Melon Tea Panna Cotta

Aw heck, you guys, I made the BEST panna cotta.

Based off this recipe, I changed it to an herbal tea, cuz that's my style. Melon and cream are excellent together, so I went with a Golden Honey Dew. I think other teas could also be great.

I also changed the method of gelatin incorporation, because heating the gelatin as she asks you to do can have disastrous results. Please follow the instructions of master David Lebovitz instead: recipe here.

So this is the first time I've really experimented with adding my own flavors and I'm ecstatic that it worked so well. I have to make 8 more panna cotta recipes for my list, and perhaps I'll do some more experimenting. :)

Until then!

Newbery Award Winners, Part 1

For item 24 for of my list, I'm reading an Newbery Award or Honor book for each year since I've been born. I decided to go ahead and knock these out now. They're short books generally, and they're lovely reads.

So far I've read:

• (1988) Lincoln, A Photobiography
• (1989) Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
• (1990) Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind
• (1991) Maniac Magee
• (1992) Nothing But the Truth
• (1993) Missing May
• (1994) Dragon's Gate
• (1995) The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
• (1996) The Great Fire
• (1997) The Moorchild
• (1998) Lily's Crossing
• (1999) A Long Way From Chicago
• (2000) Bud, Not Buddy
  

I think my favorites so far have been Joyful Noise, The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, and The Moorchild. Great stuff!

I'm up to age 13, and I'm reading Hope Was Here. I've read a lot of the nominees and winners already, but it's great to catch the ones I haven't. I feel like this should be a lifelong goal - to always read the nominees and winner for each year. Kids' books are just so great! 

My new friend

Hey guys! I'm still hard at work, riding the adrenaline of beginning my list. I think it's starting to set in just how much I have planned for myself, too, though.

However, I've greatly improved one aspect of the list this past week. I'd like to introduce you to my Fitbit:

I found him on sale on groupon (he's refurbished, but shh, don't tell him that - he's fabulous) for $40, so I couldn't resist. Now I can count all of my daily walking for my Walk to Mordor challenge (item #52), not just walks I take directly for that purpose.

I just got back from DC for a work trip and I'm so glad I had my Fitbit. On just one day of that trip I walked 6.5 miles. Heck (I also climbed 26 flights of stairs. Yikes!).

This will make things so much easier for me, and will also assist in doing my three months of health and sleep tracking (item #72). I also love love love all the graphs and data that Fitbit just keeps for you. So great.

How great is modern technology? The greatest, I would submit.

Week 1 Update

I love the energy I get when I start something new. I've gotten a lot done this week!

• I read 4 Newbery Award and Honor books: Lincoln, A Photobiography (1988), Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices (1989), Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (1990), and Maniac Magee (1991).
• I walked 12 miles. What?
• I started watching Your Lie In April for my Japanese language goal.
• We had friends over for dinner: Spaghetti Carbonara, Za'atar crusted cauliflower, and Ginger Panna Cotta with Black Sesame Gelee. I'm not counting the panna cotta for my panna cotta goal because it didn't set right. I'mma try it again. But that's one dinner party down!
• My first ponderizing scripture was 2 Chronicles 15:7: "Be ye strong therefore and let not your hands be weak: for you work shall be rewarded." I feel like writing it everyday is helping to internalize it.
• Garrett and I started watching Adventure Time season 3. 
• I decided on Uchtdorf to follow through his General Conferences, and I've read his first three talks. 
• I listened to three episodes of This American Life: My Damn Mind, What I Did for Love, and Accidental Documentaries.

Woooooo 101 List! It's nice to have goals to work towards again. 

101 3.0

It's hard to believe I'm on my third 101 List. By the end of this one, I'll have been doing them for almost 10 years! I'm pumped for this one. It's been a few months since my last one ended, so I'm raring to go!

Without further ado, I present my new list:

1. See Hamilton

2. Read all of the Yakitate!! Japan manga in Japanese

3. Watch 50+ episodes of Good Eats and cook 25+ corresponding recipes

4. See 10+ new plays live

5. Make 10+ recipes from Cooking With Dog

6. Send picture or video thank you notes for the duration of the list

7. Go to a banjo camp

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

9. For every feature film I watch during the list, watch a documentary

10. Year of baking

11. Ride the Heber Valley Railroad

12. Go to the Utah State Fair 

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

14. Read the complete works of Shakespeare

15. Culling of the cookbooks

16. Finish a grown-up coloring book

17. Play 10+ Spiel des Jahres or Kennerspiel award winning games

18. Make bottle cap magnets

19. Re-read Harry Potter

20. Go to a food festival

21. Re-evaluate my favorite things (i.e. books, movies)

22. Watch the Up Series

23. Host a Rummikub tournament

24. Read a Newbery Award or Honor book for each year since I was born

25. Take one second of footage everyday for a year

26. Take a train trip somewhere

27. Keep a doodle journal for 3 months

28. Rank and chart Cinderella adaptations

29. Watch all Studio Ghibli movies in chronological order

30. Keep a gratitude journal for 3 months

31. Create my own topical guide of the scriptures

32. French "Fryday" blogposts for 3 months

33. Cook Meatless Mondays for 3 months

34. Pierogi making party!

35. go to 10+ new Provorem restaurants

36. Find the best dish of my choice in the area

37. Try 10+ new Indian dishes

38. Complete a 30-day project each month for 2 years

39. Take an internet course

40. Find my scent

41. Go on a new factory tour

42. Find the best waffle recipe

43. Read a biography of each President of the church

44. Become a master of small talk

45. Watch the nominees for Best Animated Picture for each year in the list

46. Make a 101 List report

47. Send a Christmas newsletter each year

48. Work through Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy

49. Learn 5+ songs on banjo

50. Learn 5+ songs on guitar

51. Learn 5+ songs on ukulele

52. Complete the Walk to Mordor challenge

53. Get a massage

54. Read/watch/listen to 30 min+ of Japanese media each week and keep vocabulary lists

55. No complaining for 1 week

56. Run a fun 5K

57. Take a road trip to Michigan

58. Have yearly family portraits taken

59. Visit a friend who lives far away

60. Either read or get rid of the books I own but haven't read

61. Try laughter yoga

62. Follow an elimination diet to see if I have food intolerances

63. Take a dance class with Garrett

64. Buy 5 new dresses that I love

65. Add pictures to our map for all western states

66. Make a new cosplay with Garrett

67. Build a fancy cake for someone

68. Have people over for dinner 10+ times

69. Cook a dish from 25+ different countries

70. Make homemade cheese

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

72. Track health and sleep for 3 months

73. Create a map of my heart

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

75. See Saguaro National Park

76. Crochet an amigurumi

77. Watch 25+ new foreign films

78. Make mood playlists

79. Get up to 1000 HITs on Mechanical Turk

80. Make a young me/now me photo

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

82. blog updates weekly

83. Make a silly photo project

84. Keep a consumption instagram for 1 year

85. Go to the Penguin Encounter at the Living Planet Aquarium

86. Collect 10+ new smashed pennies and clean and organize my collection

87. Mark and annotate a Book of Mormon

88. Ponderize a scripture each week and handwrite that scripture each day

89. Create pie charts made of pie

90. Attend a Utah Old Time Fiddlers Association meeting

91. Beat Dinky Park

92. Catch up on Adventure Time

93. Try every available flavor of Red Button ice cream

94. Make 10+ new panna cotta recipes

95. Take a local cooking class

96. Follow an apostle through their General Conferences

97. Attend the Giant Pumpkin Regatta

98. Listen to 100+ episodes of This American Life

99. Make a peep diorama

100. Host a Miracle Berry party

101. Watch all of the Yakitate!! Japan anime with Garrett and re-create a bread from the show

101 Redux Results

Hi blogland! Long time no type, huh?

I finished my second 101 List on December 31, 2015 with a record-setting 75 items completed.

My reporting this time, though, was on my YouTube channel - I made a vlog for every item I completed - so I didn't post anything here. You can check out all the videos at this playlist: 101 List

I've waited a bit to start my next list and I'm feeling like that was a mistake. I quickly found myself starting to feel aimless. I wanted to wait, though, until I knew where I'd be living for the next few years, because, OH YEAH, I got married in the this gap, as well, and my husband was waiting for grad school decisions.

Now that we know we're staying around these parts for the next 2 years (woohoo!), I am ready to begin. Keep your peepers peeled for my new list, coming at you soon.

101 Redux

Well, here it is, guys. I've been working for the past few weeks and I think my new 101 list is ready to be revealed. I'm going to start on April 4th. Here's to another 2.75 years!

1. read 101 books off my goodreads to read list
2. watch 101 movies as recommended by friends, and with those friends if possible
3. hike the y when it's lit for graduation or homecoming
4. create and photograph a cookbook
5. go on a scott pilgrimage to toronto
6. learn to moonwalk
7. build a lightbox
8. keep and update a resume of personal skills that do not relate to jobs
9. cook my way through a cookbook
10. learn to screenprint
11. join a bowling league
12. use the mistletoe that's been hanging in our apartment for a year
13. spend a full day at the nickelcade, from open to close
14. shave my head and raise at least $101 dollars for St. Baldrick's
15. go to a shooting range
16. february album writing month
17. nanowrimo by hand
18. read the bible dictionary
19. create music maps and listen to influences of 10 of my top-listened-to bands
20. create 5 new cosplays
21. one full year of 30 day projects
22. play 101 new games (non-video)
23. vlog or blog or something for each task
24. post 101 songs (covers or originals) on my youtube channel
25. film a documentary
26. prepare 2 annual reports with charts and graphs
27. 101 photo projects
28. attend at least 2 of gencon, bronycon, comicon, leakycon, vidcon
29. knit a sweater
30. cut my own hair
31. cross-stitch 5 projects
32. paint a monster into a thrift store painting
33. visit 5 new amusement parks
34. learn about and read a talk from each member of the quorum of the 70, quorum of the 12, and first presidency
35. host 5 big awesome parties
36. for one year, see at least one production per month
37. eat everything on the menu at one restaurant
38. go snowshoeing
39. post 101 online reviews
40. read 5 books in japanese
41. read the standard works with guides and commentary
42. become a member of a museum
43. learn to crochet and make a baby blanket
44. learn to play 5 hymns on the piano
45. vegas food trip
46. keep a consumption journal for 3 months
47. for one year, study sunday lessons beforehand
48. keep notes in my music moleskine
49. paint a pair of shoes
50. play quidditch
51. volunteer at a library, museum, or theater for at least 3 months
52. sew a dress
53. go on a photography hike
54. buy a new musical instrument
55. create my own stationery and personal contact card
56. for one calendar year, send cards or gifts for immediate family birthdays and holidays
57. attend the temple monthly, pay $20 to the temple fund for each month i don't attend
58. pick fresh raspberries and jam them
59. collect 101 stories
60. clean and organize my computer
61. play a giant dot game
62. make a list of projects i have the means to complete and complete 5 of them
63. personal website
64. see a new church pageant
65. create my own listography journal
66. get or make a standing or adjustable desk
67. edit a nano novel and sell it on amazon
68. watch a cirque du soleil show live
69. make a christmas zine
70. compile my personal history
71. guerrilla gardening/street art
72. eat the ikea smorgasbord
73. maintain a 72 hour kit
74. write a letter to sara pennypacker
75. put pocket something
76. live so that i could move at any moment - don't keep things unless they are beautiful or useful
77. cook/make/craft/do 101 things off my pinterest boards
78. make a personal manifesto
79. make a stuff journal
80. watch things in japanese (at least 5 complete series)
81. take voice lessons
82. commission a portrait
83. paint my favorite quotes on canvas and display them
84. go to a festival for a certain thing
85. verify the reality of chicago
86. find a primary care physician
87. go to 5 concerts with the most recent album memorized
88. ride the frontrunner to slc and back
89. try zumba
90. go to a planetarium show
91. successfully bake a loaf of bread
92. host a youtube film festival
93. write at a coffee shop
94. upgrade my point and shoot
95. make something out of duct tape
96. sell something on etsy
97. for 3 months, exercise for 30 minutes 3 times a week
98. make a guess doctor who game
99. attend a ted event
100. throw a random surprise party
101. buy julie a stepstool