Happy Sumo + Friends

Yummm...my caterpillar roll.

Jim can't keep his eyes open if the flash is on. Every picture we took was like this. haha

The girls: Holly, Lisa, and me

I made this for dessert: it was so good! Recipe coming soon.

A post shot of us and the McCoys just hanging out.

Happy Sumo is a place that I talk of often because of how much I love it, and luckily on Saturday night, us and a few of our friends decided to go! Granted, we love sushi so anyplace that serves sushi is pretty great! But, this place really is exceptional. I have had a lot of sushi growing up in Hawaii and, while this isn't my favorite sushi place of all time, it is pretty dang good...especially if you are a newbie to it and especially since it is in Utah. (Hmmmm...I don't know how I feel about that).

I realize that not everybody is a huge sushi fan, so the good thing about this place is the variety they give. They have teriyaki chicken bowls, veggie rolls, and they even have a buffalo chicken roll for those of you who are too afraid to try the real stuff. I don't think I would personally ever get that--my favorite it the Caterpillar roll, which has avocado, unagi (eel), and tiny fish eggs on top--it is good for those who try and stay away from fish. Our friend, Jim, who went with us actually got it and said it was pretty good!

Yes, we love sushi, but we love our friends who love sushi just as much as us even more!! Thanks for a great evening!

Spam Musubi

Now, most of you know that I am from Hawaii and that one of my favorite foods is spam musubis. (It's kind of like ghetto sushi.) In Hawaii, they are very popular: people bring them to sporting events, pot lucks, and they even sell them at 7-11! They are absolutely delicious and one of my all time favorite foods. Now for those of you who are thinking, "Ew. Spam is nasty. And seaweed is even nastier!"...well you have to give them a try! Don't judge because I promise that there will be plenty of you who love these!! Quite a few of my friends and my husband like them, so maybe you will too! If you have ever been to L&L Hawaiian Barbecue (they have one here in Provo on Bulldog), they sell them and they are delicious. So try one, why dontcha?

For those of you who have tried them and do like them. Here's how to make them!

Step 1: You will need sticky rice, seaweed (any asian store will carry this), spam, and a spam musubi press. If you don't have a press, which Im assuming most of you don't, then you can use the spam can and it will work just fine! Just cut off the bottom with a knife or scissors. **If you are a fan, you can buy a musubi press on Amazon for about $5.

Step 2: Slice and cook the spam in a skillet on medium to high heat. It is precooked so you can cook it for as long as you want and it won't hurt you. I usually cook it for about five minutes so it gets a little crunchy on the outside.

Step 3: The sea weed usually comes in sheets around the size of a sheet of paper, so you will need to cut the seaweed about the width of a spam can. This will hold everything together. If you don't like seaweed...well...I can't really help you, but I'm telling you it doesn't really taste like anything. :)

Step 4: Place the strip of seaweed on a plate and place you musubi press (or your can) vertically across it.

Step 5: Fill the press or can with rice (about 3/4 of the way up).

Step 6: Place a piece of cooked spam on top.

Step 7: Take the top of the musubi press and squish it down so everything is compact and stuck together. If you didn't do this, all of your rice would fall out of the seaweed as soon as you lifted it.

Step 8: Wrap the seaweed around the spam and rice.

Step 9: In order to make the seaweed stick around the rice and spam, place a small amount of sticky rice on one side of the seaweed and fold the other side on top of it.

Step 10: You are done!! Now go eat it!!

They really are quite easy!! Try 'em! I dare you!

Auditions

Auditions are so fun to watch. Especially good auditions. Especially good, unique auditions. And especially when you are a singer and can appreciate different voices and styles. While I don't watch American Idol anymore (I watch The Voice instead and it's great!), I do like to look up the top ten of the season and watch their auditions. I love watching the first auditions before the contestants have had any coaching and before they make them into this "Hollywood Cookie Cutter Star" where they all look the same. I am always amazed at how much raw talent there is in the world--just in America! It really is amazing! Here are a few of my favorite auditions:

1. Phillip Phillips: ridiculous name, but he is great! His style is right up my alley and I loved watching his perform, especially when he busts out his guitar and sings Thriller. Probably my favorite in the top ten.

2. Heejun Han: This guy is hilarious!! He has a good voice, but he has an even more lovable personality!!

3. Johnny Keyser: This guy is actually not in the top ten, surprisingly, but this song he sings is A-MAY-ZING! He is good looking, a little cocky, and has a great voice! Wow.

Hope you enjoyed those as much as I did!!

The Lucky One

A few weeks ago when I went to see The Vow with some friends, there was a trailer for a Nicholas Sparks book called The Lucky One. After the first few seconds of the trailer, I knew this was going to be a movie that I would want to see...and then when it ended, I knew that I NEEDED to see this movie! It looked so lovey, and notebook-esque, and just so good! My kind of movie exactly.

Then I found out the movie doesn't hit theaters until April 20, 2011 and I just couldn't wait that long, so I decided to read the book beforehand. I checked out the book from the library about a week ago and I am 200 pages into it already and absolutely love it! While I don't have all that much time to sit down and read a book and haven't really since the summer before last, I have somehow managed so squeeze in a few pages here and there and it absolutely wonderful to read a book for pleasure again. (And I just found out that coincidentally my mom is reading this book too. How funny?)

For those of you who haven't seen this trailer yet, you're in for a treat!!

Let me guess, you got chills just as the music started playing? Yeah, me too.

President's Day in Moab

Over Memorial Day weekend, we drove down to Moab with Alex's parents (who came all the way from Portland!) for a warm weekend. Psych!! It was probably just as cold down in Moab as it was here in Provo...none of us knew it even got that cold down there? But it was still a blast and I had so much fun getting to spend some time with Terry and Larry (cute, huh?) and of course my husband, Alex. So much fun!!

For the most part, we hiked a lot and saw several of the beautiful natural arches that Moab is famous for--my favorite of course was Delicate Arch. We hiked it on Sunday--while it was 30 degrees and snowing--and we felt like we were in The Lord of the Rings because part of it is on a steep ledge and the snow was in our face, but it was a good time!! It was absolutely beautiful!

We also enjoyed going out to eat, sitting in the hot tub every night, and eating the warmest, and chewiest chocolate chip cookies that the hotel provided every night! Not bad, eh?

happy v-day

Our first Valentines Day together...

This year...

This year was mine and Alex's third Valentines Day spent together! Can you believe it? Three already! The first Valentines Day we spent together, we dressed up, Alex brought me beautiful red roses, and we had dinner up in Salt Lake at Bucca Di Beppo--one of my favorite restaurants! We had only been dating a few weeks at this time, and we danced at a spot that overlooked all of Salt Lake. Romantic, yeah? Last year, Alex and I were so tired from that week and that day that we didn't plan anything, we ate Cafe Rio while watching the movie Valentines Day, and Alex made me a little basket full of lovey things--flowers, a couple chick flick movies I said that I wanted and candy. We got engaged two days after Valentines Day last year. It doesn't feel like I have known Alex for that long--I mean I know everything there is to know about him, but it is still fun and exciting! I still get nervous sometimes when I see him...weird, I know!

Anyway, this year we went low key again and spent Valentines Day at home, but it was so great! We copied a friend--Grace Brummer--and decided to pick up some heart-shaped crusts from Pap Murphy's and make pizza! It was delicious and so fun to just hang out with Alex. He is so fun to be around--really, I never get bored of him or anything! That is how it's supposed to be! I tried to make it romantic-- even though we were eating pizza--by buying 32 tealights. 32!! And making our kitchen a pretty site! After dinner, we continued the tradition of watching Valentines Day and ended the night with a bang!

All in all, I had an absolutely lovely evening. My beautiful roses are sitting in a vase on our kitchen table and I can't help but smile every time I look at them.

Sledding down the Mountain

On Sunday, it snowed! Like a lot. So after church, Alex was shoveling the driveway with Hal and decided he wanted to go sledding over at Rock Canyon Park. A few minutes later, I had several layers on and we were out the door and on our way with a couple of round sleds in our hands to the Park. I didn't think there were going to be very many people there, but there were quite a few kids--and adults--sledding on a Sunday afternoon. So fun!!

It was absolutely beautiful and I had a blast! I haven't been sledding in a long time, and, minus the walking back up the hill several times, it was really really fun and Im glad Alex and I got to spend some time out in the snow. I mean, we do live in the mountains!!

Now, we just need to get on the slopes before Spring comes and melts all the snow away. Snowbird, here we come... and this time, you will not cause any broken bones!! ;)