Musings by Jay

In my morning ponderings, faith has been floating across my mind. You may or may not know, but the fire season has been particularly bad in the mountain west this year. Many homes have been destroyed; and while Provo has not been in any danger, it is rather unsettling to see a column of smoke coming from a burning mountain, or to see the red glow of the fires lighting up the sky.
Fires can be scary, but they are also healthy for the environment. Wild fires clean out the dead material and leave a path for new growth and life. After the forest is purged, many plants have a chance to grow; some plants require such extreme temperatures to even reproduce. When homes are built too close to a fire zone bad things can happen.
In sacrament meeting a letter was read from the 1st Presidency asking us to pray for those who have been displaced, for the firefighters and for rain. Today it is raining; raining hard. I cannot help but feel that this is the result of a culmination of prayers and faith. The power of the voices uniting is great and is the same as when Alma and his people prayed for deliverance; it is the same power that brought the Israelites out of captivity.
So what is faith...it is merely the power that if I want something enough then I can make it happen? No, it isn't. Faith is an abiding trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God and the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. We rely on his grace and mercy to repent of our sins and trust that we will be able to return to live with the Father. We know he will keep his promises. So then how does faith cause the heavens to pour out rain?
Our God is a God of miracles. He wishes to bless us; He wants to see us saved. As we faithfully (think of the meaning of this word and how it applies to faith) do our best to follow the Saviour, our Father blesses our lives; He gives us rain. Nothing I did qualified me for the rain; nothing that the people whose homes burned down did anything that caused their homes to burn. Fires will always burn, remember they are healthy (to an extent), but as we have faith in Jesus Christ, the rain will come.
The rain came because our Father in Heaven loves us. His love is unrestrained by petty issues such as hurt, betrayal, pride, jealousy, and personality flaws on our part. When we asked him for a blessing He lovingly bestowed it upon us. Sometimes blessings are not always immediate, or come in the way that we desire but we receive them. It is not a reflection on our faith what the outcome is.
As Peter walked out to the Saviour amidst the storm, the full fury of the waves and wind battered and blinded him (or a fire was raging against him). He began to fear and cried out "Lord, save me". Putting this in context, if Peter were right next to the boat, or right next to the Saviour, would he have feared? My heart tells me no. He must have been far enough away to truly fear (plus he was probably a good swimmer as well so that wasn't an option either). Peter knew that he was doomed, but then immediately the Saviour was beside him and lifted him out of the water saying "O thou of little faith, wherefore dids't thou doubt?" Peter had feared that he was too far from the Saviour to be saved; but Christ was there rebuking Peter's fear by saying (essentially) 'Of course I was going to save you.'
This is faith. In the midst of our fires and storms, our Saviour will be there to lift us and save us. Our Father will send us blessings to keep our faith and trust strong. I love you and miss you.

C is for Cake

Jennifer's wedding has come and past and here is the cake that I made for her.  It was so much work and I would never have been able to complete it without the help of my family.  My parents made the boxes to display the cakes and everyone helped with the frosting and batter making.  Geneen took charge of baking the  top cake and it was absolutely delicious.  I was very pleased with the outcome, but I told my other cousins that I was not going to make their cakes when the get married (but I might change my mind, I mean if I only did the wedding cake it wouldn't be too bad).  My favorite part was when some guests were commenting on the cake and said "I wonder who made all these cupcakes?" and I intruded on the conversation "I did."  At first they thought I was joking, but I assured them that I wasn't.  They then took a picture of me with the cake.

The Rib-Cracker

While the events of this entry happened on a previous date, recent events lead me to relate the tale.  During presidents weekend I went with my roommate and friends to Las Vegas to visit his family.  On the way down, I told my friends about a comfort zone assignment (do something that puts you out of your comfort zone) that I had to do for my choir class and we all decided that we should all do it.  I had the intention of bargaining at a store for my assignment since I hate talking to people while I shop.  

So Saturday comes and we were going to shoot guns that morning with my roommate's papa, when he cancels on us because he didn’t want to get stuck in the mud.  Fortunately we had other friends in town who weren’t scared of the mud and so we go where they are to shoot guns and ride dune buggies.  As we got there, we discover that, 1 there is no mud and, 2 that the dune buggies are not working but they have dirt bikes.  It had been ages since I last rode dirt bikes with my cousin and I had only been on a smaller, 100 engine.  While they did have a small bike, they had two bigger bikes, a 250 and a 500.  While I felt completely comfortable with the 100, looking at the 250 filled my heart with terror.  My friends turned to me and said, “We found a new comfort zone assignment for you.”  I tried to avoid it even though the sinking feeling in my gut knew that this is what I had to do.  I went and shot a hand gun, met new people, watched others riding but avoided the 250 like the plague.  

Eventually I made my way over to it and got someone to help me out.  I put on the helmet, and climbed aboard.  The bike is way too big and I can’t even touch the ground.  Now I am not short, but I am very light for a 24 year old male; this monster weighed at least 3 times my weight.  I killed the bike a few times trying to get the clutch and gas ratio perfect.  The first time I got it to move, the bike flew up underneath me and all the way vertical before we both came down crashing to the ground; too fast on letting the clutch out.  The second time I managed to move forward about 15 feet before I crashed into a dune buggy.  I couldn’t turn, I was moving too fast and I flew off the bike and slammed my left side into the buggy.   I think I cracked a few ribs and my pride in about 2 seconds.  I got up and thought I would move down to the smaller bike once I got my breath back.  I rode the 100 successfully and had a good time, all the while saying that if I wasn’t hurt, I could probably take the 250.  Then the worst happened, a girl in the group I came with got on the 250 and didn’t even fall over.  When she got back I knew I had to try the bike again, but I told myself that there wasn’t enough time.  Besides, I had already tried and almost killed myself, isn’t that enough for the assignment?  Unfortunately for me someone else still hadn’t gotten a ride on the small bike so we had to wait around anyway.  After more encouragement from good friends I got back on the bike.  It was almost too easy this time.  I took off, making sure that there were no buggies right in front of me, and away I flew.  On a bigger bike I could go much faster than before and had a blast zipping across the dried lake bed.

Taming the Rib-Cracker

Waiting for BYU.edu

So I'm sitting here in the Richards Building waiting for the stupid college website to load so I can pay some fees and it is taking forever. You would think that a college of all places wouldn't have trouble with their website; I bet MIT never has trouble with their website being slow. Even this blog site works fine. Anyway, in my now spare time, I've realized I've neglected my audience of zero and so I decided to add some photos of things I've made in preparation for my cousin's wedding. This isn't everything, but it is just what I took pictures of. I'm going to to a test run this Sunday and will hopefully get pictures up soon after.

Potatoes O'Brian (haha, I know that's not how you spell it)

You know when you go to the store and you are like "Oh my word, a ten pound bag of potatoes for $0.99!! I gotta have em."? Well that happens to me a lot and before I know it, I have a ten pound bag of soft potatoes that should really be thrown out. So if you are in need of something to use potatoes for, try this.

When I made these, I made enough for twenty people because I was going to a breakfast potluck so my numbers are going to be much larger. I'll let you do the math for your appropriate serving sizes.

Ingredients:

9 potatoes cubed

salt

pepper

red pepper flakes

oil/butter

1 pound of bacon

2 large bell peppers diced

1 medium onion diced

parsley

In a good sized skillet (non-stick works the best for frying potatoes) heat oil or butter, whichever you prefer. Depending on how many potatoes you are cooking the amount of lipids will vary. If it looks like your potatoes are getting dry add more. Add potatoes to pan when the oil is hot, season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Cook potatoes until soft and they start to brown. If you are cooking large quantities of potatoes, you can add a little amount of water to the pan and cover to steam the potatoes. It helps them cook faster. After the potatoes are cooked remove them from pan.

Now with the bacon, there are a few options. You can fry the bacon in a skillet and then use the bacon grease to cook the potatoes, or you can bake the bacon in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 min. Oven-baked bacon will be crispier and you can do this while cooking the potatoes; pan fried bacon is fattier and you can use the grease. Once again your choice. After the bacon is cooked, crumble into the potatoes.

If you want to have a quick breakfast, these two steps can be done the night before. I just put them in a baking pan and stored in the oven over night. When you are ready to resume in the morning, just turn the oven on the 350 and heat up the potatoes. Last cook diced onions in pan until they start to soften and then add the bell peppers (I use red). Cook until pepper are soft and onion starts to caramelize. Add potato/bacon mixture to the onions/peppers and heat thoroughly. Finish by adding dried parsley for that nice green touch.

Banana-Chocolate Cake...or is it Chocolate-Banana Cake?

As promised here is my cake. I would have posted this sooner, but the day that I had planned on making it my stomach decided that it wasn't going to cooperate with food, and so I instead spent the day on the bathroom floor. Not a fun place I assure you. Here is what to do.

First off you must be aware that when you put fruit into cake batter things change. Mostly you add less liquids because the fruit has water in it, second baking time usually increases and it is better to cook the cake at a lower temperature than recommended (about 15 degrees or so), third your toothpick will never come out clean, and fourth the edges of the cake are usually golden brown by the time the inside is done. If you understand these concepts you are ready to start.

Ingredients:

1box cake mix

3 eggs

1/4 cup of oil

water* (see instructions for more detail)

1 3.40z box of Banana Cream instant pudding

2 bananas

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting:

Banana Cream Pudding

2 bananas

Chocolate chips

Out of laziness, I got a vanilla (or white) cake box mix. I like Betty Crocker, usually because they are on sale more often than not. First, beat the eggs until fluffy. Add the cake mix, about 3/4 box of instant pudding and oil and mix until well blended. Cut up two bananas and mix into batter. You will want to use an electric beater to mash up the banana pieces. Mix until there are no large pieces in the batter. Now we add the water. I ended up using about 3/4 cup, but it is best to add the water in smaller amounts until the batter is normal consistency for a cake. Remember the cardinal rule of baking: you can always add more water, but never can you add more dry ingredients. Mix in chocolate chips and spread batter into greased and floured pan.

As a general rule, I will always check on a cake about 5-10 min before I expect it to be done. If the box says 30-35 min, I will check at 25. You can always add more time. You should know that the cake is done because the middle is no longer wobbly and the top and sides are golden. When you cook a cake with fruit in it, it looks like you over cooked it, but not the case. The fruit keeps the inside moist and soft. Remove and cool.

For the frosting I simply took the left over pudding mixture, added milk and let it set into pudding. Add milk until you get a consistency that you like. Cut up two more bananas and place over the top. Finally melt about a 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and put into a plastic sandwich bag that has a corner cut off. Squeeze chocolate onto cake.

Don't be afraid to make this cake you own. If I were to make it again, I would get a larger box of pudding and use more in the cake and then have more to use for frosting. I baked mine at 350 which I feel was too hot so I would also lower the temp. Happy Baking!!

Concert in the Park

In the city of Maple Valley, on the shores of Lake Wilderness our story takes place. During the months of summer a series of concerts is hosted by the city and is a place where people with nothing better to do gather to pass away the evening. Thursday August 12th was one of those days. My mother prepared a picnic lunch and we set off an hour early to get a good spot (parking that is, one that is close enough to the venue so we don't have to walk half a mile but also in a convenient get away spot in case the concert is lame). Father met us there on his way home from work. The three of us ate our pan-fried chicken as we watched the band set up.

The name of the band was 'Magic Bus' complete with its own set of gogo-girls, Shauna and Andrea. The youngest member of the band was most likely in his mid-fifties or so. He claimed to be in another band that would be playing in Detroit the next day. I had never heard of them and so I must assume it is another all senior citizen band. I wonder if they were successful enough to have their own gogo-girls. The audience consisted of retirees and young families, non of which were prepared to rock. It was quite amusing to see the band members try to get reactions out of them. About twenty minutes into to concert I had an interesting realization: the difference between flamers and rockers is in the way they take of their hair, everything else is the same. Both wear rainbow T-shirts; both wear girl jeans. They are both flamboyant in manner of speech and slightly annoying. Both have an unusual attachment to headband. Really the only difference is that flamers will use ten different hair products and rockers will use a bar of soap.

Shortly after that we made our escape; which was fairly noticeable. We were sitting in the middle of the hill, and as we made our exit, the rocker with a gig in Detroit was like "don't leave"; maybe some other people had the same sense that we did, but I like to think he was talking just to us. Besides 'So You Think You Can Dance' was about to start and they were going to announce the winner.