Tiffanie The Gourmet Chef and Zak the Starving Man

Zak likes to eat yummy food, so I have made it my mission to create yummy food for us to consume. I was so motivated in the beginning. I went through all my cook books and called my mom for recipes. Then I made a shopping list and bought actual ingredients- not microwavables (strange). The first night that I tried a new recipe I tried a Broccoli casserole that sounded easy. I thought I would get creative and add some chicken. I soon realized that my frozen broccoli wasn't the right cut for this particular dish, but I shrugged and pressed on. as I was putting it in the pan I realized (surprise surprise) that I had forgotten one of the main ingredients. So of course I just tossed a little sour cream into the pan. I couldn't put it all back in the bowl to mix it in like a normal person, no I just smeared it around on top. Zak walked by and asked what I was doing and why I was laughing. I told him that is was because dinner looked like Fear Factor. We insisted on calling if Fear Factor for the rest of the week.

I have also been trying to find the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I have tried 3 different times now and all of them have failed. Some were to hard. Some were to salty, some tasted like cardboard. Let me know if you have any advice.

Sometimes I get these weird ideas in my head and I just have to try them out. For example, this weekend I went out and bought a 30 pound watermelon, some cantaloupe and grapes, carried it all up to my third floor apartment and cut it up with cookie cutters. I was just curious to see if it would work and it totally did. Zak and I had fun making little fruit flowers and making a HUGE sticky mess of our whole entire house. It was great fun. We now have about 29.75 pounds of watermelon in our refrigerator for just the two of us.

For more episodes of Tiffanie the Kitchen Disaster, go here.

Jib Jab

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!I wanted to do one too.

Bear Lake

We had tons of fun with my family at Bear Lake. My Aunt Susie and Uncle Scott brought their boys and their boat. The weather was stormy most of the time we were there, so we didn't get to do to much wakeboarding or skiing, But I got up on a wakeboard for the first time ever. When I got up I got so excited that I totally forgot what I was doing and let go of the rope to celebrate. I couldn't get up again because a fresh thunderstorm was moving in and we had to take the boat out of the water.

The storms made for some choppy water and some wild tube rides. My uncle has a HUGE tube that is super stable and we had "Zak versus Scott." Scott would drive crazy and try to make Zak fall off the tube. He only succeeded twice. Zak is tough. I think it scared the younger kids away from riding the tube for a while. We also had "Water Weenie Elimination." I am proud to announce that I, Tiffanie, out lasted both Susie and Zak on the Wild Water Weenie Extravaganza. This event also scared the little boys away from water activities for a while.

It is always fun to watch Zak with my cousins. The oldest, Trevor, is 11 and Zak treats him like the little brother he never had. Which of course means that Zak took it upon himself to swim out to the boat Trevor was on and chuck him in the lake. Ryan, 8, is the extreme sports king of the family. He alone would get on the Tube with Zak for Ultimate Splash Challenge. So fun! McKay (5) and Hayden (2) like to play in the water too and are so fun to play with.

We also went golfing. (HAhahahahaha yeah right. I mean my dad and Zak went golfing and Heather and I drove the carts.) I am an awesome cart driver... and cart golfer. I think we should all start a great game of Golf Cart Polo. That is my secret talent- golfing from the cart. Sorry to all of you golfers- I am that person on the course that is running all over the place like wild and not getting much golfing in.

Yes, I know, very professional. (This is my sister Heather with an orange in her mouth. We were very busy "golfing.")

Oh Glenwood, How I Love Thee So

(Chelsea, Me, Amanda, and Kathryn)

Its time for another episode of "My Crappy Apartment, the College Edition." Just kidding the whole apartment wasn't that bad. It was just crappy because the place was older than I am, and it still had the original mattresses. After the "remodel job" it was advertised as "Park City style lodging." This had me rolling on the floor laughing. The comment was made that the next thing we knew, they were going to put sand around the pool at the Riviera and call it a beach house.

It seems fitting that I do a post in honor of the place Zak and I met. We have lots of good memories of or time there, like the time Zak threw me in the pool, and the time the floor of the lounge collapsed. We spent so much time sitting on broken couches, cooking with crumbling stoves, and sitting in the hot tub of boiling chlorine that we practically own the place. We figured out that between the two of us, with Zak's three years and my two and a half years living there that we paid about $10,000 in rent. That is so gross.

I had 12 roommates during my time in Lodge 70. Chelsea, Amanda, Erica, Katheryn, Liz, Jessie, Blanca, Jen, Jessica, Brittany. Louise, and JoAnna. When you look at it like that, it seems like I chased them all away with my bad breath or something. (Or maybe my alarm clock in the mornings.)

Here are some good things/knowledge that came from my Glenwood roommates: I got out of a $70 library fine (Blanca). I realized that I will naturally never fit into a D (Jessie). I know Yoga better than most people (Amanda). The trunk of my car can fit 3 adults comfortably (Me, Jen, and Amanda). Harry Potter is awesome (Jen). Its ok to change your major 16 times per semester (Chelsea). The Office is possibly one of the greatest television programs of our day (Brittany). Some people are not morning people, and morning doesn't start until 4pm (Brittany). Its ok to work out to Christmas music in September (Jessica). Laughing is better than talking (Kathryn).

Ode to My Roommates

(Left to right: Kelsey, Jen, Sarah, Amanda, Nancy and me.)

Do we look like college freshmen living in the dorms? Yeah, we sure do. This post is dedicated to Kelsey, Jen, Sarah, Amanda, and Nancy of Robison Hall, apartment 128, 2004-2005. We were all so different from each other, it is amazing that we, not only didn't kill each other, but became good friends.

Nancy and I shared a bedroom, and we were polar opposites. For example: (If you know me at all, you will understand!) She was from Arkansas and grew up on a hog farm. Her family didn't eat chocolate- she never really explained to me why, other than it was just a family thing that they did. I had my side of the room plastered in black and white photos, but she said that she liked plain white walls. She went to bed at 10:00pm on the dot every night. (I was lucky to be in bed by 1am back then. There were some nights that I went out at 1am.). She went grocery shopping once in September and once in October and not again until March or April. She kept 5 giant bags of flour under her bed as food storage. Once she hid a barrel of dirt and carrots from her brother's garden in her closet hoping that I wouldn't see them and freak out.

We used to stay up late and read the graffiti under our bookshelves to each other. Nancy always gave really good advice. I am glad that we were friends, even though compared to her, I was a skanky, lazy, party girl with an attitude.

I am still good friends with all of these girls. Jen got married 4 days before me and we planned similar pink and green weddings, both in the Bountiful Temple. Amanda is on a mission in Porto Rico. Sarah and Kelsey lived in Europe this last spring. Its so cool that we are all growing up and doing the things that we had been talking about and planning back when we lived together.

Jane Austen Quiz

I took Jeni's Jane Austen quiz too. I love Jane Austen so I couldn't pass it up. I ended up being most like my favorite character- Elizabeth Bennett! I don't know how accurate it is, but its fun anyway.

"You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of silliness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed."

Take the Quiz here!