love in the kitchen

it's been almost a week, and i still haven't made it home.
i thought living out of a suitcase for 4 months was hard... having to make it through one more week was even harder. i packed some clothes way back in april for my family to bring down with them when they came to pick me up... i don't really know what was going through my mind when i packed them. was i really thinking that i was going to make it through a whole week with two pairs of pants??? thank heavens my mother is smarter than i am. she knows when i am thinking crazy and brings shorts with her.
my savior!

you know i'm a foodie.
the last three months have been killing me.
gazing longingly inside the kitchen... wishing i could be in there, learning, observing, burning something...
it's good to be home - even education week you couldn't even keep me away!

food is an important part of a balanced diet. [fran lebowitz]

one of my favorite classes was by chef brad.
i think i have a new foodie crush.
for all my love of food, i never realized just how many different types of grains there were. i live in a wheat bubble. i'd heard of spelt and quinoa... but amaranth? triticale? sorghum? and there are three different kinds of wheat???
you're blowin my mind...

the breakfast slimes, angel food cake, doughnuts and coffee, white bread and gravy cannot build an enduring nation. [martin h. fischer]

this was our class today.
religion + food
you can do miracles with food.
it's true.

if you feed someone spiritually, you need to make sure that their tummies aren't growling.
gospel principles taught in the kitchen:
work ethics (who didn't feel like they were forced into slave labor when they were a child?)
enduring
getting along with others/manners
faith/prayer (there is a reason we pray before we eat. sometimes we can't be sure that went on in the kitchen...)
service
the divine roll of motherhood (yeah. that's spelled right.)
the power and strength of family
compassion
health and nutrition: "are you regular?"
(your body doesn't function right when you don't eat the right kinds of foods...)

the divine roll of food in the family
(ha ha ha)
feeds the body and brain
feeds the spirit

they aren't supposed to be healthy.

they should be drippy and gooey and wonderful - why ruin it?

anchors us together

going home is my favorite thing.
...mostly for the nummy food,
kinda for the sibs. 
(just kidding! but seriously...)
nurtures the body
nurtures the spirit
binds us together
heals wounds of spirit, body and mind

"all sorrows are less with bread." [miguel de cervantes]

homemade bread... 

yum.

"bread smells like love." [chef brad]

home. well... ish.

i know that you've been getting sick of seeing pictures upon pictures of a little town i have lovingly called home over the past few months... but unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end. 

why are sleepovers so much stinkin' fun?

even just moving my bed 5 feet made the last few hours in jerusalem simply epic.

besides the fact that there was no place for my mattress...

so true... so true...

if any of you four are reading this... just because i go to a different school does not mean that you can just forget about me.

[muahaha!]

recipe for a dogpile:

one person

a) lying down on the ground

b) being forcibly thrown to the ground

+

as many enthusiastic friends as can balance on top

=

one cute pic and a whole lotta pain for joan on the bottom!

we got skillz.

...but not enough to make it all the way to the top.

good try guys.

"a" for effort!

 under the j.c...

shhhhhh!

the school rivalry never ends... not even in jerusalem!

we decided for our last day evvvver, that we would walk from bethphage to jerusalem. (this is following the route that they still go down on palm sunday every year)

this was walking downnnnnnnn... the road was quite steep actually.

hence the airplane.

ok... fine. my yoga is a little shabby.

fashionable? 

considering i've been wearing the same clothes for the last three months, i was quite excited for the change! 

i think i followed this kid for 5 minutes...

fresh. bread. smells. so. goooooooooooooooood!

gummies!!!

don't ask.

we all know that it had to end.

but none of us knew that it was going to be that hard.

you know how they tell you to rip it off like a bandaid?

you have to do it all at the same time.

you can't take half of the group and leave the rest!

but they did.

professor chaddy (chadwick) and his amazing wife kim

the first group.

this was the "sweet 16" that got stuck at jfk on the way over 3 long months ago.

hopefully their luck is better this time!

those of us who were left went out and watched our last jerusalem sunset.

the huntingtons

the camera just can't do it justice.

airplane rides - 17 hours.

airplane meals - 4.

sitting in front of a screaming child while we took off and landed? priceless. 

wanna hear a great story?

after sitting on a plane, and never thinking that i would ever see anything but the tops of clouds, crop circles and airport security... we finally landed in salt lake city!

after resurrecting my phone (for the first time in 3 whole months!) i called my ride, and found out that she hadn't gotten the memo about when i would get in.

hmmmmmm... problem!

but luckily, i had several saviors that happened to live in orem, and that were merciful enough to take a very jet-lagged, semi-conscious college student to orem to her friend's house! (thinking back, i barely remember the ride... i'm pretty sure that i thought i was more conscious than i actually was...)

the next day, i went to a friends bridal shower, called all of my family, went to ikea (and pretended like i wasn't the walking dead) and then headed back to meet with my cousins that were going to take me out to dinner.

the cousins picked me up, and we drove to bamboo hut for dinner.

the last time i went to bamboo hut was with my family.

*sniffle*

 but i only have 2 more days til i see them!

we walked in, and my cousin turned around and said, "let's sit here."

but there are people in those seats..........

it just took me a really delayed second to realize:

dad.

mom.

brooke.

whaaaaaaaaaaaat?

you guys aren't supposed to be here!!!

and then i squealed.

(i never squeal.)

best. surprise. evvvvvvver.

turns out, everyone was in cahoots.

and i had no idea.

i'm blaming it on the fact that i was suffering from a severe case of jess-has-had-absolutely-no-sleep-in-the-past-three-days...

i wasn't on the top of my sleuthing game.

we went and drove up to midway, where we got to go stay in a little swiss-themed condo.

this is more green than i've seen combined in the last three months.

it was a little bit of a shock to see hills this big... and this green.

we went for a walk after church.

(do you notice something different about this picture?) 

the drinking fountain is cool... yes.

but i have different clothes!!!

the drinking fountain was pretty fun too.

sooooo green!

i just can't get over it.

my little sis.

isn't she pretty?

:)

it's good to be home.

well... almost.

the end.

i was going to try and get a few more posts in before the end of the semester finally came, but this looks like it is going to be the last post that i have in jerusalem. this is definitely a bitter-sweet post... for all of the excitement and anticipation i have of coming home, there is a part of me that will stay here in israel. 

so we know that i have a problem with being prompt. you are going to be getting a post from what should have been done a few days ago... and then you'll be getting what should have been done today... eventually. ;)

this was about 8:30 in the morning...

i've never seen this corner so empty.

everrrrr.

this is usually a bustling shopping area that is full of tourists. 

not this early in the morning.

the city is eerily quiet... no calls of "mormons! we love the mormons! we give you good price!!!"

funny story: there is a vendor that sells ceramic dishes, and every time (i kid you not) we walk by his shop, he starts singing (to the tune of oh come all ye faithful)

mormons, we love you

all the way to jerusalem...

then adding, "beautiful virgin mormons!"

...i don't know what to think about that.

today when we walked by, the song changed.

mormons, we'll miss you!

you are leaving jerusalem...

yeah. just rub it in buddy... salt in the wound. salt in the wound.

we got to go inside the holy sepulchre and listen to them while they did the morning mass.

by far the emptiest i had ever seen it. we didn't even have to wait in line to go in the sepulchre...

it is my fondest wish to see them take the scaffolding down.

but i never think that's going to happen.

these crosses cover the walls... 

i know you thought that star wars wasn't real...

sambooki.

best. pastries. ever.

whoever thought of putting chocolate-pudding-amazingness inside of a croissant was a genius. and i kinda hate them for it. but i am glad that i only learned about this a few days ago. earlier in the semester... and it would have been the death of me!

the hurva synagogue.

and weird chips.

i don't know what these are...

and i miss doritos. and cheetos. 

nuf said.

just outside of jaffa gate...

i know you've nevvvvvvvver seen that outfit before either.

the world seems like such a simple place here!

(america is down at the bottom left)

i'll be leaving to go there in approximately 25 hours...

:)

:(

:*(

:O

:D

*sniffle*

i'm good.

but my mom said...

your religious education for the day:

hillel was a pharisee during the first century - he had an "opponent" named shammai.

(most of their teachings differed on what was appropriate to do on the sabbath day)

the story: a man comes to shammai and asks him to explain the whole torah (the law) to him while he stood on one foot.

aka... be quick about it.

shammai throws him out.

the same man approaches hillel and asks him the same question.

hillel answers: do not do unto others what you would not want done to yourself.

sound familiar?

you can tell that we've been getting less and less sleep lately.

dan thought that this looked like a biblical version of superman...

i guess you could call moses that.

i don't know if they had spandex back then or not...

the shuk - this is the jewish open air market in west jerusalem.

two words:

{dried. mangoes.}

and my life is complete.

halva.

spices!

the ethiopian church

i was bored with taking nice, pretty, posed pictures

i think the best part of this whole picture is the chins.

one of my favorite parts about the jc is the view. we look out every day at this: 

you can still see the rug burn on my eye.

this is my wayna.

and even though the pomegranate was a little on the young side... it was still mighty tasty!

we eat pomegranates while we have deep spiritual discussions.

i'm going to miss this.