Fri Night: After work we had dinner for 8 – 3 moms, 5 daughters. We made Asian food from scratch. Stir fried baby corn, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, shredded carrot and shrimp. On the side we had edamame (microwaved a frozen bag), shredded lettuce and bean sprouts. We made a sauce from my friend’s Thai cookbook, and had red chili sauce, soy sauce and teriyaki sauce available on the side. Everyone could eat their stir fry over white rice, or wrapped in a flour egg roll wrapper and pan seared.
I’m not sure what the cookbook was called, but this was basically the recipe for the yummmmy Spicy Peanut Sauce:
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp red curry paste
1/2 tsp tumeric (we had to use yellow curry)
1/2 cup fresh ground peanuts
1/2 cup unsweet coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
sugar to taste…
I put my rice and veggies in an eggroll wrapper and had edamame on the side. My friend Ellen also brought a cold orzo salad she had made with black beans, garlic and onion. There was plenty of food and I won’t even talk about the multitudes of dessert available.
Saturday I started the day with a fruit smoothie. Alice broke out the Easy Bake oven and made butter cookies while I took the leftover rice and veggies, wrapper it all up in 9 egg rolls wrappers and pan fried them for us to have for lunch. (We only had 2 each, not all 9).
That night Wendy went to the Ray’s baseball game and Alice and I ate with friends. Wendy had the time of her life – she caught a ball, then they had a hula hoop contest and out of over 100 kids (she says) they picked the top 4 winners and she was among them. She got field passes to watch the post-game Beach Boys concert from the field for herself and 1 guest. She also got a free Ray’s cowbell, and the mom she was with bought her pizza and ice cream. She came home so happy and exhausted, much like the night she saw the Jonas Brothers from the 8th row!
Meanwhile Alice and I went to our friends house – another mom and daughter team. We made a salad, the other mom made chili, we made Grandma Darrow’s cookies from a marble cake mix, and we rented The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Story behind that movie: while the movie was being made, I read a book called The Confessions of Max Tivoli. I went to the movies one night and saw a preview for Benjamin Button. I thought for sure it was a movie being made about the book I was reading. Turns out, though, the 2 stories are eerily similar but not the same. Apparently F. Scott Fitzgerald also wrote a similar tale. But the 3 are not related. I recommend reading Max Tivoli. Then enjoy the last 40 mins of Benjamin Button, because it starts VERY slow.
Today is Sunday. I started the day by sleeping in, and then doing a cross train workout at home. Lots of lunges, squats, plie squats, step-ups, single leg dead lifts, (all with 2 5-lb weights because that is all I have at home – so 3 sets of everything), crunches, yoga. Meanwhile I had Wendy doing some of her karate – 50 jumping jacks, 20 crunches, 20 front kicks, 20 side kicks, 20 back kicks, 20 front snap kicks, 20 side snap kicks, and Forms 1, 2 and 3 2x each with good form.
We killed off the eggrolls at lunch. I also cooked some aloo gobi to have at work on Tues. Brian’s flight got in around 3:30 and I picked him up from the airport with the kids. For dinner we made meatball subs, recipe here. I had my meatballs over whole wheat pasta instead of in a white bread sub. I really try to avoid white flour, although you wouldn’t know it from the past 3 days. We also baked Brian a spice cake as a “Welcome Home” because that is his favorite. And I will have to talk myself out of eating the frosting right off the top tier all week long – it’s that tempting!
Alice and Brian ran 3 miles this evening, and I hope to fit in push ups, sit ups, and a walk/jog tomorrow. So glad we get the extra day together this weekend before the craziness of next weekend’s family plans, cross country meets and homework all kick in together!
