Weekly recap + what we ate: the last week of the year!

The day after Christmas we went for COVID tests, back to back appointments, with the Husband and the four year old going in first while I waited outside with the COVID positive baby and then me taking the nine year old in when they came out.

The people at the testing center looked exhausted.

“Has it been busy?” I asked, somewhat inanely making conversation with the lady who swabbed our noses.

“Oh yes.”

“Worse than Thanksgiving?”

“Much much worse.”

I remembered to thank her profusely for doing her job. How stressful it must be. Even though a lot of healthy people come to the testing center to get requisite tests for travel and family gatherings, I’m sure there are a good number that actually will test positive.

It was our first trip out of the house in three days, and once we were in the car speeding home, the temptation was great to just keep driving and not go home – that little intoxicating taste of freedom. But, being responsible people, we took ourselves home and continued to quarantine.

The husband, the nine year old and I came back with negative tests rather quickly. The four year old’s test took the full 72 hours and was… positive. wump wump. But in the end, it was kind of a moot point because his daycare center ended up closing for the week anyway due to a COVID related staffing shortage. I feel like so many people I know – people who are super careful and vaccinated and boostered – were testing positive. It has been kind of brutal.

We spent the week rediscovering the joys of our backyard. I googled “classic outdoor games” and came across SPUD, which I had never played as a child, but which the kids loved. The two little kids also discovered the joy of throwing a ball at a pyramid of tin cans and yogurt containers. And of course there were cardboard creations and improvised obstacle courses.

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And indoors there was this classic – the set from the Husband’s childhood, with missing pieces supplemented via eBay:

Speaking of childhood nostalgia – we watched 9-Bit Christmas and it was delightful. Full of the hallmarks of a childhood in the late 80s, and the story was kind of great too. It supposed to be a knock off of A Christmas Story, but it’s gentler and more forgiving… perhaps a sign of the times? Anyway, will definitely put that into the Christmas movie rotation.

For New Years Day, I wanted noodles, but we didn’t have the right kind of noodles at home. This is probably laughable, since I have a bin in the cupboard with at least four different kinds of noodles from Asia. Noodles are definitely my favorite food. I love how versatile yet specific they are.

So I decided to try my hand at making udon noodles from scratch. I’ve come to realize that the combination of flour + water + salt is the basis of so many different dishes – noodles, dumpling wrappers, scallion pancakes… All the recipes for Udon noodles that I read called for kneading the dough with your feet. So I mixed up the dough and got the kids involved in the stomping and the rolling. I did have to improvise a bit since we were out off all purpose flour. I don’t know how that happened – probably isolating hot on the heels of bake-heavy holiday season. But I did have whole wheat flour and sprouted flour (a random Hungry Harvest purchase). I also had bread flour, but I didn’t remember until too late, and in retrospect that might have been the best option.

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The results were tasty. Granted, toss anything in scallion ginger sauce and it will be tasty, but the noodles tasted simple and doughy. The chew was not as bouncy as ideal, but I think that might have been because of the flour. I’m on the fence as to whether to try again, but it’s good to have demystified the idea of making my own noodles.

We also put together the Swedish climbing wall that we had bought for the kids for Christmas. I thought it was going to be a huge challenge, but it was surprisingly easy and the kids love it. A good indoor energy burner, for sure. And I may once in a while be found hanging from it too…

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Throw back food stuffs:
When I was little, growing up in a tiny Canadian town, much of the Taiwanese food that my parents loved wasn’t available in stores. They made their own dumplings. They even made their own tofu – a multi-day process that started with soaking soy beans and involved a rustic metal machine that made grinding noises in our basement, and square molds that sat overnight in our sink. Of course these days, we buy dumplings and tofu at the store. One other thing I remember my mother making were shrimp chips – they came out of this box as hard round translucent discs which my mother fried in oil until they were puffy and pink and crunchy. You popped the fried chip in your mouth and the chip would bite at your tongue before dissolving in a crunch of salty shrimpy goodness. These days you can readily buy ready-made shrimp chips in the snack aisle at the Asian market. Even the local Giant has them in the ethnic food section, though those ones are skinny and shaped almost like French fries.
The other day, I was at HMart looking for fun food stocking stuffers, and I came across a box of uncooked shrimp chips and I had to buy them for my own stocking. Last week, I gave them a go. I don’t love frying things; I find it messy and I never know what to do with the oil afterwards. So I thought I would see if I could fry the shrimp chips using the airfryer function of our new toaster oven. They do lack the umami of being fried in oil, but the crunch shrimp-y goodness is still there. And the novelty and nostalgia.

Other cozy things this week:
In Summer of 2019, pregnant with our third baby, I decided I wanted to learn how to knit. I had learned once, but then found crochet to be easier and more forgiving so knitting fell by the wayside. Both older kids had handmade blankets made for them when they were born, and I wanted to make one for the baby that was coming. So I dug out a book, looked at some online tutorials, and cast on my first row. It was a pretty simple project – knit stich back and forth til the creation felt long enough. I don’t know if it was time or skill or what not, but the whole thing turned out to be pretty slow going. But finally, the week before Christmas, I finished it and was able to wrap it and put it under the tree for the baby to open come Christmas day. She calls it her “Bankie” and I love seeing her cuddled under it. It certainly has flaws, and the colours don’t quite go together, but I think it will still keep her warm and loved.

What we ate:

Sunday: Cauliflower Curry Soup from ATK’s Vegan for Everyone.

Monday: Sweet Potato and Carrot Eggah and Roasted Potatoes. We don’t eat a lot of potates, but a bunch came in our Hungry Harvest box, so I had some to use up. I cooked the for “0” mins in the InstantPot and then tossed them in olive oil and salt and roasted at 400 until the outsides got golden and crispy. They were really good and I’m now looking forward to more potatoes in our box.

Tuesday: Chili. Every year at some point over the holidays the Husband makes chili. He always makes it the night before so it has time to sit and meld. I love eating my chili with pickled jalapenos, onions and sour cream. The Husband likes his with Fritos. So do the kids. I love how chili is meal where everyone wins.

Wednesday: Banh mi bowls. Made with tofu ground beef rather than pork. And eaten with noodles.

Thursday: BBQ Pinto Bean Tacos with mango salsa.

Friday: Pizza (home made pan pizza) and Empire Strikes Back.

Saturday: Dumpling and homemade udon noodles in scallion ginger sauce with stir fried napa cabbage and mushrooms.