Tuna Fish Banana Pancakes

Dear faithful blog readers, I know that it might seem that I have become DC-ified. All these trips to awesome places and associating with high-ranking people from the US and all over the world might seem like it has been a little much for me, and I have been thrown into the rat race that is DC, losing all personality, hope, and joy.

Don't worry. I am pretty much still the same person. And my dinner choices might just be the saving grace that has kept me from becoming a DC robot. (I actually love DC and say this a bit facetiously. Some people do change when they move to DC and become hardened, angry, and only care about getting ahead in their career. But I absolutely love it here--and I don't work on Capitol Hill, so I think I'm safe! :)

My dinner choices in college were not always the most appetizing to the average person. I used to think that I could win the prize for the most disgusting meals eaten in college in order to save money.

And then I lived in Asia.

Living in Asia totally ruined my idea of what could be counted as a legitimately disgusting dinner, eaten for the purpose of saving money. Cow stomach, pig intestines, frog legs, chicken feet--none of these things are cheap, but eating them made my dinners of ramen and beans look like a gourmet meal.

I remember once eating dinner at a member's house in Taoyuan. After her first bowl of rice and food, she got some noodles and squirted ketchup into the bowl with the noodles. "This is my favorite sauce to put on noodles," she said,

Sauce? No. In America we call that ketchup, and we put it on hamburgers. Not ramen. She thought it was such a delicacy, though, that I tried it for her sake.

Yep. It tasted just like ramen with ketchup on it. But somehow it was better with chopsticks.

Anyway, that stint in Asia changed my mind about what is disgusting and what is palatable. I am now much happier with what I eat, even if I eat the same things that I did before my mission. Because honestly, nothing is as bad as chicken feet. Just sayin.

Anyway, when I decided to come out to Washington, DC for an internship, I thought that my eating habits would change for the better. Finally, I thought, I would have time to actually make myself dinner occasionally. And I would be making enough money to actually buy fruits and vegetables.

And then I got to DC and realized that I was working 10 hours a day, commuting for another hour to hour and a half, taking 12 credits, including two independent study classes, travelling and working overtime often, getting ready to move to Jerusalem, and living in a small box of a room with a closet bathroom and a mini fridge (more about my dorm experience at the Barlow later). There was a shared kitchen on the floor on which I lived, but I am not such a big fan of sharing one kitchen with 20 people. I tried not to even walk past it and I was successful most days.

My eating habits, however, were not helped by my living situation, and one look at the food prices in DC made me want to turn around and eat saltines all summer. Avoiding the kitchen certainly made things interesting, and near the end of my stay at the Barlow Center I just avoided utensils all together. I ate a whole jar of peanut butter without ever using a knife or a spoon (or my hands!) and I made a peanut butter and banana sandwich once without using utensils. We won't get into details, but I felt pretty barbaric sometimes crouching in my room next to the small fridge, drinking milk out of the carton, breaking cheese off with my hands, and licking peanut butter out of the jar.

Anyway. I like to think that I have moved on from that stage of life. I now live in a beautiful house with an awesome kitchen. I have plenty of utensils and I sometimes even drink out of cups now. But food is still expensive in DC, which still makes for some interesting meals.

A couple of nights ago I went to the CVS just down from my house. CVS is a pharmacy with a few groceries, but their food selection is not big and the prices are higher than a normal grocery store. However, I didn't want to walk down to the Safeway about half a mile away. And when I saw the bread prices at CVS, I decided that low-quality bread was really not worth $4, thank you very much, and I went home without any.

And then last night I had a pretty hard-core craving for a toasted cheese and tuna fish sandwich. But I didn't have any bread. So I went with the next best thing.

Pancake mix.

I made 3 pancakes, spooned the tuna fish on top, and sliced some cheese. It was almost exactly like a toasted tuna fish and cheese sandwich, but with pancakes instead of bread.

Now, I know that some of you are gagging just thinking about eating tuna fish pancakes. I told my coworkers and they were all disgusted, and one of my friends threatened to buy me bread if I didn't start eating better. But really, guys. It was pretty high-end compared to what I am used to.

And apparently, I'm not the only one who eats tuna fish pancakes! After finding this recipe for tuna fish banana pancakes, I realized that tuna fish pancakes are like a little slice of heaven in comparison. (My favorite part is when it says, "to make the pancake looking more appetizing..." If you have to say this about food, you know there's a problem!) (Also, I don't think it's a coincidence that Ayam Brand is Asian!! They just do food differently over there.)

Unfortunately, the tuna fish pancakes were so good that I ate them all before I took a picture. Maybe next time I make them...

An Update

Dear loyal blog readers, I feel like I have been unfaithful. Other interests have captured my attention, leaving me little time for blogging. But before you start judging me and wondering what could be more important that blogging, please realize that in the last two weeks I moved to a new house and went on a 5-day work trip, my commute time to work has changed from 1 hour to 2.5 each day, I finished two classes and can now "officially" graduate, and my time is now taken up with searching for housing in Jerusalem and cheap flights to Israel. Add to this the fact that I study Hebrew for several hours a day to get up to an acceptable level in the next three weeks, I fly out of DC in 13 days, and I move to Jerusalem in less than 3 weeks, and I am still working full-time, and you just might excuse me for my sparse blog entries.

A million things have happened and each of them have a story worthy of a blog entry. Don't worry, dear readers. These stories will come (hopefully before I leave for Israel!). I plan on blogging about museums in DC, my Montana work trip, my work trip to Norfolk, VA and my new desire to have a pet stingray, restaurants around DC, the Washington, DC Temple, my new house, my old apartment (closet), Washington Seminar, Mt. Vernon, teaching English to 6-9 year olds from different countries, and many other things.

Until that time comes, though, just enjoy this picture of my coworker and myself in Montana. Did I mention I love my job? My life is awesome.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert

One of the best things about living in Utah that I didn't fully appreciate when I lived there was the vast abundance of free high-quality musical performances. Living in DC is also great in this respect, but when I heard that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was coming out here to perform 30 minutes away from where I live and tickets were $20 for the cheapest lawn seats, I thought, "No way am I going to pay $20 to hear the Choir when I used to listen to them all the time in Utah for free."

Well, someone had pity on me and others like me and my ward got about 100 free tickets to the Choir concert. And it was absolutely spectacular.

I feel incredibly lucky to have grown up with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. For lots of people at the concert, it was the first time they had ever seen the choir live. And even with tickets ranging from $20-$60, the place was packed.

As usual, the Tabernacle Choir did not disappoint. And with good friends and a beautiful sunset (and 95 degree weather with unbearable humidity, which only added to the thrill of it all), what could be better?

On the bus on the way home after the concert I was listening to the conversations going on around me. Actually, there was just one conversation, between three very loud men on the bus. And they were talking about how weird Mormons are, even if the Tabernacle Choir is spectacular. "They don't drink coffee--and they change the words in songs from 'coffee' to 'cider!'" said one of them.

"Yeah," said another. "I was in a hotel in Salt Lake once and they didn't have any alcohol in the fridge in the room."

During their whole 20 minute conversation I was snickering silently to myself. I wanted to see the looks on their faces when I stood up and casually mentioned that I was Mormon. But, unfortunately, I never got the chance. And I figure, if the only reason people think we are weird is because of the Word of Wisdom, I think that's pretty good!

New York

If you get overwhelmed by picture-heavy posts, I suggest you skip this one.

Several weeks ago I went to New York for a little jaunt in the city. Now, I'd never been to New York City before, but someone sitting on the bus behind my friend and I described the difference between DC and NYC quite aptly.

He said, "I love New York because it's a CITY (said in a low, manly voice), whereas DC is like, 'hey, everybody, i'm a city! (said in a high, tiny voice)." I wish I had taken a voice clip of the guy because it was so funny. My friend and I laughed about it for days.

Anyway, New York. There are busses that you can take from DC to NYC. They are pretty cheap (usually about $18-$28 one way) and most of them have free Wi-Fi.

When I heard about the free wifi, I was sold. I decided to visit my friend Dani in New York before she moved away, and at the last minute my friend Sean decided that he, too, wanted to participate in this thrilling adventure.

After looking at bus prices and availability, I decided to take the Bolt bus on the way up and the DC2NY bus on the way back. I was pretty sold on the DC2NY, but Sean highly recommended the Bolt and I was afraid I wouldn't have great wifi on the DC2NY. I had a lot to do Friday on the way up to NYC and I decided that I couldn't chance not having internet.

The irony in this situation lies in the fact that I didn't even get 5 SECONDS of wifi on the Bolt (it didn't work the whole way up!) whereas I had wifi THE WHOLE TIME on the DC2NY on the way back. So much for a productive Friday bus ride (I was cursing my choice of Bolt the whole time)...

The first thing I had to do in New York, naturally, was get a hot dog. I got it from Gray's Papaya, which you can see by looking at the "Murder!" sign closely, is also suffering from the economic crisis. Still, it was the best $1.50 hot dog I have ever had (made even better by the fact that it was in New York!).

No trip to New York is complete without a jaunt across the Brooklyn Bridge. After our hot dogs, we did just that.

I couldn't have asked for better friends to experience my first trip to New York with. Sean, Dani, and I all went on a study abroad to Jerusalem together.

I love this picture because, well, we look like ghosts.

The city never sleeps! I took this picture at about 1 am.

I happen to be in love with catwalks and fire escapes on the outside of buildings. And there were some sweet fire escapes in New York.

I think my experience with Central Park and this tribute to John Lennon was made much, much cooler by that bird running across right as I took the picture.

Central Park.

The craziest thing I saw in Central Park: this guy taking the dogs out for a walk. He's pretty resourceful--I think I counted 9 dogs with him!

Central Park is even more beautiful in the middle of New York City than it would be, say, in the middle of Montana because it is so random and so different than the cityscape that surrounds it. How crazy that you can be in the middle of a city and suddenly walk into a peaceful and huge city park, filled with lakes and small running streams?

Besides Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge, there were several other "free must-sees" for me in New York. There were lots of "must sees," but with so many free (or almost free) things to do, why would I waste my time spending money? That's pretty much my philosophy for life, actually.

The Met wasn't free but it was "almost free"--they have a donation system where they ask you to pay what you think the museum is worth to you. Since I only wanted to see a couple of things, I didn't feel too bad paying just a little amount.

The Met is an awesome museum with lots and lots of different exhibits. It can be overwhelming if you don't know what you are looking for. Let's be honest, it's overwhelming even if you do know what you are looking for!

With all of the options and such a short time to see everything, I convinced my friend Sean to run around to about 20 different exhibits just so I could look at the art and move on to the next. It reminded me of the time I was in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo--since I wasn't sure I would ever be back and I wanted to see EVERYTHING in the 30 minutes they gave us after the tour, I ran around the whole museum. I am pretty sure that I ran into every room and saw everything. I don't actually remember anything, but I know I saw it all.

Anyway, I knew I had to set some priorities if I wanted to make this a valuable trip to the Met. And strangely enough, the thing at the top of my priorities was the Ancient Near East collection. Even though I left BYU incredibly disenchanted with my major, even I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see artifacts from thousands of years ago.

I mean, this thing was featured on one of my textbooks!

And who can pass up an opportunity to see statues of fertility bulls?

Or Ashurnasirpal's palace from Mesopotamia in the 800's BC?

Or a fragment of the Ur-Naama stele, or a female worship statue from 2600 BC in Southern Mesopotamia? I totally learned about these things in one of my archaeology classes. The elite (those wealthy enough to pay for a statue of themselves) would place their statue in the temple to allow for "perpetual worship"--and thus greater blessings from the gods. 

The Greek things were cool too, but my allegiance lies with the older part of the ANE.

The weather for my jaunt to New York was absolutely perfect. It was overcast, drizzling slightly, and quite cold. Sean was cursing the fact that he was wearing shorts all day (and that we only had one umbrella!), but I was quite comfortable. The best thing about the weather was the lack of tourists and others on the streets. Everywhere we went was pretty deserted for New York (which was awesome!).

After putting lunch off several times so we could wait until we could find a good place to eat, we finally decided to just get a pretzel. Now, I know that New York City is pretty famous for its street hot dogs and street pretzels, but this pretzel was absolutely the WORST pretzel I have ever eaten. It tasted like burnt salt. Eating it while standing under an awning in the rain and watching people get soaked as they ran by as we waited for the rain to subside, however, was a priceless memory. Just like eating fried chicken instead of turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, or eating cow stomach, pig intestines, frog legs, or other oddities. It's definitely a story that I will recite many times for my children.

Anyway, we stopped by a few other places before dinner.

Wall Street

 Trinity Church

 The iconic "Broad" and "Wall" intersection

 Oh, hello, Alexander Hamilton's grave

 Ground Zero

I was thrilled that Trinity Church and St. Paul's Cathedral were on our list (because, well, I made the list) because of one thing: the Puritan tombstones. Ever since I wrote a paper on the rhetorical effect of the symbols on Puritan tombstones, I have been dying to see them in person. When we got to Trinity Church, I almost died when I saw the graveyard surrounding the church. The graveyard was filled with Puritan tombstones. Just getting into that graveyard would clearly make all of my dreams come true.

Unfortunately, the lot of my life is living with unfulfilled dreams. There was a wedding at Trinity Church and the graveyard was closed. I asked Sean if it would be weird if I went up to someone in the church and explained my situation: "Look. I really need to get in to the graveyard. I did a lot of research on Puritan tombstones and I even wrote a paper on them and presented it at a conference, but I have never touched one. I NEED to get in the graveyard. Can you just let me in for 20 minutes?"

Unfortunately Sean said it would be weird--and besides, they probably had Puritan tombstones at St. Paul's Cathedral!

They did. And St. Paul's Cathedral (and graveyard) closed at 4:30. And I got there at 4:50.

I guess I will have to take a trip up to Boston before I leave. Because I really can't leave DC with my dream unfulfilled of touching these Puritan tombstones. In the meantime, though, I got a couple of pictures through the fence.

After dinner with Sean, Dani, and her friend, the four of us stopped by Times Square. The magical quality of it all was intensified by the thick fog that lay over the buildings.

 I took this picture for my sister Kaitlyn, the chocolate lover.

 I was wearing a BYU t-shirt (can I just say that every time I wear my BYU t-shirt, at least one person will come up to me and either tell me that they are Mormon, they used to be Mormon, or they know a Mormon?) and as I walked through Times Square, this man advertising for a comedy show saw it and said, "Hey BYU! Come on in! Lots of jokes tonight about the Honor Code!" If only I had prepared a clever reply to respond! Instead I said no thanks and quickly walked away. Lame, I know.

 Dani took us to this awesome glass elevator in the Marriott. It sticks out in the middle of the hotel and goes up 48 floors at a high rate of speed. It was the closest I got to riding a roller coaster in New York. This is the view looking out of the escalator as we were racing up to the top. It seriously felt like Willie Wonka's elevator, and we were all waiting for the crashing sound as we smashed through the roof.

 But for such a nice hotel, the carpet was really kind of ugly!

 My trip to New York was made possible because I stayed with Dani at her employer's house. It was right in the middle of downtown New York, it was beautiful, and I didn't have to pay for a hotel. It was seriously like living in a dream. The artwork and paintings in the house made me feel like I was staying in a museum.

 And finally, quite possibly the best part of the New York trip was going to church right below the Manhattan Temple. They were having a tri-state YSA conference, and Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder L. Tom Perry spoke in sacrament meeting! (And the craziest thing--Harry Reid was there too! I go all the way to New York with Sean, who works on Capitol Hill, and see Harry Reid. Crazy.)

All in all, it was an awesome trip. Beautiful weather, wonderful friends, and a chance to experience "THE CITY."