Yummy Dinner

Next week is Thanksgiving!! Tuesday is almost done with, so I just have to make it through Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. In one of my classes, Electrical Properties, we have a big homework set due every week. They are very challenging. The following week, our professor posts the solutions. This weekend, the power was down at BSU, causing the COEN website to be down as well. Professor Knowlton e-mailed out the solutions for LAST week and the new homework for THIS week. Except he made one BiG mistake. He e-mailed us the solutions to this week's homework!! Good news for me. I still have to work really hard at it, but at least I know I can't get stuck.

Since I had a good handle on my homework, and I was wanting something new for dinner, I decided to make a good dinner. Doug REALLY wanted chicken strips. Solution? I made mashed potatoes (from scratch!), breaded chicken breasts, and corn.

Mashed Potatoes:

1. Scrub potatoes. I think we used 5 small Russet potatoes and 5 red potatoes.
2. Dice into small cubes so they will soften quickly.
3. Boil until soft and the skins fall easily off the potato.
4. Add butter, mash, and season to taste.

Breaded Chicken:

1. Defrost chicken cutlets.
2. Beat two eggs in a bowl.
3. Fill another bowl about 1/2 way with bread crumbs. Season this as desired. (Garlic!!)
4. Coat the chicken generously in egg, then generously with bread crumbs.
5. Place chicken in greased baking pan. (I also sprinkled the little bit of leftover crumbs on top.)
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until done.

I was so excited for this delicious, easy meal. In other news, I am going to be skating in a holiday show in December 19. That is only one month away! I am excited, but nervous. I wish I had more time to practice and prepare for it. Since Christmas is approaching, Doug set up a tree this weekend. It is gorgeous! I love laying under the Christmas tree and reading a good book.

Figure Skating

I LOVE figure skating. It is truly one of my passions. I have been skating for about 1.5 years now out at Idaho Iceworld. After a cute guy (I know!!) taught me how to skate well, that was all I could do. Give me a good hour to get used to it, and I could skate *sort of* comfortably around the ice. I could not, however, stop. The worst fall I have had skating was when I didn't know how to stop, and I tumbled over a little kid with an EZ Skate.

Since then, I have learned so much from my lessons. I have so many tricks up my sleeve. I am even working on jumps and spins now!! You have no idea how much this excites me! These are things I am learning currently that excite me:

• Backward edges
• Toe loop
• Loop
• Half flip
• Scratch spin
• Backwards spin
• Spiral
• Lunge

The feeling of being on ice is like no other. I don't know how to describe what I feel when I step onto the ice, or smell the cool air at an ice rink. I feel invincible on skates, beautiful, and graceful. This is quite an accomplishment, as usually I feel awkward and clumsy. When I am on the ice, I want people to see me and notice me. If I could quit college and figure skate all day long, I probably would.

My skates!