MPM--Sorry, I Lied Edition

Hello, my faithful readers! Sorry, I lied to you two weeks ago. We did not have an Irish fest...we left for Disneyworld that day and had a magnificent vacation, watching the kids' cousins in the local high school band as they marched down the middle of Main Street USA at the park! So fun. Highlight for my kids: the Jedi Training Academy, where they were on stage actually battling Darth Vader. Hard to come home after battling the biggest bad guy in the galaxy, but they are adjusting.

Our best meal there, by far, was at Boma, in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It is an African-inspired buffet. Highlights included tasting fufu for the first time (I have read about fufu but never got to eat it), an awesome carrot-ginger soup, and an excellent papaya, grapefruit, and avocado salad. Lightly dressed, the citrus kept the avocado yummy and the textures were very complimentary. So far, I haven't found a papaya to try it at home, but this recipe looks closest. I also tried this Ina special and it was awesome but too salty, even for me, who adds salt to almost everything. (I actually have below-normal sodium levels, which is a blessing for how much I like my salt!) And, of course, they still had my beloved breakfast pizza. It was a great vacation in every way, and re-entry has been a it of a bummer.

I don't even have much official menu-planning to do here...we finally finished the freezer thaw job so we're just going through th rest of the Dinner A'Fare meals--also by choice so I can prepare for Easter. I'm getting the ham but also making macaroni and cheese and the carrot mousse--nothing hard, but time intensive when it's for an intimate family gathering of 45.

So--

Monday: stuffed pork chops, mashed potatoes, broccoli

Tuesday: chicken with cilantro cream sauce, rice, asparagus and scallions

Wednesday: flank steak with gorgonzola butter, baked potatoes, broccoli

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Good Friday, so not sure, but not much.

And in the midst of this, the kids are on break and their activities continue unfazed so we'll see how that all works out. Soccer ended today until the fall, which is a bittersweet blessing. Starting next week: baseball season! Woohoo! So lots to look forward to here. Hope you are feeling the same and spring is inspiring you where you are!

For more inspiration, check out the amazing folks at I'm an Organizing Junkie! (She would have been proud of me cleaning out my garage this weekend though we are all still sneezing up a storm from it! I have also re-discovered my mother's Mixmaster--originally my grandmother's--I'm looking forward to cleaning it up and seeing if it will work...)