Candy Sushi and Honey Straight from the Hive

I had a really fun weekend. I didn't get nearly as much done as I did LAST weekend, but it was a great social weekend, and I'm content with that.

On Friday night, one of the girls in my ward sent out a Facebook invite to her house to make candy sushi and watch "Miss Congeniality." Liz and I took up the invitation even though we didn't know this girl, and we ended up having a blast.

Shelley (our hostess) had this huge spread to make candy sushi. I didn't actually make any because I'm still steering clear of sugar, but I had a great time watching the others make it. I'm totally going to do this for a party someday because it was a lot of fun. You use a fruit rollup for the seaweed, rice crispy treat for the rice base, and then she had Swedish fish, gummy octopus, licorice, sprinkles, and frosting for the filling and toppings. The end result actually looked a lot like sushi, and from what I saw as everyone was devouring them, they were delicious.

Our hostess, Shelley, showing us how it's done.

As you can see from the photos, there was a good-size group there. And it was one of those rare but wonderful occasions where I met a lot of people and we chatted a lot, and yet when it came time to sit down and watch the movie, everyone war respectful and quiet and we all got to enjoy it! I hadn't seen "Miss Congeniality" in ages, and I had a blast seeing it again and getting to know so many awesome girls in my ward.

Then, yesterday morning, Liz, our friend Shannon, and I went to the Salt Lake public library to watch them harvest the beehives they keep on the roof. It was fascinating! They took out a bunch of the frames to show us how loaded with honey they were, and where the baby bees are raised, and even where the queen bee was!

All these kids and their parents flooded into the library right as it opened and crowded onto this landing to watch, but the kids were really loud and got bored really fast. Most of them were gone long before the harvest was close to being done. 

Notice how you can't really see any bees flying around in this shot. That will change very soon.

Opening up the first hive...

Not all of the frames had honeycomb on them yet, so they got those ones out of the way first to show us the finished ones.

Like these! This hive was cool because all the beekeepers do is put that wooden beam across the barrel, and the bees build the entire comb themselves! No frames to help them! They said that each comb full of honey weighed about six pounds!

They actually didn't smoke the bees nearly as much as I thought they would. They didn't look like they were getting attacked or anything, either. They were very careful not to cause the bees too much stress.

This kid was one of three boy scouts who were there to get their beekeeping badge. This was one of those times when I really wished I could be a boy scout. 

See all the bees flying now?

They said this kind of beehive wasn't great for actual food production, but it looked really simple to maintain. I'd like to have one someday.

Then they got started on the industrial hives. 

This hive only stored enough honey for the winter and hadn't really gotten up to the spare frames, so they didn't harvest any from here, but they took the opportunity to show us how the frames look. 

See that screen over the top of the middle box? That's called a "queen screen." It keeps the queen from crawling up to the spare frames, because if she got up there, she would use the frames to lay eggs, not for storing honey. 

Then they got into the honey frames.

They were all LOADED with honey. Sometimes you could see it dripping off of the frames.

This frame didn't have honey, it had "brood." See the darker orangey part? Those cells are full of bee larvae. 

This is them getting into the final beehive, which had tons of extra honey for them to harvest. They brushed all the bees off of the frames, then loaded up the boxes to take to the beekeeper's house to actually put the honey into bottles to sell.

This last beehive was so full of honey that the bees had even started building comb onto the queen screen.

So many bees!!

Here the beekeeper is just checking to make sure that there's lots of baby bees and everything seems healthy in the center of the hive.

These middle frames are not to be messed with. He actually found the queen on this frame, and after showing her to the scouts, he put it back in super gently. If you upset the queen, she'll just fly away and start a hive somewhere else. Not good.

The scouts getting a look at the queen bee.

So that was all the beekeeping we saw. Fascinating stuff! I totally want to keep bees now.

The absolute best part about this whole event was that they took those combs from the first beehive (the barbecue looking one), brushed off all the bees, brought them inside, and chopped them up for us to eat!

I'd never eaten straight-up honeycomb before, and it was delicious! It was a little waxy (I found wax in my teeth hours later), but it was just so yummy--so much better than any processed honey I've ever tasted. If just watching the beekeeping wasn't enough to make me want bees, tasting their honey definitely won me over.

This was kind of a lame, waxy piece, but still delicious! And I got a much fuller piece later.

Look at that honeycomb in all its glory!!

Oh my gosh, just looking at these pictures again makes me want more. 

They probably only used like three combs, but there was tons of honey to go around!

These were just some of the leftover waxy bits, but look at how perfect those cells are! We're so used to seeing homemade frames that bees use, but this comb was made entirely from scratch! How do they make them so perfectly symmetrical??

Mmmmm!! See how the honey varies in color in different cells? They said that's because the honey came from different kinds of flowers, and each one has its own distinct color!

I learned so much about bees yesterday. Another little tidbit I forgot to mention is that they actually feed the bees sugar water when there aren't any more flowers to be had. For a bee, harvest ends in July, and if they don't have enough food after that, they might not have any spare honey for the beekeeper to take.

So that's enough beekeeping geekery. I'm sure you aren't nearly as fascinated by this as I am. But hey, you'll thank me later when I have fresh honeycomb to feed you in the future.

Freewrite: A Highly Productive Weekend

I hesitate to blog about stuff when I don't have any pictures to go along with it, but I've had a real great past couple of days.

Friday was Youngest Sister's birthday, so in the evening, my grandma picked me up from my house and took me back to Daybreak for a party, the whole drive asking me how life had been in Daybreak lately, as if I still lived there. It was really funny. I kept having to remind her, "...You just picked me up from Millcreek. You know I don't live in Daybreak." Ha ha!

Anyways, it was one of those parties where everyone brings their own meat to barbecue and then also brings a side to share. I didn't have any meat to bring, so I just mooched off of my parents, but I didn't come completely empty handed. I decided to go out on a limb. I tried a new recipe called "Mojito Fruit Salad" and contributed it to the party. It was just a bunch of honeydew, kiwi, green grapes, and Granny Smith apples, with lime juice and mint overtop. So it was the greenest green salad you've ever seen. Everyone really liked it--it was fresh and original. Frankly, I think my family was impressed that I actually brought a side dish in the first place. That's right--I AM an adult!

The party itself was great. Ashley had a good time. We had a good mix of people from both sides of the family, and it was a nice, chill evening.

When Grandma dropped me off back home, she wanted a tour of my new house and gave it her official seal of approval. Just kidding--she doesn't actually have a seal. But she should. She really hated my last apartment even though it was much nicer than anywhere I ever lived in Provo, so it was good to know that she found this house acceptable.

Saturday was a super busy day for me. First thing in the morning, we roomies got a washer/dryer unit through KSL. Now our house is almost complete! All it lacks is a toaster! :)

Some really nice guys in our ward came to help us move it. And by "help us," I mean that they did everything themselves. They did all the heavy lifting, installed the washer and dryer in our bathroom, and even attempted to fix our faulty doorknob unasked. We thanked them with big slices of Liz's homemade strawberry pie, and they stayed and chatted with us for a while. It was so nice to finally have people over at our house (especially people of the male persuasion).

Shortly after the menfolk left, we roomies all went to Liberty Park and jogged all the way around it. Well...I didn't jog the entire time, but I did completely circle the park, and I pushed myself a lot farther than I thought I could.

Then we all went grocery shopping, and Liz and I worked on taming our grass (which has the amazing ability to grow three inches in two days, I swear). Once that was done, we all begged for a few hours.

The piece de resistance was having Starla and her 9-month-old son, Stevie, come visit! I can't believe I didn't take any pictures, but really it was the kind of thing where I was having too much fun to even THINK about taking pictures!

We talked in the house at first, and gave Stevie the run of the place so that we could see what to baby proof (he found every electric cord on the ground floor within the first couple of minutes). Then we decided to take him out to the big grassy park across the street so he could wander around to his heart's content without doing too much damage. While he tried to chew on leaves and strangle me with my shiny necklace, Starla and I caught up on each others' lives and talked about the novels we're each writing. I love discussing literature with her, and I love her writing. It was so nice to just sit and talk.

An hour or so later, we went back to my house and made dinner together. Starla introduced me to this really great chicken tamale casserole, which we assembled together and then devoured. Two new recipes in as many days! What??

Then we just continued to talk and play with Stevie. That kid was just a bundle of energy, and I realized towards the end of the visit that I was as comfortable holding, playing with, and taking care of Starla's child as I am with Jackson. Maybe it's because Starla's like a sister to me, I think of Stevie as a pseudo-nephew? Whatever the case, I had a blast with him. He was so smiley and easy to entertain. At one point we just had him crawl up the stairs over and over, with Starla behind him to catch him, and me at the top cheering him on. He just grinned the entire time. His favorite was when I curled my tongue at him. He kept sticking out his own tongue and trying to do it back. So cute!!

I was sad to see them go, but also super exhausted by that point. I slept really well that night.

Sunday was really great, too. EVERY DAY since Friday has been excellent. Sunday I slept in as late as I felt like (so until 7:30), read my scriptures, and showered and got ready for the day. Then my roommates and I put together a big brunch. I made mini quiches (yet ANOTHER new recipe!) with turkey bacon, onion, spinach, and egg. Heather made French toast and fruit smoothies. Liz provided Greek yogurt and pomegranate seeds. It was quite the feast, and we ate it out on our back porch at our cute, colorful patio table. It was the first time all three of us cooked and ate a meal together, and it was a perfect day for it--all blue skies and suave Jazz music from Heather's playlist.

Then Church was great, of course. The guys who helped us move our washer and dryer sat by us in Sunday School (we have friends!!), and I met quite a few other new people. This ward is so friendly. I also finally got set apart for my Activities Committee calling. My last ward gave me three callings but never set me apart for any of them. This feels much more official. And the blessing that came along with the setting apart was very inspiring and made me feel like I could really make a difference in this ward.

After Church, the Springer family had our monthly Family Home Evening at the Jenkins'. We had a magnificent chicken and rice dinner with home-grown tomatoes and other veggies with hollandaise. The sister missionaries from the Jenkins' ward were there, and that was so fun for me to talk with them. It brought back a lot of my own mission memories even though their SLC mission is way different from mine.

When the missionaries left us with a message and everyone ate dessert (except for me, because I haven't had dessert in three months straight and I'm not going back now), we had our family lesson. Dad was in charge, and he led us in a discussion about modern-day apostles. It was a good topic. We're going to be getting two new apostles here soon, and he did a good job of explaining to the kids why that's such a special thing. It was an engaging lesson and made me appreciate the apostles more.

So that was my weekend. Today has been pretty uneventful in comparison, though I do have a big pot of chicken chili in my crock pot. It's not a new recipe, per se, but still--I've made something out of the ordinary four days in a row! I'm so proud of myself. All this cooking and baby interaction has made me feel really domestic.

2015 Reading Challenge: The Graveyard Book, The Rithmatist, Alanna, the John Cleaver series, & more!

I'm doing very well with consistently working on my novel, but doing very poorly when it comes to updating my blog, so I apologize.

It's time for me to catch you up on all the books I've read lately.

First, the ones I've read for the 2015 Reading Challenge. Since there are so many today I'm not going to go very in-depth. You'll just have to read them for yourself (or not).

A book of short stories: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Synopsis:

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own. 

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family 

My rating: 4.5 out of 5

Condensed review: Action packed, spooky, and beautiful all at once. The ending was bittersweet--very sad but also very uplifting and inspiring. Live your life to the fullest!!


A book a friend recommended: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

Synopsis:

More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles. 

As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing—kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery—one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.

My rating: 5 out of 5

Condensed review: Dad: "I never thought I'd care so much about chalk." Me: "Mwuahahaha! I finally got you hooked on a Sanderson book!" Ashley: "This book says 'rithmatist' a lot."

If you're wanting to get into Brandon Sanderson's books but don't want to pick up a 1000+ page epic fantasy, then this book is the one for you! It's ultimately going to be a series, but for now this book stands very well on its own with great characters, an exciting plot, surprising twists, and, of course, a brilliant, unique magic system. I expect nothing less from Sanderson.


A book you can finish in a day: Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

Synopsis:

From now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight.

And so young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to switch places: Thom heads for the convent to learn magic; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin her training as a page.

But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and to discern her enemies from her allies.

Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna's first adventure begins - one that will lead to the fulfillment of her dreams and the magical destiny that will make her a legend in her land.

My rating: 4 out of 5

Condensed review: I can't wait to read the rest of this series! It's a children's book, so it's pretty short and simple, but it was a very fun read and didn't tiptoe around the issues surrounding a girl who's masquerading as a boy.


A trilogy: John Cleaver by Dan Wells

(SORRY FOR THE LACK OF PHOTO!!)

Synopsis: John Cleaver is a diagnosed sociopath who must struggle with his inner demons while battling actual serial killers that threaten his home town and the few people John has really brought himself to love.

My rating: 5 out of 5

Condensed review: (Yes, really, this is my condensed review) You already know how much I liked I Am Not a Serial Killer. The other two books in the trilogy didn't disappoint, and I can't wait to get my hands on the new book that came out last month.

That being said, this series is not for the faint of heart. Very PG-13, very gritty. My friend Heather puts it this way: if you can read the first chapter of I Am Not a Serial Killer without being completely disturbed, then you can handle the rest of that book. Mr Monster (book 2) is the worst of the trilogy--not saying its badly written or anything (because it's amazing!!) but it's just hard to stomach. These books in general are tough to read, but in a way that makes the victories all the more satisfying and the good moments all the more beautiful.

I know that anyone who picks these up by my recommendation is going to suffer--either you'll be thoroughly revolted by Chapter 1 of I Am Not a Serial Killer and miss out on the rest of the series, or you'll be as sucked in by them as I was and not be able to sleep well at night after reading that last page of I Don't Want to Kill You. You've been warned.


Other books I've read lately that aren't on my Reading Challenge list:

Synopsis: Please. Like you don't already know.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

Condensed review: I'm glad that the author actually knew about shark behavior and pointed out that this one was abnormal, instead of perpetuating beliefs that all sharks are relentless man-eating machines. I'd heard that this book was terrible, but aside from the anticlimactic ending I found it pretty enjoyable.

Synopsis:

Ronald Thompson knows he is not guilty of the murder for which he is about to be executed. There are only two days left to unmask the real villain - a terrifying psychopath who has killed before and has unfinished business with his victim's family.

My rating: 4 out of 5

Condensed review: I picked this one up on vacation and it definitely combated boredom. Clark is excellent with dramatic irony and weaving clues in and out of the story. On an unrelated note, that cover is weird. The story has nothing to do with a lake or a dock, and it bothers me when they make the author's name a thousand times bigger than the title.

Synopsis: If you need a synopsis then you've been living under a rock. But okay.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." 

So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's witty comedy of manners--one of the most popular novels of all time--that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues.

My rating: 5 out of 5

Condensed review: I've seen several movies based on this book so I thought I knew it all. Not true! The book has what all the characters are thinking, which adds a whole new dimension to the story for me. It was also very fun to listen to it as an audio book. I thought in an RP British accent for weeks.

Okay that's all for now! According to Goodreads, I've read 28 books this year. My goal was 52, so I'm actually 3 books behind. I'm not worried about reaching 52 by the end of the year, but I am worried about actually reading all 50 books on my 2015 Reading Challenge list. I've gotten through most of the fun ones, so now I have to crack down and read the less exciting ones.