dropped...look at all the type

it's MUCH smaller than Gutenberg's type

A model of the gold plates, from which the Book of Mormon was translated. 

An artist's idea of what "reformed Egyptian" might have looked like

The first two words of the Book of Mormon, "I, Nephi" on the type sheet.
(if you can't read it, it's ok--it's upside down and backwards)

The tour is 2 hours long, free, and well worth it. They also talk about printing during the Revolutionary War and printing newspapers. The guys that run it have to be older than 80, and they're SUPER knowledgeable, so you want to go soon, if ya know what I mean. :) It's an unforgettable experience.