Complete: 10. Year of baking

I'm all done! I've baked 52 new items this year!

My last two bakes were butter mochi (forgot a picture) and mushipan (stupidly easy and delish):

I've gone through almost 2 25 lb. bags of flour, and I've conquered my beast of an oven (maybe).

I've posted pictures of most everything here as I've baked them, but here's a full list of what I baked:

1. Bread
1. French bread
2. Whole wheat with flax
3. Rustic French Bread
4. 90 minute bread
2. Cookies and bars
1. Sugar cookies with royal icing
2. Almond pretzel cookies
3. Rosemary shortbread
4. Alton's peanut butter cookies
3. Cakes
1. Mexican molten lava cakes
2. Victoria sandwich
3. NY cheesecake
4. Deco roll cake
4. Pies/Tarts
1. Strawberry pie
2. Cornish pasties
3. French Easter pie
4. Chicken pot pie
5. Pastries
1. Palmiers
2. Cream puffs
3. Kouign Amann
4. Gougeres
6. Savory Circles
1. Seedy crackers
2. Pizza
3. Bagels
4. Broccoli cheddar quiche
7. Rolls/Breadsticks
1. Copycat Crazy Bread
2. Dinner rolls
3. Burger buns
4. Naan
8. Muffins/Sweet Rolls
1. Cinnamon rolls
2. Almond poppyseed muffins
3. Kolaches
4. St. Lucia buns
9. Sweet/Quick Breads
1. Challah
2. Nutella raspberry babka
3. Snickerdoole bread
4. Zucchini bread
10. Fancies
1. Macarons
2. Baklava
3. Chocolate souffles
4. Swedish princess cake
11. Biscuits, etc.
1. Baking powder biscuits
2. Berry cobbler
3. Cheddar Bay biscuits
4. English scones
12. International
1. Focaccia
2. Pitas
3. Pao de queijo
4. Melon pan
13. Potpourri
1. Raspberry clafoutis
2. Beef Wellington
3. Butter mochi
4. Mushipan

I think I would make a lot of these again, but it's also worth it to just buy some things (puff pastry, I'm looking at you). A lot of these were surprisingly easy (cream puffs, heck), which is very dangerous to know. They certainly weren't all good bakes, but I think I definitely improved my skills.

I'm so proud of myself, but also so glad to be done. Whew!

Complete: 35. go to 10+ new Provorem restaurants

We finished #35 in style with the wonderful assistance of Colette and Julie. Thanks, ladies!

Lunch was doner kebab at Rimmel's, dinner was all the snacks at Fruta Crush, and dessert was at The Wash. Naturally, I 'grammed it all.

I'll rank the 10 restaurants below:
1. Oh Mai
2. Asa Ramen
3. Rimmel's
4. Fruta Crush
5. Jugueria Rodriguez
6. Brasa's
7. Asahi
8. The Wash
9. Pizza Studio (doesn't actually exist anymore...it was replaced by #1 Oh Mai)
10. Lucy's Brazilian Kitchen

Oh man, Oh Mai and Asa Ramen are amazing. SO glad they exist and so close by! Rimmel's was a delightful find, as well. Fruta Crush has caught my eye for a while, so I'm glad we've finally gone. They just serve Mexican snacks. My favorites were the tostiesquite, which is Mexican style corn over chips, and the spicy apple - an apple coated in tamarind candy, salt, and chili powder. Super yum. Though I was the only one of the four of us who really liked it. More for me!

Anyway, so glad I've done this goal, because I love eating out, and I love trying new places. Provorem really has a great food scene.

Busy December

Christmas prep has got me under the pump, and on top of everything I'm still baking. It's times like these that I question my commitment to these Very Silly Goals.

2 potpourri bakes down, 2 to go!

Raspberry clafoutis

Humble Beef Wellington (complete with soggy bottom - Paul and Mary would be so ashamed)

Wish me luck!

Wrapping up the bakes!

I baked melon pan on Saturday, which is something I've always wanted to do.

 Melon pan is a Japanese bun wrapped in cookie dough. One of them exploded, haha.

I'm really glad for my year of baking as it's pushed me to make so many new things and so many thing I've been wanting to make anyway!

It's the last month and I've declared it potpourri month to catch all (well, 4 of) the things that didn't fit into categories or things I still want to bake. I've got to finalize things quickly, but here are my ideas:

• Japanese-style Christmas cake
• Chinese steamed buns (I've done savory, but never sweet)
• Butter mochi
• Japanese-style cheesecake
• Chilean bread
• Sourdough (never did sourdough!)
• Beef Wellington (the poor man's version with ground beef)
• Savory kolaches/filled buns 
• A modern art dessert
• Clafouti
• A galette (informal pie)
• No knead bread
• A decent whole wheat loaf

I could include the international recipes in item #69, so maybe that will help me decide. Hm! We'll see!

Short-term goals

As of today, I have 400 days left on my list!

400 days and 79 items left. Yikes. I think I'll take some of Christmas break to re-evaluate and decide if I'm changing anything. I'll probably be changing some things.

I'm really glad that I challenge myself with these things, but it's also a little discouraging because I feel like there's not much I could just go out and get done in a day. So many of my goals take time and have multiple steps. Maybe I should make it a little easier on myself.

Let's review. Here are the things I could theoretically get done in a day:

• #12: Ride the Heber Valley Railroad (if it wasn't frigid)
• #15: Culling of the cookbooks (this would be a pretty large task for one day, though)
• #16: Finish a grown-up coloring book (if I colored all day)
• #18: Make bottle cap magnets (I just need to get clear resin)
• #23: Host a Rummikub tournament (just gotta organize)
• #34: Pierogi making party (ditto)
• #35: Go to 10+ Provorem restaurants (I only have 3 left so I could do a full day of eating out. Actually this is a great idea. I'm going to do this. Why have I not thought of this before???)
• #53: Get a massage (Colette, you just need to hook me up with your friend. Let's do this already.)
• #67: Build a fancy cake for someone (but that one day would need to be a special occasion. Or not?)
• #73: Create a map of my heart (though I'm sure this could easily take longer - I'm so bad at deciding things)
• #85: Go to the Penguin Encounter at the Living Planet Aquarium (it just has to be the right day - Wednesday)
• #86: Collect 10+ smashed pennies, clean, and organize my collection (all that's left is cleaning and organizing - totally doable in a one day project)
• #90: Attend a Utah Old Time Fiddlers Association meeting (again it has to be the right day, but it could be done)
• #100: Host a miracle berry party (just gotta get them berries!)

Okay, so what I got out of this is I need to eat three meals out in one day. I think that was worth it. Happy blogging!

Health Challenge?

So Katelyn and I have started a health challenge???
 
I'm still kind of wondering what the heck I'm doing, but I also know it will be really good for me.

Things that will affect my list:

• 7000 steps a day - that's about 3 miles. I'll hit Mordor much sooner than anticipated!
• 25 grams or less of sugar per day - good thing my year of bakes is almost over!

We're also committing to 30 minutes of moderate exercise for 5 days a week, drinking lots of water, eating vegetarian one night a week, trying a new exercise monthly (me), and trying a new recipe monthly (Katelyn).

This week I baked pao de queijo and make Moqueca Baiano - a Brazilian fish stew.

We also saw the Women's Balcony at International Cinema and I loved it.

Still working on lots of things, so hopefully I'll have some completed goals to write about soon! Happy Thanksgiving!

Busy week!

Lots of cooking!
1 new panna cotta (pumpkin)
1 Cooking with Dog recipe (iri dofu)
1 Good Eats recipe (edamame dip)
1 year of baking bake (focaccia)

Lots of reading!
King John
Richard II

And I'm vlogging again???

Rauros!

Nooooo! I logged in today and saw this sitting as a draft. I promise I pushed publish last Wednesday. Oh well:

Apologies to all four of you for not blogging last week as I've been in the clutches of a most evil cold.

I am much better and I bear good news of my quest to destroy the ring of power. Our time in Orlando yielded much distance (47 miles in one week), and we have reached Rauros Falls. Unfortunately, the fellowship has dissolved and we continue on foot to Mordor, just Frodo, Sam, and myself. (Third wheel much?)

Please don't tell Sauron about my blog.

Complete: 8. Visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando with Garrett

So this was actually a goal that I wasn't sure if we'd get to, but luck was on our side! Hubster gets a fall break since he's interning in the public schools and they have a fall break whereas BYU does not, so we took full advantage and not only went to the Wizarding World, but also the Epcot Food and Wine Festival (so delish - much yum).

I'd been to the Wizarding World before, but not since they added Diagon Alley, and Hubster has never been and I knew he would love it. I was totally right. It was a lot of fun to see his reaction to everything.

Diagon Alley is amazing. Totally worth going again. I love the new ride Escape from Gringotts. We rode it 5 times? 6? The single rider line for it is super great, but it's cool to see the ambience of the line, which takes you through Gringotts.

We ate at both the Leaky Cauldron and the Three Broomsticks, had regular and frozen butterbeer (frozen for life), and Earl Grey lavender ice cream from Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor. It was a little bit of a let down after the amazing food at Epcot, but still pretty okay.

I love the ambience. It's so immersive. I love that they pump the film score through the speakers. I love watching people be so excited about things. Another thing they've added is they have interactive wand spots where you can do "magic" with the shop fronts, etc. It was fun to watch everyone make things happen.

We spent so much money on the trip that we didn't come home with any souvenirs, but there was much coveting of expensive robes and house sweaters. I really wanted a Ron or Harry Mrs. Weasley sweater, but I wasn't paying $80 for one. Time to get better at knitting!

Here are some pictures as proof of our exploits!

It was super great. Highly recommended. 10/10 stars. They just took out the Dragon Challenge coaster and they're building a new ride on the Hogsmeade side, so I guess we have to go again soon!

Complete: 19. Re-read Harry Potter

I love Harry Potter. I haven't re-read the whole series in a while (and maybe only once before now?), so I needed to do it again. It was really like sitting down and catching up with an old friend. 

I was late to the party - I got the Sorcerer's Stone for Christmas in sixth grade and Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban had both already been released by then. I caught up fast and made it to a midnight release party for Goblet of Fire. I remember being proud that knew how to pronounce Hermione's name because my dad knew it.

Harry and I were the same age when a few of the books were released and I savored that connection. The seventh book came out when I was studying abroad in Japan. I wanted to read it so badly, but I to wait until I came home, at which point I devoured it. I did manage to satiate my hunger by reading the Sorcerer's Stone in Japanese that summer, though.

It only took me 18 days to get through them this time! I'm pretty proud I could do it on a short deadline, and especially that I could finish the before our trip to the wizarding world. I'm grateful for all that Harry taught me. I'm excited to introduce it to my children to come.

No time to blog!

Because I'm trying to finish all these Harry Potters before we leave for our trip! One week to go, and I'm very close to finishing the 5th book. Fingers crossed I manage it!

Complete: 29. Watch all Studio Ghibli movies in chronological order

I just love Studio Ghibli. Love love love it. I put this on my list hoping I would see the journey of the studio and Miyazaki in particular, and I feel like I did. So many cute creatures, silly airplanes, and strong girls.

I started with Castle of Cagliostro and Nausicaa even though they're not Studio Ghibli, because they're just great. I'm striking The Red Turtle from my memory after watching it for item #45 - it doesn't count as Studio Ghibli to me. I didn't want to watch it again. I never want to watch it again.

I don't think I can rank these films because I'd have like 5 #1 picks, so I'll just break it down into the best, the good, and the okay.

The best:

• Spirited Away
• Whisper of the Heart
• Kiki's Delivery Service
• Only Yesterday
• Nausicaa
• The Cat Returns
• My Neighbor Totoro
• Howl's Moving Castle
• Ponyo

The good:

• Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro
• Grave of the Fireflies
• Castle in the Sky
• On Your Mark
• Princess Mononoke
• My Neighbors the Yamadas
• Arietty
• From Up on Poppy Hill
• The Wind Rises
• The Tale of Princess Kaguya
• When Marnie Was There

The okay:

• Pom Poko

Actually there's a fourth category, the terrible - stay far away from these:

• Ocean Waves
• Tales from Earthsea

With that, I've finished 20 items on my list! This month will be busy, but I'll have lots more to report soon!

Harry Potter plans!

Big news!

Hubster is doing his school internship, and unlike BYU, the school district has a fall break. So we're going to take advantage of it and go to Orlando to Universal (#8)! I was really worried about when we would be able to get this one done (and thought it might be one that didn't happen), so I'm glad it's working out. Here's hoping the weather holds up. Yikes.

I also decided I should re-read Harry Potter (#19) before then, as the main reason we're going is the Wizarding World. I'm halfway through book one!

I also started taking a Copperplate Calligraphy class, which I may substitute for #48. In January I'll have a year left on the list, so I'll finalize any changes then. I always feel kind of bad about changing things, but I also don't usually change too much, so I think it's okay. Time to thoughtfully evaluate!

Hope you're all having a good week!

Complete: 12. Go to the Utah State Fair

Another one down! We went to the Utah State Fair with our most excellent friends Jonathan and Emily. Emily has a totally great 101 List blog and going to the fair was on her list, too, so we combined our powers.

I grew up going to the San Diego County Fair in California (formerly the Del Mar Fair) and it is HUGE. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Utah State Fair, while not quite so huge, is a decent size with plenty to see and do. We especially enjoyed the sheep goats, and butter sculpture.

They had lots of informercial-type items for sale, plenty of deep fried food, and a lot of cool exhibits to look at.

The best part, though, was the ice cream tent. They have ice cream from Utah companies and it's all you can eat for $3. I got to try 5 new flavors of Red Button!

What a great trip. We're totally going to make the Fair priority again next year.

Complete: 13. Attend at least one full day of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival

I've lived here for a long time and have always heard great things about the Storytelling Festival, but we've only gone to one of the evening events. It only whetted our appetite, so I put on my list that we would go to a full day, and we accomplished this Saturday.

We saw many lovely storytellers. My favorites were:

• Carmen Deedy - she immigrated from Cuba to Georgia as a child and talked about growing up there. She's hilarious. She switches effortless from Southern drawl to speedy Spanish.
• Shonaleigh - she ties present day stories to old Jewish tales with a lovely British accent. It's so interesting to see her connect the themes - we have always been telling the same stories.
• Amber Richardson - Amber is a local teller and she recently produced the production of Mother Wove the Morning that we saw. Such a wonderful surprise to see her there, and even better to hear her retelling of The Little Mermaid.
• Bil Lepp - this guy starts talking and you have no idea what will come out of his mouth next. He tells lies with such ease, resulting in completely believable tall tales.

We heard telling all day long, then went to the Laughin' Night event where every teller told one of their funniest tales. I was expecting gut-busting, rolling on the floor laughing, and it didn't quite live up to that, but it was still very enjoyable.

We are definitely thinking we should go again!

Weekly and Monthly Goals

They are off to a good start! It's silly that to accomplish goals you have to make more goals, but it really helps to break big things down into smaller chunks.

That's all I've got for you this week. Progress is progress!

Halfway!

Just 491 days left on my list, which means I'm a little over halfway done!

I've gotten 17 items done so far, which is great. I have a lot more in progress and I'd say about 10 are close to being completed.

I've made a lot of progress just in the last month with my 101 focus:
I finished 2 whole goals!
I read one volume of manga, watched 6 documentaries, read one Shakespeare play, watched 4 Ghibli movies, tried one new local restaurant, finished one LDS President biography, read a few books off my shelves, and listened to 5 episodes of This American Life.

To keep this pace up, I've got to keep working hard even if it's not 101 List focus month. I'm going to set new weekly and monthly goals and hopefully stick to them, as I still have a lot of work ahead of me.

Weekly:
Watch one documentary
Read or get rid of a book from the shelves
Do some Turking
Read an Uchtdorf talk

Monthly:
Read one volume of Yakitate
Watch Good Eats and make a recipe
Cook with Dog
Read 2 Shakespeare plays
Watch 2 Yakitate episodes
Read an LDS President biography
Cook a new recipe from a new country
Watch an international film
Try a new flavor of Red Button
Listen to 2 This American Lifes

There's a lot on the list that I can't chip away at, so I have to keep those in mind, too. I just gotta live every day like it's 101 List Focus Month!

Complete: 4. See 10+ new plays live

One more down!

I saw:

1. The Foreigner at the Covey Center 
2. Antony and Cleopatra by the Grassroots Shakespeare Company
3. See How They Run at the Hale Center Theater
4. Princess Academy the Musical by Kensington
5. The Merchant of Venice by the Grassroots Shakespeare Company
6. The Crucible at BYU
7. Mother Wove the Morning by Welcome Table Productions
8. The Barber of Seville at BYU
9. Seussical at the SCERA Shell
10. Noises Off at the Mercury Theater 

A big shout out to Grassroots for being lovely, as always. Merchant of Venice is seldom produced, as it does have strong anti-semitic messages - I felt like they handled it well. Portia is hands down my favorite Shakespeare lady now.

The Foreigner, See How They Run, and Noises Off were all hilarious. If you get the chance, you should see them. The Foreigner was my favorite of the three.

Mother Wove the Morning was amazing - I actually saw it twice, it was so good. It explores the feminine divine and it was so so cathartic to see it. It's also discouraging to realize how far we have to go, but reassuring to know others feel the same as me. I loved Lydia and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and every character in it. I'm on the hunt for Carol Lynn Pearon's performance of it on DVD.

I'm glad I've seen so many great plays!

Complete: 91. Beat Dinky Park

I've been playing Roller Coaster Tycoon on and off since like, 6th grade. I love managing everything. I love picking the sickest guest and naming them Barfo and following them around the park as they continue to ride rides that make them sicker. I love getting the balloon stall and watching them fill my park. I love making money. I would certainly never pick up guests and drop them in the water or leave them off paths (On a related note, you should check out this review of a RCT park as if it's a real park someone visited - I did have some deaths in my parks, but they were very rare).

For years, though, I'd get stuck at one particular scenario: Dinky Park. It's a minuscule park, and you need to get a $10,000 park value, which is just impossible with the land you have. There's a parcel of land you can buy to expand, but the parcels aren't connected. You can only buy the rights to extend your rides over the land between it. For the life of me, I couldn't make it work.

I've finally done it. It actually wasn't that hard, so I feel pretty silly, but nonetheless, I did it! To be fair, I was never really into constructing rides from scratch, and that's what it took to get it, so I'll cut myself some slack.

The original land is to the left, added land to the right in the lake, connected by a train line.

The only problem is people didn't know how to take the train over, so the original parcel got suuuuuper crowded. 

I ended up dropping people over there who were trying to get to the roller coaster, but I also ended up having to help people to the exit, as they couldn't get back over once they went on the train. People. 

Anyway, it doesn't matter if people actually rode the rides in the new parcel - just having them boosted the park value. 

So I did it! I now have 16 out of 101 goals completed!

101 Focus Month

I feel like I've been slacking lately, so the 30 day project this month is putting at least 30 minutes of work into a 101 list item each day.

I have a commute now (bluh), but one really great thing about it is having dedicated time for reading. I do love that. I'm putting a dent in my bookshelf books (#60) and my Yakitate manga (#2).

We watched Tales from Earthsea (bluhhhh) and Ponyo, so only 5 more Ghibli movies to go (#29). I've also watched a few documentaries - Regency House Party (#9)! I need to stay up on the documentaries or I'll have to watch a ton in the last few months of the list.

I'm also making lots of plans! Items #12 and 13 will be completed in September, and I've done research for some others.

I think it's been good to center myself and re-focus. Doing things!

Complete: 84. Keep a consumption instagram for 1 year

I'm done! One whole year of posting my food on instagram. I love that I have a record of this. I think it's really fascinating to go back and look at things.

I had 2096 posts in the end, that's an average of 5.7 photos per day.

I only posted pictures of empty or mostly empty vessels 7 times (though confession: I probably forgot a few more times than that. But only a few, I promise!)

166 of the photos were from eating out
75 were takeout eaten at home

28 photos were from samples at Costco or the like
6 hotel breakfasts
3 weddings' worth of food - probably like 20 photos

sandwiches:
32 salami
30 tuna
8 tomato
4 BLT
I realize I should have counted ham, but I'm not going through the photos again...it would probably be between tuna and tomato

2 mini donut batches
2 cotton candies
6 rosemary shortbreads
7 crazy breads

It took me 2 months to finish a box of chocolates, it being featured in 4 photos.

my most popular snack was popcorn: 98 times
44 almonds
34 sunflower seeds

34 cucumbers

27 peanuts

26 fries

popular dinners included
31 refried bean tacos
23 mabo dofu
21 manchurian cauliflower and tofu
12 cilantro chicken dumplings

most popular restaurants were
Kohinoor 10 photos
Cubby's 8
Bombay House 8
Ganesh 6
Shoga 6
McDonald's 6

I guess we've learned that I like popcorn and Indian food. But we knew that already!

Instagram deleted my old account apparently, so keep following me @everythingsaraeats for now. I may change the name in the future, but it'll be the same account. I would hate for Instagram to delete my food record so I'll stay there.

I hope you all enjoyed looking at my food!

It was a week.

I made cinnamon rolls with Julie the Master Baker:

We also walked 15 miles just over the weekend, thanks, as always, to Pokemon Go.

Wooooooooooooooo!

Summer Reading Program!

So I've been doing a lot of reading lately. Totally understandable with 5+ reading goals on my list, right? Too bad none of it is for my list!

It's the Provo Library Summer Reading Program!

I really can't pass up the extra motivation. They have great prizes. Last year I won a gift card to Communal, one of my favorite restaurants ever, and this year there's a gift card for kolaches. Kolaches!

They have a great interface that's really a mini goal list, too. You get extra entries for cute things like reading a book with a character who has your same name or reading a book by a Utah author. I super love it. I did manage to squeeze in A Midsummer Night's Dream toward goal 14, but everything else has been for fun. Oh well! It's the Summer Reading Program!

(We did see play 9 out of 10 for goal 4, and also tried Red Button's Watermelon Sherbet, so it hasn't been a complete slack off week, list-wise.)

Summer Reading Program!

Complete: 1. See Hamilton

It was amazing.

While fantastic, the cast album just doesn't do the play justice. It's really only half the story. It was so cool to see the action that accompanies the music and get the full picture. The turntable stage is superbly utilized and the choreography was amazing.

It was interesting to see different actors playing the roles, and getting their interpretations of the characters. It was also super weird because I love the recording so much.

Hubster likened it unto a book-to-movie adaptation where you get certain images in your head and then you see how they interpret it. Along with that, there were a lot of "surprise" moments that you just don't get any sense of with just the music. I don't want to spoil anything, but they were just great.

There were also many tears shed. That orphanage!

Overall, it was super great. 10/10 would recommend. We might just have to see it again when it comes to Utah. :)

Double the bakes!

So it's breadstick/rolls month here on the Great Sara Baking Show and I've made twice the buns as we'll be off for vacation all next week and I don't want to bake. It's okay. I make the rules.

Dinner Rolls

Burger Buns

Both were quite successful, I think. Perhaps I'm finally taming this beast of an oven!

I may take one of my free pass days and not post next week, because a real vacation is sounding really good right now. We'll see! There will certainly be very big news upon our return. :)

2017 Best Animated Pictures

Per goal #45, I'm watching every film nominated for Best Animated Picture and this week I finished those nominated for this year's Academy Awards.

• Kubo and the Two Strings - overall, my favorite. The animation was stunning, and I do have an affinity for origami. I also loved the music - especially the Regina Spektor cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."
• Moana - but I also loved this one! Again, great music - thank you, Lin! But most of all, I loved the story. I loved that Moana was in line to be the chief with no man to qualify that position. I loved that she saved her people and opened up the world to them again. Tears were shed.
• My Life as a Zucchini  - this one was enjoyable, but in a more subtle way. When his mother dies, Zucchini is sent to live in an orphanage and the movie follows his experiences there. There's some heavy material, but it's treated in a light manner. We watched the making of and saw how they created the models and filmed the dialogue - all the kids were untrained actors, just regular kids - and I really liked that.
• The Red Turtle - Hands down the worst film on this list, and also a terrible film in general. The animation is beautiful, as Studio Ghibli had a hand in it, but from what I understand, they let the director have free reign on everything else. I think it was supposed to symbolize man's relationship with nature or something, but I didn't find the story gripping. It felt like a short film that was stretched out for a longer run time.
• Zootopia - I also loved Zootopia. I think it was really close between this, Kubo, and Moana for me, so it's quite alright that Zootopia won. This was probably the funniest of the five, and it had a great message. Also a shout out to Shakira/Gazelle's "Try Everything" - I got chills when Judy was listening to it riding into the city for the first time.

I'm really enjoying this goal - I just wish it was possible to see them all before the Oscars themselves, but some weren't released in the US until after. I had already seen Kubo, Moana, and Zootopia when the list was announced, but I had to wait for Zucchini and The Red Turtle. Many thanks to the Orem Library for their excellent DVD collection that make it possible for me to watch those two.

Victorian Slum House

Have you seen the House shows on PBS? They take modern people and throw them into the past. There's Colonial House, 1900 House, 1940 House, Manor House, Frontier House (my personal favorite), and Regency House Party, among others.

I discovered that they filmed a new one, Victorian Slum House in 2016 and it's currently available on pbs.org. I'm undertaking the ridiculous task of watching a documentary for every feature film that I watch during the list, and I'm letting each episode of a series count as an individual documentary. We binged 4 episodes on Sunday, so that's 4 feature films canceled out!

This House show is unique in that they take the families through the decades. The first episode is 1860s, and they work their way up to the 1900s. Each episode brings changes, like in the tailor family where they started doing piece work, then had a sweatshop, and eventually opened their own tailor shop. It was harder for other families who didn't have a trade.

I'm slowly getting Hubster caught up on these and we just have a few more series to watch. I think I'm going to let myself count ones I've seen before for the list, because I'm sure I'll still learn things the second time around.

Do you guys have any good documentaries I should watch? Let me know, because I'm going to end up watching a lot of them!

Monthly Projects

So I'm in the midst of 2 years of 30-day projects. They say 30 days is long enough to make or break a habit, and I think it's a good way to try out things I may want to develop either into habits or bigger goals.

So far I've done daily dishes, banjo practice, wearing earrings, reading for one hour, and brush lettering. Each month I've definitely felt an impact from my project and I've tried to keep up on them when I finished.

This month I'm focusing on my morning routine. Let me tell you about how I usually spend my mornings. I usually don't even bother getting out of bed and I scroll Facebook, or most recently, tend to my Magikarps in Magikarp Jump. We're talking like a full hour of mindless phone stuff.

Now, I'm taking time to read in the mornings - I don't even look at my phone - as well as doing some stretching and thinking. I go through my bullet journal every morning and pick out one or two things to do right then if I can. It's great to already have accomplished something before I even go to work, and it helps me feel more focused for the day.

Maybe once I get a handle on the overwhelming daily to-do's, I'll be able to pick something for my 101 list to do every morning. That would be pretty great, but might also be enough for it's own 30-day project.

Any other ideas for me? I have 18 more of these to fill!

Lothlorien

I've walked the 920 miles to Lothlorien. Only like 800 more to go! I was expecting this to take the entire list, but I think I'll be done with room to spare.

Now with better weather I'll be getting even more steps in, woooooo!

Complete: 81. Put $20 in the coin pusher games at the Nickelcade

~30 minutes

400 nickels

5 bonuses 

1030 tickets

1 great day

Any Progress is Good Progress

This week:

I baked kouign amann with the invaluable assistance of Kellie Cat. 

Hubster and I tried out Scotland Yard, a Spiel de Jahres winning game where detectives track down Mister X through the streets of London and one person plays as Mister X. We quite enjoyed it!

I'm doing brush lettering for May's 30 day project and I think I'm getting okay? It's fun, at least! Hubster got me calligraphy pens you dip in ink for my b-day, so that might be another 30 day project.

I want to focus more and get items done all the way, but it's still satisfying to work slowly and make good progress. :)

Cream Puffs!

We baked for date night this week, and it was a super success!

I felt like I was on the GBBO, watching the buns to make sure my devil oven didn't wreak any havoc.

They were actually fairly easy to make! They seem intimidating, but they're not bad at all. The hardest part was getting the cream inside, as my piping tip was too small to do the job properly. For the second batch I cut the tops off and filled them and put the tops back on - that worked a lot better.

Anyway, bakes! 

Complete: 71. For 3 months, only buy what is on sale or what I have a coupon for

With the close of April came the close of item 71: three whole months of extreme budgeting.

I set a $200 budget for groceries for the month and any other purchase had to be on sale or I had to have a coupon.

I think the grocery limit stretched me a lot. We worked through the things we had stored in the freezer and I found myself not letting any food go to waste, since I couldn't afford to replace it. We only went to Costco like, twice the whole time. The student discount at Sprouts was a big help.

We did manage to see a few plays, one free, one discounted with hubster's student status, and one preview performance.

International Cinema at BYU became our weekly date night as it's free and counted for items on both of our lists.

The thing I missed the most was eating out. Frozen fries are just not the same as fresh ones, but I made do. I was especially glad to see coupons for Kohinoor in the Money Mailer these months, and I finished up my Indian food goal with their help.

Overall, I think it made us more mindful about our spending and I'm going to try to keep to the $200 budget for groceries as much as possible and look for sales and discounts for other purchases. I'm not going to be too rigid, though. It will be nice to get fries now when I need them. :)

Not too much to report

Did I tell you this months 30-day project is reading for an hour each day? I've been putting a big dent in my to-read list, but it will never ever end. Speaking of reading, I saw an interesting study that put reading rate with life expectancy to show many books one could expect to read before they die: here. I think it was supposed to be more of a memento mori, but it just made me excited to read that many more books. They estimate I'll have at least 2800 books left in me if I keep up my voracious pace.

We're finally getting around to playing the games we bought for #17. First up, Istanbul! You travel through the city selling goods and buying rubies. We quite enjoyed it.

I attempted a rough puff pastry tonight and it's chilling in the fridge. We'll see if works out. I used Paul Hollywood's recipe, so he better not let me down.

I guess that's all I've got! I will have a goal completed next week, so good things to come!

The End of Pie

Cornish Pasties!

French Easter Pie!

Chicken Pot Pie!

Now onto pastry!

Triple Header

So you remember how I said I was really close to finishing some items? I'm here to report on three completed goals!

37. Try 10+ new Indian dishes

Finished tonight with pineapple shrimp. Heck it was good! Shoutout to Kellie Cat for joining me on most of the Indian outings. :) Other favorites were cheese naan and dal makhani. 

70. Make homemade cheese

I used Alton Brown's recipe for cottage cheese. It was pretty simple and pretty delicious! I want to try more, though, like homemade mozzarella. 

74. Find out my blood type and donate blood if they'll let me

I got my donor card! I'm O+. So now I feel pressure to donate more, being a universal donor. Maybe I'll try again and try to prepare better. I'm a bit hesitant, but I know it's a big help. We'll see!

Yeahhhh getting stuff done!

Week 52 Update: One Year In

101 3.0 One Year Progress Report

Items completed: 9
20. Gilroy Garlic Festival
22. watch the Up Series
30. 3 month gratitude journal
33. Meatless Mondays for 3 months
41. Jelly Belly Factory Tour
70. make homemade cheese (post forthcoming!)
72. track health and sleep for 3 months
75. see Saguaro National Park
97. Giant Pumpkin Regatta

Items in progress: 42
In progress being a very loose term here. Some are being very actively worked on, and a few of those I think might be done soon!

I completed 68 items on my first 101 list, and 75 on the second. I think I'll aim for 80 on this one if I can do it. I won't be disappointed if I don't make it, because the lists are really just about doing more, not about perfection.

I usually re-evaluate at the year marks. I might end up changing a few things on my list, but I don't want to give them up quite yet. I'll wait until the 2 year mark, I think, to see if they really haven't stuck.

I'm just hecking pumped about all the great things I've done so far! Yeahhhhh gooooallsssss!!!

Wednesday Night's Alright For Blogging

On Saturday, I finished Cakes strong with some adorable cupcakes for a Primary luncheon:

I made cream cheese whipped cream frosting and I will never make another frosting as long as I live. It almost didn't make it to the cupcakes, I liked it so much. That's saying a lot, as I usually end up scraping frosting off my baked goods.

Sunday started Pies for my Year of Bakes. Piemaster Julie led me through her world-famous strawberry pie:

I want to try hand pies/pasties, a pie with a lid (chicken pot, probably) and maybe a slab pie. So many pies! This is technically Pies/Tarts month, but I don't know if I'll get to any tarts. They could count as Pastries, too, maybe? So perhaps I'll just shift them along.

I also finished watching Akage no An, the Anne of Green Gables anime that Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki worked on in the 70s. It was SO delightful. Anne's imagination can really come to life when it's animated. :) Now to find something new for my Japanese watching!

I started reading The Fellowship of the Ring because I've never actually read LOTR and it's on my shelf so I have to. I'll finally get that nerd cred I was missing.

That's really it for this week. Next week is week 52(!) so I guess you'll get a one year update!

Cake, Movies, and a Glimmer of Hope!

This week I baked the cutest cake in the world, as evidenced by the 98 likes on Facebook:

As part of our no spending months, Hubster and I have been going to International Cinema. We've seen 8 films there so far -- 2 of which have been documentaries, and the other 6 were foreign films, so they've counted for 2 of my goals! 

At International Cinema they're doing a frequent fan card this semester, and you get a t-shirt for watching 10 movies! We're pretty much there! We'll see numbers 9 and 10 this week, and then probably still see a few more, because there are still more that look good. 

Good news: Julie tells me that when you donate blood they mail you a donor card later, so I may still have hope to find out my blood type without any extra work. Fingers crossed! 

An attempt at item #74

Which of course is to find out my blood type and donate, if possible.

Our stake had a blood drive this past Saturday, so I thought, perfect opportunity! I'd tried to donate in the past but my iron has always been too low. Doctors confirmed I was anemic and since I've been taking iron supplements, I thought I might stand a chance to donate now.

All was clear and good (yay iron!) and they got me up on the chair and needled. A few minutes into it I started feeling light headed, but I wanted to make a full donation, so they coached me to lift my legs and cough to get the blood flowing. Towards the end my legs started seizing up. My speech slurred and then I couldn't move any part of my body. It was terrifying to say the least.

I'm obviously okay (hello, I'm typing this!), but in all the hubbub I didn't remember to ask about blood typing. I did manage to make a full donation, so I guess I'm technically partially done on this one? I've seen typing kits on Amazon, so I might just take matters into my own hands. Who knows if I'll ever feel up to donating again.

Also, can we just tell my body to stop being such a jerk? My knee is still scabbed from my fall and now I have to deal with super sore legs from them you know, spasming. Heck. Just take it easy, bod.

Good Eats

So we finally graduated to a real TV and now it's so much easier to watch things we only have on our computers! We've celebrated by watching like 7 episodes of Good Eats (item #3). I have plans to make cottage cheese, koolickles, and marshmallows soon!

We also finished Series 3 of the Great British Bake Off, which isn't super related to my list, but does provide baking inspiration! 

We're on Cake for my Year of Bakes, and I decided to make Mary Berry's own Victoria Sandwich cake. I think it turned out okay enough, but I don't know if Paul and Mary would have said it was a good bake. 

Personally, the cake was a bit too sweet for me, but I'm glad I've made it! Other cake plans include cheesecake, roll cake, and a funfetti layer cake. Woooooo cakes!

Dang it!!

I forgot again. I was doing so well, too!

In my defense, I had a pretty traumatizing yesterday. After work, before hubster got home I was getting my Pokemon Go daily bonus when a Mareep showed up. We haven't caught her yet and she is super cute. See?

So I ran back to see if hubster had gotten home because he hecka needs a Mareep, too. As I was running, my right leg just kind of gave out, and I biffed it on the concrete. I scraped one knee pretty badly and bruised the other. Trying to catch my fall, I bruised my hands as well.

So I hope you'll forgive me for forgetting. I added 10 forget/miss days into this goal as this is my third, I think, so I'm still okay according to the list. :)

Bao and a book

Special thanks to warm weather and Gen 2 on Pokemon Go! I've walked more this week than like, the past 3 weeks combined!

#24: This week I read the Newbery Award winning book for 2017: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. It was super good! I loved the interconnectedness of all the stories, and the emphasis on hope above all. The writing style is beautifully lyrical.

#69: We also made char siu pork and turned it into steamed bao buns. Heck. You guys. It was so much work, but so so worth it. Some of them exploded because we didn't seal them well enough. Guess we'll have to make them again for practice! Dang!

Cookies and Games

This week's cookies were rosemary shortbread. I've already talked about them a lot other places, but that's just because they were that delicious. I need the whole world to try these cookies.

Also cookie month is officially way better than bread month. I want to bake ALL THE COOKIES.

We also stumbled upon a game store's going out of business sale and bought two Spiel des Jahres award winning games: Tikal and Istanbul. Not only were they for my list, but they were also on sale, so it's okay for my 3 month money challenge! Now to learn and play them!

More Progress, Extra Credit

Don't worry guys, I'm fighting the slump! The world can't get me down!

Progress on two items I had to wait for:
They announced the Newbery award book for the year and I put it on hold at the library - The Girl Who Drank The Moon.
They announced the nominees for Best Animated Picture and I've already seen 3 of them. The other 2 will be playing in Salt Lake later this month.

I've started item 71, for which the intention was to only buy things on sale or couponed for 3 months. I quickly realized how impossible this is and I've adjusted: $200 budget for food each month, and anything else must be at a discounted price, by sale or by coupon. I'm also considering ignoring the rule if it's something for my list, but I think I need to stick with it. It will be over in April, and it will be good to recoup our holiday/tuition spending.

I've also baked like 3 cookies already. I'll definitely get extra credit for year of baking. When I bake one thing, it just makes me want to bake another!