Iron Chef Dixon: Battle Strawberry

Michael and I like food. A lot. As in, when we don't HAVE to be thinking about other things, we're thinking about food. We get really excited to go to the grocery store, we watch Food Network, we plan menus together...yeah. It's a little embarassing. But, I figure, everyone has to eat, why not do it well?

Anyway.

On Sunday, Michael and I were in the mood to make a dessert of some kind and Michael (aka. Captain Make-up-a-game *my hero*) suggested that we make something based on what we had in the house (on account of it was the Sabbath after all), and also stipulated that it should revolve around the fresh strawberries we had in our refrigerator.

We thought up several options:

1. cream puffs filled with vanilla pudding and smothered in strawberry sauce

2. strawberry shortcakes

3. a mixed berry pie

4. a mixed berry crumble/crisp

Realizing that we had no whipping cream, we abandoned options 1 and 2. And out of 3 and 4, four just sounded to great to pass up. Having no recipe to go off of, we sort of pieced together recipes that had similar ingredients and came up with something really tasty.

And, if I do say so myself, really good looking. Bonus points to Michael for making the topping.

Don't be jealous.

Recent milestones

Michael and I have crossed several milestones this month:

1. Michael watched Pride and Prejudice.

Yup, the really REALLY long one. Not the Kiera Knightly one, the REAL one. All. Five. hours.

Michael studied Pride and Prejudice girl culture for an anthropology project, so we had my sister Jordan come over two nights during the week and had dinner and orange julius while we watched each half of the movie. Friday (day 2 of the film), we even got New York pizza from a pizzeria owned by someone from Michael's mission. Michael thought it was somewhat lacking (the owner didn't make our actual pizza this time), but we all agreed it was delicious. Also humongous. While we were waiting for Jordan to come over, I thought I'd stick the box in our oven to keep the pizza warm. It didn't fit. I think we got the "extra-super-especially-very-X-treme" size. Something like that anyway. And we only had two pieces left at the end of the night. We're that good.
























2. We rediscovered the magic that is orange julius

It had been a few years since I'd had an orange julius and I'd gotten the hankering. Our apartment was also heating up with the weather, so we decided to make something refreshing. Wowza. We have a steadfast and immovable testimony of orange julius. We are experimenting with changing up the type of juice used. Our next test is going to be with grape juice. Oodalally.

3. We finally got around to trying Michael's brilliant idea: Lemonade with Limeade ice cubes

I've sort of been on a citrus kick since about February, and Michael thought of this good idea. We have one ice tray (that makes heart-shaped ice), so over the course of a few days we made ice cubes out of limeade.

This is magic in and of itself. The sugar and juice content of limeade doesn't allow the ice to freeze entirely solid. This means SLUSHY ICE CUBES. SOFT ENOUGH TO CHEW. SORT OF LIKE SHAVED ICE. I can't tell you how yummy it is to pop a little bit of limeade slushy in your mouth on a hot day. Also, when you put them in lemonade, if you swish your glass around, the slushy cubes break up a bit and it's sort of like having an icee. Try it.

4. We went clothes shopping together.

and Michael still loves me. I have a hard time finding clothes. A REALLY hard time. Michael braved a huge bunch of stores with me this month to look for skirts, etc. (I haven't bought a new skirt since my sister Katie got married two-and-a-half years ago). We'd wade through mountains of clothes and Michael would load his arms with things for me to try on then wouldn't even act disappointed when not a single thing fit. What a great sport. He's also navigated through racks and racks of purses as we look for a replacement purse for me defunct one, with no success. I'm just too picky. Not on purpose, I just want to buy something I LOVE rather than something I just sort of like.

As it happens, we looked and looked with no success. Michael even expressed great sympathy that it's REALLY hard to find modest clothes (even in Utah). What a great supporter. My mom found a great selection of things at a Ross near her house and I was able to come away with a handful of really cute new skirts. I'm feeling incredibly spoiled.

5. We've been married for five months

We couldn't be happier. We love how well matched we are, and have really enjoyed that our schedules match up a little better this semester than they did last semester. It's been fun to spend more time with each other.

**as a side note: we aren't as jaundice-looking as we appear in the picture. We were in wonky lighting. And also we'd just played kickball.


6. Also, I saw a snail.

I thought it was the coolest thing ever. He was SO fast! It was hard to take a picture of him. This is on day 2 of 5 days of rain we just went through. Yes, it's random, but I could think of no other way to casually incorporate a snail into a blog post.

7. We discovered a REALLY good bubble blower:

The mixer from our hand mixer. Michael was GOOD at blowing big ones. I struggled. Shocker.

an ant, a plant, a fant(asy)

Recent adventures in the Michael and Emily Dixon home:

1. Adventure #1: An ant
Last Thursday, Michael and I had magically finished our homework early and had a large portion of the afternoon to ourselves. We decided to make a pan of brownies and settle in for a movie. As we prepared to mix up the brownies, we spied a few ants. In. Our. Kitchen.

EW! I can't tell you how awful that was. We discovered their point of entry: the slight gap under our baseboard. Oy. Lucky for us, the largest number I ever saw at a time was about 6. Whew!

Michael, our fearless Captain of Pest Control whipped out his phone and called his dad (who--according to Michael--has fought many a battle with these villains) and secured the name of the proper poison.



Abandoning our movie plan, we headed over to our local Home Depot to secure the specified poison. Michael set his watch timer and we had a race to see how fast we could find the poison. It took us less than three minutes. Yessssss. This leads to adventure 2:

Adventure #2. A plant

Whilst in Home Depot we noticed a large collection of house plants. I've been wishing that we could have a garden and Michael's had the hankering to do yard work, so Michael suggested we find a plant.

Boring, overly-practical me countered by saying "well...we don't really need a plant..." and Michael agreed. However, he suggested "okay, if we find a plant under $4, we're getting it. We were slightly disappointed to see that the jade plant we both admired so much was in the $11 range, but were thrilled to find a plant whose tag description said "low light, low water, etc." which led me to believe it would be a very hard plant to slay. Thank heavens.

Eunice, our love fern

Thus, we came home with Eunice, our $3.97 plant. She has been a great addition to our home.

Adventure #3: A Fant(asy)

Our ant problem had cleared up by Sunday (thank heavens), and our lives continued. Lo and behold, Michael (who is applying for the Fall business program at BYU), received a letter from the Dean of the Business school stating that Michael had made the Dean's list (something only about 5% of applicants do)! A fantasy come true!


The mighty ant warrior rewards his successes with an ooey
gooey shapely brownie

In conclusion: winning the battle with ants CAN happen (and in short order), plants under $4 can still brighten a home, and fantasies like making the BYU Business School's Dean's List can come true!!!

Spoiled (adj.): Emily

On Wednesday, the weather in Utah was...not so pleasant. Around 4:00, the drizzling rain turned into a waterfall. It was POURING. Michael and I were both on campus for classes, and I was dreading that we'd have to walk home in the deluge. I'd brought an umbrella, but...yeah, it was that kind of rain. Forest Gump rain. Sideways rain, up-and-down rain, stinging rain, etc, etc.

Well, by the time we got out of class at 6:00ish, the rain had slowed back down to sprinkling, though there were muddy little puddles everywhere. When I'd left the house in the morning, there really wasn't much of a hint of rain and it was supposed to be rather warm, so I'd worn jeans, a light sweatshirt, and flip-flops. As I walked up the stairs and across puddles on my way to meet up with Michael, I flip flopped rain right up onto...everything: my sweatshirt, my shirt, the backs of my legs, my bag...you name it.

Michael greeted a rather soggy, disheveled me in his usual sunshine-y way, and we started our walk home together. Michael was such a perfect gentleman. Without skipping a beat of the conversation, he was helping me around puddles and trying to make sure I made it across muddy patches or cracked sidewalks and trying hard to hold at least one of my hands at all times. We arrive back at our apartment to realize that the puddles all settle right in front of our back door. So after crossing one final muddy puddle, we made it home.

When we walked in the door, our apartment was warm and cozy. Michael had cleaned, and had moved the tv into our room. While I changed into my favorite snuggly pink jammies and soaked my feet in some warm water for a few minutes, he heated us up some yummy minestrone. We ate soup and warm rolls in bed as we watched a movie he knew I would like more than he would have necessarily and enjoyed the cozy protection of our apartment against the blustery, gray outside.

I can't tell you how much of a blessing it is to be married to someone who takes care of me in every way. I'd be lost without his sweetness. No matter how busy he is, no matter what's on his to-do list, he always--always--makes time for me and time to tell me he loves me. He has me completely figured out. He knows exactly what I need. I'm spoiled rotten.

springtime updates

Michael and I are still spinning from the end of finals and the beginning of Spring semester. Ah well, life's good. Here are our recent updates:

Emily:

1. School: (rather begrudgingly) taking three classes this spring and whining pretty much daily about it. Although rather miffed at having to take yet another semester of school, she is absolutely NOT miffed that this is, in fact, her LAST YEAR OF SCHOOL. Praise all that is good in this world, the end is near!


2. Classes: Healthy Mind Healthy Body, Doctrine and Covenants, Computer Applications in Health Education


3. Interesting Experience: Emily participated in the Dixon family tradition of choosing a horse for the Kentucky Derby for her first time. She chose the only girl horse entered. The horse surprised her by coming in second, then promptly breaking both front ankles and dying on the spot. She hopes this luck doesn't continue next year.


4. Church: just released from teaching Gospel Doctrine with Michael. Now in that awkward interim phase of not knowing what calling is next (please not name extraction, please not name extraction...)


5. Other: really liking experimenting with recipes, posting to her recipe blog, and going on lots of walks with Michael in the newly warmish weather.

Michael:

1. School: Very pleasantly taking two classes this spring and still teaching at the MTC (and loving it). Not complaining or whining daily about having to take classes. Being his normal, optimistic, happy self about it. Feeling better and better about applying to the business program this summer.


2. Classes: Accounting, Anthropology


3. Interesting experience: Michael's anthropology teacher is sort of a wierd fellow. He doesn't like traditional phraseology for school, and, consequently, refers to Michael's class as a "community of learners," and class periods as "gatherings." He also comments often about their "journey through the semester together," and begins each class by rearranging the chairs in a circle and ringing a hand bell three times to help everyone "clear a space" in their minds. I know. Oy.


4. Church: Michael was just called to be Elder's Quorum president of the first elder's quorum in our ward. He then had the task of reorganizing (every) things since our ward is experiencing a HUMONGOUS turnover as people move out and graduate, etc. He's chosen great counselors and is already doing a great job reaching out to other people in the ward. His first Sunday he even had to sit on the stand since, as luck would have it, both counselors of the bishopbric were gone.


5. Other: Michael sliced his finger open on the mirror this morning. Yes, that mirror. We're thinking about suing. Or at least not inviting that mirror to our birthday parties.

Us:

1. Really loving being married. We think it's kind of funny that we're going to be one of the "older" married couples in our ward and we haven't even hit out 5 month mark yet. Ha.


2. Walking. We both like to be outside in the beautiful weather and have loved going on walks with each other. Emily has some intense speed-walking skills, but is pretty sure that Michael could out-skip anyone. Emily is thinking about entering him in a contest.


3. Attending LOTS and LOTS of weddings. In the past month, we've attended my sister Elisabeth's wedding, Michael's best friend Nate's wedding, and this Thursday, I will attend my cousin Jayden's wedding. We're so excited for everyone and wish we could be everywhere at once sometimes.

YAY MICHAEL!

Michael and I checked our grades today. MICHAEL GOT A 4.0!!! He really feels great about applying to the Business School now. I'm so so so excited for him. He worked REALLY hard this semester, and I feel like it really paid off for him.

To celebrate, I made homemade pizza with our current favorite combination: pepperoni, green pepper, and pineapple (with sockarooni sauce and mozzarella). Yay for Michael's 4.0!

We are currently taking suggestions for the name of our pizza (pepperoni, pepper, and pineapple). We'd like to avoid anything with "ppp" on account of this could give the wrong idea...

So we're taking name suggestions. Go.