raw chicken

Sometimes I like to think I can cook.

And then I whip out the pre-cut, pre-boned chicken breast out of the fridge.

Illusion spoiled.

Well, today, I helped to cook a full on chicken. 

As in, a whole chicken in the bloody bag, with everything still inside it.

Aaron, who was in charge of this entire food science dinner, gave us (Holly and me) full responsibility of this particular chicken, as he had five other chickens to cook. Brave man.

We had to rinse it out in the sink. Holly gingerly touched it as I cut the bag away from it. She took a deep breath, and then picked it up and held it over the sink. We both squealed a little bit, I think. Raw meat is just so gross sometimes. I started running the water. 

"Um...Aaron, should we take everything out?"

Before he could turn around, the chicken excreted (nasty word, isn't it?) its neck out of its back side. Holly gasped, and I started laughing so hard I couldn't breathe, as the chicken kept popping out giblet after giblet. 

By this point, I had tears in my eyes. I felt like the boys sitting behind me in nutrition100 the other day who couldn't stop giggling while the teacher discussed constipation. 

After I had regained control, we proceeded to clean the chicken out, baste the inside with butter and tarragon, and browned it nicely on all sides. We poured broth all over it and then popped it in the oven.

It sure smelled lovely.

Mission completed.

P.S. I also helped to cook custard. I'm well on my way to becoming a chef. 

tales of o-chem.

It's about time I got my butt in gear for O-Chem. I meant to spend ten hours a week studying for the class. I've been so busy that I've probably done about...a tenth of that so far. And somehow, January is almost over. So sad.

But in an effort to remedy that, and due to a rude awakening with the obnoxiously-easy-but-still-ever-so-hard quiz we had to take this morning, I spent about five hours in the O-Chem Lab today.

Thanks be to all my lucky stars for the patient TAs in that room. I hate sounding like an idiot, but it's impossible to intelligently fake talk your way through Molecular Orbital Theory. So I sound like an idiot, and the TAs are surprisingly okay with that. It's not really a symbiotic (like my science terminology?) relationship, but the odds are in my favor.

"Wait...so what IS this up here in the anti-bonding orbitals? Aren't they nothing? No electrons or protons? So why do they have nodes and how are they supposed to be high-energy orbitals? I don't get how something exists out of what is apparently nothing."

Very patient TA: "Well, you see...um...you're kind of on the right track. There really isn't anything there. It's all theoretical. It's what-if."

 "Oh. Dang it. This just got a lot more complicated than I thought."

phone calls

A couple weeks ago I spent about ten hours calling Utah-based foundations as part of my volunteer work for Zambia's Scholarship Fund.

I decided I was not a good telemarketer and that I shouldn't ever do that again.

I recently got a new job as a research assistant for one of the grad students in the food science department. I was super pumped because she's really cool and should be easy to work with.

The other day she handed me a folder full of names and phone numbers. Guess what I'll be doing all weekend?

Someone up there has a real sense of humor.

Zambia 2012

Hey folks,

I'm keeping another blog to document how this Zambia thing goes down. Obviously, I won't have my computer in Zambia.

But for right now, I'll just be writing about all the pre-liftoff work. Once I'm actually in Zambia, I'll be keeping a field notebook, and I'll transfer it to the blog later. This is partly because I want to get internship credit. But it's mostly so I don't forget. I don't want to forget anything.

http://zambia2012.wordpress.com/

resolved.

New Year's resolutions. I'm usually all over them. Even with my awful track record. If nothing else, they're cool indicators of the kind of person I'd like to be someday. So here goes, even if they are a tad really late.

1) Run ten miles a week. I decided training for a marathon this semester was so unrealistic that I would just give up running all together. But ten miles a week...that's attainable...right?
2) Work my butt off for Choose to Give and Zambia's Scholarship Fund. It'll be worth it in the end, even if it kills me. Seriously, I've done Choose to Give for three years now and every year, I think I am NEVER doing this again...and every year I do it again. It's addicting.
3) Eat healthy. Hahaha. The sad thing is, I'm not even joking. I really do want to eat healthy. But you know what I had to eat today? A cookie for breakfast, a pop tart and two slices of bread for lunch, and Panda Express for dinner. How pathetic. (Dear mom, I promise this is not typical. Today's meals were especially awful for some reason.). Anyways, I just need to get back on track.
4) Start reading the New Testament in Spanish. Scripture study everyday.
5) Finish The Screwtape Letters...and at least START Les Miserables. In English.
6) GO TO ZAMBIA. Learn and serve my heart out. And kind of going along with this, to minimize complaining and really appreciate what I have.
7) Read poetry over breakfast. I'm not even kidding. Please don't think I'm lame.
8) Live the life in Minneapolis and learn as much as possible from my R&D internship this summer.
9) Manage my time more wisely...as in...stop wasting so much time on facebook.
10) Remember to make my car payments on time. I'm a big girl now (riiight).

Honestly though, I've realized more than ever that when I'm doing the right things, pieces of my life just fall into place, right in the moment that I need them to. I literally feel like I'm getting my prayers answered all the time-- that my Heavenly Father is watching out for me. I'm kind of a control freak when it comes to my life, but this year, I'm going to try to let go of the reins a little bit and see where God takes me. Live life to the very fullest, shoot for my biggest dreams, and follow the Spirit while I'm at it. I have a feeling that I'll end up where I'm supposed to be. Que viva la vida!

throwing a glance over my shoulder

allll the way back to the year of 2011. This post is late. I know. By almost a week.

But I still wanted to give 2011 a shoutout. It's been a challenging one, but still one of the best years of my life. Easily. This year was a year of firsts. I went to Europe for the first time (which in and of itself, presents a plethora of firsts). I also ran my first relay race. Got the first B of my life put on my transcript. Hiked Mount Timp. Went to San Francisco. TA-ed a class. Became a research assistant. Bought a car. I've learned a lot and grown a lot and lived a lot. Last year I made a couple resolutions, and I just now revisited them. Mostly, I realized again how much I suck at keeping New Year's resolutions. Oops.

I didn't volunteer at the MTC every month. I didn't run a marathon. I never tried going to salsa club (haha). I didn't read Les Mes. I didn't get straight A's. I didn't stick with the 19.5 credits, and ended up dropping a class.  However, no worries, I did accomplish at least a few of my goals from last year. I finished a successful year of Choose to Give, and I drink a lot more water than I used to. I talked to my family regularly and I got decent grades. I also finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish as well as Mere Christianity. I stuck to the grocery list--especially when Haley and I had this healthy-eating dinner/lunch gig going on. I blogged pretty frequently this past year. I've smiled more times than I can count this year--and I experienced Europe in an unbelievably wonderful four month span of time, during which I was constantly inspired by art, music, literature, cuisine, language, and culture.

Last year, I wrote this:

"I think I'm going to focus on two general philosophies this year. First, to live life like crazy. I had a bishop talk once to all of us young people about living life like crazy, about appreciating every moment, about making every second count. That really hit home. Life's too short to spend it just existing. Second, to go the extra mile. To go the extra mile when I'm running, studying, working--to go the extra mile in life."

And honestly, I think that's what made 2011 such an AMAZING year. I really did try to appreciate every moment, to live the life that I knew I wanted to live. I've made some wonderful wonderful friends this year that definitely helped me to keep my sanity. I've also had fantastic roommates--even though Haley is leaving me to go to Spain this winter semester! I miss her already, but I'm sure she'll have a wonderful time. Seriously, looking back, I've been so incredibly blessed with the opportunities that have come my way. It has been a life-changing twelve months.

It's a swell time to be alive!!

Now I'm looking forward to 2012. I can feel it in my bones--it's going to be a good year. I've already got some pretty great goals lined up. But that's for the next post.