book club 45 - Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

 2024-45

 

spotted sign

 

book club 44 - What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton

 2024-44

 

Olympic-ish Chocolate Muffins

 I genuinely LOVE the Olympics.  I will watch any sport, any time during the games, Winter or Summer.  So I was glued not only to my tv for this Summer's games, but also on the social meeds, following some athletes and news accounts.  I came across "The Muffin Man" on tick tok - the swimmer who fell in love with the chocolate muffins served in the athletes village, and not only did his posts and videos make me laugh, they also made me want to have a chocolate muffin.

I made this recipe, and my family went crazy for them.  They were gone in a few days, which doesn't happen often around here.  And - I only got one!  

 

grocery shop- costco 3 times in a week

 

July 26 - pico, tortilla chips, ham, spinach, organic recycling bags x2, watermelon, limes, butter, oranges, lasagna, tomatos, milk, coffee pods

$162

July 29- frosted flakes, roasted seaweed, cheese whiz, shoes for The Girl, udon noodle stir fry

$68

August 1 - apples, peaches, roasted seaweed, watermelon, yogurt, mini muffins, blueberries, tortillas, breakfast buns, antipasto, dried pineapple, dried blueberries

$123

2 tomato salads and 1 cucumber salad

 I whipped up a couple of salads for Sunday dinner recently - a tomato salad and a cuke salad.

I used some infused olive oil and vinegar that I found in the pantry, added some garlic, organo, salt and pepper, and mixed in a bunch of chopped tomatos.

 For the cuke salad I sliced some cucumber thin, and made a dressing with garlic, soy sauce and rice vinegar.

 

 

And the other day I made a beautiful lunch salad for The Mister and I - tomato, feta and pesto.

DEELISH.

book club 43 - The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

 2024-43

 

book club 42 - Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

2024-42

 

date caramel

 I made some date caramel recently and it was so easy, I wanted to share.

First, put a big handful of pitted dates in a bowl, add a big fat pinch of baking soda, and cover with boiling water.  Leave for 30-60 minutes.

Then move the dates to your food processor, add some of the date soaking water, a fat pinch of salt, and a splash of vanilla, and blend.  Blend until you can't blend any more.  Scrape down the sides occasionally, and add a touch more soaking water if needed.

I served some with ice cream as part of a small sundae bar and not only was it delicious, it was a hit!  Even with the kids!  That is a ringing endorsement.

book club 41 - The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

 2024-41

 

book club 40 - The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

 2024-40

 

our vacation this year - Harrison BC

 We spent some time in Harrison this summer when it was a billion degrees.  But we still had a good time.  Thank goodness for pools.

On the way we stopped at Hope and after all these years, stopped to see all the Rambo statues and photo ops.

 We went for lovely walks at night, saw bats and heard mysterious sounds from the woods and lake.

We went on a boat!

Spent a lot of time at and in the water, and ate lots of food.  Lots.

A new restaurant we went to this time was Taco Rio.  We went there on what I think was the hottest day of our trip, and everyone was feeling queasy from the heat.  But we soldiered through and had what I think was the best meal of our trip.  These are my tacos - a beef taco and a cauliflower taco.  The cauliflower taco was THE BEST taco I have had in years.  The beef was not far behind.

The Mister had an Al Pastor pork taco and a shrimp taco.  He thought his were better than mine, but he was incorrect.

The kids had the cheesiest quesadillas I've ever seen, and pico and chips.

We ate breakfast at Basecamp Cafe most mornings, went to our usual Vietnamese and Indian restaurants - (always so good), had pizza and ice cream, fruit and cheese, and the kids and I enjoyed some virgin caesars by the pool and on the boat while The Mister had the real thing, and I soaked up all the moments I could with these kids that are growing like weeds.  The years, they go fast.

That's our only away holiday this summer - we were contemplating a trip to Jasper just before the fires hit the town.  I'm hoping I can convince The Teenager to come out of his room a few more times this summer for some day trips.  Fingers crossed.

trying a meal kit from Natures Fare

 When Natures Fare moved to their new location they expanded their bakery, deli and prepared sections and one thing they added were meal kits.

I always look at them every time I'm there, and I finally decided to bite the bullet and get one; if my children didn't want to eat it, that was fine, choose a leftover.

I chose the black bean tacos meal.  It was $21.99 I believe.

It came with everything you  need to make 6 vegan tacos with coleslaw on the side.

I'd planned to take a bunch of photos of what was in the bag, etc, but when I came home from work that day, The Mister had already started chopping and cooking and who am I to interrupt someone in the cooking zone.

 

The meal came together very quickly, fed 3 of us with leftovers (the girl had leftover mac and cheese) and the most importantly, was freaking delicious. 

The Boy wants to go back to pick out the next meal we try, asap.  :)

grocery shop - coscto july 17

 

lemonade, hot dogs, milk, watermelon, rotisserie chicken, paper towel, pineapple, toilet paper, kleenex, donuts, taquitos, pico, tortilla chips, oranges, caesar salad, cheese buns, yogurt, feta, tomatos

$235