Up to no good.

Well we just finished watching up and though I felt it was a pretty good ending the kids were sad that the old man lost his house. I can see that, but it sort of misses the point. So here is the question. Is it for me to spell out the point. Being someone who loves to fill people in, help them get the point, show them the way, it is really hard for me not to. Yet sometimes the best things you learn in life your learn by yourself. Definitely one of my tougher challenges.

It was kind of interesting watching a movie about a flying ship when we created this underwater explorer before dinner. I am telling you Magnablox are easily the coolest upgrade on lego you can imagine. As a teacher of math it is also nice to see all the solids I deal with in class being represented and created by my four year old. The challenges of putting the pieces together is dynamic problem solving hidden in play. Or is that just a definition for play.

Seeing as I am blogging I thought I might was well share our dinner with you all. We had leftover spaghetti and meatballs. The spaghetti was the really thin stuff. I prefer the thicker stuff but it was still. The potato salad was a pumpkin and yam salad. It was good but sweet. The kids were not having any of it. The green salad was nice with a vinegar onion dressing. Finally a shot of the youngest looking ready for dinner.

Double Dipping

Without the sauce. I couldn't get the blog to pick up a picture last night so here is yesterday and today. Last night we had some wicked awesome fish cakes. The Mrs. steamed the potato for mixing with the salmon and it was so good. The daughter was literally raving about them. Up top you can see some cheese buns that were whipped up while I worked. My favourite portion of the meal was the bean salad. The crispness of our beans is just crazy. Beans are my new garden food. If I forget please remind me the next time I am planting a garden. More beans. The other salad was also a garden gala. Tomatoes and cukes with a little bit of dressing. A fully satisfying Sunday supper.Below is what we were treated to this evening. The Mrs. got on it early today. She was working on the squash salad (similar to potato but with ... well you get it) as I left the house for work. I arrived home with the oldest to find meatballs in sauce sitting on the stove. After a hand off at the rink (Mondays two kids skate) I sat and froze while the pasta was boiled. Then we arrived home to this. Still hungry but I think I have had enough. Probably just need some water.
Well I'm busy busy. Lots to do before wednesday at lunch. Wish me luck.

Change of Plans

So originally this evening was supposed to be ebi-chiri. This is a Japanese stir fried shrimp dish. However, after hitting up the bakery for some loaves and coming away with a lovely baguette I moved up tomorrow nights spaghetti to tonight to make use of the fresh baguette. The sauce included some of the wife's pre-made meatballs. Such a good idea. When she makes a batch of something that is slightly tedious she makes a big batch and freezes at least half. Then she has instant meatballs/gyoza/spring rolls ready to go instead of doing the whole from scratch thing again. The Mrs. gets high marks in the smarts department. The salad was the baby mixed greens in a box with grated carrot and diced cucumber. Still loving the salad dressing we got the other day with the dinner. After dinner we went for the family swim night. Boy, that boy did not want to leave the pool at the end of an hour.

We came home and watched the Spiderwick Chronicles. Much like the Bridge to Terabithia it seems like we may need to get the book.

Below is a foot picture. And the wifes feet aint that big to begin with.

Getting Sick

So among other things that happened today I think the daughter has come down with Strep Throat. I tried to get a good shot of the back of her throat but it wasn't easy. I took the image into photoshop and spent about five minutes realizing I had no idea what I was doing and started uploading the raw image.So she had trouble eating all day and ended up having yogurt for dinner. Yogurt and meatballs I should say more correctly. Mom is out at some woman function and made appetizer size meatballs to take. The piggies who stayed at home had to make do with the few that could be spared from the serving platter. Of course we also had almost homemade soup and leftover chili.
I think the almost homemade soup needs explaining. When I first started cooking I used to make a green pea soup with big chunks of vegetables. I would get two cans of Campbell's Green pea soup and then add celery and carrot chunks. It was a type of value added cooking. I didn't create anything from scratch I just enhanced something someone else made. Well I was going to go for the same thing this weekend but the wife brought home butternut squash soup in a tetra pak. I browned some carrots and onions and then tossed in some frozen peas. Once everything was hot I transferred half to the blender and added some whipping cream. This was pureed. In the pot I added the box of soup and brought to a boil. Then I added back the creamy puree and voila. Almost homemade soup. The wife and I loved it (she had some on the way out the door) but the kids were both unimpressed. The loved the meatballs and tolerated the chili. That was until the daughter's sore throat forced us to go with yogurt instead.Note her pensive face trying to decide whether to keep on eating of demand something else. Her first offer was a change to ice cream. I thought about it but that would have been giving away the farm as far as I can see. Yogurt was a good compromise.

After dinner the daughter mentioned that it has been a crappy day. I was trying to say what a fun day we had when she whipped out the list.

1. Sore throat.
2. Kicked in eye by brother.
3. Poked in the same eye by brother with kiddy tent pole.
4. Squished fingers between hockey stick and skating rink.
5. Hungry but couldn't eat dinner.

I was totally shot down. That list is irrefutable if you ask me.

200

I am loving the irony that the blog about managing to get out 200 blogs on a regular basis comes six days after my last blog. Now that was a dry spell. But I have good reason, as you shall soon find out.

So the original title for this evenings blog was going to be "Wishes". Yesterday, after a weekend of debauchery (which is described below) I made the request for a vegetarian week (not just a day but a whole week. I've got some cahones eh.) I return home this evening to this.The home made bread was just out of the oven. I asked my wife what the potato, zucchini, and lentil stuff was, she replied, "nandaro?" meaning, "what I wonder?" or "something or other." It was made in a pot on the stove but was sort of a casserole. I had to convince the daughter that though it looked like "wei" which is japanese for barf, it tasted great. Think fried potatoes with cheese, some lentils, and zucchini with various spices. The green salad had some of those final yellow tomatoes and our new best friend the black olives. The bread was steaming as we sliced it open. The butter melted right in. It was an all around excellent vegetarian meal. Great.

Now for the Saturday night meal. It too was totally outstanding. It followed the lovely wedding ceremony of Kelly and Cole. The ceremony was in the chapel at BurnabVillage Museum. Which is a pretty cool museum to boot. The bride looked lovely and the groom looked nervous. Just like every wedding I have ever been too. The actual ceremony was short and sweet and then his fate was sealed... I mean and then they walked happily down the aisle. The reception was held in the Centennial Lodge at Queens Park in New West.

Now this was the meal of the weekend. Buffet style, four salads, roast beef, a lovely chicken, a pasta, wine at the table, open bar, dessert table, candy table with little gift boxes you could fill with your own selection of candy. We all ate, drank, and danced our faces off. We had a great time and felt great that we were able to be part of their day. The family continues to grow.

We also had a great time the night before at the Juice's house. We had fajitas, guacamole, salsa and chips, and some lovely brownies to finish the night. The kids were totally wrapped up in chasing the vicious cats and watching Monsters Inc. I have to admit that my end of the conversation was lacking because I was paying it too much attention to the movie. It was a good night and that Juice, he sure can cook.

Reaching way back we also had a dinner on Wednesday night of last week. This was the night before the day we left for the coast thus the busy-ness that forced this long blog to make up for almost a weeks worth of meals. It was a pasta and meatball dinner with green salad in tow. It was lovely as a dinner but the meatballs managed to make it into a meatball sandwich the next day for school. It has been commented that some readers of this blog have a little envy of my dinners. It must be going around because the students that I kept in at lunch today were complaining about how good my lunches look. They said it was mean of me to keep them in and then eat such an amazing lunch in front of them. I pointed out that I could not help them and just go and eat my lunch in the staff room. This quashed most of the dissent.

There were other dinners in the mix but they were either eaten on the road or on the fly so there just isn't much to post. Hope you are all well and we should be back to service as usual for the foreseeable future.