Idaho Idaho

Idaho feels strangely like home to me lately. Who would have thought that the day would come that I would know my way entirely around not only Rexburg (not really a difficult task given its eentsy size) but also a good portion of Idaho Falls.

A few weeks ago, Melissa was on spring break from school and instead of spending the week in Portlandia alone(ish), she ventured out to Rexburg for the week to spend it with Marilyn and ME for the weekend that I was able to make it up there. At first I was sad that Dad ended up having to work that weekend (and sadly was stuck somewhere in the middle of no-man's-land Arizona for most of the weekend), but it ended up being way way fun to have a girls weekend: We told stories, we watched the news and the movie Leap Year, we talked about healthy eating and raw foods, we went to the bead store and as always spent more than intended, I taught Melissa how to make earrings, we went to the Bodies exhibit in Idaho Falls, tried some new recipes for Raw food that I had been wanting to try, and altogether just had a really relaxing, enjoyable time together.


One thing you need to know about me, if you didn't already know it, is that I absolutely love Anatomy. Its sickening really. It fascinates me. So when I saw a billboard for the bodies exhibit in Idaho Falls on my drive up to Rexburg, I. Was. Pumped. And I knew Melissa would be too, so I called her up and quick as that it was on our must-do list. We spent 2-3 hours in that museum gazing in awe at all there was to learn and relearn and discover about our beautiful bodies. We probably would have stayed longer, had hunger not been setting in and making us tired and cranky. Some people think its weird to look at a body that has been preserved in this way (or a cadaver), but I just always come away from such experiences with even more respect and reverence for the amazing intricacies and wonder of these bodies that our Heavenly Father created for us and gave us stewardship over.

Here are the beautifully delicious raw recipes we tried. Both came from this recipebook a friend sent me (everything I have tried from it since has been equally delightful):

The first is called Good Heart Sundried Tomato Sauce over zucchini and cucumber "pasta". (which is really just thinly sliced, raw zucchini and cucumbers). We were a bit leery of whether this would actually be tasty without cooking - but we thought we would try it. It was seriously so good! I was eating the sauce by the spoonful long before it even had a chance to go on the plate. It was more of a salad type dish, than a pasta dish, but tasty nonetheless.

The real gem of the evening was the Apple Pie. Dates are my new friends. They are like this secret little weapon in making delicious desserts without adding refined sugar. This crust was made from pecans, dates, and coconut. The filling was mostly apples, some more dates and a cinnamon etc. The best part about this pie? You could eat an entire HUGE slice and not go into instant sugar coma after or develop a case of food guilt because of eating something bad for you. (You don't get food guilt? That must be nice...)