We're Having Fish Tonight!

So remember that Sister's cafe blog? This is another recipe of theirs. Except they had tilapia instead of Halibut. Let's be honest, I'm going to eat as much halibut as I can in the next month + a little. It starts at like $15 a pound down in 'the lower 48' so I'm living it up at free nienty free here! I'm so excited to try this recipe tonight, I'll let you know how it goes, but let's be honest. Halibut= YUMMY, parmesan cheese= YUMMY, the rest mmmmm. 

Broiled Halibut Parmesan

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 T mayonnaise

2 T fresh lemon juice

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp celery salt

2 lbs tilapia fillets

Preheat broiler.  Grease broiling pan or line with foil.  In a small bowl, mix together Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise, and lemon juice.  Season the cheese mixture with basil, pepper, onion powder, and celery salt.  Mix well and set aside. Arrange fillets in a single layer on prepared pan.  Broil a few inches form the heat for 2-3 minutes.  Flip fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes.  Remove from oven and cover with Parmesan cheese mixture.  Broil for 2 more minutes or until topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork.  Do not overcook the fish.  Serve immediately.

Update on my life...

I was just thinking that y'all may have started to wonder why I stopped telling you about my love life in detail. I guess I decided that, well, I just didn't feel like sharing it all. That being said. Things are fantastic! I mean, I guess as fantastic as they can be with almost 3500 miles between us (driving, not as the crow flies). There are definitely moments where I loathe the distance. And times when I freak out and want to end it all.  (those don't last very long, I really like this boy!)

The most ridiculous part is that it's only been just over 2 weeks since we saw each other. There have been many, many text messages, and lots of phone calls as we've figured out how to work the time difference. Sometimes this means that He texts me before 8am, or I text him after midnight my time (2am his time) More often than not we end up talking after 10 my time. Luckily for me, I live in Alaska, the land of the midnight sun, so at 10 pm, i can go to the beach and walk while I talk to him. I really like waking up to text messages from him. More often especially lately it's something along the lines of "Good morning, beautiful."(If you'd like, insert mushy story about when he first told me I was beautiful here).

Yesterday was a little stressful. I'm worried about the future, and what plans I should be making for myself, but I don't want to close doors, you know? Anyway. So I was stressed out, and then, I got a text from the boy telling me he was at the hospital with his oldest brother. I was so worried for him. Not so much physically, but how he was doing, you know? It was another few hours before I heard how his brother was doing. He hit his head in a fall while hiking, and was bad off in the ICU. With brain swelling and all that bad kind of stuff. The short version of this story is that the boy spent all nigh with his brother, sleeping only 3 hours. But before he went to bed, he called me. And  he told me about his day. and he just let it all out. And he cried. I don't do well with crying boys. I tell you, if I had been in the same state as that hospital, I would have gotten in my car and gone and just held his hand, all night.

Today was better, his brother is better, getting out of ICU tomorrow or Sunday. I'm less stressed, deciding that if I can't control it or do anything about it today I won't worry about it, and realizing that Heavenly Father hasn't let me down before, He's not going to start now. We talked for a while tonight. He told me about his previous... the girl who broke his heart. He actually didn't tell me anything I didn't know, but if he feels better about it, that's what matters.

He told me he loved me, and I pushed down the sick feeling in my stomach and I asked him if he was in love with me. (Brave!) He said he was in love with me a little bit. Then eh said 'no, more than a little bit. a lot a bit." and I said "well that's convenient because I'm a lot a bit in love with you too." Then later he said something about loving me and I said "and someday we're going to have to figure out what we're going to do about that." to which he responded "I was trying to wait till you were back in Utah again." Oh boy. So there we have it. I just said Ok.

So that's the story. for now. Just so you know,  If I were counting, I could tell you that there are 43ish days before I get to Utah. But who's counting?

Just another day in Paridise

Today was a BEAUTIFUL DAY.
I slept in to a comfortable, but not too late time (working off my sleep debt from the weekend).
Then I went to work, and it was great!
Then I came home and chilled, made dinner for myself watched some of my favorite ridiculous TV (The Bachelorette)
I talked to my favorite older brother (by default :) ), and my favorite married sister.
And I got a phone call from my favorite boy. We had a good conversation and even though there's still a conversation coming that I'm a little nervous about... tonight it was perfect. I went for a walk on the beach while I talked to him, and he misses me.
And it's summer solstice, so it's not really going to get dark tonight very much, and so it's still gorgeous and bright as day at 11pm.
Now, I'm home and in my jammies and once I'm done writing this post about how great today was, I'm going to cuddle and listen to music and read a ridiculous book while I drink a giant mug of peppermint tea. Adrienne, Amy and the girls are all up in Anchorage, so it's just me at the cottage.

Yup, just another day in paradise.

(It would be really fantastic if there was a boy here to cuddle with, don't you think?)
I really do miss him. Which is a little bit ridiculous because it's been a week and a half since I said goodbye to him last.

thinking too far into the future...

So, random thought.

When I get married I'm changing the name of my blog to:

 The (Mrs)Adventures of Emily.

I think I'm so clever.

My new most favorite treat

One night, as I was cruising my favorite food blogs for something delicious to eat, I found this recipe, remembered how AMAZING this was, then I went to the store, got the ingredients that I needed and whipped up a batch of this treat. Then later in the week I whipped up another batch and took it to the inn... the girls love me! It's almost better than kissing... almost...  














Super duper easy:

1 bag of popcorn
1/2 a brick of almond bark (per bag of popcorn, you could do 2 bags at a time)
2 bags of M&M's
Whatever else you want to put in there. (I've seen nuts, pretzles, etc)

Pop the Popcorn, and melt the candiquik/almond bark The first batch I made I used a homemade double boiler. Then second time I used the microwave with the included tray; WAY BETTER, and easier.

Take the time to remove all the unpopped kernels from the popcorn, and then mix the white chocolate and M&M's in. You have to stir gently so that you don't crush the popcorn.


















Finally, if you have the patience (it will be totally worth it!) pour the mixture out on to a piece of wax paper/tinfoil/parchment. Let it cool for 10 min (?) till hardened.

Then you get to enjoy it... Nom nom nom nom.

"meat muffins"

Ok, so how many of you think: HOORAY!!! I LOVE MEAT MUFFINS? that's what I thought... Now, the idea of a loaf, or for that matter, a muffin made of meat doesn't usually elicit peals of glee out of me. The exceptions are my Sister's sister-in-law's cheddar meatloaf (yum!) and today I tried these little delicious things, They were actually really good, and I hadn't thought of using muffin tins for portioned servings. And they were delicious. It's Amy's recipe.

Meat Muffins/Meatloaf-- Amy Stearns
1egg beaten
1 c milk
2 c bread crumbs
2 tsp salt
1tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 lb ground pork

Topping:
1 c packed brown sugar
2/3 c ketchup
Worcestershire Sauce to taste

Combine egg, ilk, breadcrumbs, salt, thyme, pepper and woo sauce. Mix well. Add beef and pork. Mix well.
Meat Muffins: Pat into 2-2-1/2 inch pans and bake at 350 for 25 min. Carefully drain, spoon topping over and bake additional 10 min or until no longer pink. 16 servings.
 (we actually made mini meat muffins- how's that for alliteration- for a party and they were great!)
Meatloaf: pat into 2 loaf pans. bake 30-60 min adding topping in last ten minutes and making sure no pink remains.

People who love me: The 100th Post!

First let's just all be really proud of me for sticking with blogging long enough to get to 100 posts!

Right now I'm sitting at 'the cottage' in Homer Alaska. It is 10:20 and still light out. I'm watching Cold Case and uploading the 150+ pictures that I've taken thus far here in Alaska. Earlier tonight I was talking to Eric and he said something to the effect that he was really glad that I was surrounding myself with people who care about me.
See, I was telling him about how I've been grilled by the whole Sweeney/Walli family. The Walli's are an old family here in Homer and it's nice to be able to name drop a little.
An example of how I'm taken care of:

• Amy is a saint, the other morning she brought me a cup of peppermint tea in bed! 
• This morning I started working over at the inn (ok, so first of all the fact that I have a job/house/car access/food out here is proof that these people love me) and I was training with Marie (Adrienne's mom), and she grilled me all about Eric, who he was, how we met, was he a good boy? A hard worker? Do you like him just because he's a good mormon? She was so great. 
• Then when I got off work, Dana, the front desk lady, was so excited to see me!
• And on Sunday, the people in the ward in Homer were excited to see me! Ray and Maxine Hillman were so excited to see me and invited me out to their house soon. I love them! Sister Hillman sat down next to me during Relief Society and I just felt loved.
• One man who I recognized, but don't know, told me how happy he was that I was back! Then another, after I introduced myself slapped me on the shoulder and said "we've got to figure out how to keep you here!"

It is just good to be somewhere where people love me. I guess I feel like wherever I go, there are always people who love me. When I go back to school, there will be people who love me, one person who loves me. He's so great. I know, I gush all the time. I ran into someone who loves me at the temple the other day and he asked me about the boy, he asked me if he treated me well. He really really does treat me so well. It's the little things he does.

Epicness... another reason to love this boy.

"so when we were on the ferry, we were sitting really close together, and our faces kept colliding"

Ok, so I think we all know that I don't really have a big issue with PDA if I'm the one doing it... (I know, hypocrite). Anyway, so have you seen cloudy with a chance of meatballs? I definitely have grown to love that movie. You know at the one point where the characters do this:

?

Let's just say that we found out why normal people don't kiss that way...

Cheers!

I haven't done one of these in a while... boredom strikes again.

TEN HOW'S: 

How did you get one of your scars?  I don't have very many scars, but I have one on my left wrist from Rachel's burning me wiht a curling iron this february.

How did you celebrate your last birthday? I jumped in a frozen river with a cute boy, ate pizza and apple crisp with his family, and held his hand for the first time. Best 24th birthday ever!

How are you feeling at this moment?  tired, stressed but not sleepy!

How did your night go last night?  We had epic second dessert and made dinner all together

How did you do in high school?  See... I was kind of an over achiever. I wanted to go to BYU, so I worked my tail off. 

How did you get the shirt you're wearing?  Some of my favorite members ever gave it to me on my last day in the mission.

How often do you see ur best friend?  My Best friend from High School: once or twice a year. My oldest, closest friend: a few times a year (we're having lunch tomorrow). Not often enough. 

How much money did you spend last month?  only gas and bills. I was a good girl!

How old do you want to be when you get married? ha! I don't know. I've stopped trying to plan that kind of thing. I do remember promising one of my teachers from high school that I wouldn't get married till I was at least 24. Epic win!

How old will you be on your next birthday? 25~ Eeeek. That's a scary number. 
NINE WHAT'S:

Your mothers name?  Melanie Teresa

What did you do last weekend?  work, shoe shopping, church, visit grandma, plan trip to Alaska.

What is the most important part of your life?  my family and the gospel of Jesus Christ

What did you last cry over?  Stress. I don't like being overwelmed. 

What always makes you feel better when you’re upset? I try to think happy thoughts, go to the temple, cry a little bit, and turn to friends who somehow manage to say the right things every time!

What’s the most important thing you look for in a significant other? Trust, honor, someone who I can respect and who respects me, someone who makes me laugh, does his priesthood duty, makes me a better person, who loves me and isn’t afraid to tell me.

What are you worried about? My dad is threatening to ask the boy what his intentions are when he visits. I’m worried about what the boy's intentions are.

What did you have for breakfast? I skipped breakfast today, bad, I know.

EIGHT HAVE YOU’S:

Have you ever liked someone who had a girlfriend/boyfriend? I LOVE the unattainable love! It’s my favorite kind. Which is why I don’t know what to do with this boy of mine.

Have you ever had your heartbroken? Yes, in my younger stupider years. He was a jerk, but it was kind of my fault.

Have you ever been out of the country? I’m not sure Canada counts. But I have been to Alaska.

Have you ever done something outrageously dumb? Please note the title of this blog. Mis-adventures.

Have you ever been back stabbed by a friend? Sure…

Have you ever made out on the beach? False

Have you ever dated someone younger than you? I am currently embracing my inner cougar. the boy is 22, I’m 24.

Have you ever read an entire book in one day? YES! I LOVE reading a book a day!

SEVEN WHO’S:

Who was the last person you saw? My family

Who was the last person you texted? the boy

Who was the last guy you hung out with? Elliot at work… does that count as ‘hanging out’? Otherwise it’s the boy.

Who was the last person to call you? Amy—my future roommate! (3 more sleeps!)

Who did you last kiss? The boy. Haha, if he hadn’t kissed me I would have refused to answer this question.

Who is the last person you dated? The boy

Last person you went on a date with? The boy

Who was the las person you said "i love you" to? The boy (man, having a boyfriend makes these answers boring)

SIX WHERE’S:

Where does your best friend live? which one? My HS BFF lives in Rexburg, ID. My Best Longest Friend lives in Downtown Seattle.

Where did you last go? Work

Where did you last hang out? My apartment.

Where do you go to school? Brigham Young University

Where is your favorite place to be? Seattle, I LOVE Seattle, or really anywhere with people I love.

Where did you sleep last night? My bed. I just realized that tonight might be the last night I sleep in this bed for a few months.

FIVE DO’S/DOES:

Do you like someone right now? Yes.

Do you think anyone likes you? Yes :)

Do you ever wish you were someone else? Not really… I’m pretty fabulous. And humble.


Does the future scare you? YES! I don’t like uncertainty.

FOUR WHY’S:

Why are you best friends with your best friend(s)? Is AMAZING. She loves me and supports me and is there for me whatever. And it goes both ways.

Why did you get a facebook? Oh man. It was YEARS ago. Mostly to keep in touch with friends from home when I was at BYU.

Why did your parents give you the name you have? They told me it was written on a bathroom stall door. Claire is my grandma’s middle name.

Why are you doing this survey? To avoid going to sleep.

THREE IF’S:

If you could have one super power what would it be? Knowing the future. No… flying would be sweet if I had a flying buddy.

If you could go back in time and change one thing, would you? I don’t think so. I am who and where I am now because of the choices I have made.

If u were stranded on a deserted island & could bring 1 thing what would you bring? My scriptures. I know, it’s cliché, but it’s the truth.

TWO WOULD-YOU-EVER’S:

Would you ever get back together with any of your ex’s if they asked you? Hahaha, No. 98% of the boys I’ve dated are married.

Would you ever shave your head to save someone you love? Yes. I’ve thought about doing it on my own. But… I’m much to vain. I have great hair.

ONE LAST QUESTION

Are you happy with your life right now? Heck Yes! I am a very lucky girl, I’m pretty jealous of myself, you know. 

Second Dessert

Last night we wanted some sort of yummy dessert. Upon realizing that we had no ingredients for a "good" dessert (anything beyond the pedestrian cookie), I was sent to the store with a debit card and a shopping list which included the oreo cookies and bananas needed to make the most AMAZING dessert on the planet.
While I was at the store, dad called and requested that I also pick up ice cream sandwiches. When I got home, I was tired, and we settled for the ice cream sandwiches for last night, with the promise of deliciousness tonight.

I failed to take pictures while I was making it, and it's over at my parents house still, so pictures will have to wait. But let me tell you... YUMMY!

So you take half a bag of oreos and you crush them up

Then you add sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder and melted butter. Press into a pan and bake for 10 min. Easy peasy lemon cheesy! (without the lemon and the cheese)

While the crust is cooling, put corn syrup and butter in a saucepan and cook it till it's bubbly


Then cut up some bananas and stir to coat and add some of the secret ingredient!

Don't judge, you cook it off, and it's only a few tablespoons.

Don't these look amazing! (they really look like this, even if it's not my own picture. The final product will be my own!)

So then you spread the banana stuff over the chocolate crust. And your done, right? NO!

Mixing chocolate and peanut butter and drizzling it on top would be the most amazing combination and then, Done!

(insert delicious looking picture here, after I charge my camera battery)

Are you ready for second dessert?

Thankful Things!

So today I am exhausted! I was up half of last night wondering if Alaska was the right decision for me. It came to the point where I told Heavenly Father that I was so excited and I wanted to go to Alaska (heart) and it made sense to me (mind), and that he was going to have to let me know if the answer was anything else.

• Thankful Thing #1: The Holy Ghost! I'm glad I don't have to make super big decisions on my own! 

 The only thing that I felt yucky about was giving my notice at work. I really do love the job, but they can't give me 40 hours a week. They just can't with the unpredictability of business. It has been fantastic since I got home, but I need more.And I've never quit a job before (except to go back to school/home/mission)

• Thankful Thing #2: My bosses were really really great when I gave my notice. They understand that I need things they can't give me, and appreciate the idea. 

So... anyway, (Rachel, please note my small paragraphs) I tried to sleep around midnight and it didn't happen till after 2am. I worked at 8 am. So my 5 hours of sleep plus adrenalin plus a Dr. Pepper... Then after work (and after submitting notice, scariest moment ever, but it went well), I went to watch my neighbor's daycare. (I was so tired!) But those kids are great (and it is really nice to make a bit more money).

Then I went home, ate dinner, did dishes, and went home to finally put my feet up. I was only home for a little while before Rachel came over and told me we were going on a walk. That's right, not asked, told. It was probably a good thing. We took a 3 mile path, which isn't too bad (except for a few long, long hills). We took all three dogs (that's right! Big, medium and little), and it was a grand old time!

• Thankful Thing #3: A sister who sometimes tells me to do things rather than asks me. Because we all know, exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy, and happy people don't have breakdowns due to rapidly changing life situations! Also, I'm way tired, so sleeping isn't going to be a problem. 

• Thankful thing #4: I get an Alaskan Adventure this summer!

Perhaps a little premature...

I'M MOVING TO ALASKA!!!

Ok, so, like I said. I'm really, really excited. And it might be premature. So if this post disappears tomorrow... well you'll know that it didn't happen and we'll never speak of it again. But here's the deal:

The family I nannied for in Alaska before my mission owns an inn. I'd thought about working there earlier but didn't think it would make me enough money this summer. So I moved home, got a job, that was pretty fantastic, and really is, except they can't guarantee me full hours. So I've been getting 25 hours a week... which is just not enough.

Then I was talking to the family's current Nanny, who also works as a household assistant/does everything for them. And SHE said that Adrienne was way stressed at the inn, and needed help. So I thought, well, let me call and find out what the deal is. (Ok, and honestly I've been jealous of the boy's adventures this summer... I wanted to have one!)

Tonight she popped up on Facebook and asked if I was up and wanted to talk to Adrienne... and I did... and oh man. Here's the deal: I'll bullet so it looks more impressive.

• I could live with them.
• I could eat with them.
• I could drive their car when I needed one (like to church)
• I would work as housekeeping at the inn, 9-5, 5 days a week (or more)
• I would get paid... get this.... $14/hour!!! 

Oh man!! This is the view I get to see!!!!!! 

And this is where I'll work:

And this is where I'll Live:

So tomorrow I'll put in my notice. And hopefully next weekend I'll be headed out there. It's so fast! But I'm SOOOOO excited! I figure as soon as the boy visits and leaves, I'm ready to go! 

DIY Milano Cookeis

Hello YUMMY!

I decided that today I had to do something so I didn't go crazy/spend all day watching Hulu/Netflix. Later on I will likely fix my tail light, maybe attend Institute, and call it a beautiful day. Also on the list is making a paper chain to count down the days till I return to civilization and have a life again :)

This morning, while checking my blogs I found this amazing recipe on one of my favorite food blogs The Sister's Cafe. It's 5 sisters who all cook and share recipes. Kristen told me about them... LOVE!

Ok, so you can click on the above link to get the recipe, but now you can look at my BEAUTIFUL pictures. Mmmmmm

So you make the dough and cut it into little squares and bake it. Then spread it with chocolate and blueberry cream cheese. Then you sandwich them together and decorate with the left over chocolate. YUM!

PS: you can also covet my apron. I found this lovely *gem* in my mom's apron drawer.