Grilled Scallops (marinated in Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, agave nectar)
Corn, Red Pepper and Black Bean Salad (suggested by dd-19)
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Microgreens (from the garden!) + Raspberry Vinaigrette
Thursday:
Salsa Chicken, in wrap for Aisa, with brown rice for Bong
I’ll add more as I finish preparing the food. The list will go on the fridge so packers [ ] can pick and choose if I don’t manage to get up early enough in the morning. I’m packing the lunches the day before so that I’m sure they get a bit of everything. Makes for a more balanced meal.
Friday Update:
Two kids fell sick this week… cooking halted yesterday and we had leftovers and ramen noodles for dinner. Cooking commenced today but I’m filling in requests from the sickies — namely Filipino arroz caldo and spaghetti with Bolognese sauce. College kid brought home a package of plantain bananas from the kitchens at school, so I’m baking several with their skins on. I *may* stir-fry some surimi crab sticks with asparagus if they need more food tonight . If you’re reading this, please pray that no more kids get struck down by this icky virus. Thanks!
It’s a tradition in the family that when there’s a sick child, they get to eat whatever they want to eat, even if it’s something we don’t usually purchase/make (with the exception of really unhealthy stuff like candy and Spam). So this weekend when Yena was sick I asked her what she wanted Dad and Mig to buy on their home from the cycling trip. She wanted
“That soup, Mom.”
“What soup?”
“You know, the ‘cream of’?”
“Cream of what?”
“Uhm…. cream of tartar?”
Cleaning the basement today. Looks like the only way to get things accomplished around this house with a toddler in tow is to BE WHERE HE IS and clean that area. So while Nino was checking out the boxes of old unsorted toys, I took to getting rid of the old Franklin planner pages we had used through the years…. I’m still not that detached that I just junked them all… I’m actually going through each page to see if there’s “something important”… I did find two pages where I took notes of Aisa’s names for everything (when she was 6 — maybe I’ll post it sometime).
Nino, in the meantime, found a teeny-tiny rocking chair from the Playmobil line, gently put it on the floor right side up, and proceeded to try sitting on it. Thankfully he didn’t squash it. LOL, he has no concept of how big he is compared to the toy.
Nine days ago I announced to my online circle of friends that I was going offline for 100 days.
The goals are many, my list is long. My family has been very supportive.
This is a huge thing for me, considering that I’ve been online in one fashion or another since college. Back then the screens were just green text on black, and our printers were dot matrix…. this was around 1989. But a few friends had started using e-mail and my first job called for me to buy a new PC and get online service, so I could work weird hours especially after having our first child. My first boss was super-flexible and super-tech-savvy that I only mostly went in to work when hubby came home and we could all go as a family. By then the offices at the research facility were closed and most of the people were gone, except my boss who stayed late sometimes. I had the most basic of services, I think America Online at $5.95 a month (hah!), and OF COURSE it was dial up. My boss had designed, together with his computer team, a software that allowed our computers to communicate.
So, online for 20+ years… though I’m not 100% offline during these 100 days. Still check my e-mail once or twice a day, and still blog. But the fruits have been undeniable. This was actually the result of a Lenten experiment that had to do with SILENCE. I have been reading, learning, studying this virtue…. maybe one of these days I’ll blog about it as well.
The projects (sigh) are endless — like the photo albums that have stood neglected for the past 10 years or so as we moved from place to place, had two more kids, got back to homeschooling, traveled…. it is tedious work, but B encourages me with his usual and pithy “One thing at a time”. Day One was easy: declutter my dresser drawer. “Work on pictures” was on Day 2 of my 100-day list, but I’ve been working on it for 7 days now. I’d suffer from total burnout if it weren’t for the fact that looking at these pictures, sorting them, rearranging them, sifting the good from the bleh, brings back so many memories, promises of days to come, dreams realized.
Ninety-eight projects to go.
I’m detaching, and re-attaching. It’s been a remarkable journey, so far.
My boys (scouts and daddy the scoutmaster) will be volunteers at Adventure Base 100 (that’s a link to the PDF flyer), so the girls (and Nino) are tagging along to sample food.
One strategy to consider: sample everything once. Then the good things twice. Ahaha… I just totalled all that up: $666.50. Maybe not.
Okay, maybe a better strategy would be try all the Best/Excellence/Merit awardees first… and if we’re still hungry double up . That would bring down the cost to about 10%.
Pick an African country (we will do at least 3 each) for inclusion in our Adventure: Africa scrapbook. Use flags from Usborne Flags Sticker Book and choose facts and figures to copy. Work on these for the next 3 days.
Activity 1: Make tree collage with Mom. Inside each tree write your narration of Wangari’s story and number each tree so your narration can be read in order.
Activity 2: Research 3 of the trees Wangari planted and make a page for each of them. Put these in the “Flora and Fauna” section of our Adventure: Africa scrapbook.
ReadKingfisher History Encyclopedia, pages 212, 213, 216-217. Make entries into Book of Centuries/youngers into Africa scrapbook.
Read aloudBringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. Compare the place where you live to the book’s setting. How does Africa’s climate affect the way people and animals live? Define monsoon and drought. Is this story fiction or non-fiction? Explain.
“Make rain” at the dinner table tonight when everyone’s home. Optional activity: Make a rainstick.
Make pancakes with Mom using the recipe in the book.
Writing and Craft: Make the hut pictured in Mama Panya’s Pancakes using shredded construction paper. Write the recipe inside using the list of ingredients and your own words for the instructions.
Avocado and Papaya Salad (Kenya)
avocado
papaya
grapefruit
bibb lettuce
lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Read aloud:: Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book. Weave a vocabulary mat with English words on one side and Kiswahili words on the other. Keep adding to this mat as you learn more words. Alternative activity: Write a story using English and Kiswahili words. Do this on a sheet of plain paper. Cut out (or ask mom to help you do this) the Kiswahili words, leaving a “hinge” so that each can be opened like a door/window. Attach to African design paper (glue all around the cut out words) and write the English words under the Swahili words. This is for the Adventure:Africa scrapbook.
Do you agree with Rachel’s decision not to tell the grandfather the truth? What would you have done similarly/differently?
What do you think was Rachel’s most important character trait? Why?
Share your thoughts about female doctors in the early 1900s.
Pick one of the stories above to narrate and/or illustrate. (Note: My kids did *not* want to narrate any of the above and picked other selections instead.)
Orange Lemon Squash p. 17 (beverage)
Rice with Black-eyed Peas p. 71
Cool Okra with Spices p. 91
Yassa Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Onion p. 122
Guava Sorbet with Lime p. 168
These are resources I didn’t find in our local library. I’ve gone ahead and requested that they purchase these, so hopefully I’ll be able to read them one day soon. Make good use of your library’s “suggest this purchase” page! These are food-related books but I’m sure I’ll be adding more.
Sunday evening, preparing food for the week….
] can pick and choose if I don’t manage to get up early enough in the morning. 
. If you’re reading this, please pray that no more kids get struck down by this icky virus. Thanks!
