Busy Days! Meal Plan Tuesday?

The last few days have been unexpectedly busy, or busier than I had planned anyway. Last Thursday evening, I taught a cooking class at one of our more upscale grocery store chains, along with the rest of my committee from the Junior League. It was SO much fun, and even though we had a smaller than normal class size, it was a wonderful experience and we had a ton of fun.

We chose four recipes from our Always Superb: Recipes for Every Occasion cookbook. The four recipes were Pear and Walnut Salad, Gorgonzola Smashed Potatoes, Hawaiian Pork Roast and Berrimisu. They all turned out and went over really well and we did have a really good time. I was so surprised that we were able to get all four recipes made in under an hour. The store had all of the ingredients and cooking utensils laid out for us which really helped, but for never having taught a cooking class before, I was pretty pleased! If you want any of the recipes, I will try to post them later this afternoon.

Friday, the boy and I decided to play hooky. We went to a seminar on Firewalls (the boy was just THRILLED beyond belief) but they had breakfast for us, bagels, cream cheese and juice. We listened to the presentation for an hour, and then they showed a special free screening of Iron Man 2. So that made it all worthwhile for him. It was a really good action film and a great sequel. We both really enjoyed it, and I have to say, I think that Robert Downey Jr. is just funny! I really hope that he can stay clean and sober, he is such a talented actor.

After taking in the movie, we headed for lunch, it was a dreary dismal day, so soup and sandwiches sounded perfect! Even though it was so dreary, we had lunch at one of the popular places in my neighborhood that overlooks the lake.

Friday late afternoon, we volunteered at WineFest 15. It was a lot of fun, and gave me some great ideas for future fundraising events.

After "working" at WineFest, we felt a glass of wine was in order, so we stopped by Kings Wine Bar, in my neighborhood for an appetizer and a glass (or two) of wine for me, and a couple of local beers for the boy. We had the tater tots with melted Gruyere cheese with bacon sauce for dipping. Delicious! Fantastic spot too, so close to home! It was just voted best wine bar by one of the local papers, and so if it wasn't already packed all of the time before, it certainly is now!

Saturday morning, we were looking forward to a nice relaxing morning and sleeping in. That didn't happen. My dad called fairly early and needed the boys help. My parents had the hardwood floors in their house re-done and had been out of town for three days while they were being worked on. Well, they came back to a mess, the floors were awful, they did a terrible job, but at the same time, my dad needed help getting the room back in order, so we stopped over and helped move furniture, and had a look at the floors, they did a terrible job, and of course I was really upset because I could not believe that someone would walk away from work like that. They did come back yesterday and re-did the floors, and this time my dad was there to oversee the work, and I did speak to him last night and he said they looked much better. I am excited to see how they turned out because they had them stained dark, I think it will look really good.

After we got the furniture moved, we went to pick up my mom from a family friends and then headed to see my nephew G's violin recital. He did a really good job and it was fun to watch him. It is nice that he has his own thing.

The rest of the day was spent running around doing errands and getting ready for Mother's Day on Sunday. We had both sets of parents over for what was going to be brunch, but after making the pork roast on Thursday, I decided to change the menu and do lunch. So we had the boys favorite new salad which was a half of tomato, thinly sliced red onion, buttermilk dill dressing and chives (I used the green part of green onions). I served this on a bed of butter lettuce this time to dress it up a bit.

The main course then was gorgonzola smashed red potatoes, roasted asparagus and Hawaiian Roast Pork and then for dessert I made a lemon angel food and strawberry trifle which was a big hit.

My tablescape was a turquoise and plaid setting, bright fun colors for Mother's Day!

I was really sad to see that the Cowboys did not pull off the win on the Amazing Race, but they were SO much fun to watch all the way through to the end!

Last night we went to look at more houses. We looked at three, one that I think could have some potential. It is in a nice neighborhood, on a nice lot, has some good square footage, and I loved the big open kitchen with the window over the sink. It does need some updates, it is further out from the cities than I think we want to be, but there is a lot of potential there too. It has been on the market since January without any offers, so we are going to talk things over a little further, and if we could get it for a good price, who knows, it could be a really good value. . . .

This is another really busy week, but full of lots of fun things too!

Monday
Plans - Look at houses with the boys parents (the boys dad being a Realtor is just a godsend)
Dinner - Woody's Grill after we were done

Tuesday
Plans - JLM Last General Meeting of the Year
Dinner - At the club

Wednesday
Plans - SITC Preview event with makeovers at Neiman Marcus with M, should be fun!
Dinner - Probably grab something downtown

Thursday
Plans - Screening Just Wright
Dinner - I am going to try to put something in the crock-pot so that we can eat before we go, but I have to figure out what we have first!

Friday
Plans - Leave for Duluth, MN
Dinner - Not sure yet, we haven't made any reservations, I need to do that this week yet, but I am so excited and ready for a weekend away.

Saturday
Plans - Explore Duluth
Dinner - Not sure, we don't know if we are going to stay another night in Duluth or come back home, it may depend on weather and if we can get a hold of my favorite cousin and his wife who just moved up there this past year and whether or not they are free. Otherwise, we will come back and go to the monthly couples dinner at M & M's.

Sunday
Plans - Dinner with the boys parents, maybe look at houses, maybe we are still in Duluth!
Dinner - Boys parents

For more meal plans and links to recipes as well as a lot of really good ideas, check out the orgjunkie!