Holy Cannoli

I forgot to add a cannoli to my list of favorite NY foods.. I love them haven't had one all summer but they are so yummy.

A few of my favorite foods..

As I am looking back at my stay here in NY, I think of my favorite foods that I am going to miss. Yes these foods aren't good for you so I am glad to say that it is better that I leave. These are some of my favorite foods that as a child I rarely ever got. Maybe thats I love them so much because they were special "treats". These special treats I ALWAYS get whenever I come home as an adult, well if they fit in to my time constraints.


NY PIZZA
If I fly home around dinner time my family always seems to have ordered pizza and there always seems to be a slice for me. I love NY style pizza, my favorite little place around here is a local favorite called Picnic Pizza




NY Italian Sausage
Mmm.. Italian sausage smothered with green peppers and onions in a hoagie roll is another one of my favorite treats while I am home. Its just weird how those yummy NY foods are no where as good as they are in NY, and most of the time you cant even find them anywhere but NY.

Chips and Dip The best french onion dip EVER so yummy with chips, veggies and more ooo so yummy. It really is Heluva Good.

Spiedie Marinades The best ever marinades for chicken, and made better when grilled. I brought a ton of these marinades back to Idaho one year with me and enjoyed them a lot longer than a visit home. This time its gonna be hard to bring them since I will be flying :(

And the best for Last HALF MOON COOKIES.. Now these are not black and white cookies they are called half moons. You can only find them on the east. I love these. I am pretty sure I have not had enough of these while I have been home but that my not be such a bad thing. It a chocolate cake like cookie with yummy white frosting on one side and then chocolate frosting on the other. The recipe for these are almost impossible to find. But lucky enough my Culinary Arts teacher in NY had it and I got a copy. Hopefully I can still find it. These cookies will be coming to Vegas with me. My students will be bringing a lil bit of NY to Las Vegas. O I am excited!

Okay well there it is ladies and gents. Melissa's favorite NY goodies. I know you are probably drooling right now. And too bad most of you cant even enjoy any of these delicious NY goodies. Haha I can't believe I just posted about my favorite foods.. Well I am a foods teacher so that should make it ok!

Biggest in the World

Last night I went to the biggest pageant in the world, well thats what they say. Anyways it was the Hill Cumorah pageant, my favorite of all the church pageants although the Arizona one is almost as good. Every year the youth go together on Wednesday night since that is there mutual night. This year we were fortunate enough to get a big coach bus so we could all ride together, it was so much better than everyone driving home at 12am. Anyways it was amazing as always, some different scenes but still wonderful. It defiantly gave me that spiritual boost that we sometimes need from time to time. Its crazy how my first few times I had gone to the pageant I wasn't sure exactly what was going on but loved the spirit from it all. But now that I have read the entire Book Of Mormon everything makes sense and it just is amazing. How grateful I am for that book, and for the gospel, without it I wouldn't be the person I am today It has brought great things to my life.


Mom and I b4 at home.










Megan my bff, her first time to pageant.

Blog Worthy?

I feel like I have nothing that is worth writing or sharing. I am still in NY, but for only 2more weeks then I am off to my new home Viva Las Vegas. Am I getting nervous? yes very, I have so much stuff to do once I get there. ie buy a car, buy a bed, buy a couch, etc etc. I have nothing. Then I have to go to my new school and set up, make bulletin boards and organize the kitchens. Its killing me that I am home doing nothing every day and thinking about all the stuff I am going to have to do when I get there. Its going to be an adventure. oh yea I miss my missionary! Side note, my name is on my schools website its funny to see Ms. Tracy! heres a link to the school website. http://ccsd.net/schools/desertoasis/ I'm not gonna lie the school is pretty pimp!

Summer Time

Its been awhile since I have updated my blog. Life has been pretty busy actually. Last week I believe it was Thursday I went strawberry picking. I had been waiting to go for a long time and finally decided I would go. A young man from church Steven went with me. Little did we know that the strawberries were little o so little. The little bushes or whatever they were grown on were small and just picked over. I still got some strawberries, enough to make homemade jam! I love strawberry freezer jam. I made 5 jars and they are going quickly.

Then it was the 4th. My mom and I went to Lansing Park my Aunt Elsie and Uncle Marty always have a picnic there. Usually these things are sooo boring, so boring that I dreaded going. But my clever Mother decided she would be the "Activities Coordinator" she totally go that from church. Anyways she planned a pie eating contest with all the brothers and sisters and then a potato sack race! It was HILARIOUS! Everyone loved it.
Then on Saturday we went to my aunts house and celebrated my grandpas birthday. It was nice, lots of good food and good company, my aunt is a great entertainer. I think I get my love to entertain from her. The whole day was nice and calm. Here is a picture of the birthday boy.
So I haven't said much about this because I know its bad. But since I came home I have had the biggest kindergarten crush on this missionary who has been serving in our ward. Anyways I know I cant have a relationship with him let alone have a crush on him but boy o boy I really like him. Anyways he found out on Saturday that he is being transfered to Greene NY its like an hour and half from where we live. I am sad to see him go but looking forward to him getting off his mission. He is from Arizona so we may hang out when he gets back. Anyways I made him a candy gram I will be giving it to him 2morrow since he is leaving 2morrow night. I thought about making it all lovey dovey but I didn't want to distract him from his work, so i made it very churchy. But at the very end I gave him a hint that I liked him. I wanted to put it on a big poster board but realized he wouldn't be able to take it with him, so i made it on small poster boards and I am going to put it in a dress box and enclose my testimony in a Book of Mormon. Here is a pic of the candy gram. Thats my update hope you enjoy.

Love is in the Air

This weekend I went to my cousin John Bowers wedding. It was very nice, a lot different than a traditional LDS wedding. I enjoyed myself here are just a few pictures.

Beautiful Bride and Groom sorry bad picture..

Centerpieces loved them.. Each table got their own cake!

My grandma and grandpa with me, and then my Aunts face..

Sunday came and some friends of the ward and their two boys are going to Utah for the rest of July and so I had to say my goodbyes since I wont be seeing them when they get back. I will back off to Las Vegas. I wish I took pictures of the boys they are the cutest thing. I love their family and am really going to miss them. Especially getting pedicures at the mall with their mom Sandy.
Anyways they were having the Mormon Missionaries over to their house on Sunday and the one missionary Elder Fiala who is from Colorado was having his birthday on Monday so i made a peanut butter chocolate cake for him that i found off the bakerella website. Everyone LOVED IT!!
heres a picture of it from her website. Since I am not as good at taking amazing pictures.

Of course mine looked as good as that if not better ;). Then on Monday since it is the missionaries P day I took them to Salsaritas a little Mexican place here in NY its sort of like bajo or cafe rio and had lunch. Later that evening I brought over a Mountain Dew cake that he was dying to try. It wasn't too bad a little different. The recipe was way easy and I think I would make the cake again.
Thats my life in NY. Not much of anything exciting going on. My mom rented a dumpster at our house so I think I am going to go start filling it up. Get rid of her junk without her even knowing. Well until I blog again...