I may start posting again soon...

I am warning everyone ahead of time... when this semester of school is out and I have a little more time, I may start posting on this blog again. Also, I may not adhere to food-related topics.

Green Chile Rice Casserole

Cheryl's awesome recipe that Jenny made for dinner tonight:

• 1 14 oz box Minute Rice - prepared (6 servings)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 oz can diced green chiles
• 1 can cream of celery soup (undiluted)
• 1/2 lb monterey jack cheese
• 1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese (grated)

combine ingredients - bake 30 minutes at 350. Can be mixed ahead and baked later. Chicken or ham can also be added (Jenny used chicken; Cheryl used ham)

What we're eating lately...

We've cut back on going out to eat in the last couple of months. We now go out once a week on a date night dinner. On Monday, we went to Epic Casual Dining. The appetizers were excellent, as usual, but the entrees were only OK this time.

To start, we had the chicken flat bread. This is one of the best appetizers in the world. I'm not even going to describe it in the blog, just go try it. We also had a couple of crab cakes, which are flaky and light. The sauce they come with is sweet and slightly tangy, but mellow enough to allow the nice flavor of the cakes to come through. They serve it with a homemade coleslaw that is fresh and crispy, but I didn't polish that off this time, because I wanted to save a little more stomach real estate for my entree.

As an entree, I had the Pacific White Shrimp over angel hair pasta. The shrimp was ok, but I think it had been frozen for a while before being thawed for my meal (think weeks, not days). The sauce was good, but a little heavy on the soy sauce. I would definitely not call it a $20 meal.

Jenny had a sirloin steak that was pepper crusted... very heavily. The steak was a pretty good cut, and the sauce was very good. If I remember correctly, it was a light peanut sauce. The pepper crusting on the steak overpowered the steak.

My recommendation for Epic is to definitely go and try their appetizers, but consider carefully before diving into an entree. Also, their salads are pretty darn good.

U of Utah!

Last Wednesday I checked my admission status and saw "Admitted". What a pleasant surprise! I am pretty excited that they (the Admissions Committee) are giving me a chance to come to the U, even though my transcripts look pretty awful. The funniest thing is the letter I opened from them when I got home from work on Thursday telling me that my scholastic history is below the U's normal admission standards and that I will be on academic probation and required to meet with an academic adviser for the first little while. Oh, and I have to keep my GPA above 2.0. I am going to be majoring in Chinese. It will probably take me about 7 years to finish everything if I go to school Spring, Summer and Fall semesters, but it will be a good lesson for me to learn (stay in school).

Update on my educational pursuits

Hi everyone. Yesterday afternoon I submitted my application for consideration to be admitted to the University of Utah. After speaking with the Admissions office (a couple of times), the transfer center, the academic advising office and the language advisement office, I feel that I have a decent chance of being considered for acceptance. My High School transcripts and the 3 classes I took at Cuesta back in '95 and '97 aren't going to help at all, but I am hoping that my SAT score, my recent grade from a math class I took online from SLCC and the letter I sent to the Admission Committee will at least give me a chance. We'll see. :) If I do not get accepted, I am still enrolled to start classes at SLCC in the Fall.

Going back to school... finally... again?

So one of the reasons I am trying to sell my house is because I am strongly considering buckling down again and going to school. I haven't decided where or exactly what I will study, but I have started a list of things I want to study.

Pink Floyd Laser

Jenny and I went to the Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular at Kingsbury Hall on Saturday night. The concert itself was very loud (probably louder than the Tool concert I went to in November), but other than that, it was awesome. They gave us 3D glasses and another pair of glasses that separated light and gave a kaleidoscope effect on certain lights and lasers.

Funny story #1:
When I sat down in my seat, someone behind me gently scratched my head with fingernails. I turned around and a lady of about 70 or so looks at me sheepishly told me "I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist." Jenny and I had some conversation with her and her friend until the show started. At intermission, she commented to us "Well, I guess now we know what a laser show is and we also know what Pink Floyd is."

Funny story #2:
While we were in line waiting to get inside, Jenny looked back and said "Oh my gosh. That I just saw my Calculus professor." A few minutes later she looked back at him and said "No way! He is with one of the girls from my Calculus class!" We got to our seats and sat down and Jenny said "I can't believe my Calc professor is here with one of his students." Then the two of them came down our row and sat right next to us. Her Calc professor is probably in his mid 50's and the girl with him was probably Jenny's age. And yeah, they were definitely dating. Hands were in places you wouldn't put them if they were just friends. (Picture her playing with his chest hair during intermission)

Funny story #3:
During the 2^nd half of the show, in the middle of a really trippy-looking laser / music video section, an usher comes down our row and starts asking us if we have a friend named Kyle. I told her we didn't and she said that he (Kyle) has a ticket for seat F8, which is Jenny's seat. I show her our tickets and leaves. Then, about 5 minutes later, another usher comes down the row, seats right next to me and says "I have a sick kid by the name of Kyle outside in the lobby right now, and he says that you know him."