Monday, February 15, 2021

Weekly Eats: The Calm Before the Storm

 

A weekly round up: eats, watches, and reads.  This was the last "calm" week before a big project that I am working on takes off.  For the next few months I am making no pretense of being able to cook dinner on weeknights...if it happens it happens and the rest will be meal prep and Daddy Dinner Duty.

To get ready for the deluge I did a bunch of meal prep this weekend so I should be able to feed my family next week;-)  And P.S. as mentioned in my last post my employer pulled a doozy on us last week and I am currently not happy with them but I am excited to work on the Big Project.  Oh werk, why ya gotta be like that?

Breakfasts

Same old, same old.

Lunches

It may not look like much, but Costco's frozen pad thai is really good.  I wouldn't normally have their egg rolls with it, but we were down to just a few and I needed to make space in the freezer so....


Eggs over salsa and breakfast potatoes was another frequent hitter for lunches this week.  Randomly topped with fried onions.


Dinner

Monday and Tuesday: we got dinner from a community fundraiser.  Bake-it-yourself lasagna, bread sticks, and salad.

Wednesday and Thursday: Wednesday was a solo dinner and Thurs was all hands on deck.  I really need to write a dedicated post on our salmon bowls so that I can just link to it instead of having to explain it every time: rice, air fried salmon fillets, Costco stir fry veggies, avocado, sushi ginger, the dressing from Skinny Taste without the wasabi, and a garnish of won ton strips.

Friday: bad stepmom night.  Normally Fridays are mandatory pizza night, but hubs and stepson #1 were at boy scout camp.  Neither stepson #2 nor I was very hungry, and he was very much into his video game and I was very much into getting my butt on the couch and turning on the TV.  So we decided to take care of our one obligation of the night, which was walking the dog.  We came home and dipped into our stash of Costco mini pizzas and went back to our screens for the duration of the evening.

Saturday: mandatory burger night.

Sunday: there's only one acceptable dinner option for Valentine's Day: steak, grilled portabellas & zucchini, and mashed potatoes.  The stepkids have recently come to really, really appreciate a good steak n'shroom.


Watching

On the treadmill TV front, I finished season 5 of Outlander.  Loved it but I had to skip about 5 minutes in the final episode that was just too upsetting.  Then I started season 9 of Call the Midwife on Netflix which is making the miles pass by quickly.

On the movie front, I'll start with the one that has sound and color that you might have heard of before.  Hubs came up with Midnight Run on HBO Go for our Saturday night viewing.  I love a good "accountant on the run" flick.


And now for the movie that doesn't have sound and is black and white and red all over...The Red Kimona!  Yes friends in 1925 they had the technology to put a red kimono in a black and white movie.

Unfortunately I can't find a trailer so I will direct you to Fritzi's review that got this movie back on my radar and has a ton of pictures including the red kimono. Want to see it for yourself?  Get your library card out and go to Kanopy.  It's pretty rare for me to be able to give you a streaming source for a silent movie! 

It's about a prostitute who kills her pimp and lives happily ever after, with the bulk of the movie filling the blank between "kills her pimp" and "happily ever after".  It's a touchy subject for 1925, so the movie is styled as a mock-documentary with the occasional interlude where someone takes a break to read the bible (my interpretation of what Fritzi describes as the "sanctimonious tone"...I just see it as the price of admission for being able to talk about this stuff at all in the 20's).  When they're not doing that, it's a pretty incredible movie that gets into the difficulties of trying to get out of prostitution, some really good actors, a very touching love story, and hey-o the Spanish flu pandemic comes to the rescue!  And if you're looking for a rabbit hole, researching the real life story that this movie is based on and the court case that came out of the movie will keep you occupied for a good long while.  The truth is way stranger than the fiction of the movie.

Reading

I listened to the audiobook of Bravey by Alexi Pappas, thanks Wendy for putting this on my radar

Still on The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

14 comments:

  1. Your salmon dish looks delicious, ripe with an attractive golden color.

    Have a nice day.
    Greetings from Indonesia.

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    1. Thanks Himawan! The air fryer is really great for cooking fish.

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  2. Wow, Birchie, a big project that will last for months! Are you leading the project? It sounds like a crazy lot of work but also rewarding. I used to lead global audit projects with 10+ people... loved it but also had some anxious moments.
    Your 1925 movie recommendation sounds amazing! I never thought that there'd be a movie with such a "modern" topic from that time.
    I need to get hold of that Bravey book.

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    1. No, I'm just a worker bee. But it's something that I really want to work on, great resume bullet points, etc. Definitely get Bravey!

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  3. Based on your title I thought you were getting hit with a doozie of a snow storm. Sorry to hear that it's work related and is going to be around for a while.

    Your meals look yummy as always!

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    1. Lol, we got both a work storm and a snow storm! The work project is good, it's just going to make dinner time a bit tougher.

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  4. All the best with your big project. Your eats look amazing as usual. It is sushi night here.

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  5. Oooh, you’ve inspired me for an elaborate eggs & salsa dinner tonight! That’s after I concur my recent treadmill demon....

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    1. It's so easy and so satisfying. I hope you were able to get outside instead of having to chase down the demon.

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  6. I loved your description of Friday night with your stepson. That sounds heavenly! I watched Midnight Run years ago but I now forget most of it. That may be a good movie to try again. Your salmon looks terrific! I need to get some salmon. And an air fryer.

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    1. I always say that I don't like to tell other people what to do...but yes you need an air fryer and some salmon and in that order. I promise that air fried fish is one of those things that really is that good.

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  7. I hope your meal prep went well and that you and your family aren't starving this week:) Maybe it's time to teach the stepsons how to cook... ha ha. I hear of these things happening but neither one of my kids will cook a meal.
    My library hold for Bravey just came in, so I will start it any day now! I can't wait!

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    1. We made it work! When the boys were a bit younger I had a sweet child labor situation going on and got them up to the point where they were able to do taco nights almost by themselves. Sigh, now that they are older school and extra curriculars take up more of their time. For some reason their parents say that's the priority? Smh.

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