Fall Break Food Fun

The best part of fall semester for law students is by far fall break. A week with no classes! It started by going to Gray Brothers cafeteria to celebrate a friend's birthday. It's apparently a staple of hoosier hospitality. It was packed. It was pretty standard cafeteria food. The pie was amazing. The fried chicken was good too. After dinner we went back to someone's house and played some BANG. So much fun.

 

 The rest of the weekend was spent waatching General Conference. The big news is that the Church is lowering the age at which individuals can serve missions. I thought that was pretty cool. I decided to make Lasagna Soup. I invited a friend from law school to enjoy it with me. It turned out really well. I don't pinterest, but I'm glad my cousin found it so I could enjoy it.

 

 

Then on Monday I went into work. Tuesday I worked on a law review assignment. Wednesday I met my mom at the Indianapolis Airport and we headed to St. Louis. We headed to the arch first. It was a great to see it in person, up close. We went to the top. An amazing view! Really an amazing piece of architecture.

 

 

 

 

The next day we went the St. Louis Zoo. It normally has free admission, but you have to pay $15 to park. We went to pay, and the credit card machine wasn't working, so after waiting a long time they let us park without paying. For lunch we went to Steve's on the Hill, the best hot dog place in St. Louis. I got the Gorilla Macaroni and Cheese Dog. Their hot dogs are hickory smoked. Mine had mac n chees, French's Fried Onions and bacon pieces. It was excellent. Great combination of everything. I highly recommend it.

 

 

Then for dessert we went to Ted Drewes frozen custard on historice route 66. I got a Reese's concrete, which is essentially a blizzard, except it's not over priced. Definitely worth you're time if you are in St. Louis.





Summer Reading List--2012 Edition

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of Summer. So as the tradition goes on this blog, it’s time for my summer reading list.

 

This is a book is a true story about a really fast runner who ends up serving as a pilot in WWII. On one mission his plane ends up crashing in the ocean. After weeks in a raft that survives sharks and being shot at, they are finally captured by the Japanese. The book recounts all of this and then his stay in a POW camp. It’s a miracle that he even survived. It really helped to show just how brutal the Japanese were towards their prisoners.  A great narrative about a real hero of the Greatest Generation!

 

This is a book about the English language. It talks about the origins of English and how it relates to other languages. It also talks about how English is very good at adopting other words into its lexicon. It also talks about how the use of Global English (English spoken by non-native speakers) is on the rise and most likely to stay for a long time. If you are into languages and how they work, I highly recommend this book. It presents the stuff in a way that a person without a PhD can understand.

 

This was the only fiction book that I read over the summer. I never had a chance to read this book in High School and I had always been curious as to what it’s about. This book is about Holden Caulfield, a troubled teenager who is on the verge of getting kicked out of school. It’s told from his perspective. It ends up being about him wandering around town and drinking at random bars. I thought it was okay, but really didn’t get the point of it. I thought there was some secret meaning behind everything, but turns out that it’s just about a rebellious teenager and the angst that goes along with it. Essentially, a coming of age story. It’s probably worth your time just to say that you have read this book.

First, this book was not written by Madonna. It was written by a professor that I had at BYU. It’s about the status of women throughout the world. It essentially makes the argument that a state’s “security” is highest when that state’s women have a high status in society. This book helps to show how women are treated throughout the world. The atrocities that happen to them are unthinkable. I agree with its conclusion that most of the world’s problems could be solved by treating women equally in status with men. Plus, I might be partial, but the preface is pretty good too.

 

 

Pigging Out

Today was the most important day of the trip. The only reason I really came out. The Royal Wedding. The wedding of one of my Best Friends---G. Michael Eddington. Owen and I headed to the Salt Lake Temple and got there plenty early. It was a much better experience than I anticipated. So many people get married at the Salt Lake Temple that I thought it would be a lot like cattle herding. Anyway, it wasn't like that at all. The ceremony was really nice. After it was over, we waited for the couple to come out of the doors. They looked really happy!

The picture that I am most proud of though, is this candid that I took. I think it turned out really well.

Anyway, it was a good time. Owen and I were starving by the end. I had gotten a Groupon for Pat's BBQ (featured on the Food Network--DDD). So we headed down there. Really good. I had pulled pork and beef brisket with a side of red beans and rice. It was great. Really tender meat with a nice smoky flavor. I highly recommend it.

After that, we went back to the apartment so we could recover. At around 7 we headed to the Mariott downtown for the Reception. It was legit. Really nice. They had some good food. Make your own sliders, plus three types (squash, mushroom and cheese) of deep fried ravioli. It was epic. The desserts and punch were really good too. Probably the best chocolate covered strawberries I have ever had!

It was fun to visit with a lot of my friends: the Steeles, Lauren, the Jakemans and Elizabeth too. In a lot of ways it was a microcosm of sorts of the past seven years of my life. Crazy!

It was  a great day. I'm really happy for Mike and Brooke. They are really great people and they will be really happy together.

Partay in Layton

Friday I was pretty much on my own because Owen was doing some reseach at the U of U and I would not be caught dead or alive on that campus. I woke up, got ready and headed out the door. Since I didn't have a car I decided to use the TRAX (aka Light Rail). America really doesn't know how to do Transportation, but I think Utah has done a really good job at it. I went to Target to get wedding presents for two weddings. It was fun. Then with all of my bags I got back on the TRAX do check out City Creek.

City Creek is this new shopping center that the Church recently built. It is essentially trying to bring the outdoors inside in a really ritzy shopping environment. Well, it was impressive. They did a really good job at it. I hope it will be successful. I just really don't know how well stores like Tiffany's and Nordstrom are going to do in Utah.

They have a really nice food court though. I went to Bocata. It's this artisan sandwich place. They make their bread right in front of you. I got their meatball sandwhich. It is probably the best meatball sandwich/sub that I have ever had. It had carmelized onions, provolone cheese and creme fraisch on it. It was really good. It tasted nice and fresh. Really good!

Then upstairs they had a Kneader's. I had been there for their French Toast, but never had their Brownies, so I decided to give it a try. It was delicious. Not super sweet, but still a brownie. I also had a fruit tart t make me think I was having something healthy.

After that, I headed to Owen's Apartment. When he got home, we headed up the road to Layton for a former roommate's wedding reception. It was fun. They had make your own sundaes and chocolate covered strawberries.

The cake feeding got really interesting. After smacking it each other's face they had a real quick make out session, which was pretty intense. The dances were also pretty emotional as well. They picked some really good songs. Anyway, it was a good time!







Partay in Provo

My trip to Utah started Wednesday night. I arrived in Salt Lake at around 10pm. Owen picked me up. We went back to his place for a couple of minutes. The first thing I saw as we walked down the stairs to his apartment was this:

I told him if that was his apartment I didn't think Iwould be able to stay with him. Luckily it wasn't. Then we met up with his "Southern Belle" and we headed to Del Taco for some shakes. I also had a taco and churro. The taco definitely better than Taco Time, but certainly not as good as Taco Bell. After we got back from Del Taco we spent the whole night hanging out, swapping stories with one another. It was fun to finally meet Hailey (aka Southern Belle) and finally get to know the person behind the random texts.

The next morning we slept in a little. After we ate and got ready, we cruised on down to Provo. We went on the Alpine Loop. It's this scenic drive. I had never been so I was glad we got to do that. Then we went on  a hike to Stewart Falls. I heard that it was really pretty and a relatively easy hike. Well, I wouldn't call it easy, but it was definitely nice.

After we hiked back to the car, we made a quick stop to the Riv. A long time ago when I created my EBAY account, I used my Riv address. Well, I recently ordered a Jimmer poster on EBAY, but I forgot to change my default shipping address. So, it got delivered to the Riv. Luckily they kept it for me and I was able to pick it up. We got a quick bite to eat at J-Dawgs. Maybe the best hot dog on the planet?

After that we went and visited J-Money and his wife Andrea. It was kind of unannounced, but they were gracious hosts and let us in. They also let us wash our legs off, which were really dirty from the hike. We had a nice little visit. It was really good to see them. Then we made a quick stop at the BYU bookstore. It was really nice to walk on Campus again. It really is one of the prettiest college campuses in the nation. I bought my dad and I some game day shirts for when we go to the BYU vs. Notre Dame game in October. I can't wait.

Then we headed to Terre Mia. It's a casual Italian Restaurant. It was really good. I had the Pasta Terre Mia. It had a little bit of everything in it including sausage and Eggplant. Owen had some pesto stuff. It was really good and a lot more affordable than the Olive Garden.

After that we went to Deseret Book. I got some good books and a David Archuleta CD for a wedding present. We had fun wasting some time. Then we went over to my California Babe's house for some brownies and ice cream in honor of her Fiancee's birthday. It was really good to catch up with her. I'm really happy that she is happy and getting married to a really nice guy.

Then we made the drive from Provo to Salt Lake. Not really that exciting. The next morning when I got up though I noticed a really weird blister on my ankle. I looked at it and didn't know what to make of it. It looked like dried glue from a hot glue gun. I asked Owen what he thought it was. Apparently its a blister that you get from a certain type of beetle. All they have to do is touch you and not even bite you. I don't think it will hurt me. I just hope that it goes away soon!

Perks

Wednesday was my last official day as a Summer Intern at EnerDel. I had a great experience there. I wasn't expecting a lot out of this summer as far as internships were concerned, but EnerDel changed all that. I learned a lot about the basics of business. I got to sit in on a lot of meetings to see how a business operates. I got to interact with a lot of lawyers. I got to draft some contracts which is a fun thing by the way. I learned how to make "sausage." The most important thing I learned probably is how to be lawyer. Seeing the way Karen and Dave perform their duties really opened my eyes about how lawyers should conduct themselves in a professional setting. From big things like how to renew your license with the state to small things like not getting the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday durin a business lunch. It was also great because it came with a lot of perks.

The first perk was the water drawer. There was always water there for me so I didn't get dehydrated. It was nice to know that I would never go thirsty!

The second perk was the communal snack drawer. Mostly this served as our after lunch chocolate fix. I was always nice to know that we had some snacks if I was ever hungry.

Third perk was my own desk. It was a really nice desk with a lot of drawers and space for me to make a mess.

Finally, the nicest perk was lunch. My boss Karen took me to lunch all the time. It was really nice of her and I really appreciated it. As a last hurrah she took me out to a really fancy restaurant downtown called Palimino. It was really good. Anyway, the lunches were always a good chance to talk about law and non-law stuff. She also would have lunches with other lawyers to help my network skills and better understand other positions in the legal field.

So it was a great experience. The good news is, I will be working part-time there afte labor day. I am very pleased and look forward to learning more!

Walking a Mile in Someone Else's Shoes

Tuesday morning I went to put on my shoes. It wasn't very bright but as I was looking at them I thought that they didn't look like they normally do. Then I realized that they weren't my shoes. Apparently, when I was leaving Chicago I accidentally grabbed Brigham's shoes. Needless to say, the shoes are now on their way to New York. At least now I can say that I have walked a mile in someone else's shoes!

Won't You Take Me Down To Chinatown

Monday we went to visit Chinatown. I felt like a really important visitor because the last time the Barnes family had visited Chinatown was twenty years ago. It's the 4th largest in America. It was pretty neat.

It was really hot, but don't worry they had plenty of water to quench our thirst.

We ate a really good restaurant. We had a really good sampling of a lot of Chinese food. My favorite was definitely the pork buns. Really delicious. After lunch we caught the water taxi to head up to the Water Tower again so we could check out the American Doll Girl store. And when I say we, I mean Owen's nieces. It was a really nice ride with a great view of the skyline.

Me taking a picture of Brigham taking a picture:

After exploring for a while, we took a much more uneventful ride back to Oak Park on the L. For dinner we went to this Chicken and Waffle place.

I had never had Chicken and Waffles before and I was really excited. Needless to say I was not let down. I always pictured having chicken and waffles smothered with gravy. Apparently though that is not the case, you just use syrup and butter. I had Carol's Treat and it was a treat indeed. I think everyone really enjoyed what they ate.

After dinner, I made the drive back to Indy. All in all it was a good early fourth of July celebration. I'm so grateful to the Barnes family for their hospitality and having me as their guest for the weekend. They are awesome people.

Best After Sunday Dinner Walk

Sunday found us waking up and going to Church. I forgot my white shirt and tie so I had to borrow one of Owen's. I was surprised that it fit. It was tight but it fit. During Church there was a nasty storm outside. They needed the rain though. It looked like a hurricane. When we got home, I just chilled, while everyone else helped make a huge Italian dinner headed up by Brigham. I only entered the kitchen once to take a picture of Brigham making the meatballs, but the process is highly documented on Steady Mobbin'.

Anyway, it turned out really well. One of the best Italian meals I have ever eaten. Definitely the best home made Italian meal I have ever eaten. After dinner I got to take part in a Barnes family tradition: the family walk. It was the best of Oak Park tour. We got to see some really pretty homes and have some good conversations.

It was a fun day. A nice evening.

Love the Life You Live

With my job, my ability to just leave town isn't as easy as it normally is. My boss is nice though, and let me have Monday off so I could spend the weekend in Chicago with one of my really good friends from BYU. I left Friday evening and rode the 3 hours to Oak Park (a suburb of Chicago). I pretty much went straight to bed. We woke up early on Saturday and headed out to the Bongo Room for breakfast. We got there before they opened and there was a line of thirty people on the sidewalk. I got pancakes again. This time Raspberry Oreo. They were so delicious.

After Breakfast Owen and I went for a walk around town. We ended up at Millennium Park again. It was a lot nicer with out all of the Irish. We got to see spitting fountains, the cool bridge and Buckingham Fountain this time. It was really nice.

One of my "dreams" has been to visit the Magnificent Mile. You always hear it at the end of Oprah when she is talking about the hotel where her guests stay "in the heart of Chicago's magnificent mile." We walked down Michigan Avenue which is the Magnificent Mile. It was nice, but not really all that much to write home about. They had nice shops. Owen got some clothes at the Gap. I got a cubs T-Shirt. We went to the lego store. It was a nice place, but nor really something that I would need to see again.

Then we headed back to Oak Park on the L. It was quite an experience. This loud teenager got on after a couple of stops. He kept talking about "Live the life you love" and his friend kept saying "No! It's love the life you live." Owen and I were real confused. These two girls in front of us kept laughing. We wanted to laugh too, because he kept singing hip hop songs and also saying some really crazy things. After he got off, we had a good laugh with the girls in front of us. We also found out where he kept saying the live your life stuff. It was on the girl's shirt who was sitting in front of us!

After walking past Owen's high school we headed back to Owen's house. Then we just kind of chilled for a couple of hours until dinner. We had Chicago Deep Dish and thing crust pizza. It was really good. It wasn't fom Gino's East, but it was still pretty good.

After dinner, it was sidewalk chalk time. Walker, Owen's nephew who is close to 18 months enjoyed eating it more than drawing. Owen was commissioned to draw pictures of his nieces and nephews. He did a pretty good job if you ask me.

After that a group of us decided to go see "Moonrise Kingdom." It's Wes Anderson's lastest film. Brigham, Corey, Brother and Sister Barnes really enjoyed it. We went to the Lakw, which is Oak Park's theater. It was only 8 dollars. I thought that was a steal for a movie in Chicago. It was a good film. A little quirky, but good.

Fast Food Frenzy

The Fast Food Industry lately has really been introducing a lot of new items at their restaurant and I finally have been getting around  to trying them. First up is the Doritos taco from Taco Bell. I was probably most excited about this one. This is a most logical combination. It did not disappoint.

The shell wasn't exactly the same as a real dorito, but it was still really good. Salty and cheesy. It got soggy kind of quickly, but that really didn't affect the Doritos effect of the shell. It also came with a paper taco holder so your hands wouldn't get too messy.

Next on my list was Burger King. I had seen adds for their sweet potato fries and finally decided to try it one day at lunch. They were excellent. Hot and crispy with just the right amount of salt. I also had their new BBQ Tendergrill Sandwich and that was excellent as well. The BBQ sauce was not to tangy and I feel like their chicken was actually chicken and not over processed.

After I finished, I looked at a flyer on my table and remember that I forgot another item that I wanted to try. I normally wouldn't have splurged, but it was the same day the ObamaCare ruling came down and I needed something to drown my sorrows in:

This bacon Sundae was amazing. The combination of the sweet and the salty was very pleasing. The Caramel and the Chocolate was a great addition. Some people might be grossed out by this, but it was really good. I highly recommend all of these items to everyone!

Damn All The Odds

This weekend I got invited to go on a camping trip in Michigan with some of my friends from the YSA in Indy. We left Friday after work and headed up North to Michigan. It was a really nice drive! I love all of the farm land, especially as the sun was going down. We stopped at the South Street Smoke House in Lafayette which was really good. I had a Kansas City sandwich and fries. It was Beef Brisket, provolone and two onion rings on a bun. Add some BBQ sauce and you have a great sandwich. The meat was really tender. This place really had some good food!

After dinner we got back on the road. We made decent time. We got there just as it was getting completely dark. The other part of our group had gotten there earlier in the day and already had the tents set up. It would have been near impossible in the dark. We got a fire started, made smores an shot the bull. It was a good time. We went to bed. I forgot my pillow. Thanks to my friends we were able to make a make shift pillow that worked pretty well. We woke up and let's just say I had a heart attack:

Don't worry, it isn't a health condition, but rather a breakfast dish at a local diner. It had hash browns, ham, sausage, bacon and eggs. It was really good. It kept me full for a really long time. After that we headed back to Weko Beach to enjoy Lake Michigan. I caught some rays before I got in the lake. The water was surprisingly clear. It was also really clean. Apparently, the way the currents work, all of the nastiness from Chicago does not go over to that side of the lake. It was cold, but it felt really good for as hot as it was. We went to lunch and then in the afternoon I just hung out with some friends at the camp site. It was a good time all around. Then I got a shower and dressed to head up to a town about 20 minutes away called St. Joe. It was a really nice place. We rode the Merry-Go-Round, which is the same as a Carousel. They had some really cool fountains.

We had pizza for dinner at the Silver Beach Pizza company, which also randomly serves as an Amtrak stop. It always has a line outside of it and we waited for over an hour to get in. We had appetizers. We got a Carousel Special (mushrooms, ham, sausage and something else) and BBQ Chicken pizza. They were both really good.

After dinner we watched the sunset and walked out on the pier. The bugs ate me alive. Then we headed back to the campsite, made smores and shot the bull some more. Sunday morning we woke up, cleaned up the camp site and took off. We stopped for Church in South Bend. It was a really pretty building, but on the inside the chapel was all green. It was overkill to say the least. After Church, we went to the campus of Notre Dame to look around. The buildings were really nice. We went to the Grotto, which you might recognize from Rudy. Of course I had a drink of the holy water fountains. I can't wait to come back and discover more in October when the Cougar come to fight the Irish. It should be EPIC!

After that we stopped at Culver's for lunch. Ever since I arrived in Indy I have wanted to try that restaurant because I see commercials for it all of the time. I got a pepperjack cheddar burger with fries and a Blizzard like cookie dough frozen custard for dessert. The burger was really good. A double with a lot of cheese and bacon. The fries were crinkle, which I am usually not a fan of, but these were nice and crispy which made them excellent. I also got introduced into cheese curds. They are essentially mini mozzarella sticks. They were excellent as well.

Then we drove the rest of the way home. When I got home, I had a package waiting for me:

After years of rumors that the green Hungarian hymn book had been completed, I finally was able to order and get a copy of it. I'm interested to see if the Hungarians will actually used. They have changed a lot of the songs. Should be interesting. After opening that I got a shower and got dressed for a J Reuben Clark Law Society fireside in Carmel (Carmel is not Carmel!). One of the Assistant General Counsel's for the Church of  Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints spoke about the legal issues the Church is facing internationally. It was very interesting.

So, it was a good week. I had a lot of fun. I also got this text from Owen which made me laugh a lot:

Reminds me of my time with Elder Howe on the mission. Our companionship motto was "Damn All the Odds"  (you get an A for the day if you can name the musical). The other reason I'm posting this is because this upcoming weekend (I got next Monday off thanks to my great boss Karen) I'm going to Chicago/Oak Park to visit the Barnes family and Sir Owen himself. It should be a fun trip again and I can't wait to discover more of Chicago!