A Busy Valentine's Day (plus an easy cake recipe!)

We had a real adventure this year on Valentine's Day. Since the beginning of the school week is especially busy for me, I got up early to try to get a heads up on all of my homework. As a result, I was really tired all day. After I took a midterm, I ran home for a one-hour break in my day to bake a cake. I decided I really wanted to use our new bundt pan, so I made a classic recipe from my Mom. (I'll put the super easy recipe at the bottom of the post.) Fortunately, our oven cooks really really fast (is it normal to have to shave off 2-10 minutes off of every baking time?) so I was able to get back to campus in time to meet with Matt for lunch and the campus devotional. 

Our Valentine's bundt cake

Man. Then we had five hours straight of class/work/homework until we could finally get home and relax a bit. I have to admit that I was a bit cranky by the time I got home, but Matt was so sweet. He had bought me some fudge (he certainly knows me well!), a copy of Thomas S. Monson's biography (so excited!!!), and the children's song book from our church. Since we are teaching the Sunday lessons for the six year olds in our congregation, this will really come in handy. It was so thoughtful! I bought Matt some chocolate covered cinnamon bears (a BYU classic) and made him some "love checks" that Matt can redeem for kisses and breakfast in bed and such. So cheesy, but certainly Valentine's Day appropriate :)

Once we had a chance to dress up for dinner, we had to catch the bus since we still don't have a car. Ten minutes and $4.50 later, we arrived at Red Lobster. We were trying to use a gift card my grandmother gave us for Christmas, but the waiting time at the restaurant was almost 2 hours! Wow. It was really cold outside and I was freezing in my skirt, but Matt, in his wonderful, eternal optimism was able to find a great place with a reasonable waiting time. We finally decided on California Pizza Kitchen, which was DELICIOUS. Their artichoke pizza is to die for! It was so so perfect. We had a wonderful waiter and 4 glasses of mango and peach lemonade each! Then we were able to go home and devour the cake. It was wonderful. Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays and I am so glad that Matt made it special this year. You know you've found the right person when they help you have fun despite the chilly air and long restaurant wait times. I'm one lucky duck.

At the bus stop :)

Recipe for Lemon Blackberry Bundt Cake


What you need:
One box of lemon cake mix
3 eggs
1 can of blackberry pie filling


Directions:
Mix ingredients in a bowl and pour into a well greased bundt pan. Bake according to directions on the box. To add a bit more deliciousness, I topped ours with a lemon glaze (lemon juice and powdered sugar). And that's it! It's yummy and very moist.

Noah's Pudding

A few weeks ago, Matt and I went with my Uncle Andy to the Pacific Institute in Salt Lake City for an evening of celebration in honor of Noah's Pudding or Ashure. The tradition of Noah's Pudding is an ancient one. The legend says that after Noah and his family stepped off the ark, Noah put all of the food they had left into one pot and boiled it all together. Every family has their own recipe for Ashure, so there are literally hundreds (maybe more!) recipes for Noah's Pudding. The dessert takes a long time to prepare, but it is delicious! Some of the common ingredients include chick peas, pomegranate seeds, lima beans, sugar, wheat, and sesame seeds. The idea of Noah's Pudding is that even though each of us is different, when we work together, we can create wonderful solutions. The message is simple, but powerful.

The delicious Noah's Pudding.

 My Uncle Andy was invited to speak at the Pacifica Institute about his current project, a glass sculpture collection of pieces that represent the 99 Names of Allah (you can read more about it here). He gave a short address about the importance of Noah's Pudding and was able to discuss a few sculptures he brought with him. It was a great evening. Matt and I were able to make a few new friends and enjoy delicious Turkish fare.

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