Conference with African Accents

Church of Jesus Christ Conference occurs twice per year, in April and October.  It is party time!  Our family gathers for two days of watching Church on TV, eating, playing board games, and just enjoying each other.  On April 6 and 7, 2019, we welcomed Spencer and Naomi Flindt from BYU and Mike and Heidi Spendlove from just down the hill.  Grant Flindt joined us between stints of interpreting Conference talks into Slovakian at the Conference Center.  Conference is beamed across the world in more than 100 languages.

 LDS leaders can look like a sea of suits and ties, but this screen shot is the Tabernacle Choir.

Naomi and Spencer usually bring Daisy, their beloved dachshund, when they visit.  She dashes into my kitchen while Naomi and Spencer are still taking off their coats, and sniffs about for crumbs on my floor!

Alan always tells me I serve him weird food.  My food between Conference sessions was the weirdest yet--Ethiopian!  I fried injera, the sourdough Ethiopian pancake, and served it with doro wat, the spicy chicken stew, as well as lentil and sweet potato stews.  We didn't go completely native--guests had forks instead of eating with their fingers.  It has been a treat to entertain Janice while she has been home from Saudi Arabia.

There was familiar-looking fruit salad for those who thought nothing else looked edible!  Even the Ethiopian shawls on the tables were authentic.  Black, red, and green are the colors of the Ethiopian flag.

 I remember Ethiopia well from the years my family lived there, 1962 to 1964.  I remember the statue of the Lion of Judah, emblem of Emperor Haile Selassie.

And I remember the teeming markets and dusty streets.  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, now has fancy buildings, but still much poverty.

Moment in Monticello

Now that Dave's a bishop, it's hard for him to get away on weekends.  We have marked off at least two Fridays and Saturdays per month when we will flee town together.  On April 5 and 6, 2019, we made a quick trip to Monticello to visit the first of 38 small temples announced by President Hinckley in the late 1990s.  President Hinckley's goal was to have 100 temples built by 2000.  He also wanted to bring temples closer to Church members, wherever they lived.

The Monticello Temple has only 11,000 square feet, but it is beautiful inside, and beloved by the members who visit from throughout the temple area.  Fellow visitors to this temple assumed we must be from Moab, Bluff, Telluride, or another town in their temple district.

 After our temple session, we relaxed at a Moab restaurant.  Moab does not have a large Church of Jesus Christ population, as Monticello does, but is a resort town, filled with bikers, hikers, and river runners.  Arches and Canyonlands National Parks draw international visitors.

 Moab flaunts its Western heritage.  We stayed, fittingly, at the Rustic Inn.

 As we drove home Saturday morning, we appreciated the ever-lovely red rock country, with the La Salle Mountains in the distance.

Filippino Feast

Quinn (Ben) Moreland knows good Filippino food.  He spent his two-year LDS mission on Luzon, the northernmost Philippine island.  As of June 2018, the Philippines had 765,393 Church of Jesus Christ members, 102 stakes, 21 missions, two operating temples, and three more announced.  That sounds like a great place for me to visit, some day, for a temple trip!

Our Philippine dinner, on March 31, 2019, included chicken adobo, the Filippino national dish.  Chicken adobo is made with long-simmered onions, chicken, and a spicy, vinegary sauce.  We had stir-fried vegetables, a tropical fruit salad with fresh pineapple and litchees, and mango ice cream for dessert.

 The Philippines is an archipelago of islands which stretch south to Malaysia. 

Phillipine beaches are gorgeous.

 High, terraced hills fill the interior of the islands.

 It was a treat to have Dave's sister, Nancy, and her husband, Darrell, as guests for our Philippine dinner, as well as Mike and Heidi.

 We always enjoy Carol Garza.

Janice, Dave's sister and Quinn's mother, is visiting from Saudi Arabia.  We loved hearing the tales of her travels.

Dreams of Porto

Porto, Portugal--can it really be this quaint and lovely?  I would love to go there someday.  In the meantime, I am perfecting my Portuguese cooking.

 On March 24, 2019, the Flindts (Spencer, Naomi, and Grant) joined us for a Portuguese feast.  They will be gone all summer making presentations and doing internships in Heidelberg, Florida, Slovakia, and Houston, so we enjoyed them while we could.

 I laid out my "tile" pattern, Portuguese runners and tablecloths, and we ate a savory sweet potato soup, braised beef, Portuguese paella, and an orange cinnamon cake for dessert.

 Our neighbor, Carol Garza, is a beloved regular.  She treats me with fancy knives, spatulas, and hand cream, and I keep serving food!

 We invited Herb and JoDee Flindt to join us, since our joint grandchildren were in town.

 We always enjoy Shauna and Alan.

As I did the dishes, I dreamed on about my trip to Porto.

Vegas Vagaries

 Dave had a psychology conference at the Tropicana Casino in Las Vegas from March 22 to 24, 2019.  I flew down Thursday night and we stayed until Saturday.  We are trying not to let it cramp our style, having to get home for Church on Sundays!

 I enjoy the bling and glitz of Vegas, so long as my visits are only for a few days.  My Uber driver from the airport to the Tropicana was a would-be stand-up comic, who spends every evening haunting the comedy clubs, trying to get his break.  Vegas is a city of dreams.

Dave and I made our pilgrimage to Primm, 30 minutes drive south of Vegas, on Thursday night.  It is never too early to begin assembling gifts for my Christmas table.

 The Williams Sonoma Outlet in Primm is irresistible.  I piled my cart high.

 On Friday morning, I took part in a conference call on one of my Utah developments, and I then spent the afternoon moseying along the Strip, as David finished his meetings.

 I stopped in at the new Eataly space, with its array of Italian restaurants and food shops.

 I inspected the imported cheeses and proscuitto, but spend my calories on a cannoli and gelato.

I wandered on to the Bellagio, where I checked out the latest installation of plants and structures in the Conservatory.  The theme was a Japanese teahouse in the spring.

I admired the tulips and dared to hope that spring would come soon to Salt Lake City, as well.

 Dave and I ate dinner at Il Fornaio, a fancy Italian restaurant at the Venetian.

 We then attended a performance by Earth Wind & Fire, a 70s rock band.

 We didn't recognize as many songs as we hoped, but we were impressed with how well the group had moved into the 2000s, with amazing special effects and a modern sound.  I wish I could do so well at retrofitting my 1970s body and soul!

 The Venetian auditorium was decorated like an Italian opera house, all red velvet and gold.  Pretense and hope--those are at the center of the sumptuous, gambling soul of Vegas.  We'll be back.

St. Patrick's Day

 Camille treated me to my 69th birthday party on St. Patrick's Day--March 17, 2019.  I provided the "Green Day" ornaments--leprechan hats and beards, and Irish posters.  My favorite poster proclaimed, "Tonight We're All Irish!"

 Mia humored her Grandma in posing in hat and beard.  During dinner, the Eberts related memories of their own trip to Ireland, visiting both Dublin and parts of Northern Ireland, where our Scotch-Irish Hamilton ancestors lived for 200 years, before coming to America.

 Dinner featured Old Country favorites--corned beef and cabbage, boiled potatoes, and soda bread.

I contributed a raspberry trifle for dessert.  Next year in Dublin!