Nothing very exciting this week. Jut the usual school, work, what is for dinner?? Haha :) On Sunday I decided to try my hand at making my favorite breakfast- grandma's Danish pancakes. Matthew and I worked together and they turned out even better than I imagined!! I think the trick was having the patience to let the batter sit in the fridge for an hour. It really helped thicken it up, making more sturdy pancakes. Does anyone want the recipe? They are so filling, and Matt says they're even better than regular pancakes! I'd have to agree.

Sifting the flour

I'm home right now on break between classes and I just made a Mexican casserole of sorts for lunch today, tomorrow, and however many more days it lasts :P I think it's really tasty. It's onions, green peppers, corn, kidney beans, and few shakes if chili powder sauteed and layered with flour tortillas and cheese. Yum!!

I made 98% on my anatomy test! Which means I didn't set the curve, but I was awfully close :)

Here are two dinners Matthew and I made this week: French onion soup and shrimp linguine Alfredo. Both delicious!

To make shrimp linguine Alfredo:

-boil a pot of water for half a box of linguine pasta, cooking it for 9 mins to al dente

-warm a large saucepan to medium heat

-add 1/4 cup butter, melt, then add as many shrimp as you'd like as well as a generous amount of diced garlic

-when the garlic has lightly browned, add 1 cup half and half and reduce the heat

-stir continuously as the sauce thickens. When it is nearly thick enough (about ten minutes or so later) add 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. It's important to get the freshest, least dry cheese you can find. For us this meant getting the more expensive variety. This helps the cheese melt to a good consistency

-tada! Quick, delicious dinner :)

You know what they say...

Different strokes for different folks!
We share a love for chocolate chip cookies though :)

My first test :)

Today is a landmark day- I had my first test of the year! It was an Anatomy test on the skeleton. I feel confident that I did well but overall I was disappointed by the test. I really studied each bone and their characteristic markings, but the bone identification we did was so easy I could have done it before I had this class. The questions focused more on random tidbits from the chapters, which made me feel like the test wasn't a good survey of our knowledge. But I'm over it because I'm not the teacher and at least it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be :)
After my test Lucie and I went to a free yoga class at the gym on campus. It was a lot of fun, and soooo nice to stretch after all this biking I've been doing. The gym is really impressive, and there is a HUGE outdoor pool. I swam laps for a while in between classes on Tuesday. The sun was shining down on the water and it was just really nice.
And then the most exciting part of my day- we made chocolate cupcakes tonight with the mix grandma sent and yummmmm :D It has been way too long since I've had a cupcake! Or five, hahaha. Now I'm preparing for my anthropology quiz tomorrow. He told us what the one question was going to be and it sounded so complex, but I've done some internet research and it's actually a piece of cake :)
Update on my bike mileage:

136.19 miles! Woo-hoo!!

Salmon burger

With pesto and tomato

$100 worth of groceries

Second week of school

This week went really well, and really fast! In Anatomy we're learning about all the bones of the body. We have a test on them this Wednesday. There's nothing interesting going on in Anthropology or Psychology yet. In Hawaiian Ethnobotany we're learning the basics of the Hawaiian language while studying our first plant- lau ki (l-ow- kee) or as it's more commonly called, the ti leaf (tee). It's an very common and extremely hardy plant here. Here's a picture that shows some different varieties: http://www.randyjaybraun.com/rachaelsblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/blog-ti-leaf.jpg
The Hawaiians use the leaves in lots of ways. One common usage is in the making of lau lau (l-ow like in down, not low) which is meat and vegetables wrapped in ti leaves and then baked in an underground oven called an imu (ee-moo).
Here's a picture of some lau lau: http://maona.net/img/food/laulau.jpg
And then when one is opened up: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3521/3947657569_d18c8b607f.jpg
That is pork and it doesn't look appetizing to me but the Hawaiians love it. Apparently the ti leaf gives it a very distinct flavor and the way the steam traps inside keeps the meat very moist.
The Hawaiians also use the ti leaf to make leis and hula skirts. Sydney showed me how to make the leis. You cut out the middle vein on the leaf and then heat up the leaves so they become very flexible. Then you twist them together, adding a new leaf piece as needed.
Here's how it looks: http://www.withouraloha.com/hawaiian_images/Hawaiian_flower_leis/ti_leaf_maile_vine_leis/ti_leaf_lei.jpg
Medicinally, the Hawaiians placed the ti leaf on the skin of someone who was sick to draw out the fever and they mashed up the new leaf shoots into liquid and used it to cure eye cysts.

Update on my bike mileage: I've now reached 124 miles!!! So hard to believe, but a few miles every day really add up!
I've been looking forward to this weekend for a while now because I have 2 days off from work for Labor Day, giving me a 3 day weekend :) Yesterday Matt and I biked downtown and saw the movie Grown Ups at the dollar theater. It was enjoyable. When we got out a storm was blowing in from the ocean so we raced home, just beating the downpour. We made shrimp stir fry and rice for dinner and played a Trivial Pursuit card game that mom sent.
The highlight of my day today was talking to mom, Ron, and Brandon over video chat! I bought the family a web cam so we could keep in touch better and today was the first day they got it up and running! Technical difficulties were making me feel like it would never work.. so it was a really nice surprise to be able to see everyone today! Brandon played his newest piano songs for me- very impressive!! He is playing on a higher level than I ever got to when I took piano lessons. Then it was time for chores. It's my week to mow, so I got out the lawnmower, put it my headphones, and had at it! It wasn't so bad at all. Then I did weeding (not fun), laundry (a work in progress), and cleaned the bathroom. Whew! I just ate lunch- tomato soup and crackers. Today I also need to grocery shop. Matt is going to meet me there on his bike to help me get all the bags home. He's so helpful and sweet :)
So that's all for now. I need to hang the laundry up on the line. I'd love to get mail from you all! If you need my address just email me or get it from mom. I love you!!