Menus 11Oct - 17 Oct

Starting to clear out the freezer in preparation for the holidays, so bits and pieces of frozen food. I also found some asparagus at Trader Joe's which wasn't too bad despite the time of year, and I'm going to go see if I can find more.

Monday: buffalo chicken(*) wraps.

Tuesday: peanut chicken(*) curry with rice.

Wednesday: hash browns(*), bacon(*), eggs.

Thursday: Ikea meatballs(*), boiled potatoes.

Friday: grits/polenta with creamed spinach.

Saturday: Chicken sausage(*) with pasta.

Sunday: Asian pork tenderloin(*) with rice.

(*) are coming from the freezer. Usually I'm pretty good at rotating stuff, so the even if I buy chicken breasts when I still have chicken breasts, I used the old stuff first but... not always. So I try to do a significant freezer clear-out once a year.

The hash browns are, alas, the patties from Trader Joe's, so not free on WW, damnit. Linnea was eating three of them for lunch three times a week last spring and would get grumpy if we ran out, so I bought like three packages. As per usual with my kids, the second there was an abundant supply, she went "off" of them and they've been sitting since. So eat them we will, lol, just not three for lunch three days a week.

Holidays

We've been back and forth with family as to where to have the holidays this year.

Our first hope was Southern CA, because a significant number of people in my family like warmer weather, WTF, people? Actually, really, our first hope was Norway, but the inability of the US to a) process passports in a timely manner, when my niece's is expired, and b) get our act together re Covid made planning an international trip a bit too dicey. Just too many variables. So we knew we'd stick to the US. Anyhow, then AC mentioned she didn't have a lot of vacation time and my brother was willing to travel with family, so we figured we'd head to Canada and Vancouver BC if my brother can get a RealID/EnhancedID for my niece that will allow her into Canada. That still seems iffy, as does US approval of vaccines for younger kids in time for them to be fully vaccinated.

The fallback plan everyone agreed on is here. So I might just be hosting Christmas for my whole family, which would be awesome. Now who can I get to invite me for Thanksgiving, LOL, because I don't think I want to do two big events in one year. I will, of course, since I have three kids who can't really travel. Maybe Bend, though... humm....

Vancouver would have been great, except for two things. My aunt's place is really small, so not a great place to gather for meals or to hang out. This means we would have had to do a house rental and those are hard to come by and expensive, especially compared to hotels at this point. Plus we can't make any non-refundable reservations until we know that everyone can actually get to Canada, LOL.

So. That.