Typical summer kick-off stuff

Grilled some stuff.

Mexican Street Corn, Campfire Potatoes

 Finished some grades.

K, 3rd

Phoned in our last bit of schoolwork.

Grappled with the fact that even two decades after high school, finding out that someone I thought was probably indifferent to me actually dislikes me enough to tell a lot of people about it can throw me so off my axis that all I can do for several days is listen to Kacey Musgraves on repeat and try to refine my human-avoiding strategies and how have I lived on this earth for almost forty years without figuring out a way to deal with this kind of thing in even a remotely sensible way? 

Swam a bit.

Start the timers, I will stop whinging about weather in...23 weeks

Since my first experiment with the Penzey's curry spice was so unexpectedly successful, I'm planning to use it on as many plant-foods as possible just to see what I can sneak in under my children's radar. Chickpeas and potatoes: check.

This curry blend has a lot of flavor without too much heat, which I think is why my children will eat it, but it's also possible that they will eat anything accompanied by naan 

Spring book fair time! We stocked up on some serious literature for our summer reading.

I don't want to make it seem like the girls are only interested in cute animals--we also got two emoji pens and a Pokémon poster

Two more days of school, then we eeeeeeeeeease into summer.

Should be great.

So, so suddenly

I enjoyed this Chicago Steak Seasoning so much that I've used it twice now, which is really saying something because I don't like cooking steak. Because I am bad at it.

The steak is still badly cooked, but now it is nicely seasoned.

Ivy has recently rediscovered the face painting kit she got for Christmas, which is really...intensifying her Suddenly Appearing Behind You game.

The four essential Cs

Yesterday was my birthday, which I tried to keep very low key, but I did make sure to consume the major birthday food groups: caffeine, cheese, cookie, and cupcake.

Starbucks has made it slightly harder to get your free birthday drink, but I compensated for the inconvenience by ordering two weeks' worth of coffee

A year of life that begins with queso is a year of life that can't be all bad, 99.9% terrible at worst

Look at these FANCY THINGS Regan gave me, you might think they are too pretty to eat but you are wrong I ate them just fine

Also thought you should know that Ivy has pioneered dipping tortilla chips into hot chocolate, all rights reserved, TM TM TM.

Fair enough

When asked what I wanted for my Mother's Day meal, I said "just use one of the spices." And so it was that we had chicken and vegetable skewers with Galena Street Rib and Chicken Rub and it was delicious in a way that only something you didn't have to make yourself can be.

I also suggested "and maybe use the grill," I don't want to give the impression I was being low-maintenance 

A genuinely touching tribute from my youngest daughter this year:

"I might fill it in later," she told me. "When I find out more about you."

I'm happy she's found her passion

I did use some spices this week, but way way way more importantly I made a bunch of desserts for Teacher Appreciation Week. Look how much more beautiful they are than real food. I might make this picture my phone background.

Clockwise from top left: Fruity Pebbles Treats, Double Chocolate Icebox cookies, Blondies with Cinnamon Chips, Key Lime Pie Fudge

"Music is, like, my life," Ivy announced four hours into listening to the Kidz Bop version of "Roar" over and over.

I'm trying to be best, is this what that is, lmk

I was not especially creative with my use of the Cajun Style seasoning, but who needs creativity when you have red beans and rice? I was worried this would be too spicy for my ever-so-delicate-tongued children, but all was well. I like that the blend has all the stuff I would normally put in red beans plus bonus spices like marjoram. And cardamom.

I try to treat my beans right

It was a boring, work-y weekend, but some of us really enjoyed Friday's rain.

Some of us did not.

She jumped up there just to bat down those stuffed birds, as though they had somehow caused the storm

Some misguided adulteration of carbohydrates

 More spices? Of course. Always.

For the Italian Herb Mix, I used one of the recipes from the Penzey's site, Crispy Herbed New Potatoes. Hard to go wrong with roasted new potatoes, but if I'm being entirely honest I'm not sure the Italian seasoning added that much to it. I just want that straight up POTATO flavor. Boil 'em, mash 'em, etc. etc. Going to give the Italian Herb Mix a shot in a different context.

At least I learned that cheese omelets garner appropriately rapturous feedback from my youngest child, who is very stingy with her rapturous feedback

I also experimented with the Mural of Flavor, which was a free sample that came with my free box of spices, what are you even doing Penzey's, you're crazy, I love you so much.

Here is the recommendation for how to use the Mural of Flavor seasoning: "Try it on chicken, fish, pork and beef. Add it to soups, rice and potatoes. Shake it over sliced tomatoes, corn, popcorn and scrambled eggs." So I threw a dart and hit "rice." It was...fine? Maybe I should stop putting fancy seasoning blends on things I like the plain taste of.

The true love of starchy white food is salt and salt alone, I should know this

Some sad personal news:

A cat semi-convincingly disguised as Easter candy:

I guess you could say she...favors curry

Next up on the free spice list: the curry powder, which I personally can't get enough of but I assumed would be a tougher sell to all the sub-five-foot individuals in the household, especially since all I did was mix about a tablespoon of it with some shredded chicken, diced tomatoes, and a bag of frozen spinach. Imagine my surprise when not only did no one complain, but Anna went so far as to add this specific meal to her hallowed list of Requested Dinners. A truly unexpected level of success for a meal that is, again, mostly a bag of frozen spinach.

The rest of the list in its entirety: 1) cheeseburger; 2) pasta with plain tomato sauce; 3) refried beans on a tortilla

Anna went camping with her Girl Scout troop this weekend, so Ivy had a couple of rare only-child days. I like to think she had a pretty good time on the playground, but I have a nagging suspicion she wanted us to take her to the beach instead.

We made do.