Thought Smog

Neighbor Nan Schmidt gets a great photo from above the toxic air in our valley.

After a run on a red air day, the kids wrap Adam up in bibs and cloths to heal him.

The kids in the basement enjoying their inside playground.

Shot of our back kitchen area in the downstairs.

Hi all, we switched to a blogspot this week because we learned more about the Facebook rights of privacy and whatnot. It was not cool, so we are privatizing just slightly with a blogspot. We chose Thought Smog for two reasons. 1. Everything on earth was already taken. 2. We're really just dumping our muddled thoughts across the page with every post.

We also recognize that some of you may not care to get a weekly update on our familial events (no offence taken there, as we fail to follow many-a-blog ourselves). So, if you would like to continue to receive updates, subscribe, and you’ll get your weekly dose of whatever we can come up with.

This week I started teaching at USU again after a month long (it was lovely) break. I’m just teaching one speaking class called “Cross-Cultural Talk”. I’m excited about it as it is a large class with a lot of diversity. I learn so much from the students. I really love my job, and it helps take the edge off my craving for living abroad again!

Adam has been convinced to enter a contest through Prevention magazine, mostly to win the 5k to pay off some bills accruing with this new upcoming baby, plus $5k to the charity of his choice. The contest is to highlight 5 people in the nation who have lost weight and inspired others by living a balanced, healthy life and overcame a major personal challenge. He seems like the perfect candidate! We’ll see if they agree J

We spent a good amount of time fixing up our basement this weekend. We’ve been living in this house for 2 and a half years now, and we are still fixing it up! We are trying to make one of the rooms look more like a finished kitchen. Baby steps… baby steps.

Another room in our basement has been converted into a playground, of sorts. Because winter is 6 months long in Utah (shudder), we decided it would be worth investing in a swing and a rope ladder ($20 at IKEA) for the kids to play on. We got the idea from Sam (Adam’s brother), whose basement is even more of a swinging playground than ours (a zip line and what have you). So far, it has been a fabulous investment. It’s especially fun when we have a bunch of kids over like last night. We participate in a babysitting exchange with some couples in our neighborhood. Every 5 weeks we babysit a whole slew of kids (11 or so) so that we can have the other 4 weeks for date nights. It’s a sweet arrangement, but as you can imagine, it can be quite challenging at times!

Speaking of Utah winters, the air here is literally killing us! If you haven’t heard, our air was the worst in the nation multiple times this winter. We hold our breath most of the time, but now and then we can’t help but inhale the toxic vapors of death (gasp). It is no joke. We’re not fans, and my kids keep coughing. Bleh!

As you know, we are trying to eat more healthily, and so we are running into a lot of new recipes that we think are worth passing on – if you like that sort of thing. So… Recipe Of The Week:

Carbonara alla Tastyana (my carbonara recipe from the Italy days)

500 g. penne pasta

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (not the cheap-o processed stuff!)

1/3 cup Mozzarella Shredded/Grated

2-3 Bell Peppers (for aesthetic appeal, I use 1 yellow, 1 green, and one red) chopped

1-2 cups of chopped Ham or Bacon

6-8 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 white onion chopped

1/2 tsp. ground pepper

1 Tbsp. Dried Basil or 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil

1/2 Tbsp. Dried Parsley or 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh parsley

1 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. red hot chili pepper

2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Put pot of water to boil. When it comes to a boil, add 1/6 cup of salt (yah, it seems like too much, it’s not). Then throw in the penne pasta (Farfalle (bowtie) pasta works well too).

Chop up veggies and meat and toss in frying pan with Olive Oil. Add all spices. Cook until veggies soften a bit and meat is browned, then add the heavy whipping cream. Put on low for 5 mins until cream thickens a bit. (If desired, Carbonara often also includes 2 eggs stirred in at the end while still on low to ensure it’s cooked in)

Drain Pasta and toss into frying pan with the sauce. Mix. Turn off burner and add all the Mozzarella cheese while mixing to distribute evenly. Sprinkle Parmesan atop each serving and serve.

Enjoy!