First off, I’ve managed to go without fast food for over two months now. Which isn’t saying a whole lot, but I’m still pretty proud of myself. Ditching fast food has been surprisingly easy: after the first two weeks, it wasn’t at all difficult to say no to dollar menus and quick calories. Granted, I only have to cook for myself, not a whole family, and my schedule is completely independent of anyone else’s.

Last week, I was able to attend a performance of BYU’s Music Dance Theatre Showcase, which was terrific, as was the company (by multiple definitions.) They opened with the Glee rendition of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’, which is always a classic, and performed other numbers from a variety of musicals. I was a little disappointed that they chose heavily from Legally Blonde and Urinetown, hoping for a few Rodgers and Hammerstein songs or selections from Wicked (Defying Gravity anyone?) instead. The weirdest thing was thing I knew two of the girls in the production – this is either a sign that I’m mixing with better gente, or that I’ve just been in Provo too long. Both are quite possible at this point.

I was planning on taking my bike out for the first ride of the season tomorrow, but with the massive snowfall that we just received, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. That leaves me with apartment hunting and attending the 20th Annual BYU Hunger Banquet. Which reminds me, I still need to find a date for that.

This is what happens when you spend too much time in Excel.

This is a fairly simple recipe that, more than anything else, just requires the dough and fudge to chill in the refrigerator. It’s a great recipe to make in advance, as the completed logs can be wrapped and stored in the freezer until they are needed, and a single batch makes 7 dozen (small and thin) cookies.

Fudge Ingredients:

1 ½ cups chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon orange extract
1 ½ cups chopped pecans or walnuts

Fudge Instructions:

1. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and butter.
2. Once the chocolate is melted stir in the sweetened condensed milk, nuts, and vanilla and orange extracts. Chill for 30 minutes or until firm to the touch.
3. Form the fudge into logs between 12″-15″ long and ½″-¾″ thick. Wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate until firm.

Dough Ingredients:

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 egg
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda

Dough Instructions:

1.  Cut the butter into ½″ cubes and place in bowl of electric mixer.
2. With the paddle attachment, beat in sugar and zest at medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
3. At low speed, beat in the egg.
4. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. At low speed, mix into mutter mixture just until incorporated. The dough should stick together in clumps but not pull away from the sides of the bowl.
5. Roll the dough into 12″-15″ long × 4″-5″ wide sheets ¼″ in thickness on parchment paper and refrigerate until firm.

Final Instructions:

1. Wrap the chilled dough around the fudge logs so that the edges overlap slightly. Press the edges together to seal as necessary.
2. Re-wrap the logs with parchment paper and chill for another hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. After the logs have chilled, cut into ¼″ slices and set 1″ apart on the baking sheet.
5. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until edges begin to brown slightly. The fudge center will remain soft.
6. Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

We regret to inform you that the recipient of your previous post has since deceased. She suffered fatal injuries from an unrelated accident that occurred after her encounter with your vehicle on Monday.

Our sympathies,
The Deer Family

Dear Ms. Deer,

I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you not to hang out with my car anymore. It seems that he suffered a severe allergic reaction following your encounter yesterday evening, which has left him quite under the weather. We love having you nearby, but please find a new playmate from now on.

Sincerely,
Devon

P.S — I think there may be a leak in my karma reservoir – between the issues with my driver’s window and this accident, my poor Accord has really been taking it to me.

So far I’ve done fairly well keeping my resolutions. That isn’t saying much given that we’re only 4 days into the new year, but I’ll take what small successes I can. I’m kind of glad to be kicking fast food out of my diet – I purchased a small refrigerator from my cousin who’s being transferred to our offices in Thailand, so that will help me cut down on lunch expenses. The only true obstacles to completely avoiding fast food will be when I’m traveling. Although if I could find a sit-down restaurant in Malad, Idaho last summer, I should be able to find one just about anywhere. Besides, the McDonald’s in Park City doesn’t stay open past midnight anyway, so what’s the point.

To identify what is and isn’t fast food, I’ve developed a set of questions. If the answer is yes to any of the following, then it’s a culinary no-no:

• Can it be purchased at a gas station or convenience store?
• Is there a drive-thru?
• Does it come wrapped in paper and tinfoil?

After taking far too many pictures at concerts using my phone’s camera, I finally took the plunge and purchased a new semi-compact with F2.0 wide angle lens, which arrived just in time for this concert back at the end of July and the family trip down the Pacific Coast.

 

The primary benefactor from this year’s Christmas haul is, without a doubt, my gastronomical impulses:

• From ma complice belle:
  • Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom
  • A cooking journal/recipe diary with three incredible recipes (I’m dying to try the baked Brie)
  • Julie & Julia on DVD
• From the folks:
  • A blender! (Hard to believe I haven’t had one since the mission, isn’t it?)
  • Pasta attachments for my KitchenAid
  • A pasta drying stand
  • The Pasta Bible
  • The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Dessert
  • Baking chocolate
  • A springform pan
• From my sister:
  • An apron, another kitchen necessity that I’ve long neglected

 

• No more fast food. Yes, the stuff is extremely unhealthy, but that’s not why I’m going to refrain from eating it. The real reason is because the last time I purchased fast food, I ended up spending over $500 just so I could get my window to roll back up. If that isn’t a sign, then I don’t know what is. Whether I’ll end up eating more cup o’ noodles or ham and cheese sandwiches, I don’t know, but I have determined not to spend a dime at a fast food restaurant in 2010.
• Blog at least once a week. I’m horrible at posting to this blog on a regular basis. As of today, I have at least three recipes that I need to publish. To demonstrate how backlogged I am on other topics, I still haven’t posted the pictures from some of the concerts I attended back in July. Pitiful.
• Date more. Preferably the same girl on a more frequent basis, but if not, at least just go on more dates in general. In theory, this should be easy, because as a college student with a full-time job, it’s not like I can’t afford to date on a regular basis. The problem is that I simply don’t meet a lot of girls outside of my ward, which severely limits my social life.

There are also a couple of things that I would like to resolve to do but know that there is no reasonable way for me to fit them into my current schedule:

• Use my gym membership. I will probably cancel mine in January. I opened a membership last spring, but I stopped going on a consistent basis once classes began in the fall. I’ve just avoided paying the $100 cancellation fee in the hopes that I would, my some far-fetched miracle, actually find time between the constraints of a full-time job, classes, and my meager social and ecclesiastical obligations. In hindsight, I should have just purchased some adjustable weights.
• Learn French. A goal of mine since I was 17, but something I’ve never been able to find the time to do. With a major that doesn’t lend itself to elective courses, my only chance to learn French has been through audio courses, which don’t really work that well for me. Thanks to my fluency in Spanish, I can understand a fair amount of written French, but I can’t comprehend or speak it at all. (But I can at least say that last bit!)
• Learn to play the guitar. I’d like to get back to playing piano, but it will be a long time before I have either the space or the capital for even a budget upright. Until then, I’d like to learn to play the guitar. One of my good friends once told me “For as well as you can play Guitar Hero, you might as well just learn to play a real guitar.” The problem is, I don’t have time to play video games at all, let alone find a tutor who’s available in the evenings.

Those last three are more like future resolutions – things I’ll resolve to do once I’ve graduated and have at least a little more free time in the evenings.