Vitamin Water Anyone???

So as many people of BYU know, finals just finished and with that brings the endless chore of packing all the stuff you've collected over the year, not to mention all the stuff you brought up with you. That is ALOT of stuff!!! But before you can begin packing, what is the first thing you must do? Throw away all the trash that your room has accumulated over the year. For me, this wasn't very hard, a few papers here and there, the occasional surfing magazine and of course the foot high stack of paper cereal bowls always one away from falling over. Once these unnecessary items are discarded, one can begin to pack. Well not me....other than the three things mentioned above, I had one more, fairly large pile to throw away that until today was hidden from the world. I am talking about my 213, empty plastic bottles of Vitamin Water.

Now you must know that I am completely obsessed with Vitamin Water. When I was 17 playing for the Long Beach Volleyball Club, one of our sponsors was Vitamin Water. At first I did not like the stuff, it was all about orange Gatorade for me! But sometimes I'd forget my precious drink, and practicing for three hours each practice made one quite thirsty. So who was there to quench my dying thirst and replenish my wispy electrolytes? VITAMIN WATER! We had the stuff in the hundreds at every practice, every scrimmage, every game, match and most importantly, every flavor. I soon was addicted to a new favorite drink.

So back to the original story. BYU was so kind as to continue it's supply of my addiction in their vending machines in the dorms. However, they were not free like I was used to. But I purchased each 20FL bottle all the same and after I finished, I would just throw them up on the ski rack in my room. Hence the 213 that I surprisingly found while cleaning out the rack this afternoon. Gotta love it!

Finally, A Protein Skake that actually tastes like a Shake!

Over the past five years I have been in search for the best tasting protein shake. Most people when they hear the word "shake" they think, "Awesome! Glorious! Smooth and refreshing!, however, when most hear the word protein put in front of the word shake, they think "Ewwww! It's like drinking powdered chalk! So how come we can not have a blend of the two? A shake that still tastes like a shake, but gives you the necessary protein to help rebuild torn muscles...is that possible? I say unto you, after years upon the quest, YEA!

It is simply called Muscle Milk. And it kicks an In n Out's chocolate shakes butt any day! One serving is only 11oz. and delivers a huge but smooth 22g of protein! Best severed cold for a nice, refreshing cool down after an intense work out, this baby is loaded with 44% of a persons daily value of protein along with every vitamin and mineral you can think of! So how can a protein shake with so much in it that is good for you be so...well great tasting? I have no idea. But who am I to question the genius behind the creation? All I know is that I have never been able to chug a protein shake very well and was always happiest when I was finished drinking the chalky bulk. But now it is the opposite. I often find myself drinking another immediately upon finishing my first...or second. Working out has a whole new meaning now, because I know that once I'm finished, I have one of these bad boys waiting for me in the fridge. Oh yeah!!

French bread, common in stores? I think not!

It was 1:30 p.m. this wonderful wednesday afternoon and I went out to lunch with a few friends. I knew that I have to pick up a few loafs of French bread for class today for our groups final presentation and I just figured I could pick them up at any local grocery store. WRONG!

After eating a huge triple cheese burger at The Training Table, I proceed to go to several stores and each time when I asked if they had French bread, the workers there would look at me in utter bewilderment; like I was asking for fried octopus.

Finally I went to Abertson's and asked the same question for the 4th time. At this point it was 2:00, the time the syllabus said was when our final would start. I was kinda panicking. Then to my great disappointment, the teller looked at me again with the same bewilderment. "What is going on here," I thought, "When did every store in Utah decide to get rid of French bread and only carry white or wheat?"

Then I realized why I was receiving such an odd look, I was standing right next to a 4 foot sign that read, "FRENCH BREAD" in great big, bold letters.....yeah I felt stupid. But in the end I got the two loafs, raced back to my dorm to get my final paper, and booked it to our room in the JKB in record time.

Once inside, I realized everyone was there...except my professor. I was not late at all, class didn't start till 2:30. Fun stuff.

Getting my first six pack

So for those who do not know, getting a six pack in volleyball mean being hit with the ball in the face. So, say your friend Bobby hit the ball over the net and hit you in the face, you would in turn, besides being humiliated, owe him a six pack of his favorite soda drink. How does this apply...? Well in my 8 years of playing volleyball, I have never once been hit squarely in the face. Sure, the ball has hit the top of my head, even nicked my neck, but never have I in my life been hit directly in the face. That was until Monday night. Now, I knew that sooner or later I would be hit right smack in the face. Everyone has been hit. I guess I have just put it off. In college....they hit the ball alot harder and faster than the kids did in middle school. Every practice I have been pretty terrified that Ivan Perez would rip one of his 85 mph's at me and knock me out cold. However, I have still avoided one of those. This one and hopefully only time was at my club teams practice. I coach a 17's girls club team, and most of them can barely hit over the net. So, last night at practice I was teaching them how to block. Now...the men's net is set at 8 feet where at the girls is around 7 foot 6 inches. So when I go up to block, my shouldered get completely over the net, along with my neck,...and followed by my face. I decided to start out with a game. Each girl was to hit five balls and hit at least three past me. The very first girl tossed her ball to the setter, the ball was set, I leapt as high as I could, my chest was over the net, we made eye contact, then WHAM!! She hit the ball right into my face. I was shocked. Never had that happened...and yet, I had just been hit in the face. My first six pack. I guess it was better to have it happen then and there, than at practice with the men's team. However, the rest of practice was so much fun. All the girls for some reason had had a rough day at school, and watching their coach get hit in the face was just what they needed to get through the rest of the week.. So tomorrow, I'm brining a six pack of Dr. Pepper to the girl.

Should be a fun rest of the season with these girls haha

What horrible weather can do.

I haven't written for a week or two...sorry.. however, at this late hour I feel that I have just had the best French toast in the entire world after many, many experiments. So this after noon, after classes my roommate and I were searching for something to do. Going outside was completely out of the question...if you haven't noticed, it's snowing a ridiculous amount and having the wind blow it in you face and right through every article of clothing. Not my type of grand adventure if you ask me. People who are able to live in Utah have my utmost respect now. And yes, us southern California kids are a bunch of wusses when it comes to the cold. 75 and we need a jacket haha.

Ok so since the weather was...not cooperating, we decided to practice making the best French toast in the entire world. We are cooking our famous omelets and now famous French toast for the girls in or ward Thursday night and we had to get it perfect. A feet which we knew we could accomplish. We began with the usual batter mixture, then it hit me. I had always seen my grandpa sneak something into the batter, something in a small dark bottle, before stirring it in and saturating the bread. And for all of you that are thinking that my grandpa was sneaking some sort of alcohol into the batter....yeah, not that ha. This is the LDS grandpa. But i was still stumped. So I put aside my pride and called him. After promising that I would get him a Large BYU banner for the secret, he told me. And yes, I shall share. It was Vanilla!!! So we tried it and, it tasted great! But great wasn't enough. I had to come up with a type of powdered topping that was better than powdered sugar. I finally got one right and with the Vanilla, my secret powder and a sweet syrup, my roommate and I have successfully invented the best tasting French toast this earth has ever feasted upon. And feast we did.

Guess when the weather is horrible, it creates opportunities to make amazing new dishes!

Fantastic Griddle!

So as most of you know...we are no supposed to have an electrical appliances in the dorm. However, my roommate and I have grown up in a home where we loved to cook a nice, warm and extremely tasty breakfast. So what did we do? We went to Waly-World (Wal-Mart) And bought a slick, wide surfaced griddle. Now with this new addition to our lovely home, we began to explore the amazing world recipes for various breakfast items such as; sweet French toast, warm, cheesy omelets and even the occasional strip of salty bacon. We found that by purchasing items at the DT creamery with our dinning plus cards, and cooking the breakfast ourselves, we were actually saving money AND starting our day with much better sustenance. Needless to say, purchasing that griddle has been one of the best buys my roommate and I have made. There is nothing like having the smell of French toast wake you in the morning; At least, not for this kid.