Sleep and The Wee Small Hours of the Morning

My dog, Deno, is pictured above sleeping.  He loves sleeping.  There are days I wish I could sleep like a dog!

I never realized how precious sleep was until I started law school.  Sleep is a valuable commodity!  Thankfully, I have figured out better ways to study and the amount of time I'm awake during the early hours of the morning is greatly reduced.

I immediately thought of "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" sung by Frank Sinatra.  Except instead of missing a significant other during those hours, I'm missing sleep—literally!

Honeydew and Honeysuckle Rose

Honeydew melon is just one of those naturally sweet treats.  Nice that it's also good for you, too!  It's great paired with cantaloupe melon, too.

When buying a honeydew or cantaloupe melon, search for a melon that sounds hollow when you gently rap your knuckles on it.  This is not a fool-proof method but will generally yield sweet melons on your table!

If you want a guaranteed sweetness, check out "Honeysuckle Rose" performed by Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie.

Doughnuts and Apples

What tastes better than a doughnut?  Probably nothing!  And you can't go wrong with a basic glazed doughnut.

What goes well with a doughnut?  Believe it or not, hot apple juice!  I love cold weather and I love to enjoy a nice mug of hot apple juice with a sugary sweet, glazed doughnut.

Ah, but I wax nostalgic sipping hot apple juice which makes me think of the classic big band tune "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" sung by The Andrews Sisters.

Corn Tortillas: I Love You

I love flour tortillas, but like to change up my meals now and then with a great corn tortilla.  So tasty!  Try one with my recipe for taco meat.  You will love it!

So here's to loving all kinds of things: "I Love You" sung by Frank Sinatra.

Paint in the Swing House

My older brother is in town and painted my apartment (and, apparently, his shorts, too)!  It's amazing how wonderful a new coat of paint can make you feel!  And thank goodness there are now paints that have low fumes.  Isn't technology, even in paint, amazing?

So I decided today's song, to celebrate the new coat of paint in the "house," is "Swing House" played by Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker.

Oriental Cracker Mix: Valse Hot

I love oriental cracker mixes.  Salt is always a picker-upper!  My favorite type of cracker?  The spicy half-moon!

So here's "Valse Hot" played by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins.

Pretzel Rolls: Here to Stay

I've tried numerous times to make pretzel rolls from scratch.  Let's just say they didn't measure up; in fact they went down—to the bottom of the garbage can.  So what does this mean for those times when I still really want a pretzel roll?

I buy them in the freezer section, of course!  I like Sister Schubert's® Soft Pretzel Rolls.

I will still try to find a fool-proof homemade pretzel roll recipe.  But the convenience of the freezer section means I'll still enjoy pretzel rolls because they are here and not going away!  So if you'll pardon the rather obvious pun, here's "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay" by Danny and The Juniors.

Peanut Butter and Jelly

It may not be a recipe, but wheat toast with natural peanut butter is one of my favorite snacks.  It's quick to fix especially when I am in between case readings of torts and contracts!

I really am not even a "health food" person although I do my best to live healthy!  I like wheat bread better than white and I love the taste of natural peanut butter.

Even though I don't include jelly in my quick and healthy snack, I thought an appropriate song for today would be "Jelly Roll Blues" by Jelly Roll Morton.  You might want to add some raspberry jelly.

Blueberry Cheesecake: Blueberry Hill

The other day BYU held a New Graduate Student Dinner for, you guessed it, all new graduate students.

I think the highlight of the evening was the chocolate covered blueberry cheesecake dessert pictured above!  Delicious!

In honor of the lovely blueberry cheesecake dessert, here's "Blueberry Hill" by Fats Domino.

BYU Football Rivalry Game

So tonight is the BYU vs. University of Utah football game.  To say emotions are intense would be an understatement!  My older brother, Keith, is such a big fan that he flew in for the game!  Erik, of course, is working the on the crew for BYUtv!

I will be cheering for my Cougars!  So today's song is the Cougar Fight Song.  On the plane this morning, Keith, was wearing his BYU "Loyal, Strong, and True" t-shirt so another passenger asked him if he was going be singing the Cougar Fight Song!

I've Got a Friend in Highlighters

I've always loved highlighters.  But now that I'm in law school, I really love highlighters and feel as if they have become some of my best friends.

Now, I need lots of colors!  In reading cases, I use the different colors for different information so I that when I look back at a case, I will recognize specific information associated with a specific color.  So I am grateful for my rediscovered "friends."

So, on that note, here's "You've Got a Friend in Me" by Randy Newman as used in Toy Story.

Pennies from Heaven

Every so often, a day comes along that is simply so unexpected and delightful that it feels as if money has fallen out of the sky.  Today was one of those surprising days!

At the end of the Tech Fair BYU hosted today, my brother won a great prize in the drawing and I got these earphones!  They are very cool!  Literally, this little red bag was tossed to me and landed at my feet so today's song is "Pennies from Heaven" sung by Louis Prima.

Constitution Day...A Day Late

Yesterday was Constitution Day and I did not write about in on my blog so I am making up for my oversight and writing about it now!

I'm so very grateful for the Constitution.  What a miracle it is!  All the law students, myself included, found on our carrels a pamphlet with the entire Constitution in it.  What a great gift for law students!  What a great gift for everyone the Constitution is!

To celebrate Constitution Day, albeit a day late, here's "The Star Spangled Banner" from my album As American As Jazz.

Coconut Ginger Bar Cookies: Bewitched

So I've never eaten a "blondie" before, so this is the closest I've come to it.  And they are quite tasty with flavors that pop out in an almost "bewitching" way!  And that brings me to today's song "Bewitched" sung by Frank Sinatra.

COCONUT GINGER BAR COOKIES

½ cup butter, softened

½ teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

¼ teaspoon kosher salt 
⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¼ cups flour

½ cup crystallized ginger, chopped

¼ cup coconut

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper and spray with vegetable spray.
2. In a small mixing bowl, beat butter, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.
3. Stir in flour just until blended.
4. Stir in crystallized ginger and coconut.
5. Press onto the parchment paper lined pan.
6. Bake for 14-18 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.  The top should be golden brown.

Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup: I've Heard that Song Before

My mom devised this tasty soup.  If you're tired of the same old chicken noodle soup, this will definitely perk up your taste buds.  I love spice and this soup has plenty of it!

Now, we've all heard of and eaten chicken noodle soup: it's a favorite comfort food.  So it seems appropriate that today's song is "I've Heard that Song Before" sung by Frank Sinatra.

SPICY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

3 chicken breast halves

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ large onion, chopped

½ large red pepper, julienned

1 small zucchini, quartered and sliced thinly

1 Roma tomato, diced

8 ounces wide egg noodles

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup half and half

½ cup frozen peas

1. Combine in a large glass bowl the sugar, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and Kosher salt.
2. Par freeze chicken breast halves then dice them into small pieces.  Put raw diced chicken into bowl of spices.  Stir to coat the chicken pieces until there are no spices left in the bottom of the bowl.
3. Set aside for 15 minutes.
4. Cook the wide egg noodles for 6 minutes and drain off the water.  Set aside.
5. In a large frying pan over medium heat, put the olive oil.  Add the onion and red pepper.  Saute until par cooked, for about two minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove onion and red pepper to an empty plastic bowl and set aside.
6. Using the juices still in the frying pan, sauté the zucchini and tomato for about 2 minutes.  Keeping the juices in the frying pan, scoop out the zucchini and tomato and put in the bowl with onion and red pepper in it.
7. Cook the chicken over medium high heat for about 4-5 minutes until tender and completely cooked.  Add all the vegetables to the pan and stir to combine.  Turn down the heat to medium and then pour the heavy cream and half and half over the mixture and stir carefully and continuously.  Add frozen peas.  Simmer for about two minutes, stirring gently.
8. Add cooked egg noodles.  Stir and serve in a bowl immediately.