Author: taprobane@me.com

Utah Road Trip Day 2

St. George to Moab Utah

By Svara Jayasinghe

On the second day of our trip the plan was to drive from St. George to Moab to visit Arches National Park. The plan was to spend two nights in Moab. We woke up at around 7:30 and grabbed some breakfast that the hotel provided to go, and ate in our room to stay away from people. Because of COVID, the hotel breakfast was very limited and mainly had items that people could take to go. After breakfast we packed up our things and after mom taking a ridiculous amount of pictures, started our drive. Before we got onto the freeway we stopped at a gas station to grab some drinks and get a converter to charge our electronic devices in the car using a cigarette lighter power outlet. We started driving north on Interstate 15 to get onto the I-70 East. A little while into our drive we saw snow scattered on the ground and coating the mountains in the distance. As Californians we never see snow so we got extremely excited and demanded that we stop at the nearest rest stop. We got some wonderful pictures but underestimated how cold it would be and ended up only staying there for a couple of minutes because we were freezing to death. Of course no one thought of taking out our winter jackets from the back of the car. We continued driving for a long while, listening to music and talking. Although the scenery was beautiful the drive was long and boring.

View from the overlook on I-15!
(Image by the Jayasinghe Family)

We stopped at an overlook on I-15 to stretch our legs. This time we did put on our thick winter jackets. The view was stunning and we took a lot of pictures and walked around for a bit. Back on the road, we stopped at a Love’s, (a gas station with a built in store,) to get some gas and grab some snacks. Then it was straight on to Moab.

When we arrived at Moab at around 4:45 the first thing we did was go to the Visitor’s Center at Arches National Park. It was closing in ten minutes so we ran in to get some advice on what to do at the park. We talked to a park ranger for about fifteen minutes, who gave us some maps and told us that the park never closes, and that we could come and go whenever we wanted. That was some good advice. Before going to our hotel, we stopped at the City Market to buy food and snacks for the next day’s hikes at Arches National Park. We headed to the hotel, (Hampton Inn) checked in, and just relaxed in our hotel room watching The Christmas Prince.

An hour later at about 9 P.M. and halfway into our movie, my sisters, me, and our dad left the hotel to go to Arches National Park to stargaze. This area is considered to be an international dark sky park. This is a place recognized for the quality of its night skies. To read more about this, you can visit the website at darksky.org. We had read that the night sky at Moab is really beautiful and we wanted to see what it was like. The drive in the park at night was a little scary. It was pitch black and there were no streetlights. We drove up to the Balanced Rock parking lot, parked, and looked at the night sky. It was beautiful, but sadly Kiran could barely see the stars because of her terrible eyesight. There were a good number of stars in the sky but I think it was less than what we could have seen because of the bright moon. Perhaps we could have gone up a little bit earlier when the moon was a little bit lower on the horizon. Our dad and Simran took pictures and we hung around for about half an hour looking at the stars before heading back to the hotel. We finished The Christmas Prince before going to bed and resting for the long day of hiking ahead of us.

Utah Road Trip Day 1

San Diego, California, St. George, Utah

By Svara Jayasinghe

For the week of November 23rd-29th, my family decided to go on a road trip to Utah to visit three national parks. Because of COVID, we had been cooped up in our house for the past 8 months, and needed to get out of the house. Visiting national parks seemed like the safest thing to do as we would be outside, and could stay away from people. On Monday we drove from San Diego California to St. George Utah. The drive was supposed to be around six hours so we planned to leave early in the morning to get to St. George at a good time. However, our dad forgot to pick up our rental car the day before because he had mixed up the pick-up times and didn’t have the car to leave as early as we had planned. We rented our van from Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Escondido. We were a bit disappointed in the service. They took more than an hour to clean and prepare our car and even then it wasn’t completely clean. When dad brought the car home, we packed and set out at 10 A.M., almost 4-5 hours than we had planned.

An hour and a half into the drive we stopped at a Macy’s at the Mall of Victorville to stretch our legs. We got Starbucks, hung around for a little bit while our mom shopped, and then got back on the road. A little while later, we stopped again at the Outlets at Barstow. Our parents shopped and looked around, while my sisters and I stayed in the car watching a Christmas movie (Noelle) on our laptops. Once we got back on the road, we continued driving and stopped a couple of times at rest stops to stretch our legs, and eventually made it to our hotel at around 8 P.M.. The hotel (at Hampton Inn and Suites in St. George) was nice and looked like it had been built recently. We got two separate rooms, parents in one, kids in another, which made it even nicer. The room was very spacious and clean. Once we settled in, our dad brought us dinner from Arby’s, and we ate and relaxed in the room.

Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

By Svara Jayasinghe

This weekend, I baked cinnamon rolls from scratch, using the Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Recipe by Laura from JoyFoodSunshine. These are a bit complicated to make, and take several hours, but the results are definitely worth it! The recipe includes all the ingredients, how much of each ingredient you will need, and step by step instruction. Although the recipe does have some helpful tips, here are some suggestions of my own. If you don’t have a standing mixer, and are using a hand-held electric mixer, make sure you have a wooden spoon and/or spatula nearby. As the dough gets thicker, it will get stuck in the beaters, so after the dough reaches a certain consistency, make sure to switch from the electric mixer, to using a spoon and/or spatula. Another important tip is to be careful not to put too much flour in your dough. Putting too much flour in your dough will result in your cinnamon rolls turning out extremely dry and crumbly. When making the dough, stick to the recommended amount on the recipe. If the flour is too sticky, carefully add a little bit of flour and continue to knead the dough until it is smooth and only slightly sticky. In the scenario that you do add too much flour, just put the dough in the freezer for about 5 minutes, so the dough can gain moisture.

For me, the cinnamon rolls turned out almost perfectly. The dough was perfectly baked, the cream cheese frosting was just the right amount of sweet, and there was the perfect amount of cinnamon. Baking these cinnamon rolls was a fun experience, and I recommend trying it. Here is the link to the recipe:

https://joyfoodsunshine.com/cinnamon-rolls-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-13774

Magnolia Table Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Svara Jayasinghe

Picture by the Jayasinghe Family

Last weekend, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch, using the Magnolia Table Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe by Joanna Gaines. The recipe is fairly simple, but I do have a few tips that can help. If you are using a hand-held electric mixer instead of a standing mixer, when you are mixing the flour mixture with the mixture from step 3, make sure you put small amounts of the flour mixture at a time, so flour doesn’t fly everywhere. Another tip is, when the dough is getting thicker, you might want to switch from using a hand mixer, to using a wooden spoon or spatula. This is because when you add more ingredients and the dough gets thicker, it will easily get stuck in the beaters of the mixer, so using a spoon or spatula would be much easier. Do the same when you add in the chocolate chips. If your dough is a little too thick, and not close to being light and fluffy, try adding another egg, or even adding a little bit more butter to the dough.

For me, the cookies turned out amazingly well. They were gooey, chocolate-y, a little bit crunchy on the edges, but were extremely soft towards, and in the middle of the cookie. I had a bunch of fun making these cookies, and I’m 100 percent going to make these cookies again. The recipe is straightforward and easy, and I definitely recommend making these cookies. Here is the link to the recipe:

https://www.thekitchn.com/joanna-gaines-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe-257520

Why has global warming become a political discussion?

by Simran Jayasinghe

Global warming is an issue that effects everyone in some way. If you live in areas that are at or below sea level, sea level rise is slowly affecting where you live. For example, the country of Bangladesh has one of the largest deltas, which makes it extremely susceptible to flooding due to rise in sea levels. Some scientists believe that in addition to rising sea levels, the increasing intensity of natural disasters such as hurricanes or cyclones might also be a side effect of global warming. People have a hard time making decisions about preventing global warming because it involves lifestyle changes, and the effects of global warming aren’t seen by everyone on a daily basis. 

In 1987, the Montreal Protocol, which banned and phased out CFCs as well as other chemicals that were harmful to the ozone layer, and was unanimously agreed upon by all the countries in the UN. People felt the need to make this decision because the health effects uv radiation has on humans was clear to everyone and was an immediate concern. It also helped that big lifestyle or economic changes were not needed. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a decision made with this level of urgency about global warming. Perhaps because the effects of global warming are less directly related to our health, and happen slowly, they are easier to overlook. People are also less willing to make big lifestyle changes, which are needed to reduce global warming.

Some changes, such as having more fuel-efficient transportation, are being made easier over time, with new technology. Other changes are easier for people to incorporate into their day to day lives, such as using less plastic, recycling, wasting less food, and eating less meat. 

Despite the overwhelming amount of scientific evidence showing the cause and impact of global warming, whether someone believes in it or not seems to have become a big political discussion. Especially in the U.S, where decision about global warming seem to be influenced by the political party to which one belongs to. A popular argument by some groups is that global warming isn’t 100% proven. This is because, in science, nothing can be proven. Science can provide evidence for the fact that the rise in global temperatures is due to man made increase in CO2 in our atmosphere. However, some groups say that since science cannot prove global warming, it isn’t an urgent problem, and doesn’t require attention. I think that in order to move forward with efforts to reduce the impact of global warming, science needs to take the lead instead of politics. 

Nothing Bundt Cakes – A Restaurant Review

By Svara Jayasinghe

Picture taken by the Jayasinghe Family

A few weeks ago, my family and I decided to go to Nothing Bundt Cakes. Nothing Bundt Cakes is a cake shop where they sell cakes in a variety of flavors. The smallest bundt size you can get are bundtinis which are bite-sized and only come in the dozen. The next bundt size you can get are bundtlets which are a medium size, bigger than bundtinis, but smaller than a bundt. The biggest bundt size you can get is a bundt, which is the size of a normal cake. These cakes are made with special ingredients that make a delicious, soft, and moist cake. The frosting is made with velvety cream cheese and butter that has just the right amount of sweetness. My family and I absolutely love Nothing Bundt Cakes and definitely recommend trying it!

The Melt – A Restaurant Review

By Svara Jayasinghe

Picture by the Jayasinghe Family

On Saturday August 8th my family and I went to the Irvine Spectrum Center. We went to many places there including The Melt which is a restaurant that serves grilled cheese, fresh burgers, fries, soups, Mac n’ Cheese, ice cream and more delicious foods. We ordered one cheddar bacon ranch fries and some regular fries to share. The cheddar bacon ranch fries were amazing and we all loved them and ended up ordering two more. Then we ordered our separate dishes. Both my dad and my mom ordered the Spicy Chicken Mission and they both loved it. It has tomato, onions, lettuce, chicken and has a delicious flavor. Kiran and I both ordered the Melty Mac which is mac and cheese with bread crumbs sprinkled on top. Overall it was pretty good but was lacking some flavor and was a little bland. Simran ordered the Mac Daddy Cheese which is basically a grilled cheese sandwich except its mac and cheese instead. She thought it was okay. It wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t bad either.

Overall the food was pretty good and I recommend trying it if you haven’t before.

85 Degrees Bakery Cafe – A Restaurant Review

By Svara Jayasinghe

On Saturday August 8th my family and I went to the Irvine Spectrum Center. We went to many places there including the 85 Degrees Bakery Cafe which is a bakery/ cafe that sells bread, cakes, drinks, pastries, and merchandise. When you go inside you grab a tray and tongs and then pick what you would like from the display cases. You can order other items and drinks at the counter.

Picture taken by the Jayasinghe Family

My family and I ordered 4 cheese dogs, 3 spicy sausages, 1 sugar cream cheese pastry, 1 cranberry cream cheese pastry, and one chocolate bun. The staff are very helpful and nice, there are many pastries and other items to choose from, and the food is amazing! My family and I love 85 degrees and definitely recommend trying it.

Are We Losing The Art Of Civilized Debate?

by Kiran Jayasinghe

I remember watching news channels when I was a few years younger and always seeing both sides of a conversation. News shows would bring in both sides to talk about a topic. Today, I see one side agreeing with itself and bashing the other side instead of having an open conversation between them. Wether about politics or emotions or business, the art of civilized debate is being lost.

What is civilized debate? Some people call it polite disagreement, or polite discussion. It’s the art of being able to have a conversation where two sides disagree and are able to contemplate ideas in an environment focused on learning.

To have a civilized discussion, it is important to understand the other side first. If you don’t know what you’re arguing against, you can’t get your point effectively across and you’re not understanding where the other side is coming from. Conversations with my friends and family can sometimes turn into arguments when we don’t communicate effectively. When we finally listen to each other and consider the other side’s reasoning, we can have a more productive debate and eventually learn more.

It’s also important to keep the idea and the person voicing the idea separate. If somebody voices an opinion or thought that disagrees with yours, it doesn’t mean the person is ‘bad’. It just means that a conversation about the idea is even more important and that an opportunity to discuss the idea and why it is wrong is even more prevalent. 

In society today, wether on social media or within my friend’s conversations, I see the unwillingness to understand the other side. The only goal in a discussion today seems to prevail as the ‘right’ one or the winner. We don’t take the time to understand why the other person may be thinking this way, or what the purpose of the argument is. 

I also see when the relationship between the idea and the person is blurred. If somebody speaks about something in our society, they can’t voice an idea without being bound to it. If the idea is disagreed with or considered to be wrong, the person is punished (i.e cancel culture). I think this societal mechanism doesn’t help as much as we think it does. Punishing somebody for having a wrong opinion and not allowing them to grow from the conversation can destroy a society from the inside out. Unless, of course, it’s one of the topics that have a definitive wrong side: topics like racism or things that involve hatred of others.

As a society, our pride is our downfall. Our minds are open to the idea that we are right, and closed to the possibility that we can be wrong. Conversations are meant to stimulate productivity instead of suffocating communication. If we cannot listen to opposing views because we are so involved in being right, the discussion becomes about winning instead of learning. What would society be like if we were able to learn from civilized debate?