#101: Forage

So this Thursday I completed goal #101 - Spend $50+ on dinner for myself. I joined Erin, a friend from my ward, and we hit Forage in Salt Lake City. It was a 15 course set menu, and I ended up paying $110.59 with the tip. It was an experience, though, and I'd say it was worth every penny.

Apologies for the crappy photos - it was dim as heck in there. And for some I forgot to take a picture of some beforehand...

Course #1: apple and cow parsnip - warm juice served in small sake cups - earthy and sweet

Course #2: buckwheat - salted fried buckwheat cube with yogurt and salmon roe on top. Erin called it a grown-up filet-o-fish, I called it delicious.

Course #3: onion - onion meringue filled with Gruyere cheese

Course #4: soft scrambled egg | maple syrup | sherry cream - People rave about this item. It's the one constant on the ever-changing menu, and with very good reason. Served in a hollow egg shell, bottom layer of soft eggs, topped with syrup, cream, and garlic chives.

Course #5: carrot and oak - a platter of smoking leaves, harvested from the backyard, maybe. An orange carrot and a purple carrot and dollop of chivey yogurt on a rock

Course #6: celery root and frozen horesradish - Probably least favorite here - horseradish granita/sorbet, topped with celery root foam, served with ribbons of pickled celery root and dill sprigs

Course #7: leaves and stems with roasted chicken vinaigrette - spectacular dressing made from chicken stock, with caramelized onions hiding under the greens. A comforting salad.

Course #8: cabbage roasted whole in juniper branches - The smell of the roasting juniper branches was enough to make me love this dish - they plated at the table - the chef brought out the cabbage, adding it to a bowl with house made sour cream and some type of crouton. The chef added the cabbage and the server topped it off with lamb broth, making it like a cabbage soup.

Course #9: toasted grains with mushrooms and woodruff - shiitake mushrooms with a mix of grains and woodruff - still not sure what that shiz is

Course #10: steamed trout with wild cress - lightly steamed trout with cress and tiny flowers. Topped with a buttermilk dressing.

Course #11: beets with black walnut and fermented elderberry - earthy earthy earthy. the elderberries were good. The black walnuts were heavenly.

Course #12: pastured pork with acorns and sunchokes - favorite. First favorite. The pork was the most tender pork I have ever had in my life. It literally melted in your mouth. The acorns and sunchokes added a lovely crispy side note.

Course #13: aromatic quince - Quince prepared multiple ways - meringue puffs, quince mousse, topped in quince juice. I liked the presentation on this one, all in a big clear bowl

Course #14: flavors and textures of autumn - chips made from beet and pumpkin, some kind of cream, and a pumpkin sorbet, with candied pumpkins

Course #15: pistachios from hurricane - pistachio cookie, topped with pistachio mousse, topped with crumbled pistachios

All in all a good time, and one more goal down!

I'm a-vloggin'

Hey, blog. It's been a while. I'm sorry I haven't been around lately.

I have something to tell you. I'm...seeing someone else. 

Before you freak out, just know that I will always love you and I will keep visiting, but for now, my new friend is taking up a lot of time. 

It's not you, blog. It's me. I've just found a new medium for my creativity. But don't worry. I'll be back soon enough.

Love, Sara

(But seriously, guys, I started a video blog with my friend Katelyn and it is awesome and you should all go watch us and subscribe and comment and all that jazz: http://www.youtube.com/user/authenticallyawesome)

A Day with Edgar

Edgar is my Magic 8 Ball.

We spent a day together on Saturday.

12:00 am - Edgar makes me watch a terrible movie: AI: Artificial Intelligence, and doesn't even let me eat a Star Crunch to ease the pain.
3:00 am - Edgar lets me go to sleep, but doesn't let me set an alarm.
10:00 am - I wake up on my own and Edgar says it's okay to get up, but won't let me get dressed or eat breakfast.
12:00 pm - After an hour on the piano, Edgar finally lets me eat and put on clothes.
1:00 pm - Edgar allows me to visit the Farmer's Market, accompanied by Laurie. I get a pickle shaved ice, as suggested by Edgar. I later dump it out in the street, as also suggested by Edgar, only to find a pickle juice-coated Swedish Fish at the bottom of the cup.
2:00 pm - Laurie and I hit a new place for lunch and Edgar lets me have a delicious green chile pork Navajo taco, but forebodingly predicts that I won't have any lemonade (they were out).
3:00 pm - Edgar suggests that Laurie and I visit the Provo Pioneer village and museum.
4:00 pm - I teach Laurie how to play Settlers of Catan and we lounge around the apartment, enjoying Edgar's thoughtful allowance for rest.
6:00 pm - Edgar tells us to go to the county fair, and on the way, graciously allows us to stop at an ATM. He makes me get a grab bag on the way out of Fresh Market, which ends up being full of Frooties. Good call, Edgar. At the fair, he insists that I have a funnel cake, even though I am still full of fry bread.
8:00 pm - In randomly driving through Spanish Fork, we stumble upon a high school football game and watch for a quarter, at Edgar's demand.
9:00 pm - Edgar lets me take Laurie home, and after many Edgar-rejected ideas, I join Julie for a coloring/Malcolm in the Middle party for the rest of the evening. He would not let me make a list of things that are pink.

Throughout the day, he said yes or no to lots of little things, like responding to texts, checking facebook, etc.

Aaaaaaand here are some stats:
I asked Edgar's advice a total of 262 times.
He said yes 151 times, or 58% of the time.
He said no 61 times, or 23%.
He said to ask again 50 times, or 19%.

In conclusion, it was a good day, though slightly frustrating.  I, ultimately, did decide what to do, because I was the one asking Edgar questions, but I feel like I did do things I might not have normally done.  A good experience and it fulfilled the goal of the project. Two thumbs up.

Knee News Is Good News

I have a torn PCL!

It usually doesn't require surgery, so I've just started physical therapy and will need to wait a month or two for it to heal on its own.

HOORAY for no surgery!

A Quick Update

I guess A Week In The Life really took it out of me, blog-wise. Here's a recap of the last two months and some of this one:

May:

• I bought a car: a 2012 dolphin grey Mazda3 hatchback and named him Gummy
• I turned 24! People like me again. Also, confetti and pin-the-tail-on-the-Pinkie-Pie
• Parker and Megan got married and I took photos
• I drove to Cali again for my sister-in-law's baby shower and my grandma's 90th birthday
• Derby started to take over my life, but I hurt my knee at the end of the month

June:

• Went to Orlando mere hours after injuring my knee - did a seminar for work, collected Julie and Colette and hit Universal and such
• Grassroots Shakespeare - Quality productions of Twelfth Night at the Orem Summerfest and Hamlet on a parking garage rooftop
• Kellie Cat got married and I took photos, but less this time.
• I worked as a ballot clerk for the primary election
• Tried to skate again, but ended up re-injuring myself
• Watched all of BBC Sherlock
• I googly eyed everything in our fridge while both of my roommates were gone on a trip
• Work has been incredibly slow.

July:

• Finished catching up on Doctor Who
• Got to see Spiderman at an advanced screening
• Had the best 4th ever: D&D, Five Guys, ukulele, Freedom Fest, cookout, rooftop firework viewing, and sparklers
• Birdemic: Shock and Terror
• Even more Shakespeare: Grassroots summer finale
• Finally made an appointment to get my knee inspected. Hopefully we'll know what's up soon!

Big plans for the near future:

Photo class through UVU Continuing Education, trip to Ohio to pick up Colette from EFY with stops at Cedar Point, Nauvoo, and St. Louis, Utah Shakespeare Festival for a viewing of Titus Andronicus

So, all things considered, I'm doing well.

A Week In The Life of Sara: Sunday

7:00 am - Dad and I were on the road for Utah

Stopped for gas in Vegas in the afternoon

And were close to home by the evening. 

We listened to a bulk of my CDs on the ride. Hopefully Dad doesn't think I'm too bad of a person.

7:30 pm - home! Welcome to my apartment.

I still have to unpack. There's not much, but I'm sure it'll take me some days.

 I came home to find that Julie had made a paper chain until the end of her school year. We're big on paper chains around here.

I deposited my new spearmint plant (another wonderful gift from the parental units) on the porch with my soon-to-be seedlings. 

And that's it, I guess! The week is now over. I feel bad I didn't finish very strong, but I was pretty wiped out by the end of things. I hope my readers have enjoyed a look at my life, and perhaps I'll get around to making a book or something soon. I'm sure I'll appreciate this down the road.

A Week In The Life of Sara: Saturday

Today was an all-phone-photo day, for better or for worse.

10:00 am - We met the grandparents at Pala for brunch.

3:00 pm - I hit the park for Sophia's wedding.

7:00 pm - We had a mini-birthday party for me.

I got a Zojirushi rice cooker!!!! :)

Seeing my puppies is always a highlight of going home.

Red Velvet with cream cheese and whipped cream frosting and VeggieTales toppers.

I had to take a nap today, because I was just so exhausted after brunch. I HATE taking naps. They make me feel like a worthless human being. I could be awake doing things! I only allow myself when traveling, usually (airplanes, cars). But I just had to today. I guess the 4:30 wake up caught up with me, haha.

The wedding was okay. I forget how short they really are. It was good to see everyone, though, and it was sweet. The sweetest part was that they got their favorite local band to play at the reception, and we had a dance party. 

I will be going to a few more weddings this summer, I think. They are giving me good ideas for planning the most optimum of awesome for my own, whenever the heck that might be.

A Week In The Life of Sara: Friday

Today was long. It started at 4:00 am, and I was out the door soon after.

I was heading to California for a wedding. It was dark for the first couple of hours.

And it was SOO EARLYYYYY.

Eventually it got light.

My rental car had a sweet mpg measure - it didn't show average, but your actual mpg at that moment. I was fascinated.

I love the red rock in St. George.

Arizona!

Nevada!

Terrible's Terrible's is no more! :( We would always stop there. Now it's the Primm Center. Ew.

California!

Best road ever.

And home!

A special thanks to Mtn. Dew and goldfish for their roles in keeping me awake. This is the first caffeinated soda I've had in YEARS. I only did it because I was driving by myself.

And a super special thanks to Mr. Ben Folds. This three-disc set was what I listened to for the bulk of the day.

Another purpose of my visit was to start car shopping. Dad and I test drove a Ford Fiesta, a Subaru Impreza, and a Nissan Versa. We're also looking at the Mazda3. All hatchbacks. All smallish. 

Home-cooked dinner. Bratwurst patties and hashbrown casserole.

Found WONDERFUL new leggings at Target. They'll be perfect for derby.

And joined Sophia for her bachelorette party. It was fun. I'm excited for the wedding.

I'm glad my dad takes care of me. He is good at dealing with salesmen and he knows a lot about cars. I wouldn't know the first thing to ask.

My grandma is getting worse off, and it makes me sad. I'm glad I'm out here to see her, but she's getting so forgetful. She has been really good up until recently and I worry we might lose her soon.

Sophia and I have this wonderful relationship where we can not see each other for months and then just pick right back up when we see each other. We've been friends for 6 years now, and I'm so excited for her to marry her best friend tomorrow.

Also, I like driving, and Dad's an ISTJ.