this is halloween

When fall approached this year, I decided to fully embrace the halloween season. I watched a total of about five halloween/scary movies and made it over to Odyssey Dance's Thriller show up in Salt Lake. I also got together with friends one night to drink homemade hot apple cider, carve pumpkins, eat candy and brave the haunted forest. 

my mom had also just sent me a huge box of my great grandparents' hippie clothes so we had some fun time traveling back to the sixties.

Last year for Halloween I was too lazy to think ahead and figure out a costume...As a result, I ended up in Jaremy's mom's old witch dress so that I wouldn't feel dumb at the dance party we made an appearance at. This year I decided not to pretend like i was too cool to wear a costume, so I dressed up as a ladybug; definitely not something I had ever been before. I got all ready on friday and saturday night and made the most of my halloween weekend. On the 31st, some friends and I went out to eat all dressed in our halloween gear and then we went back to my apartment to do a little photoshoot before we ventured off to a dance party. 

Overall, the evening was a success and we had a lot of fun just hanging out and being silly. The day after halloween I decided I was ready for a change so I put up our christmas tree hahaha. Gotta love the holiday season :)

unexpected turns of events

A couple weeks ago I went to a show at the Covey Arts Center by Kendra Lowe. She brought David Archuleta in as a guest singer towards the end of her show, and I was lucky enough to go backstage afterwards and meet him. Kinda fun :) He's a sweet boy, and SO little! 

In other news...I found out on Monday that there was a modeling audition on Tuesday that I could go to. Problem was, the most recent headshots I had were taken my senior year of high school, and those were lost when my hard drive crashed last July. As a result, Jamie and I decided to take matters into our own hands...we pinned my top sheet over the closet door in our hallway and stuck Shayla in charge of holding the lamp. It was quite the sight to see. That's the back of a painting she's using to reflect the light. haha.

halfway through the shoot i looked over at Shayla and found her unconsciously trying to imitate all the different smiles i was doing with her mouth. For those of you who aren't quite sure what i'm referring to, think of a mother feeding her young child...Almost every time without fail, as she brings the spoon towards the baby's mouth, her mouth opens as well. We call this "cameling"... Needless to say, I lost it for about five minutes.

Every time i look at these pictures I remember Shayla's face and it makes me laugh all over again. Who would have thought taking headshots could be such a fun experience? Once we were sick of taking pictures, we found one that was tolerable, printed it out at Kodak, and went to bed. I guess I'll be investing in some real headshots soon so that I won't have to be embarrassed by my picture next time I show up at an audition :)

food glorious food :)

My dad was in town this weekend, so we went and stayed at my Aunt and Uncle's house up in Draper for a couple nights. It was so nice to see him, especially because I really only ever get to be home a couple weeks out of the year now. The weekend was filled with hysterical kids, interesting movies and lots of yummy food.

Me and my daddy

We made Scott jump in for a picture as well

my cute cousin Will acting 'gangsta' :) haha

We went and saw "Fame" on Saturday night and were impressed with the level of talent in the film. The only issue I had with the movie was that there seemed to be too much going on so none of the plots were really developed enough. Other than that though, it's a pretty good show. You'll like it if you enjoy music and the arts :) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRPca0Lvp1w

One thing you should know about the Frogley Family is that we love food and the culinary arts. My dad is one of ten kids, and almost all of them love to cook. You get any of the siblings together and you're pretty much looking at a gourmet feast. Let's just say we live for our family reunions :) This saturday, my dad and his brother Scott decided that the theme for the night would be "Everything Pablano." I was able to assist as my dad refined his homemade recipe for Pablano Soup and as Scott created a delicious filling for what would soon become Stuffed Roasted Pablanos. The end product was AMAZING...seriously, so delicious. I made my dad give me a play-by-play of how he was making the soup so that I could write it down, and I've attached the recipe below. Make sure you read through the whole thing before you start so that you understand everything. Most things can be done simultaneously to speed up the process--otherwise it could potentially take you a lot longer than it needs to. I also attached Scott's homemade recipe for Cilantro-Lime Tomatillo Ranch (pretty much the same dressing you get on your Cafe Rio salads). It's super easy and SO delicious!

Scott stuffing the peppers--He made homemade toothpicks out of carrots :)

The end product:

Roasted Poblano Pepper Soup

About 4 servings

Ingredients:

•          3 poblano peppers (cut down to 2 if you aren’t a fan of spicy)
•            2 red bell peppers
•           2 yellow bell peppers
•           1 ear of corn
•           1 whole yellow onion
•           1 whole head of garlic
•           3-4 c chicken stock (or broth)
•            ¾ c white wine (cooking wine can be used)
•           1 c light cream
•           1 T sugar
•           salt and pepper to taste
•           1 avocado
•           a little fresh cilantro
•           heavy duty aluminum foil
•           a little bit of olive oil

Directions:

•             Start reducing your chicken broth and white wine mixture on the stove until it’s down about ¼ (this just means let it simmer until it looks like it has reduced down to about ¾ of what you started with)
•            Meanwhile, you need to be roasting your peppers, onion, garlic and corn. The peppers need to be roasted until they are completely blackened all over (this can be done over any open stove-top flame, really close under a broiler, or preferably on a grill). The corn should also be roasted over an open flame (once again, grill works best, but the broiler is probably the best second option).
•            The garlic and onion can be roasted together in a 375 degree oven. For the garlic, you need to take the entire head and cut off the tips so that all the individual cloves are exposed, leaving the root and skin connected. Put the head inside a piece of aluminum foil and sprinkle it lightly with olive oil, kosher salt and a teaspoon of water. Crimp up the foil and place on an oven pan. The onion just needs to be peeled and cut into quarters (leaving root attached), then placed on the sheet with a little olive oil and salt. Leave them in the oven for about 30 minutes.
•            VERY IMPORTANT: As each pepper finishes roasting, place them in a covered pot, and let them steam for about 15 minutes.
•          Once the peppers are done steaming, take them out of the pot one by one and remove the blackened layer. Water can be used to assist you, as it is sometimes hard to remove. It’s important to keep the other peppers you aren’t peeling yet inside the covered pot until you’re ready for them because they get harder to peel as they cool. Also remove the seeds and stem, and then place the cleaned peppers in a blender.
•         Once the onions and garlic are done, add them to the blender with the peppers. Make sure you cut off the root end of the onions. The garlic cloves should squeeze right out of the outside layer. Blend these all together with a little bit of your chicken broth reduction to help it blend more easily.
•         Put your blended mixture into a pot, then first add your white wine/chicken broth reduction followed by the light cream, and sugar until it looks like a good consistency (not too watery, but not too thick). Heat on medium low until warm.
•         Finally, top off the soup with some fresh cilantro, finely chopped avocado and some of your roasted corn kernels. Enjoy!

Cilantro-Lime Tomatillo Ranch

           

Ingredients:

•        Powdered Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch packet (enough to make 2 cups)
•         4 washed tomatillos (they sort of look like little green tomatoes with a weird papery skin)
•         1 jalapeño pepper, seeded
•         2 cloves garlic
•         1 lime
•        A bunch of cilantro (remove stems)

Directions:

•            Follow directions on buttermilk ranch packet
•        -Cut tomatillos into quarters and roast on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes (you can roast your jalapeño as well if you want)
•          Blend tomatillos in a blender with the garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, and the juice of the lime. 
•         Add blended mixture to the 2 cups of ranch

a little update

- No longer in Young Ambassadors: I decided it was high time to get this whole graduation thing done with, so I said my tearful goodbye to the group at the end of our Scandinavian tour this summer, and have been trying to sort out my future ever since. I had an amazing two years in the group though and made some incredible friends that I know I'll have for life...not to mention, it's also where I met Jaremy :) Here's a video of the YAs performing "Can't Help Falling in Love" at BYU's Homecoming Spectacular a year ago. Not my favorite recording of myself, but what can you do...

http://pam.byu.edu/ANIMATIO/YA/YAVideos/Cant%20Help%20Falling%20In%20Love.mpg

Singing "Can't Help Falling in Love":

Singing "reflection":

the entire group in Bergen, Norway

-Majoring in English: I've always enjoyed writing and english has always been one of my strongest subjects, so this path seemed logical. I'm not positive what I'm going to do with it yet, but it's very broad so my options are pretty open :) As of now I've considered journalism, something in the marketing/advertising industry, creative writing, and perhaps teaching...I guess we'll just have to see which of those areas I get a good job in!

-Still love performing: Don't worry, there's no way I'm giving up singing. I'm gonna go in to the studio and get some decent recordings of myself, take some new headshots, update my resume, attempt to write some songs, and get my stuff out there. I'm not trying to get famous or anything, I just love to perform and wouldn't be happy unless I found myself some way to sing.

Singing "unwritten" in Young Ambassadors:

-The Fam: Currently located in NY (upstate as well as the city). Lauren is a beautiful 16-year old now, and a junior in high school. Nicole's my funny little mini-me. So cute. She's 12 and in 7th grade.

My mom keeps herself busy everyday painting, cleaning, singing and making sure our house and property stay in working order. Don't know how she does it, but we sure love her for it and our house looks great!

My dad works in Manhattan mon-thurs, and then in the albany office near our house on fridays. Adam is 19 and currently serving a mission in Hiroshima, Japan and he couldn't be more excited. We're all so proud of him and to be honest, we're also a little jealous he gets to be back in Japan for 2 years without us. He had to eat natto (fermented beans) his first morning there, and swears he'll never try those again because "it smells like paint and is like putting snot in your mouth". hahaha. That was something I never worked up the courage to try when we lived there. Sure do miss that goof.

just some things...

Well the Questar Gas guy just left...The poor guy was here for over an hour trying to figure out what the source of the carbon monoxide was, but alas...no luck. Our windows and doors have been open for the past two days as we were scared of dying, and that didn't help him get any readings.  He cleaned out our water heater, told me his suspicions, and commented on how he wished he'd been here the night it went off. I guess they have a 24/7 number we should have called the same time we called 911, so he said if it ever goes off again (which it better not!), to call them first. oops...haha. He also said that the guy who came in July to fix the problem the first time around did a crappy job cleaning the water heater, so we just have to hope that whatever was done differently this time will have done the trick. 

I also found out today that only a few of the apartments in Belmont have carbon monoxide detectors...heaven bless our owner for taking extra precautions and putting one in our condo! scary, scary. 

On a completely opposite note...

I love to cook (assuming i can afford the proper ingredients haha) and I have this amazing rub for chicken or steak fajitas that i thought i'd share with you :) My dad made it up on the phone with me one time, and it's super fast and easy. Just mix it together, rub it on the steak/chicken before cooking, and then grill your meat in a cast iron or stainless steel pan!

(you kind of have to guess with amounts..., but there's really no going wrong, just put more in of the stuff you like best, and less of the other stuff)

-garlic powder

-onion powder (if you don't have this in your kitchen, get it! it's amazing)

-chili powder

-ground cumin

-paprika

-a little brown sugar

-salt and pepper

-cayenne pepper if you like a little kick

For the last 3-4 minutes on the pan, squeeze fresh lime juice on the meat and cover. I promise you will love it. yay! 

The fajitas are best served with sauteed onions/peppers, homemade guac and salsa...maybe in a future post i'll give you my recipes for those too :)

getting started

So I decided to start a blog. I'm not exactly sure why...I think it's partly because my boyfriend's blog for Teach for America inspired me and partly because I figured this would be a good way to release my thoughts since I suck at writing in my journal. I have a monstrous headache at the moment, and am praying it's just a regular headache, rather than one brought on by invisible poisonous gases...Last night the carbon monoxide detector outside my room went off for the second time in the past 3 months...my roomates and I begrudgingly went outside on our deck at 5 am on a saturday morning to wait for the fire department to show up and de-contaminate our apartment. Luckily this time we knew the drill, so we got them to our door within 10 minutes of the thing going off.

The first time around we weren't as well educated. It was just Jamie and I living in the apartment at the time, and the alarm started going off at 3 am rather than 5...needless to say,  I was OUT and did not have any knowledge that anything was wrong. Once Jamie finally woke me up, we took the stupid thing off the wall, but neither of us knew what was going on with it (at this point we both just thought was a faulty smoke-detector). We noticed the beeping red light warning us to get to fresh air, cursed at it because there was clearly no smoke, unsuccessfully tried to disable it, hid it under the couch cushions to drown out the sound in case it started beeping again, and went back to bed. Five minutes later the obnoxious sound came on again, causing us to simultaneously storm out of our rooms with every intention of throwing the thing against the wall. Both of us felt a new-found sympathy  for Phoebe in that friends episode where they're up all night and she can't get her smoke detector to shut up. Upon our second attempt to rid the thing of its battery life-line, Jamie noticed some words in gray lettering that said carbon-monoxide detector, and we realized the danger we were actually in. We must have had some guardian angels looking out for us, because had we been successful in getting the batteries out the first time around, we would have probably died. The fire department came and found lethal levels of the toxic gas in our apartment, flushed all the air out of it, and told us to go back to bed and call back if it went off again. The questar-gas company came the next morning and fixed everything, or so we thought. I guess last night would suggest otherwise. My mom is insistent that we demand a new water heater, or move out. I guess I'll be calling the 24-maintenance manager today so we can sleep safely in our beds without the threat of a silent death hanging over each of our heads anymore. Here's a picture Jamie took on my cell phone of us waiting outside the first time around. hahaha.

If anyone doesn't have a carbon-monoxide detector in their house, get one! It might just save your life once or twice :)