Tracie's World

Had kind of one of those odd dreams right before I woke up this morning, that left me quoting and humming a song by a group called The Proclaimers. The song featured prominently in my dream, which is odd, because it's not one that I've thought much about. But because of that, I went and looked up the lyrics. They're actually quite nice, so I thought I'd share them. They may actually become a new favorite: I'm on my way from misery to happiness today I'm on my way from misery to happiness today I'm on my way to what I want from this world And years from now you'll make it to the next world And everything that you receive up yonder Is what you gave to me the day I wandered I took a right, I took a right turning yesterday I took a right, I took a right turning yesterday I took the road that brought me to your home town I took the bus to streets that I could walk down I walked the streets to find the one I'd looked for I climbed the stair t...

Been thinking a lot lately about the passage from Matthew chapter 7, about how "ye shall know them by their fruits". It's a phrase that's been coming around to me again and again. I guess it's just to remind me how to know what things are good and are worth pursuing and paying attention to. So I loved this picture inside the cover of the August Ensign, which quotes that passage. It's a beautiful reminder to seek after good things.

One last photo of my chef-ing efforts. This morning I was craving something a little more healthy - sort of a detox from my really good burger of last evening. So here's the result, my own version of bran muffins with raisins. 1 c. Wheat flour 1 c. Wheat germ 3 t. baking powder 1/2 c. egg beaters 1/4 c. molasses 1/8 c. canola oil 1 c. almond milk Raisins Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Yummy!

To wash down my really good burger, I needed a refreshing salad to go with it. I decided on a traditional Greek salad, minus the greens. I cut up a few cucumbers, a couple of tomatoes, diced up some red onion, threw in some feta cheese crumbles, then added a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, with some fresh ground black pepper. Easy peasy!

As someone who is dedicated to a mostly meatless lifestyle, it doesn't happen all that frequently, but there are the occasional moments when I crave a good old-fashioned hamburger. And this was one of those weekends. But it wasn't a craving for a fast food burger, but one of those thick and juicy gourmet ones that you can usually only find at a diner or bar. But since it's no fun to get a burger at a diner or bar on my own, I got myself down to the Fresh Market, picked up a nice package of extra lean ground beef, and went to town to create my own really good burger. Here's what I came up with: First, I fried up some fresh onions, using a combo of red and yellow, and cooked them way down until they were completely caramelized.  While the onions were cooking, I took 1/3 pound of the ground beef, and mixed in the rest of my jar of shallots (roughly a tablespoon or two). I also added some garlic powder, and some chili powder, and maybe a 1/2 teaspoon of Thai red curr...

The team had to work a few hours yesterday in support of a new release that went out Friday night, and on those occasions, I find it useful to bring treats. So I left a little early and got myself down to ShopKo to see what I could find, and in the category of "why didn't I think of that?", low and behold, I found manna from heaven, in the form of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Oreos. I also like to refer to them as food of the gods. But whatever you call them when you do try them, I bet you can't eat just one!

Monday I was invited by a friend to see none other than "Weird" Al Yankovic in concert at the Sandy Amphitheater. "Weird" Al's the one who does all the parody versions of famous pop songs. I've been a sort of fan ever since High School, when he first showed up on our radar with "Polkas on '45", and "Dare to Be Stupid". All my band geek friends and I loved him. He took polka, pop, and accordions, and music videos and turned them into hilarious events. With this model, he's had a host of pseudo-hits over the years, tunes like "Eat It", "Like a Surgeon", "Addicted to Spuds", "Fat", "I Lost on Jeopardy", "Amish Paradise", "Tacky", and the list goes on and on. He's the musical icon for nerds and geeks everywhere. In concert, he's super entertaining. There's music videos, costume changes, and all sorts of outrageousness. He made a very grand entrance wal...

Exciting news this last month, at least here in Utah. Drumroll please...You can now make your church donations online, using your lds.org account! No more checks, no more flock of people surrounding the Bishopric after sacrament meeting. It's a win-win for members and leaders alike. It's been available to my ward and stake for a month now, and it's been so convenient. I especially appreciate that it makes donations more anonymous, which the Lord would definitely approve of. It's supposed to be rolled out to all U.S. church units by the end of the year. Hooray!

Last night my pal Cyndee and I went to see the new movie "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", which is based on the old TV show. What a fun movie. It takes place at roughly the same time as the show, and was relatively clean. It has a good-looking cast, a cool soundtrack, plenty of action, and an awesome 60's fashion sense. If you're looking for a fun summer movie, I highly recommend it.

Seems I have the cooking bug going this week, so I thought I'd share a favorite breakfast dish. I'm not much of a fan of quinoa most of the time - it's a texture issue for me. But one way that I do like it is cooked up for breakfast in my rice cooker. 1 c. quinoa, rinsed and drained raisins chopped walnut molasses brown sugar maple flavoring 2 c. almond milk Cook it all up in the rice cooker, and you have a really yummy and filling breakfast.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the gals at work made some homemade "Pav Bhaji" and brought it for a potluck. As I understand it, it's sort of an Indian comfort food,  and they eat it a lot. I've eaten quite a bit of Indian food, but don't recall ever having it before, and I had no idea what I was missing, because it was absolutely incredible. I liked it so much that I asked for her recipe. In a nutshell, you take some potatoes and a bunch of other vegetables, boil them together and mash them up. While this is going on, you take a lot of butter and some onion, a bunch of spices, and tomatoes, and cook it all up in a stirfry pan. Once the masala sauce is done, you mix it with the mashed vegetables, and serve it up with some sweet bread rolls, and sprinkle it with some lemon juice and fresh chopped onion. Yesterday, I decided to try making it myself. Here's the vegetables that went in to mine: 6 Yukon Gold potatoes 1 small eggplant 1 Italian squash 1 bag ...

Food Trucks are getting to be all the rage these days, and here in the SLC, it's no exception. My work has jumped on the bandwagon, and the last few weeks has brought in several fine food truck examples.  My favorite so far was Kotako, authentic Korean Tacos. I know it sounds like an odd combination, but it totally works. I enjoyed my Pork Kotacos so much that I'm just about ready to have them ever day. They were AMAZING! If you get a chance to try them, I HIGHLY recommend them. Look for them around town. You'll thank me.

Last weekend I again had not one, but two concerts at Deer Valley. I tell you what, the Snow Park Amphitheater and I are getting to be besties. In arts terminology, I'm like the "Concert-goer in Residence". First up - Friday evening with Diana Krall and the Symphony.  She's a jazz painist and singer, with a smoky, sultry voice. It was a great show, with incredible jazz music and so low-key and relaxing. Another highlight of the evening was my Elvis Costello sighting (seems he likes to attend his wife's concerts, which I thought was extremely cool).  Next up - Saturday evening with Joshua Bell and Chris Botti. Joshua Bell is a world-famous violinist, and Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and is just incredible. He and his ensemble played "Vivaldi's Four Seasons". It was simply amazing, and especially with the mountain atmosphere. One of my all-time favorite Deer Valley experiences. Maestro Bell was followed by wo...

Woke up this morning feeling more than a little hammered from all of the weekend's festivities, so I made myself a delightful breakfast of cheesy grits, topped with tomatoes, avocado, and chipotle tobasco sauce. Can you say comfort food? 

After meeting up with Rebekah, we drove to Deer Valley. We already knew that the concert was sold out, so we felt we should arrive early enough that we would be in line before the gates opened at 5:30. We pulled in to the parking lot a few minutes before 5:00, took our time hauling our gear, and walked up the stairs, thinking we'd get a good spot in line. But boy, were we ever wrong.What we didn't realize was that folks had started queueing up at noon, and we were way down the line. We ended up being a quarter mile down the road, standing in a construction zone for 45 minutes before they finally opened the gates and let everyone in. This is what we get for buying the general admission tickets. But you should have felt everyone's excitement, as the line grew and grew, everyone anxiously waiting for our beloved Kristin Chenoweth, all while visiting and making new friends in line. Once the gates opened, there was a mad rush. Cyndee led the way and found us a nice s...

Knowing that we'd be there again for the Saturday evening concert, Cyndee was able to arrange for us to stay over in Park City. We stayed at the Marriott (I winced a little bit, and couldn't help comparing it to the IHG family of brands). But it ended up being a good stay, and the property was very nice. We slept great, and had a lazy Saturday morning. We left the hotel, and made our way to Main Street, and spent the next couple of hours walking up and down and up the street again, and checking out the various shops. We stopped in for a yummy lunch at the No Name Saloon, where I had the buffalo meat nachos. My review? Ooey and gooey bliss. After a little ore walking around, and a stop for a treat at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, we walked over to Deer Valley Drive, arriving in time to see the Tour of Utah bike racers go by. It was my first experience seeing a professional bike race, and a peloton (or main race body) in person, and I have to say, it was...

Spent this weekend at Deer Valley for the second and third of the concerts in our 2015 ticket package. There was plenty of fun, frolic, fabulous music, pelotons, and blustery weather, all while staying over at my first non-IHG property in several years. First up, was "Hollywood Under the Stars" on Friday night. The day had dawned blustery and rainy, but by the time we left for Park City that evening, things looked as if they had died down, and we would miss out on a rainy evening. But that ended up being wishful thinking. The show should have been titled "Hollywood Under the Clouds". The symphony was in fine form, and we were enjoying the beautiful music, all while temperatures started cooling off and ominous clouds were rolling in. The conductor introduced the music from "The Natural", which as you all know is one of my favorite movies. The music was from the scene where Roy Hobbs saves the season for the New York Knights, hitting the massive home run t...

Last night was the 3rd annual Holladay Blue Moon Festival. It's basically a reason for the community to get together and celebrate the 2nd full moon of the month, and it's kind of become an annual tradition for me to attend with my friend Stephanie, and her two girls.  This year there seemed to be double the number of people than normal, and other than it being plenty hot outside, we had a great time. We walked around looking at the different craft booths, listening to music from a local band called The Saliva Sisters (check them out, they're quite fun), and a Beatles cover band called "Imagine". We also stopped off at our favorite yogurt parlor to cool down with some frozen goodness. Fun times!