Saving the World from the Portuguese

"The Portuguese are out so I'm going around hitting them with a shovel."

This was my reminder today that chivalry is not dead. However, it's probably been nearly 300 years since somone associated hitting Portuguese with honorable protection. It came this morning when I was out on a Sunday walk. I was taking a picture when I heard someone say something to me. I turned around to see a little boy holding a fold up shovel and looking quite proud of himself.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't hear you. What did you say?"

That's when I learned of those devious Europeans and a five-year-old's quest to teach them who was boss. Although I'm fairly certain he was referring to these rather than these. . .

Squashed Frog and A Mumu

Sometimes I agree to do stupid things. This week I went ahead and made a cake for a friend's birthday despite the fact that he didn't tell me what he wanted until the day before said occasion. I asked for any requests last week. Oh, well. I'm a sucker for anything that may take me away from doing homework. This time it happenened to be a squashed frog:

(The red squiggly line near its head is supposed to be its tongue.)

By the time I get around to having kids (which means I first have to get around to getting married) they'll be lucky if they get something like this (thank you google images):

Today I wore the mumu I bought at Goodwill this summer. I'm always sure to get several compliments from the Polynesian guys in my ward when I do. I took a picture when I was talking to mom tonight so you can all see what it looks like.

Why I haven't written a post in a long time. . .

This semester has been really busy and I admit that I haven't done well at keeping up to date on my blog. If it makes you feel any better it's been a long time since I've been to the beach as I have spent most of my time being a homework hermit. I thnk I was tanner after spending last semester at home in Utah. Oh, well. At least I may less likely to get skin cancer now.
I've added a couple of posts that I started to write before and never finished. One is from the end of September (you may have to scroll down to find it) and the other is from the end of October.

international relations

From the end of October:
Last week when I was studying for my international relations mid-term I met with a group several times to prepare. We did well to stay on task, but like most study groups our focus would wane from time to time. One such incident came when another student - a Filipino - was telling us about growing up in - you guessed it - the Philippines when it was still a U.S. territory.
He told us how in elementary school he knew the names and order of all the U.S. Presidents (which I vaguely remember having to learn in 8th grade but now there’s no way I could get them all in the right order even if my life depended on it). They learned the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful" - he remembered wondering what ‘purple mountain majesties’ were and where in they were located. It was hilarious to listen to him. My favorite part came when he told about the country gaining sovereignty.
"I swear all they did," he said, "was copy the Constitution of the United States, except wherever it said, ‘United States’ they changed it to say ‘Philippines.’ It’s the same thing with the songs . . . now it’s ‘Philippines the Beautiful.’ I finally figured out what ‘purple mountain majesties’ were when I moved to Utah."

Quirks

I, like many of you that read this blog (on the rare occasion that I make new posts), was tagged by Moo to make a post of six of my quirks. Realizing that I have some homework to do, I felt a strong desire to answer this question instead. The faint of stomache should use caution when reading this post. Ready? Okay!

1. When I wash my hair, I ball the loose hair up and place it in my belly button (I have a belly well). This accomplishes a few things: A) The hair is not clogging up the drain B) I always remember to take it out of the shower when I get out and C) It ensures I clean my belly button (a body part I think gets overlooked by the general public when bathing). I almost always remember to take out the hairball when I get out of the shower, but I have been know to forget and find it hours later.
2. I randomly smell things - weird things - usually without even realizing what I'm doing until I get a good whiff of the object at hand. For instance, I catch myself smelling my ear wax after I've cleaned my ears. There are better smelling things in the world.
3. I refuse to smell milk (I also avoid drinking it). I think that ear wax smells better.
4. I freeze yogurt then microwave it for 30 seconds so it's not too frozen when I go to eat it.
5. When I have to make official-ish phone calls I'll map out possible conversations before I dial the number. This means I include various responses that the other person may use and what I should say after one of those responses. I don't feel comfortable making an official-ish call until I have done this even though I rarely use maps I have created.
6. I'm more likely to write a rough draft for a letter to a friend or family member than I am to make one for a paper I have to write for a class.

I'm sure there are some real quirks that I've managed to forget but these should tide y'all over.

Cupcakes

From the end of September:
One day as I wandered through the school library something caught my eye. It was the September issue of Better Homes and Gardens. I quickly sat down and began happily perusing the latest edition of my long-lost friend. There, sandwiched inbetween a couple of ads, I saw my life change. It was at that moment I saw the monthly Prize-tested recipe contest. I don't usually give the food section my undivided attention since I doubt I'll ever make any of it (no matter how delicious it looks). However, this time my poor college student eyes caught hold of the words: Win Money. My attention peaked. I read on:
Your original recipe could be worth up to $400, and winning recipes will be entered to win the 2009 annual Grand Prize - worth up to $10,000 in cash or merchandise. Enter your original recipes (recipes never before published) which features two new categories each month.
I glanced down to see the categories offered in this issue were for cupcakes and salmon. I don't like fish much, but cupcakes, cupcakes I thought I could handle so I kept reading.
Send us your best, most interesting recipe. Do your cupcakes have a flavorful frosting, unusual topper, or filling? Do you make them from a one-bowl yellow cake with added fold-ins or chocolate cake with surprise fillings? How about mini angel food or sponge cake creations, or a spin on one of these classics: carrot, red velvet, or coconut? The cupcakes can be fruit-filled after-school treats or spicy and elegant ganache-topped cakelets baked in cupcake pans.
As the only cupcakes I could remember making came from boxes featuring doughboys, signed by Ms. Crocker, or stamped 'Duncan Hines,' I naturally thought it would be a good idea for me to enter. I thought my roommate would also enjoy the contest so I told her about it and proposed we work together. If one of our recipes won we would split the money. She was definitely game.
Ideas began spewing from our minds and we soon had a list of different cupcakes we wanted to try making: Cranberry with a white chocolate frosting, panipopo (a take on a Samoan dessert), pumpkin with lemon frosting, peanut butter banana with a light chocolate topping, and on and on. We began contacting friends to make a taste-testing panel. If we were going to enter the contest we were going to be serious. The only catch we could see was that we had a week and a half to make and perfect our recipes. Then we realized we had homework. So, inbetween school, work, homework, and a project or two on curfew and the honor code we found time to whip up a couple of our creations.
The panel we once envisioned was replaced by our co-workers and next-door-neighbors - all of whom seemed more than willing to help. Each batch we would watch their faces as they tested the cupcakes. Then we'd quiz them - How was the texture? the balance of flavors? overall taste? They'd answer then usually ask when the next batch would be ready to test.
We finally settled on two. Ah chose to submit a banana peanut butter with a light chocolate frosting and I chose a strawberry with a sour white chocolate lemon cream frosting.
Now we wait. The winning entries will be published in the April 2009 issue of Better Homes and Gardens so it will be few months before we are notified that we have won the contest. Okay, so our hopes aren't that high but we won't put up a fight should we win.

Checking Blogs

As I sat down to do some homework on this beautiful Saturday afternoon I decided I should check everyone's blogs out again to keep myself up-to-date on the lives of others. I usually go to Moo's blog and work my through her list (I realize I could go to Eliza B's blog and it just shows who's updated theirs but that would give me more time to work on my homework which I ritually avoid for the first few minutes [some may argue days] I sit down at a computer). I was doing just that I caught myself, finger slightly raised and ready to depress the left mouse button on the link to see if I had updated my own blog. Oops! It's hard to live vicariously through myself.