"Yummy, yummy, yummy I've got love in my tummy!"

If there is anything that bugs me, an there are a lot of things that bug me, it is people who cook and refuse to share their recipes. I love to cook, bake mostly, and have many times had the experience of asking a fellow cook for a recipe and then being told that they "don't share their recipes" - it drives me nuts! I am a firm believer in the sharing of fun and fabulous things so the hoarding of culinary knowledge is just beyond me.

Anyway, at work they do a weekly update that is pretty much just a newsletter that goes out every Friday but in the weekly update there is a section for "Recipe of the week" and this past week one of my lovely co-workers posted a recipe I had recently shared and I thought that I would like to share my beloved recipes with my blogging friends as well so this weeks recipe is: Triple Chocolate Bliss Cake (picture above).

You will need:

1 pkg. (2 layer size) chocolate cake mix (I use Devil's Food)

1 cup sour cream

1 pkg. (4 serving size) chocolate instant pudding

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1 container (3 cups) thawed Cool Whip

1 pkg. (8 squares) semi-sweet chocolate chopped

1 1/2 cups raspberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease 12 cup fluted tube pan. Beat all ingredients except whipped topping, chocolate and raspberries in a large bowl with an electronic mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes scraping the bowl occasionally. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Loosen the cake from the sides of the pan with a knife and gently remove the cake. Cool cake completely on a wire rack. Place on a serving plate.

Microwave the whipped topping and chocolate in a microwaveable bowl on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after each minute. Drizzle over the cake. Spoon raspberries into the center of the cake. Store leftover cake in the refrigerator.

I think it is yummy, hope you all like it!

Movies 101

I love movies. I have many and watch them over and over and even get to a point, whith my favorites of course, where I can recite the lines along with the actors. I LOVE MOVIES! So this has inspired me to share with you some of the movies that I consider essentials.

(These are listed in no particular order)

1. "An Unfinished Life" - Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman, need I say more?
2. "Much Ado About Nothing" - One of my personal faves and Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh are so great!
3. "Steel Magnolias" - Classic
4. "The Italian Job" - Good action and very funny
5. "Iron Man" - A recent addition but I just love it so much!
6. The Jack Ryan movies: "The Hunt for Red October", "Patriot Games", and "Clear and Present Danger" - I love Sean Connery in "The Hunt for Red October" but I really do prefer Harrison Ford in the last two to Alec Baldwin who plays Jack in the first.
7. "Idiana Jones" - All of them. I am honestly not the giggest fan of "Temple of Doom" but it should be seen at least once.
8. "50 First Dates" - So funny!
9. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" - Such a great team in Redford and Newman
10. "The Way We Were" - I am a total sucker for a hopless love affair

To finish off the list for today here are my favorite John Wayne flicks:

• "The Quiet Man"
• "McLintock"
• "Hatari!"
• "Donovan's Reef"
• "North to Alaska"

ENJOY, the are all fabulous!

A dreamy summer's night

This week my parents and brother and sister are in town and, since we only get together about every six months these days, having them in town has encouraged us to take advantage of some of the wonderfully entertaining things happening in and around Provo. Tonight we went up to the beautiful Sundance Resort and enjoyed an evening of theatre beneath the stars. Showing currently in their outdoor theatre is a delightful production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night Dream". There is something altogether magical about the theatre period, but pull the roof off and put the stage on a mountain surrounded by nature and you have got yourself a real treat. As I sat in the audience watching the Oberon and Puck manipulate the lives of fellow fairies and mortals alike, I found myself unable to keep from smiling it was such a delight to watch.

Contrary to popular belief, or maybe just my father's, I do occasionally do more than shop - shocking, I know! I am a Senior at UVU (Utah Valley University - doesn't it just sound expensive) and an English major so literature is most definitely a huge part of my life, but I will confess to a special fondness for William Shakespeare's plays. There is something about his plays that just draws you in, I am not sure how to explain it. Now although there are times when nothing hits the spot better than a good and torturous tragedy, I am drawn more to the comedies. "Much Ado about Nothing" is my favorite but "A Midsummer's Night Dream" is a very close second so tonight was a real delight. Before the feature presentation even started we were entertained by an improv group called "Thrillionaires", and they were a perfect appetizer to the comedic feast to come.

So here is my plug; "A Midsummer's Night Dream" is running through 8/23 on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights up at the Sundance summer theatre and if you are looking for something fun to do you should check it out - you will not be sorry. Then if a night at home seems a better choice I would recommend that you check out the film version of "Much Ado About Nothing" with the talented Emma Thompson and hysterical Kenneth Branagh - it is a scream!

I am not a perfectionist...

I am not a control freak. I just want to get that out in the open. I just like things...the way I like them, and perfect, and there is nothing wrong with that. Is there? I just don't know.

So here is where it all started...a long, long time ago...okay, okay I will write my own stuff. So while wrestling with the life or death decision of whether three different kinds of dessert would be enough for the upcoming family dinner, or if there should be four, my fair sister suggested - ever so slightly - that I might be somewhat of an overachieving perfectionist. To this unfounded accusation I responded - very patiently and maturely - that I most certainly was not! Her response to my well justified outburst was no more than a look that clearly said "...um okay crazy, whatever you say."

Frustrated and a little miffed by this accusation I sought out the best method of calming myself - I went shopping. Now it was only to the grocery store but really shopping is shopping and groceries can be exciting, especially if they are used to make yummy things. I was very good though, mostly because I bought five pairs of shoes in the last two weeks, but just absorbing the retail aura did wonders for my little soul.

SO this is my conclusion, I might - I said might - be a bit of a perfectionist, but it is only because I want the people I do things for to know how much I care for them by doing my best. That does not make me crazy, I don't think. So I guess, to prove that I can contain myself, I will only make three different kinds of dessert instead of four...or maybe I will still make four.

Happy Endings

"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence"
— Aristotle

There are people in this world who read stories and watch movies with open endings and relish the opportunity, when it is done, to speculate what their new friends do beyond the last scene. They prefer to create their own endings rather than be told...I am not one of those people.

Perhaps it can be explained with my slightly OCD personality, but I crave nice, neat, explained and complete, and preferably happy endings. Stories that are finished off by trimming the loose threads and the tying on of a lovely bow to finish it all off. It is with these thoughts that I find myself wrapped in a comfy blanket, surrounded by damp and thoroughly abused mascara stained tissues, several empty cans of Diet Pepsi and a half empty bag of Snickers minis. I have just finished Stephenie Meyer's last installment in her Twilight series: Breaking Dawn (warning: if you are not a Twilight fan or if you have not yet finished reading it, you might want to stop here) and I must say that if it had to end, I am thrilled with the way the series ended - happy. The guy got the girl, good triumphed over evil, families were forever united and everyone got what they really needed to be happy.

Now even though the type of happy endings we find in our favorite books and movies are not as common in our world, it is my belief that we have to continue to look for our own happy endings. It's like the Dali Lama said: "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions." So this is my long winded and slightly random conclusion; happiness is not easy and a lot of times it seems impossible but if we push through and do everything that we can we will be rewarded, maybe not in the way we expected or wanted, but rewarded just the same. I am willing to work for it, because oh how I love a happy ending!