To Become a Chef

It all started on pinterest. 
It's a website where I can pin links and bookmarked to pictures and websites and it's organized onto a website instead of on my computer. It's amazing. I sure do love it. 
I pinned a recipe. Then Linds "repinned" my pin. I told her that by repinning the recipe, she is committed to making it with me. 
So we came up with a brilliant idea to have a night once a month where we get together and cook together. This month it was Avocado Chicken Parmesan. So that's what we did last night.
First we'll do pictures, and then I'll give you the recipe. 
Linds pounded the chicken until thin:

Then we dipped the chicken in flour, then into an egg/milk mixture and then into bread crumbs (team effort, all the way!):

Then we cooked the chicken with the pasta sauce, avocado and cheese. 

It was divine.

Not sure how healthy but SOOOOO good. 
We ate, we talked, we laughed. 
Even if we don't become major chefs or open a restaurant, I must say that I'm going to love these monthly dinners.

So, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 chicken breast fillets, halved lengthways
1/2 cup flour
2 Tablespoons Milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups dried breadcrumbs (we had a lot left over so maybe less?)
2 tablespoons cooking spray
1/2 cup tomato pasta sauce
2 Avocado, sliced
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1. Place chicken breast in a clear plastic bag and use rolling pin or meat mallet to pound until 0.5 cm thick (um... we just made sure it was really thin... the blog I got it from is from Singapore so we had some fun conversion of the metrics.

2. Place flour and breadcrumbs on two separate plates and whisk milk and eggs together in a shallow bowl.

3. Coat 1 piece of chicken in flour, dip in egg mixture then coat in breadcrumbs using your fingertips to press the crumbs to secure.

4. Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Repeat the process with remaining chicken pieces.

5. Lightly spray or brush the prepared chicken with oil. Bake for 8 minutes (turning after 4 minutes to have evenly colored breadcrumbs in a pre-heated 375˚F oven. (Original directions said 200˚C... we did a conversion and prayed that it would work). 

6. Remove from oven and spread each chicken breast with 1 heaped tablespoon of pasta sauce. Arrange avocado slices over sauce and sprinkle with decent amount of mozzarella cheese.

7. Return to oven and bake for another 5-7 minutes or until golden and chicken is cooked through (we did 6 minutes... we were so hungry!)

Stages of Grief (in Music)

Music used to be my everything. It calmed me. It made me excited. I related music to specific moments and people in my life, i.e. "The Remedy" by Jason Mraz will always remind me of July 4th, 2003. 

After my mission, I couldn't relate to music the same way. But I'm starting to get it back.

So here are my stages of grief in song:

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Stage 4:

I'm currently into Stage 3... I may have skipped Stage 2. Or maybe it lasted for about 5 minutes yesterday.

Laurel and the Awful Day that Was.

It all started at 5:15 AM... when I woke up, as usual. I did my Jillian Michaels DVD, showered, put on my cute outfit and headed to work. 

And then it started.

The work continues to pile up and after being so productive last week, I've fallen behind once again.

And then, last night Guy took me to Texas Roadhouse. The experiment is over and he's determined that I'm not the one for him. And so I'm throwing myself into my work, my school, and my girl friends while I nurse my broken heart. It's at this moment that I'm singing Lady Antebellum songs--"Cold As Stone" and "As You Turn Away"... and hoping to reboot again. 

But then I think--it can only go up from here.

We Owned the Night

I'm not a big Valentine's Day person. I would just rather it be another day. I love the chocolate. I love that four years ago I found Hershey's Kisses New York Style Cheesecake (which I haven't seen since...). But I hate that I continue to just be alone on that day. But this year was a good one... (well, there was a bad part of the day but this is about the good part!).

I went and saw Lady Antebellum in concert. 

SO GOOD! 

First off, I joined their fan club. It was like $15 and I got to buy tickets on pre-sale. But they don't tell you where your seats are to discourage scalpers. So the day of, I showed up at Will Call, got my tickets, met up with my friend, Marianne and her friend Nichola, and we went to our portal. 

And then down... down... down to the SIXTH ROW! Well, it's the sixth row from the floor. But STILL!!

We missed most of Thompson Square. Which was fine. Then Darius Rucker came out. He rocked. I mean ROCKED! 

He played two Hootie and the Blowfish songs and I sang at the top of my lungs and dance and enjoyed myself thoroughly! I enjoyed his set so much!! I'd go see him concert if it was just him. 

And then Lady Antebellum came out. 

And they sang. It was amazing. The last concert was good because it was more intimate. This one was good because they're good. I wrote on my bucket list that I would like to write a song. But as I listened to them I thought about how amazing it was that they were singing my stories. They were singing about feelings, emotions, and experiences that I've had. So why should I bother? (It's still on my bucket list... don't worry!)

But yes, it rocked. They were awesome. And you better believe that I'll go to their concert AGAIN. Because they're THAT good. 

New Views

It's always nice to change views.

It's funny that once you're sitting at your desk you forget the two hours you spent moving everything from your cubicle to your new office. You forget about the papers that are everywhere or the fact that you have nowhere to post your pictures anymore (no cubicle walls--you're surrounded by windows. Maybe it's time for a collage frame for the table?). 

All you can think about is how lucky you are. Capitol to the North, Mountains to the East. Sun rising over those beautiful snow capped mountains. 

It doesn't matter that you're confused about Guy or are now REALLY behind on work or you haven't quite gotten used to the new school class. All that matters is that you have an office (a bit more privacy), a view (Welcome, Sunshine... I've missed you. I'm in desperate need of some Vitamin D.), and you don't have to spend as much time in the elevator. 

Lovely.

I'll take it.

Currently, Vol. 4

Current music: Colbie Caillat, I Want You Back (not the version I've been listening to, but still good!); Mat Kearney, Nothing Left to Lose; Rascal Flatts (ft. Natasha Bedingfield), Easy

Current stress: My cataloging and classification class. For the first time, my class is a subject I've never dealt with before. So it's taking extra time and care. Hopefully I survive it... I'm trying to give it proper time.

Current favorite quotations:

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Current annoyance: It's winter. It's cold. There's no snow. I'd rather there be some sort of sign of winter (even if I have difficulty driving in it). If there's no sign of winter, I'm antsy for spring. Spring get here!

Current lesson being learned: Patience. Patience and endurance. Both things that I hate learning. Oh well!

Current self-discovery: I hate oranges. Love cuties. Hate apples in the morning. Can eat bananas if they are sliced up and I don't eat them all at once (I have horrible gag reflex with too much banana too fast). Can you tell I'm on a diet?? Well, not really, I'm just trying to eat more fruit!

Current desire: To write a love letter. Actually, I added it to my bucket list page along with a few other things (I found my original printed out bucket list from a year ago. I decided that some of those were a pretty good thing to do so I added them). But I'm not going to write a love letter. I don't have anyone to send it to! (Okay... I sort of do... but it would be more of a like/crush letter than a LOVE letter.)

Time-Out Thoughts

I don't normally like to do this, but I was going through some old emails and I found something that I wrote that struck me. That moment where Past Laurel wrote something that Now Laurel needed to hear. And it was pretty powerful. So I'm posting it here to remind myself of what Past Laurel knew and maybe to provide you with a little inspiration on this Thursday morning:

Something that my sister-in-law, H, told me a few weeks ago was "Getting what you want is faith promoting. Waiting for what you want is faith perfecting."
I constantly remind myself of that. I do the best I can waiting, but I think the Lord understands that we're not always going to be cheerful or excited about the waiting process. 
Even in the scriptures, the greatest of all men--Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, etc.--all had a point where they said "Isn't there an easier way? Because I'd really like to take that door." But then they got up and finished the work they had to do. I'm pretty sure it wasn't always easy, and there were times when the Savior had to be alone in the wilderness to just ponder and breathe. So we can take comfort in the fact that others have gone this way before, they too have wanted to take an easier path. But after deep reflection, pausing, and breathing, they were able to muster something inside of them to get them through until there were better times. 
I feel like that's where I'm at right now--trying to muster whatever is inside of me to make it through until I decide what the next move is that I make. But I truly believe that being "cheerful" doesn't mean to "fake it until you make it." I don't believe I've ever heard that phrase from an apostle or prophet's lips. But I do believe it means getting up each day and continuing forward, albeit at a slower pace sometimes. If I could look at every bad point in my life with more humor like President Hinckley things would probably be better, but that takes effort and I'm also not as equipped to see that humor as he is. But that doesn't mean that I can't find my own way, you know?