What a weekend it has been. Saturday was every bit as exciting as we hoped. The men's basketball team did exactly what I thought they would and they whooped SDSU. At the women's basketball game against SDSU, we were down by 16 points 5 minutes into the second half, so we opted to leave early to have a bit of rest time before the gymnastics meet that night. Well, BYU came back and won by 4. I was a little disappointed we missed a good comeback, but I caught a sweet shirt (in my size too!), so it's all good. The gymnastics meet was good. We had a good final score but lost by two tenths of a point. We had two girls fall on the bars, and if one of them had not fallen, we would have won. But, that's ok. Our score was still pretty high (195.15).

I've been busy researching recipes for the wedding and in a couple weeks I'm hosting a mini reception where I'll have friends sample, rate and give suggestions on the different foods. That will be really fun and give me good feedback I can send back to the wedding planners. Let me just say that this wedding will have some of the best food you've ever had. The final decisions are up to the bride and groom (Amelia and Max), so I just hope they have good taste for the delicious foods I'm planning. Several of these recipes have already been unanimously named "the best ever" by several friends and family. I'm excited!

Took my mission picture today. I'll put it on here tomorrow. Getting some dental work done in the morning. That's about it for now. Gotta start a movie for some impatient people now so I better go do that.

Well, this week has just flown by. It's Monday, then I blink and Friday is here. It has been a good week. I had a nutrition exam Wednesday. On the first exam I accidentally missed a section to study and got 77%. I enjoy this class too much to get a score that low, so I made sure I internalized as much information as I could. I had lots of fun studying and it paid off. There were still a few questions I was a little unsure of, but I was confident through most of the test and I came out with 88%!! The class average for the first test was 82% so I was just below average. The average on this one was 80% and it was considered a harder exam. I was high above the average! Let me just say that classes you really enjoy are SO much more fun and are way easier if you have the right mindset. My mindset is that I want to learn as much as possible in this class and be able to use that information to help people follow good nutrition, so I am doing well in the class. Next week our 3rd assignment is due. That assignment will be a piece of cake. I have to make an entree and then answer some questions. The hardest part for me will be to decide what delicious recipe I'm going to make.

Today, Mike and I went to the Utah Valley Better Business Expo. It's a huge annual trade show at UVU where business people come to network and such. We had catered lunch from Tucano's Brazilian Grill and Chef's Table Restaurant, both of which had great food. Then we walked up and down the hundreds of booths, collecting swag and occasionally stopping to chat about different businesses. We came away with a good size bag of cool stuff. It was lots of fun.

This weekend is super busy with sports. Tonight was volleyball. Tomorrow is volleyball. Saturday morning is the BYU @ SDSU game. Right after that we're going to the Marriott to watch the women's basketball play SDSU. After that I'm going to the gymnastic meet (Phillip is one of the student athletic trainers for the women's gymnastics team so I go to all the meets) with my Cougarette friends. By the way, the SDSU game will air on CBS, so everyone should be able to watch it. Find an antenna or something. It will be a great game. Sunday I will definitely need a nice, long nap.

That's all I have to report. Working on finishing mission papers up. Gotta get a haircut and make sure I get the insurance information correct. Payday tomorrow so I'll stop by the barber shop on the way home from work.

I have a funny youtube video we watched in nutrition today. It's 6 minutes long, but you really only have to watch a couple minutes so you don't get annoyed. The music starts after about 20 seconds, so be patient.

Be ready to laugh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhIsJxTBsLs

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY!

The end of the week and the first half of this weekend has been fairly relaxed. We had the snow on Wednesday that quickly melted and then again today we had a few inches of wet snow that quickly melted. Saturday I went and saw the Cougarettes in Concert. I enjoyed that a lot and had a lot of fun. Vocal Point performed a couple songs with the Cougarettes and also had one solo song, so that was cool. Saturday was a pretty busy day. We went to a women's basketball game, then watched the men's game, then I took a brief nap before going with Evan to a friend's for dinner and then to the Cougarettes concert. After that we went back to the friend's apartment and hung/hanged out before making a late night grocery run and then going to bed. I was pretty tired today and for the first time in several weeks I got a Sunday nap. Usually I have so much baking and cooking to do I don't have time to sleep, but today I had a simple dinner planned for just me, Phillip and Evan, so I had all afternoon to myself. After a quick lunch I slept for a good 3 hours. It was great. Tomorrow I'm heading to the Art Institute of Salt Lake with a friend from work to check out their school and their culinary program. I won't be attending soon since I've accepted a job for summer, but I want to get a better feel for culinary school and what it's going to be like. I wish I could be in culinary school now, but I'll have to wait a while.

That's really all that's happening. School is going good. I'm way excited for the summer! I'm way excited for the wedding! I'm way excited for St. Patrick's Day and corned beef and cabbage!

The past few days have been absolutely gorgeous. Yesterday and the first half of today were so warm you didn't even need a jacket. It got up to 50 and I just wanted to go lay outside. Sadly, I knew it would all end today. Just as forecast, 30 mph winds began blowing this afternoon, bringing in clouds and then an inch of snow this evening. That's what I love about weather. You could have had the most wonderful picnic in shorts and a t-shirt on dry ground this morning and then gone sledding tonight. Weather may be my fallback if culinary arts fails. I still am fascinated by the weather and study it well.

So I have some goals I would like to accomplish in the remaining couple months this semester. First, I will have my mission papers submitted by the end of this month. If I'm really good, I'll have everything submitted by the end of this week. Second, I'm going to read the New Testament and the Book of Mormon through. Annie read the entire New Testament last week. Not going to lie, I was impressed. Third, I am NOT going to spend money on things I do not need. With that, I'm going to be better at defining "needs" and "wants". Last summer's purchases of a love sac, projector, and ipod were, of course, needs. Those are the only big goals specifically laid out. I have lots of other things I know I need to better at that which I will be more committed to working towards as well. I know we say a lot "go to church, read your scriptures, pray, and fast and all that and life will be good". Let me just say it's so true. Being at BYU people get too religious and caught up in routine and sometimes it loses meaning, but I want to testify that doing those things with purpose and intent makes my life amazing. Just look at how I act and react when I'm not doing those things. I'm not as motivated, I'm not as forgiving, I'm certainly not as pleasant, I don't have as much energy, I can get down quickly. I hope you all recognize the importance of prayer and scripture study in your life. If not, give it a sincere try. The change will be phenomenal.

Make today a great day.

~Jon
PS- if you listen to the song today, stick around for the second verse...this is the only time it's been recorded that I'm aware of...

It has been a mostly uneventful week so far.

Valentine's Day I went to work, then came home and installed Windows 7 on my computer. Saving all my documents, music and other stuff took a while and then the installation took just under an hour. After that, I helped Phillip do his taxes. The rest of the night I spent installing drivers and such on my computer. Today was much the same. After class I went to work, came home, went to my other class, went to the store, came home, had dinner, made more red velvet cupcakes and have spent all evening working on getting everything I need on my computer again. Tomorrow I'll finish up my computer stuff.

The weather has been amazing here. Since Sunday we've gotten up near 50. Tomorrow, it will get stormy and we're expected to get a good little bit of snow Wednesday night and Thursday.

I am a little annoyed to find that my DVD/CD drive on my computer doesn't read DVD/CDs anymore. Since I have a separate DVD player hooked up to the projector, that's no problem, but I really need my CD drive to install some software that won't work otherwise. I'm still working on what I can do to get what's on the CD on my computer.

Other than the uneventful week, things are well. With only Tuesday and Thursday classes, I don't have class after tomorrow until next Thursday, because next Tuesday's classes are going to be Monday classes. So, I'll have lots of free time to work on studying Nutrition and preparing speeches and such. Also plenty of time to get good rest, make good meals. I am very pleased to announce that I have gained almost 5 pounds and it's not a temporary gain from eating a big meal or anything. My average weight on the scale previously was around 128. Now it's around 132. At the doctor last week I was pegged at 136. If I keep this up maybe I'll have some insulation for next winter.

St. Patrick's Day coming up in a month, guess I better take down the Valentine's Day decorations and get some green construction paper.

I wish I was in culinary school right now. That is really the only thing that could make me happier right now. Today I had my cupcake night. I made red 2 dozen red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and then 2 dozen lasagna cupcakes, and all of it was from scratch (minus the lasagna noodles). I make a mean white sauce lasagna and tonight the white sauce was so delicious. I wanted to eat the entire dozen of those myself. I'm not as fond of my tomato sauce, but the red wine pomodoro sauce I made today was ok. I'm going to be reading up on my tomato sauce making and improving it. The red velvet was a huge hit. I topped them with the homemade cream cheese frosting and fresh raspberries. I've never made cupcakes from scratch, but they were so good that I'm grabbing a pint of buttermilk tomorrow so I can make more. There was plenty of leftover frosting, so it's a win-win. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being "EWW, I THINK I'M GONNA BE SICK" and 10 being "THIS WAS SO GOOD I'M SPEECHLESS", I rate tonight's meal an 8.75. If I improve my methods (there were plenty of little obstacles I had to overcome tonight) and improve my tomato sauce, this could easily become a signature favorite of mine. I already love it. It's super fun to make, super delicious, and it just looks so amazing when you pull them out of the pan. I have a picture of them in the pan. Once we tasted how good they were we didn't think to take pictures of them on a plate, but I'll make it again soon and take pictures. I need to start documenting my food so you all can see it.

Right now I have a spare moment. After this, I likely will not have a spare moment until Monday. Today is the Utah basketball game so I'll be in line for several hours, then the game happens, then I have to run errands to the grocery store and then we'll likely be having a movie night. Tomorrow, immediately after church I am making authentic red velvet cupcakes with decadent homemade cream cheese frosting for tomorrow's dinner's dessert. Then I have to make lasagna cupcakes for dinner. I'm having a few new faces over to my apartment- my old freshman roommate and a guy in the ward who has been interested in becoming better acquainted with me ever since he saw the table all set up for the Christmas Dinner. He's been in the ward a while but we never  hang out or anything, so since at break the fast we were talking about the duck dinner and this week's lasagna cupcakes and he was interested, I invited him. Unfortunately, the Cougarettes who were also invited can't come this week.

I gotta get going or I won't get a half decent seat at the game, so I'll sign off by sharing a new favorite youtube video on Jimmer Fredette:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E3rC8p2wq0

The big news today is that Jerry Sloan resigned as head coach for the Utah Jazz. It is not surprising that he is finally leaving, but the fact that it is mid-season does surprise me. I watched the news conference where he and his long-time assistant Phil Johnson resigned and he said it was his choice, no one forced him out and he refuses to blame it on anyone or anything other than the fact that he feels it is the right time. It will be odd watching the Jazz without Sloan on the sidelines. He's been there since before I was born.

I went to the doctor today to complete my mission physical. Everything went great. I am proud to report also that my vision is better than ever. Individually, my eyes are 20/15. But together, they are 20/13. And that's with tired eyes. I'm just shy of having the highest of 20/10. But that's ok, if my eyes were that perfect, I wouldn't have any faults.

All that remains is turning my dentist and doctor paperwork to my bishop, uploading some documents, and then the most difficult thing (besides the dental work and shots I have to get), I'll have to trim my sideburns to halfway up my ear for a picture. LAME!! Thankfully, my sideburns grow faster than a magical bean, so they'll be back down where they belong in a week. Halfway up the ear ain't so bad though since everyone told me they had to be non-existent. That was so untrue. The guidelines specifically state they can go halfway down the ear. I will not be parting my hair though. This hair is not the Red Sea.

I admit I have made some poor financial decisions in life, but, thankfully I usually get a second chance at living within my means. This year's second chance comes from a plethora of sources. My state return of $127 came today along with a $330 reimbursement for tuition from dropping a course. Tomorrow, my $1500 federal return and $275 paycheck will be direct deposited. Deduct tithing and eliminating debt to the bank (mostly incurred for educational purposes), and I should be able to pay off almost half of my loan for tuition. That will alleviate a good deal of stress.

A spot of random news. Utah is legalizing "cake" fireworks, so not all of my stash will be illegal anymore...most will still be, but not all. Regardless, we have to find occasion to get a caravan an hour and a half up the road to Wyoming before the end of April so I can get rid of the 3 boxes still under my bed. I can't take them to Zion with me and I'm certainly not going to just trot down to the police station and turn them over. What kind of person do you think I am??

Anyway, life is good. The future is bright. The Kenny G is on (if your speakers are on).

Oh, and a comment element has been added to the right side again. Go ahead. Use it.

Today as I sat reading my daily paper, I turned to the letters to the editor. I always read them to hear the ridiculous things that people believe and write. On this fine day, some poor girl wrote the following:

I cant walk across campus without hearing Jimmer Fredettes name a dozen times. His name comes up everywhere: in class, at work, during lunch really, people? Cut it out with the Jimmer worship. Last time I checked, idol worship was very much frowned upon in the scriptures. Dont you have a life to live? Then quit wasting it in front of the TV or in lines at the Marriott Center. At the very least, stop trying to convert those of us who dont follow BYU sports and dont care that baseball and badminton are two different things. Pushing basketball on us isnt going to make us like it any better. Im not blaming Jimmer for all this; was it Nephis fault in the Book of Mormon when his brothers worshiped him? As far as Im concerned, Jimmer is perfectly free to live his dreams. If he reaches his goals and lives his dreams, more power to him. I would like the same courtesy from his fans: let me live my own dreams in peace, even if they dont include ever sitting in the Marriott Center screaming my brains out.
Michelle

I knew immediately that tons of people would respond. What I did not know, however, is that by the time I read the letter at about 11:00 am, people had figured out her last name, found out her Facebook wall was public, and had left hundreds of comments. By the end of the day, nearly every Utah news outlet had a story about it, a youtube video had been made, and even ESPN had it on their site. Here are the ones I have read so far:
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/22753/jimmer-mania-gives-us-epic-facebook-thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSXAehrJCig

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsbyusports/51213510-65/byu-jimmer-student-doing.html.csp


 http://dreamcatchermedia.com/jimmered

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705366221/BYU-basketball-Student-letter-about-Fredette-gets-to-national-media-attention.html

http://universe.byu.edu/node/13783

I could post links all night long, but they all say the same thing: Michelle Peralta just got Jimmered like no other. You can bet there'll be signs about this come Saturday.

Oh, and you can't miss this hilarious song featuring LaVell Edwards, Chad Lewis and Shawn Bradley.

Today was everything you'd expect from a Monday. The tiring weekend I had culminated in me being completely and utterly exhausted this morning. I stayed in bed later than I've stayed in bed all semester. I got up at 9:40, splashed some water on my face and in me hair and trotted off to work. Only 1 of 3 morning guys were there, so when the one guy left, it was just me for a couple hours. I had a doctor's appointment at 2 so I had to leave around 1:30. I got nervous when none of the afternoon guys showed up either. Finally, at 1:15 someone came. The doctor visit was just peachy. Nothing to make me feel better on a Monday than getting injected with Tuberculosis, peeing in a cup, and having blood drawn. To all you naysayers who think I can't take a needle, I'll have you know I looked directly at the thing sucking my blood away. I didn't stare it down, but it was a solid 3 second look. I still hate needles.

Home from the doctor, I relaxed the rest of the day. I feel asleep to a movie for a good hour or so. I did laundry. I prepped my demonstration speech for class tomorrow. I'm giving my demo on making gift baskets. I figure with Valentine's Day next week it would be a great topic.

I just learned that if you are going to put wild rice in an omelet or burrito, don't saute it with your other ingredients. I had some onion and thyme sauteing and I threw in a handful of wild rice left from the duck yesterday. That stuff started popping like popcorn. My kitchen looks like a war zone now. I'll deal with that mess tomorrow though. I need to get as close to 8 hours of sleep as possible tonight.

Big plans for some great cooking in the coming weeks. Cupcake Lasagna. A couple different simple salsas. Butter Mints (the after dinner kind you have at weddings). Feta and Craisin stuffed Pork Loin. Something new with chicken...can't wait!

Tonight, I am extremely proud of myself. Most of the time, I don't brag about my food and I rarely call myself a great cook, but today I really did pull off something awesome and I am so excited how things turned out.

Hilary, Kathleen and I planned a meal in celebration of my Sous Chef job this summer. They wanted me to make something fancy, so, I decided to do the duck breast recipe I love so much from the resort. To make the week-long preparation story short, the duck had to be ordered fresh online and overnighted, then cured for 2 days with a secret combo of spices and herbs. We found that no one in Utah sells demi-glace, which was a crucial element in this recipe. Now, you can make demi-glace, but the real way takes 24+ hours and many ingredients which also would probably have to be made because they aren't found in Utah. Time was extremely tight and I pretty much had zero time left, so I did my research and took 3 different recipes and techniques for a quick imitation demi-glace and combined the recipes with my knowledge to create a mock demi-glace. I'll come back to that later. Pretty much everything about making this duck meal at home is different than making it in a fully stocked professional kitchen, so I had to make everything up based on my memory of the dish from 2 years ago. Ultimately, the duck came out fantastic, the wild rice perfect, the asparagus divine. The balsamic demi-glace was the crown. You cannot have this meal without the demi-glace and it was so delicious. I was legitimately concerned that not having good demi-glace would destroy all the preparation put into this meal. But, I could not believe that the recipe I made up turned out so good. I was completely blown away. The meal was great, the company even more great, and my confidence is just through the roof right now.

I truly love food. Not just like I love food because it tastes good, but I have this profound appreciation for everything about it. The flavors, the textures, the colors, the nutrients, the joy of cooking it, the joy of eating it, the really cool knowledge of where it came from...all these things and more I just love. When I get to talking about food people always comment on how excited I get and how passionate about it I am. I still don't consider myself to be some great cook, but I think I'm getting there and I can't wait for the rest of the journey.

Yesterday (Friday), was a crazy day. I was up at 7:30 to get ready for work at 9. At work I got to do something cool for once and drive to the BYU Radio Shop to get new chargers for our radios and get some parts replaced. It only took like 20 minutes, but it was exciting because usually the most exciting new thing I get to do at work is something lame like office work or shoveling ice and snow (both of which I am still happy to do just because of the variety). Anyway, I left work early to go to the dentist. My teeth are in good order, but I did schedule some work that would be beneficial to do just in case. At the end of this month I'm going in for 2 hours to get a crown replaced and to get an inlay to replace an old filling. Then, in March, I'm getting my two wisdom teeth removed. I didn't think it was necessary, and the dentist almost didn't think so either, but, he recommended we just do it while I'm young to prevent problems later. I only have two upper wisdom teeth, tooth #1 and tooth #16, and the removal won't be too bad. I don't need an oral surgeon, but they will still be cutting them out, so I will swell up a bit.

The dentist took a little longer than expected, so I just went the 2 blocks home to finish some school work up instead of going back to work. I finished my nutrition analysis assignment, which was very intriguing and insightful. After that was in the rest of the day was mine. The plan was to go to the men's volleyball match and then watch a movie and go to bed. Sounds like fun, but what ended up happening was way, way more fun.

Phillip and I were waiting for Phillip's Cougarette friend Amy to come so we could go to the game. Amy was with another Cougarette, Victoria, and they were hungry and wanted to do homework while we went to the game and then they'd come watch a movie. So, since Phillip and I were hungry too, we went to get dinner with them. We went to Cafe Zupas, which is a great soup, salad and sandwich cafe. We never made it to the volleyball game. You may have misconceptions about the Cougarette girls being uptight, exclusive, maybe even abrasive, but then you haven't met Amy and Victoria. After a hilarious and fun 2 hours, we left Zupas. I'll summarize the rest of the night because it was so spontaneous. We went to Spoon It Up and had some dang delicious frozen yogurt. Then, we went to Victoria's house, where several other Cougarettes live. A group of them were going to a big party and were all dressed up, so we took pictures for them and sent them off. Then we added another one to our entourage and headed to say hi to one of their friends, who is an athletic trainer. This trainer and her roommate were a riot. We almost peed ourselves laughing over there. After another hour or so, it was almost 11, so we had to get a movie going soon. The girls had to be up at 7:30 for a brutal day of practice and a performance at the basketball game, so we let them go home and Phillip and I went home, where Evan and my roommate Brandon joined us for a movie. It was by far the most entertaining Friday night we have had in a long time and when we finally got to bed at about 3 am, it wasn't hard to zonk right out.

Today was freezing cold again. So cold that the automated car wash at work froze, so we had to hand-wash the vehicles in the wash bay, and even though it is heated, when you open the door, you freeze instantly. Thankfully the wonderful sun has been shining brightly, which helps heat up the insides of the vehicles and helps a teeny bit to warm us up. The cold definitely complicates work, especially when this weekend is another super-duper busy one and almost every vehicle in the fleet is going out tomorrow. At last count there were about 52 scheduled to go out. It will be a busy day tomorrow.

I will miss a little work tomorrow for a dentist visit. Hurray.

So, what I'm really excited about is what I did for my nutrition class today. This week I took note of (almost) everything I ate for three days for our nutrition analysis assignment. It's exactly what it sounds like. An in-depth analysis of my nutrition. I inputted the foods I ate and added the closest food listed in their database. Most brand name foods are there and generally you can find something pretty close to what homemade recipes you make. It may be a little off, but when it comes to nutrition, the guidelines for intakes are broad and general in certain areas...but that's irrelevant for you to know right now anyway. After inputting my servings in for everything I ate, I could look at an analysis for tons of things. I could look at specific vitamins and minerals and see if I am getting enough. I can look at fats and see if I'm getting the right amount of calories from fats, but not too much of unhealthy saturated fats. I could look to see if I'm getting the right amounts of grains, fruits, vegetables, milk, and meats. It was super cool. From the small 3 day sample I had, I found I need to increase my intake of Vitamin A, Zinc, and Fiber. I could also benefit greatly from reducing my sodium intake. My fats were right in the range they needed to be. What's great is that you can input your food intakes every day and track your nutrition that closely. And that's just the food intake analysis part of the site. You can also input your personal info and find out how many calories you should get based on your daily exercise to maintain your weight, lose weight, or, in my case, gain some weight. I am actually setting a goal to utilize the recommendations and analysis information to help me get the caloric intake I need, coupled with the exercise I need, to increase my energy and increase my weight to a healthy level (I have been hovering just below a healthy weight for my height and age since I got sick 3 years ago). The website is run by the USDA and is:

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/

I urge everyone to become familiar with it and use it to eat and ultimately be healthy. Nutritious eating habits are vital to being healthy and you'd be surprised how lacking you may be in a vitamin or mineral you thought you were getting enough of.

Oh...and I hope you enjoyed the song of the day..."I LIKE TO OAT, OPPLES AND BONONOS!' hehehehe...classic

I was excited to change my blog up this year, but to be honest, as much as I love reading the news and following what's going on around the world, it's not as fulfilling to me to blog about it. Anyone who knows me knows I am very opinionated. I almost always have something to say and if I don't understand something enough to have a strong opinion, I go and research it until I do. So it is interesting to me that I am not finding satisfaction with sharing my thoughts on things like the crisis in Egypt. What I have noticed though, is that blogging about the daily things strengthens me. I can't really explain it, but I know that I don't get as stressed when I blog about stressful occasions. Writing about things provides a medium I think I need right now. I can share excitement about something, which provides just enough release of excitement that I don't wriggle all night and lose sleep. I'm rambling trying to describe it, but ultimately what I'm trying to say is that I enjoy sharing my life, my ups and downs, my triumphs and failures.

I would like to comment on the crisis in Egypt though. Today I watched as thousands of people were gathered in the streets with the intent of violence. For a solid half hour as I ate my breakfast, I witnessed dozens upon dozens of crude molotov cocktails being thrown at the opposing crowd. I thought it was a terrifying thing that these people were so puffed up in their opinions that they were attacking innocent people and hurling flaming bottles at each other. I wondered how someone could be in that crowd and not realize that, when these flaming bottles were hitting all around and death seemed like a very real possibility, maybe being there was not such a good idea. But if they are willing to die for their cause, that's their deal.

So, from now on I'll be posting frequently again, sharing the highlights or lowlights of my day, with the intent that I can continue to grow and maybe you can grow too...at the very least, you can be entertained for a few minutes each day.