great wall of evil

So I met my Springville sistahs, Courtney, Katrina & Becky (who needs to start a blog already) for dinner at P.F. Changs last night. Courtney is here visiting from Florence, Italy—where she and her little family live while her husband studies painting—so we had to get together before she leaves.

And it was seriously just what the doctor ordered. After having quite an emotional day, it was a nice way to end it by hanging out with these girls and just laughing. One highlight of the evening was splitting the Great Wall of Chocolate cake.


Good news is that it is probably the healthiest cake ever made. It only has 2240 calories and 89 grams of fat. I'm super excited to weigh in at w.w. this week.

Thanks girls and buon viaggio Courtney!

manna from happy valley

This is one of the many reasons why I love my in-laws.

grilled peach melba

I watched Everyday Food one Saturday with drool and determination to try this recipe. We improvised a bit and put the peaches on foil because our grill is dirty. But it still turned out so good, plus I got to spoon off and eat the excess deliciousness.

muy. muy. delicioso.

And please understand that this picture does not do it justice.

sprinkles of makaafi

So when we were in So Cal, we visited Beth, my very dear and old friend (as in longtime, not age), and her cute little family.

So we (as in the Lesues) visited them (as in the Makaafis) whilst in the real O.C. We let the kiddies run around awhile and then we went to Sprinkles for some delicious fatness. After that, we headed on over to the Newport Beach Temple where the children were perfectly reverent angels. Except that Inez stole a rock from the fountain. They are all glued down or sealed or cemented or something, but she must have pulled one loose somehow. Oops. Maybe we'll put it in the fountain of the Provo temple.

Here are some pictures of the Makaafi children, who should all be modeling and putting their parents through vacations and houses and such. My children couldn't look whiter next to them, and rightly so since that is what they are. Beth's children are half Tongan and once again, rightly so since their father is Tongan himself. Ilai, Inez, Gwen, Eden and Anela (or "Vanilla" as Inez called her).



I was also priveledged enough to taste some taro (is that right Beth?) with coconut milk. It wasn't too bad. The coconut milk helped, I think.

Then Sprinkles...

It looks like someone is presenting them in this picture, but it is just Inez going for the one with the candy dot on top. The flavors are (left to right, top row): banana, chocolate peanut butter and dark chocolate, (bottom row) black and white, another chocolate p.b., and vanilla. They are very rich, and very yummy.

And not too far from Sprinkles is the Newport Beach Temple.


Beth and Fo'ou posed for the Prom

Here's our perfectly reverent angel.

the day that evil entered the house

Don't you just love it when you are trying to be good (with your eating) and then someone, out of the goodness of their heart, brings you a treat? Well, last week I was being really good until my Mom's visiting teacher brought this over.

It's called Old Fashioned Buttermilk Cinnamon Streusel Cake, and it tasted even better than it sounds. It was calling my name. And I kept just cutting little slivers, which for me is the worst because usually I think, "Oh, I'm just having a little slice." But then before I know a large portion of the desssert is gone (I'm not alone here, right?).

So, maybe I'm a bad daughter because I made my Mom give it away. I mean, this wasn't even my cake to call the shots on. I feel bad, but I probably would have felt worse if it stayed here and I ate it. Especially considering the fact that for one serving, 1/18th, the cake had 390 calories and 21 grams of fat! For only 1/18th of the cake!!!

By the way, for anyone interested she got it at Costco. Did I mention that one serving was only 1/18th?!