Since I am a food scientist and immensely enjoy playing with my food, it should be no great surprise that I love to cook.
One of my recent creations: sauteed salmon served over a bed of leeks and bacon with a creamy white wine sauce. To die for!
While my years of working with food on a commercial level have transformed me into one of the most sanitary cooks you will ever come across, oddly enough I am also one of the messiest. Somehow, while I’m cooking, my kitchen counters become covered with bits of veggies or sprinklings of flour, pieces of food inevitably find their way to the floor where they wait for a chance to stick to my feet, an enormous number of dishes miraculously pile up in the sink and on the counters, and sticky substances become splattered on the backsplashes and stovetop.
Yummy peach raspberry crisp...and a whole lot of mess.
How do I manage to leave such a wake of destruction in my kitchen when I work with food daily in a spotless product development lab equipped with sensitive scales and all sorts of scientific gadgetry? I really have no idea; it’s one of life’s great unexplained mysteries.
Yes, there is a counter top under there somewhere.
So, although you will never find me licking my fingers or a spoon while I’m cooking (that truly is disgusting, all of you who do that should really consider being considerate) and disposable gloves are regularly used in my kitchen, the chaos that results from my meal preparations is really quite impressive. Jason has come to accept my cooking disarray and is only surprised if I don’t make a mess. But, despite the temporary disorder that ensues when I cook, somehow my kitchen always survives to see me cook another day.
Despite the fact that we live in a valley surrounded by gorgeous mountains, and we love spending time in those mountains whether they are currently snow covered or leaf laden, Jason and I never attempted to snowshoe until last Saturday.
Jason’s parents gave us snowshoes for Christmas and we were eager to try them out so last weekend we headed up to the Nordic Center at Sundance Resort with Jason’s brother Jeremy, Jeremy’s wife Kara, and Jason’s parents.
The Whole Gang
It was a beautiful day for this activity. The sky was a pristine blue, with not even a trace of clouds. We followed snowshoe trails that wound through aspen covered hillsides and Mount Timpanogos was our backdrop. It was very serene and peaceful-a much different experience of our now frosty mountains than what you get whizzing down them on a snowboard.
Trekking Down our First Hill
Although snowshoeing was more work than Jason expected, he still seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. We look forward to going again soon and trying out another location. With so many beautiful spots to choose from it will be hard to pick one.
Gorgeous!
On a side note, during our snowshoe outing we ate lunch at the Foundry Grill at Sundance. It was reasonably priced and quite yummy. I had a pesto pizza covered in pine nuts, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, Portobello mushrooms, and goat cheese. It was made fresh in their wood-fired oven. Delish! If you aren’t drooling right now you must not have any taste buds.
January in Utah means the arrival of the annual Sundance Film Festival. This year Jason and I, as usual, forgot to register for the locals’ passes in time and so we were forced to be part of the pandemonium the day tickets were made available to the general public. In the midst of the chaos we were able to get tickets to three films: The Missing Person, The Yes Men Fix the World, and Earth Days.
The Missing Person, a feature film about a PI, had a nostalgic feel to it. Its slow pace reminded me of a movie from a different era, which I believe was the film maker’s intent. We enjoyed it and the Q&A afterward, where we got to meet John Ventimiglia, Frank Wood, and Noah Buschel.
Goofing around with Jeremy and Kara before the screening of The Missing Person
Earth Days was a well done documentary about the origins of the environmental movement. I love history so I thought it was enthralling. I had no idea that environmentalism started here in the United States-what a surprise, since American aren’t exactly perceived as being the most environmentally conscientious people now days. We got to meet the director, Robert Stone, after the film. His insights were fascinating.
Robert Stone, director of Earth Days, at the Q&A
I can’t say enough good things about the third film we saw, The Yes Men Fix the World. It was easily the best film Jas and I have seen at Sundance. I laughed until I cried through parts of it, but, during other parts, I thought I might cry in earnest at the injustices that it revealed. This documentary followed two men, Andy and Mike, as they set out to expose corporations involved in unethical business practices. They exposed these companies using creative pranks and hoaxes. The film was completely hilarious, one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in a long time, but it was also inspirational. It made you want to change the world, even if your methods might be a little bit more main-stream and would in no way involve wearing an inflatable “survival suit”.
One of the Yes Men at the Q&A-dressed in his "survival suit"
The Q&A session after the screening, with the Yes Men themselves, was also quite entertaining. Andy and Mike were as wacky and clever in real life as they were in the movie.
And yes, in case you didn’t catch it in the previous paragraph, The Yes Men Fix the World was a documentary, and yes, I thought it was more thought-provoking and entertaining than any movie I’ve seen in quite a while. So all of you that avoid documentaries and immediately start nodding off the second the word “documentary” is even mentioned, you might be missing out on more than you think.
Every documentary we have seen at Sundance has been absolutely fantastic. But beyond just presenting these remarkable shows, that you may not get a chance to view otherwise, Sundance also gives you a unique opportunity to experience them in a theater setting. A film is always more moving when you have that big screen in front of you and can join in your neighbor’s laughter.
We will definitely be attending Sundance again next year and look forward to more surprises.
Recent Comments