L&T

For the first few years at BYU, I lived at IHOP and on campus. Not literally. Technically I was paying rent at the University Villa, but I was rarely there, spending my waking hours at work or on campus. My sleeping hours were also, mostly, on campus...

Since IHOP provides their servers with one meal per shift, I subsisted largely on chicken salads, Country griddle pancakes, omelettes, and stuffed French toast. When I occasioned to stop by at home or had the (rare) day off, I ate apples and bagels.

And when I was on campus: I ate L&T.

L&T is a soup and salad place, but they also have delicious wraps. My favorites: the chicken taco on a tomato wrap, or the Oriental hold the water chestnuts, sub for grapes on a spinach wrap. Every time I ate there it was a horrible time trying to decide which amazing wrap to choose. I had a roommate who solved this easily by eating lunch with me, ordering the opposite of me, and then swapping halves.

Throughout the years, I remained true to L&T, and I rarely ate anywhere else on campus. Even since I've graduated, I find myself craving the delicious wraps, and if I happened to be on campus, buying supplies (or BYU brownies) for the office, or to meet up with a friend, I would take the opportunity to grab me a wrap.

Today, as I approached the well-known zig-zag line, I looked up to see that menu had changed.

I was in a panic. The Oriental was missing. Since it's hot outside, and the Oriental is filled with lettuce, mandarin oranges, cashews, and grapes, it seemed like the perfect choice. Now I was in a pickle. The chicken taco remains on the menu, but there are other things to try, like the Vietnamese Ba Mahn, or a Greek something or other... all interesting choices with intriguing dressings. But still missing the Oriental.

I ordered the Vietnamese Ba Mahn.

I want to be mad at L&T for changing such beloved favorites, but at the same time...This is the closest thing I have tasted to Cheesecake Factory's Vietnamese Tacos, that I have ever seen. And in fact, they give an excellent description (that I'm going to have to go back and copy) of what exactly goes in the wrap. Something to do with pickled carrots, radishes, sweet pork, cilantro, and a sweet chili dressing. The only thing that detracted from the wrap, was the fact that they add -- unnecessarily -- croutons to the whole thing. Now that I have the list of ingredients, I just need to locate steamed bread and BOOM! I've got a delicious Vietnamese taco recipe!

I will definitely be getting this again. As sad as I am to see the Oriental retired, I am super happy for its replacement.

L&T was also known for giving out their amazing rolls with each plate lunch that you got. You had the choice between white or wheat (I always got the wheat) and they would put it in a to go container or on a plate. They've gotten rid of the rolls *sad face*, but, they've also gotten rid of the plates and containers, and opted for butcher-like paper that makes it much easier to transport the wrap. Also, in substitution for the rolls, they wrapped a pineapple spear up with my wrap....which was delicious and was a great replacement for the roll.

Cinnamon Spaghetti

I've been raving about this spaghetti ever since the taste of it hit my mouth months ago when Ovom was so nice to make it for me.

I've started sharing it with everyone, and so I have now decided to share it with the few others that read my blog that already don't have this in their possession.

It's seriously the best spaghetti. I crave it. I love it. I want it right now.

Spicy Spaghetti

Cooking up some deliciousness.

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Submitted by: Meghan

Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef or pork
1 can Hunts 4 cheese spaghetti sauce
1 medium onion
1 tsp. chopped garlic
½ c. pepperoncini
1 tsp. cinnamon

1 lb. spaghetti or angel hair pasta  
Salt and pepper to taste.  

Instructions:

Brown hamburger. Dice onion and halfway through the browning process, add onion and garlic. Chop pepperoncini and cinnamon. Add sauce. Simmer for 20 minutes until flavors have melded together.

Cook spaghetti and while hot, toss with 1 Tbl. of butter and some parmesan cheese. Stir into sauce.

Notes:
You might want to start with half the pepperoncini and cinnamon.

New Summer Header

I love having real design programs to do design work. 

Bear Lake

We waited for a long time for this boat to come. And all got pretty terrible sunburns, despite slathering sunscreen all over us (multiple times). The tops of my knees, and some random spots on my chest and in my hair were the only spots I got burned.

Still hurt though, pretty bad.

But it was a good day. And the water wasn't too cold. (At least for wading in.)

Sunday Drive

I've been working on our new company website for a long time now, and one of the things that we have been desperately needing is pictures of our projects. So Sunday, I decided to make use of Megan, and her camera, and we took off for a little adventure.

We headed towards Fairview, where KMA designed the Fairview City Dance Hall addition and remodel. Only, Garmin decided that Fairview and Fountain Green are the same place, so we took a slight detour while we rerouted.

It was a good thing that I was driving the company vehicle, and not my own little car. Temperatures were in the 90s the whole trip, and the sun was out hard. Needless to say, Megan and I were suffering with our sunburned bodies (Megan much more than I was) and we were grateful for the A/C.

After we got the business taken care of, we did weird things like singing and dancing in the gazebo, and then we were on our way to the next stop.

We stopped in Manti first, though, because we drove right through it. And how can anyone not see the Manti temple and not need to stop and take a picture? We spent some minutes taking pictures, dancing with the statues and playing in the fountain.

We were originally going to head to Monroe and then work our way back up, but it ended up that we were going to have to go straight through Salina and Richfield first, anyway, so we did everything in reverse order of what I planned. Which actually turned out to be a good thing.

Garmin again played a trick on us and we found ourselves on some really random, country road that had lots of BIG BIG BIG...cow...BULLS! With the biggest horns I'd ever seen. In fact, I just googled images of bulls  and the only type of bull it could have been was a Longhorn.

I don't think I've ever seen one in person...

He was too far away to get a decent picture, and kept turning around on us.

No one will understand it, but I think Megan and I were both in tears from laughing so hard, and then because our (Megan's) sunburns hurt.

We made it to Salina and took pictures of a middle school and an elementary school that were both within a block of each other. Then, we headed to Richfield and shot the district office, the high school, an elementary... and the coolest LDS church building I've ever seen.

We headed to Monroe, and discovered Elsinore. There's really not much to either town, except old dilapidated buildings. There was one in Monroe that I really want to buy and restore. It is literally a pile of standing sticks, but looks so old and interesting that I drove around the whole block trying to figure out what it used to be. My guess is a school or a church. It was for sale, too. Too bad I don't have any monies for anything like such as.

We found ourselves on the road back home, but had to take one last picture stop. We stopped in front of the Sevier Bridge Reservoir. It was really windy.

We might have taken more pictures here, but Megan's camera decided to start acting a little lazy. We weren't exactly sure what the problem was (and I was horrified, because it stopped working while I was using it!) so we sat in stony silence for about 15 minutes, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Hey... remember how we used to fix the old Nintendo game systems? I'll laugh if all you have to do is pull out the battery, blow on it, and it works again!"

So Megan pulled out the battery pack, blew on it, blew in the camera for good measure, and.... WA LA!!! That trick is magic. I almost feel sorry for the kids that grow up without an old Nintendo game system because they'll never realize the magic of blowing hot air onto stuff and its remarkable healing powers.

By the time we got back to Provo, we were tired, and I was desperate to see the pictures.

I think we got some really good ones, for both work and between the two of us. I am also convinced that this is the best way to do road trips. Frequent stops for picture breaks and no time limit seems to be what makes road trips BIG BIG BIG fun!

I Want to Wear Dad's T-Shirts to Bed Again

When Amy and I were little, we didn't have pajamas. Instead, we raided Mom and Dad's dresser for a t-shirt that we slipped over our heads, and found ourselves wormed through an arm hole by morning. There was one particular, a green, red, and white striped one that said Pepsi across the front that was soft and comfy.

I'm supposed to be putting away my wardrobe, and it's awful. I'm going through one of those "I-hate-everything-I-own" phases.

The fashion industry talks about "spring fashions" and "summer fashions" and things change each season...every. single. year.

I'm still wearing clothes that I had in 2004 when I moved to Utah. Heck, I think I have a thing or two that I still wear normally that I had in high school. I don't even have a "warm weather" and "cold weather" wardrobe. I just have my wardrobe... and I hope that I slim down enough with swimming and walking in the warmer weather, that it isn't necessary to cover everything up with a jacket. My cardigans, I have to keep in circulation, because even though it's going to be 100 degrees, I have to keep my shoulders covered. (Unless I'm in the car. I refuse to be modest while driving in a car with no air conditioning in the heat.)

Life is so much simpler when you can wear your parents' t-shirts as pajamas. Most of my clothes back then came in the form of my cousins' hand-me-downs, or as finds from my Grandma Armstrong's garage selling days. If we hated what we were wearing, it didn't matter. We grow like weeds as kids, and we really will only have to wear in for one season before we are too big for those 80s patterned bicycle shorts.

I have a sneaky suspicion that my dad dressed us this day... that's the only way I can explain the tucked in shirts.

I'd place a fairly large wager on the fact that none of our outfits were purchased new. Probably all  of them are Grandma Armstrong "finds". I particularly love the dinosaur shirt with suspenders that I'm sporting.

I've Been Thinking

I don't know what it is.... but I've been feeling so lazy about blogging lately. I know that I'm only disappointing myself in this matter. I bet my dad is pleased. He usually says that blogging is a waste of my time and I should be doing something more productive. Right now he'd be thinking that I needed to be asleep. I do need to be asleep, but I've just been thinking.

I've been thinking about people who think there is only black and white between emotions and logic; and how they think that emotions somehow invalidate truth. I've really been wanting to sit and blog this one out, but I haven't had the motivation or the patience.

I've been thinking about how busy my life has been lately. My weekends have been filled with friends and events, and... It's totally exhausted me. Like, emotionally and mentally draining. I spent this last Saturday alone, and it was what I needed to rejuvenate. I think people get confused by the front I put on, thinking that I crave social interaction and front-and-center attention. But that's not really the case. I am kind of introverted and antisocial. And actually, if I had a husband, I would probably never leave my house after work to hang out with other people. The depression that comes from after subsequent weekends of not doing something is just loneliness -- not cravings for major social interaction.

I've been thinking about how great my friends are. There are a few of you that know exactly what to say at the right moment that just gives me that added boost I need. I have a lackluster love life. Guys, I think, just don't really like me. Old men do. Older women love me. My friends think I'm awesome. (So do I, for that matter...) But as far as guys +/- about 10 years of my age, just aren't interested. Most the time I'm pretty accepting of this fact. It's been true since I entered the junior high. But other times I get a little discouraged. I hear that the guy I've been interested in is interested in someone else, and it's a hit on my self-esteem. And then I get texts like, "Well, he is a dolt then. I am sure you are hotter and much preferable to this skank." Or, "That's stupid, he clearly has terrible taste." I have people that love me, and I think it's pretty unconditional...which is amazing to me, because I am not always the easiest person to adore.

I've been thinking about the deadline my Uncle Craig gave me: to be getting married in August. I'm not going to make it. It's weird that I am a little disappointed, as if I really did have a sliver of hope that it would happen. On the other hand, four of my closest friends are getting married in August. (Three of them on the same day.)

I've been thinking about my dreams. And the fact that I don't know what they are any more.



I find that I keep saying to myself, "Go. Find your dream." But, I don't know where to start, or how to get there. The last dream I had that I knew exactly how to get was to go to BYU. It's been years since I graduated, and I don't have any other path or direction.

I've been thinking about cleaning my room. For weeks now. There's something much too comfortable about a messy room. It's annoying, sure. But, I think the sight of the bare floor and empty bed; the organized piles of my stuff -- and only my stuff -- depresses me. I keep putting it off, and I'm not sure exactly what I'm waiting for.

I've been thinking about swimming. I really wish our pool opened on Memorial Day like every other pool in the country. I can't wait to swim every night, again. Hurry up, Harmon!

And now I'm thinking about the fact that my contacts are still in my eyeballs, and I really do wish I were ready for bed and sleep...