Even though I try to meal plan, I usually find it more helpful to write out what we actually ate in any given week. This past week was a very functional week of dinner – just about the simplest and fastest ways to get dinner on the table and everyone fed. I think it will be like this for a few weeks since 3 out 5 of us will be at a rehearsal or performance every night of the week.
Monday: Barley Vegetable Soup – from the freezer. I’m not even sure when we made this.
Tuesday: Mac and Cheese and green beans and waffles. Waffles are one of those things that are easy for me to prep ahead on nights when I have to work. I put together the dry ingredients and the Husband add the wet when he gets home. I made savory cornmeal waffles from the King Arthur Baking book, and it was really really tasty – like Mexican food in waffle form.
Wednesday: Ribollita Soup. This wasn’t a great recipe. It was too acidic for our tastes – I think too much crushed tomato? I might throw some pasta in the leftovers to make it more like a pasta dish.
Thursday: Hallowe’en. We went to a Friend’s house and they fed us. Veggies, and dip and pizza before trick or treating, and chicken wings and salad after trick or treating.
Friday: We had dinner out with friends that were visiting. The Husband and I shared sandwiches – a fig, prosciutto and brie sandwich and a BLT. We had fried portabellos for an appetizer that was really tasty.
Saturday: the Husband and two littles had pizza and watched Dispicable Me 4 at home. I had dumplings (from the freezer) at work. The 12 year old went to the opera with friends. I think they had pizza and fries. She sent me a picture!
Sunday: I worked late and had Wednesday’s ribollita in a tortilla. It was a little soggy. Not sure what the Husband made for the kids, but the house smelled really nice when I got home. I love walking into a house that smells like home-cooked dinner.
What was your favorite meal last week?
I’m writing this post as part of NaBloPoMo – click on the icon below to see who else if participating. You can also leave me questions for an upcoming “Ask me Anything” post via this link. Happy reading and writing everyone!
The five year old is in a phase where he only wants to wear “soft pants”, meaning sweatpants or fleece pants. Jean, khakis, cords… these are all considered “hard pants” and not as desirable to wear.
This week, we’ve started rehearsal and I’ve put on hard pants again. I can’t remember the last time I wore my jeans. They feel stiff and constricting, pulling me in and making me stand up straighter. But maybe this is what they always felt like and I just can’t remember.
I suppose I’ve also put my metaphorical hard pants on as well, re-learning how to do my job and interact with people. I’ve definitely stumbled a few times and dropped things that used to be second nature to me. (I forgot to introduce the music staff to the singers at the music rehearsals. It’s a nice formality and no one died, but I’ve written a note to myself to remember for next time.) Part of me is so excited to be in rehearsal again, listening to singers and music and doing my part to bring things to stage. And another part of me keeps wondering if I’m getting things right. I mean it’s not the cliched brain surgery, and no one’s life is in my hands, but there are certainly a lot of moving parts and people to manage.
So how did I do on my “maintaining humanity” goals this first week of rehearsal?
Sleep – pretty good. I think I went to bed t 12:30am one night but all other nights I was in bed by midnight. Which is huge for me. Of course, there was the one night that the Husband fell asleep in the five year old’s bed during bedtime books (the man is definitely working above and beyond in the “unpaid labor” department these days). So the five year old decided to sleep in our bed. And some time around 1am, the Husband came to bed and then around 3am the baby also found her way to our bed. So… not a great night for sleep even though I was in bed for a good number of hours. Outside Time and Exercise: I did manage to go on a 20-30 minute walk on each of my lunch breaks. And I did wake up early enough to do a 20 minute yoga podcast, though one time it was interrupted by the kids so it was more like 15 minutes. Plan/Journal/Read – not exactly daily habit, but managed to do this three times this week. I almost forgot about the five year old’s appointment for his second COVID shot – we were about to walk to school when I remembered. Oops. Meal Plan/ Healthy snacks – Well, it was Valentines Day week, so there was an explosion of chocolate in the office, which I didn’t even try to resist. One colleague brought in these dark chocolate Reese Peanut Cup thins, which were really really good. But I also managed to bring in healthy snacks – fruit, veggies, and string cheese. As for meal planning, the Husband and I split dinners and it turned out pretty well balanced eating week. The InstantPot was definitely the week’s dinner MVP. Water – did better on this than last week! Communication – Not great this week. I had to work later than I had anticipated most nights, so I missed dinner more than I had planned and wasn’t great about keeping the Husband updated as to when I would be home. It’s definitely a work in progress. Will continue to try to be better about this.
Some good moments:
Shot and a lollipop.
The five year old did indeed get his second COVID vaccine shot! Hooray! I also managed to get a parking ticket while at the pediatrician’s office because the appointment went long and I am the Luddite who still actually uses coins in meters as opposed to pays with the app. So funny story, though, is that there were two tickets on my car when I returned, and as I went to read them, a wind came and blew the one ticket away – just snatched it and carried it off, leaving me holding the yellow envelope. I had visions of never being able to pay the ticket and the fee just building and building… I called the Husband in a panic and he said, “Just call the number on the envelope!” Which of course was the solution. Turns out my tags were expired. Like by a year. January 2021. Cue more panic and bemoaning the difficulties of adulting.
Okay, turns out I hadn’t forgotten to renew the registration. I had just forgotten to put the sticker on my plate. I got home later and dug through the mail bin and found the registration and sticker. This sticker has been sitting in the mail bin for. a. year. Yeah… major adulting fail. Expensive adulting fail. But hey, at least the COVID shot was free.
-One of the great joys about going on a walk on my lunch break is that I work in a really fun a quirky neighborhood. Some highlights this week:
A random swing on an urban tree next to a parking lot. One day I sat on the swing and ate my lunch. The sky was so blue and it was thirty degrees outside. There was something really soothing about lunch on a swing on a winter’s afternoon.
View of sky and swing.
This cheerful, colourful house – bright yellow against the blue sky.
One windy windy day as I walked by a music store, I heard music. I looked up and there were windchimes buffeted in the gales, making music. I stopped to listen and savour, even as the same chilling wind that made music with the windchimes bit into my skin.
Wind and sun and music.
– One night (actually the aforementioned night of EVERYONE in our bed), I realized that the book I was reading (Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle – a very very good read), was due the next day, and since it was a Libby ebook, I couldn’t renew it. To add to that, it’s a pretty popular book right now so it took forever to get it off the wait list. The app said I had two hours left to read and twelve hours left in the borrowing period. So after I came home from work, put the kids to bed, and ate some dinner, I put on my pjs and climbed into bed with the book, determined to finish it. It felt so indulgent to just sit in bed an read. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. Sure, I often read before I go to bed, but that’s often only 15 minutes or so. This was almost two hours. I tried not to feel guilty about the dishes not done or the laundry not folded. Maybe I’ll get to the point when I’ll be able to sit in bed and read the evening away and not feel guilty. Well, that might be what vacation is for.
In the end, I didn’t finish the book that night, but I woke up the next morning and finished reading it just in the nick of time for the book to disappear back into the Libby ether. The kids maybe had to fend for themselves for breakfast. But that’s what cereal is for.
-I’ve been taking part in the Wordle craze – it’s been a great brain break. I can tell when I’ve had a long day when I don’t remember if I’ve done the day’s puzzle or not, and it turns out I have. This week’s puzzle had a couple that definitely challenged me:
Both these involved random guessing and maybe some Googling. I don’t necessarily think of that as cheating. Actually, as I inch closer to that sixth try, I tell myself, “Well, at least, if I break my streak, I’ll have learned a new word.” So this week, I learned two new words!
For the record, an agora is an open space used for gatherings and markets. Pupal is the adjective version of pupa.
-The baby had managed to lose her mittens again. The other day, we were getting ready to go outside and she said, “Mittens!” Then she ran downstairs and came back with two mismatched socks that she had clearly pulled from the mismatched sock bin and stuck her hands in them. How adorably innovative!
make-do mittens.
-Valentines Day! I don’t usually go all out for the kids’ Valentines day at school, but it’s been such a weird 23 months that I felt like I wanted to do something special. So for the ten year old, we ordered some fun animal post its for her to hand out. For the five year old, I ordered pop bracelets and made little valentines that said “You Make My Heat Pop!” I sat with him and we thought up of a nice thing to say for each of his classmates and wrote it on the card. I was really touched and impressed that he could think of something specific for each of his classmates. Though for one kid, he said, “I like E—- because he is not funny.” Which apparently caused some consternation on the part of E’s mother.
-Book props. In our show there is a book that we use as a prop. I love book props; they are usually supposed to look plain and period and you never know where they come from or what might be in them. It generally doesn’t matter what’s in them as long as they are the right size and look appropriately of the time. I like flipping through them; often they’re something dry yet flowery from many years past. The prop book in our show is from 1913, written by a man named James Whitcomb Riley who was a poet and writer and also responsible for creating Orphan Annie and the inspiration for Raggedy Anne. apparently he was quite popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. What I found particularly interesting about this book was that most of the pages of this book are still unopened. I was originally going to say “uncut” but then I went down an internet rabbit hole and discovered that “unopened” is the correct phrase for this book with its pages still joined together at the edges. It’s There is something a little sad to me about a book that’s over 100 years old, and still unread. I did enjoy, however, getting to indulge in some poetry reading during a slow moment in rehearsal.
What We Ate: Saturday: I wasn’t home in time, but the Husband made dumplings and green beans and saved some for me to eat when I got home.
Sunday: Super Bowl Sunday! In honour of the teams, the Husband made Cincinnati Chili and Orange Julius. Friends brought veggies and other snacks.
Monday: The Husband made Stuffed Pepper Soup. It was supposed to be a casserole, but didn’t quite turn out that way. Really tasty nonethless.
Tuesday: Green beans and tofu stir fry eaten with rice.
Wednesday: Pasta and meatballs in InstantPot. Made ahead in the morning so that there would be dinner ready when everyone got home. I really love making spaghetti and meatballs in the IP. It’s a little soggier than making everything separate, but so much easier to cook and clean up; everything just goes into the pot – sauce, noodles, meatballs on top – cook high pressure for 8 minutes. All done. I was pretty happy with the meatballs too – I didn’t have enough meat, so I threw about a cup of mushrooms in the food processor and then added that to the meat – it turned out really well!
Thursday: Black Bean Soup in InstantPot. Another make-ahead meal since I wasn’t going to be home in time for dinner. It turned out a little thick so the Husband put it in wraps and the family at it as burritos.
Friday: Pizza and Aladdin. The Husband made pizza. I made it home in time to eat leftovers, though I missed the actual movie.
-Outside of the swim center where I take the baby for swim classes, there are hammocks. They are part of kind of public/private art space. After swim lessons last week, we spent a good ninety minutes on the playground, then wandered over to the hammocks and cuddled and swung the in the crisp autumn air. There is a beautiful timeless quality to be found in a good hammock.
-Night time walks. The sun is setting earlier and earlier these days. But some days, dinner is done and put away and we still have half an hour until bed time. In the summer we would take and evening walk, and Sunday night, I thought, “Why not?” So I got out the flashlights and we took an evening flashlight walk.
flashlighting the way!
-On the flip side – the sun rise is also later, and Friday brought this beautiful sky. It certainly made it worth my while to take the trash out.
red sky at morning….
Three things I’m cautiously optimistic about:
-I’ve started running. Running has never been my thing. To be honest, exercise has never been my thing. But something about turning forty made me realize that while I’m actually a pretty healthy eater, there is probably more that I could be doing to stay physically strong. Particularly these days when life is rather sedentary. I credit the “on your feet” nature of being a stage manager with a lot of my passive good health. So anyhow, I’ve started running while I’m waiting for the four year old’s soccer and Mandarin sessions. By running, I mean I walk for 30 seconds, jog for 1 minute, and repeat until the voice in my head tells me to stop. By “voice in my head” I mean the Audible training program that I downloaded.
– The kid’s toy room is passably tidy these days. We had a moment a few weekends ago where the mess – or rather the lack of picking up of said mess – really got to me. So I told the four year old – because let’s be honest, it’s mostly his mess – that he could only have two of his four bins of building toys and he could chose what. He chose the tracks and the Magnaformers. The Duplos and the small blocks went away to the highest shelf in the closet, along with a small box of Barbie clothes and accessories. I’m not sure if removing two bins of toys has lead to a tidier toy room, but I can now walk into the room without the searing pain of stepping on small toys, so I’m calling that a win. I had a thought the other day as to whether letting the toys have a separate toy/ play room is actually a good thing, or whether it discourages family togetherness. I should probably just stop reading parenting books and do whatever keeps me sane and my feet pain free. So far, it hasn’t been as awful as I’d always imagined running would be. I go nice and slow and I don’t push myself to breathlessness, except maybe the last sprint of the run.
-I’ve decided to quite Facebook for a little bit. Facebook went offline a couple weeks ago, and it was kind of the nudge I needed to quit. Or at least to sit with not having it in my life for a little bit. I found myself spending way too much time on all the random groups I had joined – and while I miss being on the groups for the fountain of opinions and thoughts and information that I could find there, and also as a forum for me to share my opinions, thoughts, and information – some of them could be incredibly toxic, and judgmental. And I found myself getting very judgmental as well. So I just stopped. And interestingly, my screen time hasn’t gone down, but that’s because I’m reading a lot more. I mean I still spend a lot of time scrolling random blogs and websites, but even still, I finished five books last week. I’m still trying to figure out if there is a replacement for Facebook groups, but maybe I should just learn to live with a smaller sphere of voices vying for my attention.
Okay – one thing I’m not optimistic about: the door knob cover that I had put on the pantry to prevent the baby from getting into the spices has proved… ineffective. It took her about two days to figure it out. Sigh.
And a mixed blessing: Beautiful weather. Freakishly warm weather for mid October. So while I am basking in golden temperatures to accompany the golden leaves, I worry for the global environmental conditions that allow this.
And this moment of beauty:
Is this what is meant by “dappled sunlight”?
We’ve been reading some Robert Frost and the other day, walking from the park to drop the kids to school, I looked back and the sunlight shimmering through the leaves and breathlessly thought of the Frost poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”:
Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.
What We Ate:
Saturday: Takeout from our favorite Burmese restaurant, which, tragically, is closing at the end of the month. I will miss their green tealeaf salad.
Sunday: Leftovers.
Monday: Zucchini with Bucatini, inspired after I listened to Stanly Tucci’s interview on Fresh Air.
Tuesday: Sausage and Peppers. Forgot to defrost the sausage, so cooked them in the Instant Pot, though the Husband pointed out you can grill frozen sausages.
Wednesday: The Husband made fettuccini alfredo. It was his mother’s favorite dish, and Wednesday would have been her birthday.
Thursday: Tamarind Chickpeas with Greens from Milk Street’s Tuesday Night Dinners. I really liked this dish. The baby loved the chickpeas.
Friday: Pizza (purchased because we forgot to defrost the pizza dough) and Baketopia (again) because last week’s Baketopia got cut short.
