Geekfest

We had a fun and interesting weekend. BYU holds an annual sci-fi and fantasy symposium called "Life, the Universe, and Everything."
It's a three-day event with classes from morning until evening about every topic under the sun: creating realistic monsters, how to write a strong female character in a medieval setting, incorporating romance into your plot, how to build a culture, etc.
Some of the past presenters have been Orson Scott Card and Brandon Sanderson (author of the final book in the Wheel of Time series). So it's pretty much every sci-fi/fantasy fan's dream: three days of swapping ideas and learning ways to improve your writing from people who really know what they are talking about.

For the past four years, Nathan has taught a class entitled "How to create a realistic fictional language." This year he taught two one-hour classes with a linguistics professor, Dirk Elzinga.

Caption: "How many of you have ever wanted to kiss Galadriel or Arwen?"

Every year we go, I feel a little out-of-place for two reasons: (1) I have never read a sci-fi or fantasy book (let's be honest—I've never even seen Star Wars), and (2) I don't wear capes. There were lots of ... interesting (that's the most diplomatic word I can think of) people attending, as there have been every year we've gone.

When we broke up into groups during Nathan's class to fill out a worksheet together, I got a pic of the group I worked with. The guy wearing the hat in the picture below had memorized the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), filled our the worksheet in the characters of the IPA, and had already made up most of his own language. He said it sounded like Tolkein's elvish. Wow.

What does the International Phonetic Alphabet look like? Glad you asked. I wasn't sure myself, so I had to Google it. It's basically a way of writing every sound your mouth can make. Each distinctive sound has its own character. Here's a sample of what it looks like (click on it to see it in its full glory):


We asked Avery what she thought of of all the people dressed in their costumes (heck, maybe they're not costumes; maybe they wear it every day). Here was her non-verbal reply:


Speaking of Avery, for a couple weeks she did this funny thing with her leg. When she was in her car seat, her leg would inevitably lift up. And stay there ... for the entire time she would be in the car seat!! It was so funny, so of course we couldn't resist taking a pic.
Important update: I never did win the Valentine's Day drawing. Bummer. I really thought I felt some good chi, or karma, or whatever. :) Oh well, that won't stop me from entering more drawings! Our next project is getting Nathan's website finished so we can go man a booth at the St. George Family History Expo in a couple of weeks!

Oh, and Nathan just reminded me that I have read two sci-fi/fantasy books: Twilight and Ender's Game. Oops. *Blush*

I learned so much at the symposium this past weekend that I've decided that my next post will be written in my new fictional language. I was thinking of writing about spincy wouncers, but I might not because snorgle glakket chumble spuzz.

Poo

Dear Huggies,
We really, really, REALLY appreciate you. You make parenting much less gross than it sometimes already is.
Much admiration,
Nathan and Jelaire

This made us laugh, so I had to post it and share it with the world.

I picked Avery up and she felt strangely warm. Here's what I saw when I laid her down on her changing table:

I have no idea how she did it. What a talented girl!
As I was washing her pants off in the toilet, I was counting my blessings that our generation has access to disposable diapers. And that they work...most of the time. Thank you, Huggies.

Prophetic Counsel Rough Draft

My Recipe-Sharing Experiment

I enjoy making yummy dinners, but the part that I don't enjoy as much is the finding! All I have are recipes that aren't too healthy, so my New Year's resolution was to cook healthier. I want to try a little experiment that will help out not just me, but everyone who reads my blog!

Go ahead and paste one of your tried and true dinner recipes in the comments below. The only requirement is that it be a healthy one! (If you can't find one, that's ok, too!) Let's see if we can share enough recipes with each other on this particular post to have us set for the rest of February! I'll add them to this post when I get enough!

To start us off, I'll offer two recipes. One quick breakfast-for-dinner idea, and one not-so-quick, not very healthy, but reallly delicious dinner recipe.

Scarce Eggs

• 6 eggs

• 2 cups milk

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 2 cups flour

• 1 tsp. salt

• 2 T. oil

Put eggs, milk, sugar, and salt in blender. Blend well. Add flour. Blend. Add oil and bake on hot griddle. (Batter will be thin.) This serves about 4 adults.

I got this recipe from a site called myinnerchef.com. I tried it and absolutely love it! It's a cross between pancakes and crepes, but more eggs; thus more protein. You can serve it with fruit, yogurt, peanut butter, syrup, or anything else you normally put on crepes or pancakes. I love it because it's super easy, quick, and I always have the ingredients on hand!

Chiang Mai Curry Noodle Soup
I got this recipe from cooking.com, but I have simplified it and added ginger.

• Peanut or corn oil (I used vegetable oil)

• 1 lb. thin/regular Chinese egg noodles

• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  

• 2 Tbs +/- freshly grated ginger
  

• 2 cans coconut milk, unashaken

• 2 Tbs. red curry paste, or to taste

• 1 1/2 tsp. curry powder

• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
  

• 1 grated carrot

• 3/4 lb. chopped chicken meat

• 4 cups chicken stock

• 3 Tbs Thai fish sauce (I used regular fish sauce, and it tasted fine)

• 1 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar

• 1/4 cup shredded green cabbage

• Juice of 1 lemon (I just used about a Tbs of lemon juice and it worked fine)

Garnishes:
Fresh cilantro, chopped
2 green onions, sliced

Directions:
Boil noodles following the directions on package. Set aside.

Measure out 2 tablespoons of oil and place in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until browned, about 1 minute. Do not shake the cans of coconut milk before opening. There should be a thick layer of cream on top of each. Spoon off 1/2 cup of the thick cream from the top of each can and add it to the garlic. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring frequently, until the cream boils gently. Add the red curry paste, curry powder and turmeric and stir until smooth. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the mixture is thick and the oil begins to separate around the edges and rises to the surface, about 5 minutes.

Add the chicken, breaking it up into small pieces. (I actually just cooked my chicken beforehand in my crockpot, and then shredded it for the soup.) Cook until the chicken becomes white, about 2 minutes. Raise the heat to high. Add the remaining coconut milk, the chicken stock, fish sauce, palm or brown sugar and cabbage and stir well. When the mixture begins to boil, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle boil and continue cooking for 8 minutes longer.

Add lemon juice and cooked noodles. Garnish with the cilantro and green onions.

Thank you for your help -- I can't wait to try your recipes!
Let the cooking begin!