7 Quick Takes - Vol. 15

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Another week, another late QT post. But good excuses abound yet again! First off, David has submitted his thesis. Small looking words, and unless you’re a grad student or married to one you might not fully comprehend how this is pretty much the biggest thing in our lives right now. The Thesis, which has been the main focus of our family for the past four years, which has guided most major decisions and interfered with so much, is SUBMITTED. I can breathe again.

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As if that wasn’t reason enough to celebrate, I also happened to turn thirty this week. My birthday, in which I was delightfully spoiled by husband and kids, deserves its own post, but as part of my own little celebration to mark the end of my twenties I went for some aesthetical changes, namely a shorter haircut (not a big deal, do it all the time) and a nose ring (which is currently a stud, since they can’t pierce it with the ring):

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Walter also happened to turn fourteen months old this week. David refuses to admit that our baby is turning into a toddler, but I see more and more evidence of his new developmental stage every week. Fourteen months seems to have been a big turning point. He is showing a lot more awareness of things (if I put his shoes & socks on, he runs and grabs his coat without being asked) and I think he is understanding our instructions a little better. I am so impressed with how much behavior he learns just from copying us – yesterday he got to a crying Emily before either of her parents did, and I found him crouched down beside her, patting her on the back.

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Emily’s had a fuss-week, where she follows a pattern of sleep-cry-eat-cry-sleep. It seems to be digestive troubles, as in the evenings she has been releasing the days build up in a variety of forms. That said, she is almost on a night-time sleep & eat schedule that I can cope with (last feed at 10/10:30pm, and then sleeping in her own bed until 6/7am. She is almost at an age where I can start to introduce some sort of sleep consistency, at least with night, and then hopefully we can start introducing an earlier bed time.

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I thought I’d start linking up with Menu Plan Monday, since I plan my menus two weeks in advance yesterday (helps so much with grocery shopping). Tara, at Mitchell to Morgan (otherwise known as my illustrious and super awesome cousin), has started giving her take on the previous week’s menu when she joins the link up, and I think that’s a pretty great idea because I always love knowing how recipes turn out and every once in a while I feel a need to get some new ideas.

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Speaking of recipes, this week for one of our quick suppers I made my new favourite – Leftover S&S Pork Stirfry. It’s one of the things I make when I have leftover roast pork and I love it. It’s super easy and uses up whatever odds & ends I have in the fridge. Basically, you start browning a sliced onion, I favour red ones, in some oil (in a ‘seasoned’ ie needs a scrub) in a pan. While those cook, chop up some vegetable odds & ends, anything you have hanging out in the fridge that is good in Chinese food (for us this is usually carrots & perhaps some bell peppers) and toss them in with the onions. We like things spicy so I always cut in one or two hot chillies. Give everything a stir and then start slicing up what remains of your Sunday pork roast. Toss the pork into the pan and stir everything yet again. Then grab a jar of sweet & sour sauce and pour it over top. Stir the sauce through and turn the heat down. Make some rice and keep a lazy eye on the s&s mixture – by the time the rice is done it should be a sticky, carmelized mess. Use a little water to rinse out the dregs of the sauce jar into the pan if you need to make more of a sauce. Then, crank the heat up, make a well in the middle of the s&s mess, and pour in a couple lightly beaten eggs. Scramble fry the eggs into the meat mixture, dump everything on top of the rice, and you should be left with a delicious, comforting, filling, spicy mess. It’s a big hit at our house – even Walter gobbles it down, hot peppers and all.

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I’m embroidering again and I have a project that is almost finished, so watch this space... babies don’t leave much time, but sometimes they leave just enough.

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