Wow! What a full weekend we had. I admit it, I am exhausted!
Uncle!
Friday after work, a few of us ladies got together for a little Happy Hour at my friend's new house (which is
supercute!). Just the 4 of us girls, Pacificos and some yummy Mexican dips and chips to nosh. What a nice way to start the weekend. I didn't take any pictures save for a blurry one of Clara, Kristy's little black bunny.
We talked about updates and projects to maximize real estate in our homes, and I shared my plans to build the cabana/pergola and also replacing the basement windows. We talked about my small kitchen and the suggestions we've received from family to extend out into the dogs' yard ($$,$$$) or knock down a wall that backs up to the basement stairs (
so, not a possibility) when my friend Sharmin suggested that we knock down the wall between the office and kitchen.
Genius! Now I am obsessed with making that happen! Our living room/library at the front of the house would still be closed off from the kitchen, but the space would be better utilized with that wall gone. Currently our office is in the middle of the house with 3 doorways leading into it (!). With that wall down, we could get a movable island/bar and finally rip up all that nasty carpet in the office (very high traffic area). I am super excited about this project now!
Saturday morning found me busy cleaning off the front porch. Some of my potted plants and cuttings didn't make it through the hot summer so I moved the empty pots to the back porch. We have a wall o' windows to the front porch, so I organized plants in front of the glass to block the sun this summer, but now that the weather is cooler, we've been opening up the drapes every morning and I wanted to clear our view. After cleaning off the front porch (
and more coffee, of course), I got busy moving shelves from the sun room into the pantry before we had to head off to Emi's soccer game. I also dusted and oiled down the wood in the house and mopped the floors in the back of the house.
Saturday mornings I am like the Energizer Bunny!
After Emi's soccer game (which she won, BTW), we dropped off a load of donables at the Salvation Army, then we made a quick grocery shopping trip before we hit Eskimo Sno's and a little purple catering truck (named Jezebel). They were both conveniently located in the grocery store parking lot (which is in front of the drop off for SA).
Backstory: A few weeks ago I made some lumpia for a friend who was requesting where to get good lumpia in Norman. I posted back to her (on FaceBook) that Norman didn't have any Filipino food venues and offered to make lumpia for her. Well, after my friend left that day with a belly full of lumpia (and more to fry and share with her mom), my neighbor told me about her Filipino friend who runs a successful catering business out of Tulsa (Bohemia) and said that she had a purple food truck called Jezebel and that she just moved back to Norman. I didn't get to visit her purple truck that day (she's usually out and about on home game (football) days).
Fast forward to this weekend when Lori let me know that Teri would be parked nearby. We
had to check it out and the day was just warm enough for snow cones. With a carful of groceries, we stopped at Eskimo Sno's (always a good call) and also Jezebel (or
Bohemia, Moveable Feast Caterers?) to quickly grab some treats. Teri was just getting things set up when we arrived on the scene. She met the kiddos and let them sit in her cute little chairs out front. She wasn't ready for hot food yet so we grabbed a lemon bar (yum), a tray of crab stuffed mushroom caps (
phenomenal!) and her truffle oil vinaigrette and she
threw in a bag of her frozen lumpia! Teri (a very sweet woman) also sells her frozen foods in the
Oklahoma Food Coop ...and apparently I
just missed Teri's cooking class (Asian Appetizers) at another friend's local business,
The International Pantry.
*pout face* Now that I
KNOW, I will be on the lookout for sure. Thank goodness for social media, right?
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| Teri talking to David |
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| Emi ate a birthday cake sno cone while the hobos shared a blue coconut sno cone... |
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| Good Stuff! |
The Little Ones went down for a nap while I put groceries away. Emi helped with folding the laundry and putting clothes away. Later she sold 2 parking spaces in our driveway and helped me bake David's birthday cakes after dinner (home made chicken "enchiladas"). What a productive little girlie I have!
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| Entrepreneurs |
I baked 4 quiches before the cakes and 2 quiches after. All along I had to wash dishes by hand (ugh!) because the dishwasher is broken. I had the window open so I could hear the game and the crowd roar before Scott and Emi could (satellite has about a 5 second delay). I had to run into the living room after the roar to see what was going on. It was funny because Emi was watching the game with her dad and David kept coming into the kitchen to ask me how quiches were made. I showed him how the pie crusts started out frozen and then I added different goodies and cheese, and lastly, how the custard was made. He's such an inquisitive little boy. So proud of my well-rounded little family.
Sunday morning before brunch I baked the bacon roses. I got the thick cut bacon from Sam's and made quite a few roses with a whole slice of bacon, then I made a bunch of "rosebuds" with half slices. These were a nice addition to the quiche and salad. I also put out some pickled garlic, grape tomatoes and black olives for munching before brunch.
David enjoyed his birthday party (as did the rest of the family) and the time spent outside was really relaxing, tossing the football around, swinging, sitting, listening to music, helping the chickens forage for food (Friendly found a fat green caterpillar) and visiting with family.
This week Scott and I will celebrate 15 years of marriage!!!
Man, we're old! I remember when we celebrated 5 years of marriage and splurged on a bottle of Dom at Danny's Steakhouse. It was a great meal (steak, lobster, pecan mashed potatoes) and a great time, but we discovered that at 16x more than a decent bottle of champagne, Dom didn't taste 16x better to us. Maybe we should try Cristal next time? Doubtful. We plan to hit a couple of the places from our first dates (
thankfully they are still in business!): The Mont and Victoria's Pasta Shop.
