Today has been a good day. It is close to 8 o’clock in the evening. I am relaxing with a glass of wine hand, with a solid plan to be off to bed in about 30 minutes. The boys have gone off to the garage apartment for what we now call “brother time”, also known as, “Mom is finally letting us play video games time”. Potatoe and Pumpkine are running around in the backyard, and Storme is snuggled up in Little Chirp’s bed getting a head start on his night’s rest. Trooper is still napping in his favorite basket, but will soon stir from his slumbers and be ready for a night out in the backyard.
The boys did a great job with the meal planning for the week. I had tasked them with deciding what meals we would eat this week, making the grocery list, and then doing the grocery shopping. I had predicted chalupas, chili, shrimp in green curry, and steak would all be on the menu. I only got one right and that is the shrimp in green curry. Instead their meal list includes: taco soup, chicken chili, salmon with cucumber and mint relish, braised pork ribs and vegetables, buffalo chicken legs and salads, and Greek meatballs stuffed with feta cheese and zucchini spiraled into noodles. I am going to put the two of them in charge of meal planning for the rest of the summer.
We did the taco soup tonight. This actually a Whole30 recipe that is incredible. Brainy Bird had made this once before and Little Chirp loved it. The dish consists of grass fed beef, vegetables and seasoning. I was in charge of cooking tonight, and I was nervous that I would screw it up. I am happy to report that the dish again came out splendidly. If you look at the Wikipedia page for the Whole30 diet, the page bashes the diet for being way too restrictive. With recipes like this taco soup one could eat like a king on the Whole30 diet for the rest of their lives.
I am also happy to report that the boys only spent $150.38 on groceries. Little Chirp is super cost conscious. He noted that the grocery bill for the week is much lower without me there because there is no wine on the bill. I am sure that he made this note in front of the cashier, and I am sure he got a laugh. We go to the same HEB every week, and we know most of the people there. We stand out in a crowd because Brainy Bird is 6’3″ and Little Chirp has a giant blonde head and a contagious laugh that people remember. He is also well known at places we frequent for his quick witted comments.
We will eat most of our meals at home this week, but we are planning to dine out some. We got the idea from a local foodie Facebook page to “eat our way through the alphabet”. We will start with “A’ and move through the alphabet, dining at a different locally owned establishment that starts with the letter we are on until we get to the end of the alphabet. I think we should be at the end of the alphabet by the end of the summer.
This week’s letters are A, B, C, and D. A is for Ambriza, which is an authentic Mexican restaurant owned by two of the most amazing people in all of Tomball. This is one of the few places that we ordered from during the shutdown. I super trust Ambriza with the handling of our food, and the quality of their food made it worth it when we were being super watchful of our spending. It will be great to be dining in there with the boys again.
We are still debating on what we will do for B. Bo Bo Garden, Bloofin and Brix are all under consideration. Bo Bo and Bloofin have been closed the past couple of times that I happened by them. I hope they make it; these are places we love. I miss our waitress Cindy from Bo Bo, and I miss the hot and sour soup. Bloofin is one of the, if not the best, sushi restaurant in all of Houston. That is a big statement when you consider the quality of sushi here. Brix is now open again, but they have limited times when they let kids in. One of the owners adores Little Chirp, and would let him in most anytime, but that owner is not always there.
For C, Brainy Bird declared Crafthouse, which is hands down his favorite restaurant. This is a really sepcial place for us. We know the owners, and they not only know us, but they know Potatoe too! Potatoe goes crazy with excitement when we pull into the parking lot. The waitress Sarah is one of the most kind hearted people on planet Earth. This is a place where one can totally indulge with fried cheese curds, chili cheese fries and stupidly delicious hot dogs, or eat healthy with creative salads and fish and shrimp dishes. Just thinking about Crafthouse has me smiling. It is also super affordable, and they treat the boys really well when they go there by themselves. I sometimes use a meal at Crafthouse with just the two of them as a reward.
We never made a decision for D. We did not come up with very many options. We decided if we do eat a fourth meal out this week, that we will not follow the alphabet. Once this was decided, Little Chirp declared the meal will be at Sizzle and Brew. He loves the food. I love the owners, the coffee, and unfortunately the French fries and gravy. They have seriously good French fries. This is definitely one of our favorites.
Funny, that is eight paragraphs about food. We did not get to the journalism project today, but we will. Little Chirp even asked me about the project, as he is super interested in doing it. The meal planning and creation of the grocery list took them awhile. I remember when meal planning, creating the grocery list and grocery shopping would take up my entire Saturday. It takes time in the beginning. The difference between when I learned to do this and Brainy Bird and Little Chirp learning to do this is that they are still kids, and I was a newly wed. Their cooking skills are also a thousand times better than mine were.
Once they got back from the grocery store, Brainy Bird wanted to deep clean and organize his garage apartment. He wants a nice summer, and a nice little spot to spend it in. He also had his calculus AP retake. I am happy to report that his exam results uploaded this time. This means that we are officially done with school for the year. I could tell that he felt super confident about the test. He felt super confident the first time, but his answers would not upload, ugh. That was some crazy stress at the time, but the stress is all behind us know.
After Brainy Bird finished his exam and cleaning his living space, Brainy Bird helped Little Chirp put together a nightstand with a lamp that I had gotten for Little Chirp. When we cleaned out and organized the extra room in the house, we needed another book case, so I took the one from Little Chirp’s room, which he had been using as a nightstand. Using the bookcase as nightstand never really worked, a book case is not that interchangeable with a nightstand. Now, Little Chirp not only has a nightstand, but he has a lamp. He was quite happy about this. We ordered a smart bulb on Amazon, so he will be able to turn the lamp on and off with voice command.
Dinner was ready once the nightstand was finished. We dined on our super healthy taco soup, and then we played Yahtzee! Free For All. This is a game built off the concepts of Yahtzee! That is a lot of fun. We had played the prior weekend, and Little Chirp had ruled the game. Tonight, Brainy Bird enjoyed his time to win. I love dice games. I never outgrew the fun of rolling dice. I suspect that Little Chirp never will either. His intensity and comedic commentary through out the game are what make it so much fun.
It is now 3 minutes past the time that I said that I would be off to sleep. Potatoe is already off to dreamland snuggled at the foot of my bed. This brings Day 1 of an extremely long work week to a finish. As I said in the beginning of this post, this has been a good day.
It is the simple things in life.