MPM--On the Road Again

Phew! What a week! We did all kinds of things we'd never done before. Our kids were in the water show at the pool (so cute, all the five-to-seven year olds playing gods and goddesses in Hercules), we went to the Crayola Factory (and not a moment too soon, my oldest, not-a-drawer, had all but aged out of there), and I had my eyebrows threaded (less painful than waxing, but took longer, so a bit of a wash). Lots of things were checked off the old summer list--yay! In between, we tucked in Daddy Days, more of the 100 picture books, more games, a trip to the beach, and a cousin visit. The scare of August has commenced--time to squeeze in all of summer that we can!

This week:

Monday: yogurt-marinated chicken (yes, I'm obsessed), CSA veggies

Tuesday: taco Tuesday!

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: freezer food. I have some chili in there and a few other things just waiting for the defrost.

Friday: Take me out to the ball game!

We had my in-laws for dinner and had a summer feast, courtesy of Dinner: A Love Story. (I really need to move on but I'm having a crush.) We had two different meats, the yogurt-marinated chicken and Tony's flank steak. The steak was terrific except we didn't slice it thin enough. But still--yum. That is a new one in the rotation. For sides, I made the lemony smashed potatoes, a mozzarella and tomato salad, green beans, and corn on the cob. Amazing. And, double bonus, all gluten-free for my father-in-law, who's been having some gastric issues. No one missed the gluten, that's for sure!

I made the massaman curry in the slow cooker, even though it broke one of my rules of slow cooker cooking. I prefer the "throw it all in with minimal prep" version and this included browning meat on the stove. But I tried it anyway. I tend to agree it was a little too liquidy, so next time I'll use one can of beef broth instead of two cups. But there probably will be a next time; it was really good, mild but clear Indian influence, awesome over rice. I'm not a huge fan of chuck roast, though, so I might try it again with something else, though I'm not sure what.

I've been doing lots of reading lately...The Hunger Games as I mentioned, and now I'm just waiting for book 3. I also read some other kid/ya lit...A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears by Jules Feiffer, in hopes my kids would like it, but they did not; and The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, which I enjoyed but they did not. My book groups are reading Love in the Time of Cholera and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I'm trying to read the Bible in 90 Days but I am woefully behind (but not out!). I finished Temple Grandin's first book, Emergence: Labeled Autistic, and it was a good insight in to the world of an autistic child and reminded me to wait wait wait for my kids to catch up to themselves. I finally finished Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, by Kate Braestrup. I won it from Ready, Set, Wife! and was so excited; I love Kate's writing and her story is so hard and so compelling. And then the book literally slipped off my bedstand and I just found it again. But it was kind of at the right time: one of her (literal) lessons is to fill in the blank: Nothing is more important than _____________. And she goes in to a lot of different riffs on the theme and it was kind of what I needed to hear right now. How would I finish that sentence? Right now? Tomorrow? (Not for the blanks, though that would work too, really.) I finished Super Sad True Love Story though it pained me. So much promise, so fell off a cliff. And I'm with my friend who thought he was too misogynistic to be borne. She's not wrong. There were some others but I can't remember them anymore, which is why I wanted to get these down.

Anyway. More lazy August days of reading ahead...for more meal plan reading, try I'm an Organizing Junkie!