#38 See 5 documentaries (3/5): Happiness

Last weekend I went to the Sundance Film Festival!  It was AWESOME!  My second year going.  Super fun.  I love community things.  I love when events bring people together that normally wouldn't ever cross paths.  Like me.  And the French director of this film.  Yeah, I got a picture with him. :)

That's one of the cool things about Sundance, is you get to interact with the people who made the film.  There's usually a Q&A after, and you can learn things you just wouldn't learn from watching it on Neflix.  And there are super interesting people that go to the festival.  We met people from all over the globe when we were standing in line.

"Happiness" takes place in Bhutan, which measures its gross national happiness.  Pretty cool, huh?  It's a film about at 8 year old boy who becomes a monk because his mom can't afford to send him to school.  His village is very poor.  Everyone earns their living by herding yaks.  And then the king decides his people need electricity and access to television!  Learn more about the film here.

#13 Experience 10 new things in Provo (5/10): go to an Asian Market

I see Asian markets all over Provo, and I really wanted to go inside one.  So I waited until I had an excuse (making mango sticky rice).  And the one I ended up going to is literally called "Asian Markets"!

It was everything I dreamed of.  Skinny aisles.  Tons of brightly colored packaging.  Neon colors everywhere.  I quickly found everything I wanted: glutinous rice, mangos, yellow curry paste, a steam basket, and miso soup.

This outing was immediately followed by going to Rancho Markets (the local Mexican grocery), which was also an awesome experience.  It's amazing how just shopping at an ethnic grocery store can help me feel connected to other cultures.  Love it.

#72 Try 100 new recipes, documenting each with photos and rating them (11/100): Mango Sticky Rice

Have you ever had mango sticky rice?  It's divine.  The restaurant that makes it the best is Spicy Thai.  mmm Just thinking about it makes me crave sweet coconut goodness.  

So i decided to give it a shot.  I even bought myself a basket steamer ($3.99 at the Asian Market!) to steam the sticky rice!  I felt pretty legit.  

I combined these recipes:

http://www.thaitable.com/thai/recipe/mango-on-sticky-rice

http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaidesserts/r/mangoricepuddin.htm

soaking the rice for at least an hour

is this how a steam basket goes into a pot?!

rice goes in the cheese cloth

as soon as the steam gets going, the basket sinks in and takes shape

bowl 1

bowl 2

It was pretty good!  I received compliments at both dinners I took it to.  I think it still needs some perfecting, though, so I give it 4 of 5 stars.  I definitely want to keep making it and improving it!

#45 Emergency Preparedness: Make a legit 72-hour kit and acquire water storage

"It is better to prepare and prevent than to repair and repent."  I learned this little phrase as a teenager and it's stuck with me.  I've been into emergency preparedness for several years.  I mean, what 19 year old looks into hand crank wheat grinders (just in case the electricity goes out)?  Yeah, that's right.  ME.  weird.  I know.

But for all my ideals and internet research, I haven't actually gotten much.  I don't think it really makes sense for a semi-transient 27-year old to get pounds of wheat and a wheat grinder...so what  can I do? 72-hour kit and car trunk preparedness!

1. 72 hr kits and water storage

My 72-hr kits--the purchased one and the one I made to complement it

These are my two backpacks.  The one of the left was a present from my parents a few years ago, and has 3 days' worth of MREs, water pouches, and a flashlight (the kind where you generate the electricity with a little hand crank).  I realized that that was probably insufficient in the event that i really needed to leave my house for 3 days, so I prepared the 2nd backpack, which has:

• 3 days' worth of clothes
• 1 sweatshirt
• legit work gloves
• hygiene supplies
• waterproof matches
• emergency blanket
• 2 emergency ponchos
• baby wipes
• small first aid kit
• super glue
• sharpie
• deck of cards
• toothbrush and toothpaste
• contact solution and contact case

I also have a 5 gallon water container in my closet.  :)

2. Trunk Preparedness

Emergency supplies in my trunk

 The trunk has a blanket, good first aid kit, sweatshirt, spare tire, jack, & lug nut wrench, AND a container of wonders...

(container of wonders)

The container has baby wipes, duct tape, tylonol, IB profen, hand sanitizer, super glue, flash light with batteries in a separate plastic bag, various bars and food items, carpi suns, and tp.  Ya never know when you'll need something out of the container of wonders.

So far the trunk stuff has actually come in handy!  I've used the blanket and sweatshirt for unexpectedly chilly nights, the first aid kit when my cousin fell off the jungle gym, the flashlight multiple times, and the food has satisfied many a famished soul traveling with me.  Hooray for being prepared!  It makes me feel safe and confident.

My dollar for finishing this goal goes to Typhoon Haiyan relief.

Also I wanted to explain why this goal comes under the "living my religion" category.  It might seem funny that self-reliance and emergency preparedness are part of how I live my religion.  If you're interested, here's an article on it.

#67 Take up yoga

Last semester I took an early morning yoga class!  It was great.  I've been interested in yoga since high school.  I remember checking out a book and learning how to do ouiji breathing.  But trying to do yoga on your own is different than being in a class.  There's something about doing it with people!

I like yoga for two reasons:
1. I can always see progress in myself and I can always see a million ways to grow.
2. I feel this calm energy afterward

doing yoga poses on the Salt Flats

I'm not in yoga this semester but I think I'll look into a community class.  :)

My dollar today goes to typhoon relief.

#72 Try 100 new recipes, documenting each with photos and rating them: Quiche and Kale Salad

Last night I made the most amazing dinner.  Not even gonna be modest on this one, cuz it wasn't me, it was the recipe!  :)  And I finally found a use for Pinterest!  haha  (what's so confusing about Pinterest, you might ask?  I don't know.  But I struggle.)  I searched for "healthy salad" and got some great pinterest boards.  After perusing the pictures and finding one that looked delicious, I'd look it up on allrecipes.com, where the recipes are rated.  Somehow I trust a recipe more when it's rated.  Then I choose whether to use the pinned recipe or the rated recipe.  In both cases I used the pinned recipe.  And let me tell you, they're both worth 5 stars!!

Ham and Swiss Cheese Quiche: 

Followed the recipe to a T and it worked like a dream.  Mine needed a little more time in the oven, and that's all.

Kale salad: 

I chose this salad for two reasons: 1) kale! 2) pomegranates.  But then I arrived at the grocery story and apparently pomegranates went out of season 3 weeks ago.  Boo!  And the recipe calls for avocados, and theirs were super hard.  So I ditched avocados and pomegranates and used craisins instead.  I also substituted Feta for goat cheese.  Never had goat cheese.  It just sounds scary.

I was a little worried that the flavor might be strong, especially with that much kale, but it was delicious!  The lemon vinagrette really pulled it all together.  And my friends loved it!  One guy commented that "the health in that salad" made up for the rest of his unhealthy week.  haha!  Healthy + Delicious = Success!

All together:

I wasn't sure if quiche and salad would go together, but it worked well!  It was a very satisfying meal, rounded out with some passion-orange juice.  :)

#79 Attend the services of the following churches: St. Mary's Episcopal Church

Tuesday night I had the really cool experience of doing shape note singing at St. Mary's.  Don't think it was my awesome idea--I didn't even know what shape note singing was.  What?  Shapes in music?  Yup, that's exactly what it is.  They make the different notes look like different shapes.

It was developed to help congregational singing in the early 1800s.  I can just picture someone singing really off-key in church one day, and bam!  It inspired the person sitting next to him to create a new notation.

And it caught on!  There are shape note singers throughout the US, more concentrated in the South.  Although the music is mostly religious, it isn't just religious people that enjoy singing it.  It's quite a style!  Self-described "full bore, guts on the floor singing."  Quite refreshing to sing loudly!  Sometimes I get frustrated that the singing at church is so quiet.  I loved this style.

So anyway, my really cool friends Lisa and Jared told me about this and we went!  Naive me thought that we were going to sit in a pew and listen to them sing.  NAY--you jump in and join them!

Lisa singing the soprano part

Jared holding down the basses.  We sit in a square to sing--each part forming a different side of the square, and the tenors always have the melody.

Post-singing joy

They have stained glass windows!  Made my night!

Did I take a video, you ask?  Why yes, yes I did.  My new friends were a little reticent to be filmed, but kindly obliged.  I assumed this would be the same version Amazing Grace that I've always sang, but it was not!  The group as a whole didn't know this song quite as well, so it wasn't as "full bore, guts on the floor" as some of our other songs were.  but you'll get the picture.  :)

#80 Go to a movie at the theater by myself

This may seem like a strange "goal."  Some people go see movies by themselves all the time.  But I never had.  Until last Saturday.

Being an extrovert (an ENFJ to be precise! :), movies are a social thing for me.  The idea of seeing a movie by myself is strange...why would you do that?  Spend 2 hours being entertained by myself?  Reading a book, for some reason, is a totally fine activity to do in solitude.  Watching a movie?  Not so much.

Five years ago I had a mission companion that challenged me to go to a theater and watch a movie all by myself.  And it's been on the list...for five years.  And I finally did it!  And you know what?  It was great.  The guy next to me might have preferred that I leave a seat between us, but whatever.  Even sitting next to a stranger made me not feel alone.  And FROZEN was AMAZING!  Loved it!  :)

Will I see another movie by myself, you ask?  I'm not sure.  I won't make a point of doing it again, but I also wouldn't shy away from it.  Next time I wanna watch a movie that everyone else has already seen, guess what - I'm goin' by myself!

My dollar today goes to hurricane relief.  :)

#37 Watch 7 of the following films (3/7): Schindler's List

Schindler's List has been "on my list" for several years, and last week I finally watched it!  I watched it right after watching The Book Thief, which was FANTASTIC.  It was fascinating to see WW2 from the German perspective.  Schindler's List was also very impressive.  

I actually put a rock on Schindler's grave 3.5 years ago when I was in Israel, and didn't know who he was.  I just knew that he was a holocaust hero.  I even went to Yad Vashem (Israel's Holocaust Museum), and didn't learn about him.  The point of some of my goals is to eradicate my ignorance, and this was one of them!

Schindler, I learned, was a shrewd man.  He was broke and came to a Jewish accountant to propose a business idea.  He depended on Jewish investors to fund his business (paying them in wares, not paper money, since that was more useful in the ghetto) as well as Jewish labor.  What did Schindler add to the mix?  The fact that he wasn't Jewish, and he was the one in charge.  It was a win-win situation.  Schindler built a thriving enameled pots and pans factory.  The Jews who worked under him were treated better than anywhere else.

When the ghettos were liquidated and they were sending all the Jews to concentration camps, Schindler fought to keep his laborers, saying that they were essential for his business, which supported the war effort.  Miraculously (and through schmoosing the Nazi local leadership), Schindler was allowed to pay for as many workers as he could name.  He and his accountant came up with over 11,000 names!

A turning point happened when a girl met with Schindler, asking him to buy her aging parents as workers.  "They say," she said, "that this place is a haven."  Apparently this was the first time Schindler found out how he was viewed.  At first he was angry--this was business!  This was about money!  This wasn't about saving people.  That was dangerous.  ...but then he softened.  He bought the girl's parents.  At the end of the movie, when he was fleeing, he lamented that he could have saved more people.  He should have sold his car--then he could have bought more people.  He wept bitterly, while those he had saved showed him their gratitude.

I thought it was a very touching movie.  I recommend it.

#71 Eat 5 vegetables I've never tried (1/5): Cauliflower

Yup--somehow I made it to 26 years of age without eating cauliflower.  My mom probably made it for me growing up, but I was the pickiest of picky eaters, and not many vegetables made it past my lips!

This vegetable was NOT what I expected.  It's hard!  Doesn't it look like a pillow of soft fluffiness?  Well it's not.  But it's super versatile.

I tried this vegetable 3 times, actually.  That should be worth bonus points, or something!
1. Cauliflower buns

My sister had me over and made us turkey burgers on cauliflower buns for a healthy Halloween dinner.  It tended to fall apart a little, but the flavor was nice!  I don't know if this is the recipe she used, but here is one: http://www.rippedrecipes.com/recipe/cauliflower-burger-buns-614.html

2. Cauliflower sauce

This was also at my sister's house (I LOVE that she tries new recipes, and especially healthy ones)!  We had this over spaghetti squash for a super healthy "pasta."  I...wasn't a super fan of the flavor this time.  But the others liked it!  Recipe here: http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-cauliflower-sauce

3. Garlic mashed cauliflower

This was my favorite version of cauliflower!  I had it instead of mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving.  I went a little heavy on the parmesan in the recipe, and it was great.  Recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/george-stella/mock-garlic-mashed-potatoes-recipe/index.html

What's your favorite way to eat cauliflower?