Small Week, Big Weekend

This was not a particularly busy week, but the weekend did see a little more action.

What was planned that did or didn't happen:

Crack chicken, green beans, rice

Conecuh sausage, kraut, skillet potatoes

Air fryer pork chops, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts

Veggie meal

(We were going out Friday night, had a family reunion Saturday, and Sunday was a planned surprise meal)

What happened and what we actually ate:

 Monday: I spent the day slogging around the house doing chores while avoiding the room of horrors. I am so good at avoiding it.

Monday dinner: : I thought I had a choice of a few things I took out of the freezer Sunday afternoon of meals for the week. Unfortunately the meat drawer in my refrigerator is very cold and only one item thawed by dinner time. 

Air fryer pork chop, cauliflower/pepper mix, steamed squash, blueberry lemon mug cake

Tuesday: My Beloved Sister and I went out for  lunch with a brother and sister we have no conscious memory of not knowing. I had seen the brother in the past few years because we did some business with him, but I had not seen the sister since a couple of years before the Covid lockdown. It was great catching up with them and we made plans to do it again before long. Once home, I did a little racing around to a couple of different grocery stores to grab their sale items before the weekly ads changed. (Ours are Wednesday-Tuesday)

Tuesday dinner:  Once again my meal choice was based on what had thawed.

Conecuh sausage, kraut, baked potato, tomato slices

Wednesday: I hung around the house, read, did some chores, tried to wrangle the my ducks that are not in a row and had a long phone conversation with a long time friend that I had not talked with in months. We had lots of catching up to do!

Wednesday dinner: Finally the chicken I kept forgetting to take out of the freezer thawed and ready to go into the crockpot Wednesday morning!

Crack chicken, coleslaw, toasted english muffins, tomato slices

Thursday: I had some things that needed doing, along with a day perfect for a long swim instead if the short "get the laps in" kind of day.

Thursday dinner: I stayed in the pool so long, I had not gotten anything ready to cook. Oops! Zaxby's to the rescue. 

We split a 6 piece lemon pepper tenders meal with double coleslaw instead of fries.

Friday: This was when the week's pace picked up. My cousin K was coming into town for our annual family reunion and planned on spending the night with us. Normally I would have spent the day making sure things in the house were "company ready". Unfortunately I started a book early in the morning and was sucked into it. Other than making sure the guest room had clean sheets and bathroom, I hit the rest of the house with a lick and a promise, and continued to read.*

Friday dinner: 7 of the cousins from out of town, met at a restaurant with 5 of us who live here, for a pre-reunion reunion. We had fun and laughs. Since everyone ordered something different I am just posting my meal.

Wasabi coated tuna steak, asparagus

Saturday: I woke and it the floor running peeling, chopping, cooking, stirring, drizzling, all the things necessary to have my additions to the reunion lunch done. We have it every year at my cousins home which is a 5 or so acre spread with a pool, playhouse, basketball, court, rope swing, and lovely house. with wrap around decks overlooking woods. It is the perfect place for a gathering. I think, (if my count is correct) there were 47 people there. I could be off by one or two though. I do not know what reunions are like in other areas of the country, but ours is pretty reflective of those in the south. It is always a pot luck meal and each person (family unit) brings something. And to be honest most folks bring three or four somethings to add to the meal. There is always too much food, enough to feed 2 to 3 times as many people are are there. 

I think the best way to explain it is what DIL1 asked Son1 before attending one of these events. She asked Son1 if there would be a table of food to choose from. His answer? No there will be counters filled with food and a table filled with desserts. Saturday was no different!

This was not the entire dessert area but My Beloved Sister was in this pic and would have killed me if I had not taken her out.
I know there were at least 5 different flavors of pie, 6 or 7 cakes, a charlotte, a cobbler, fruit trays, 3 different types of cookies, 2 flavors of fudge,  and brownies 

Saturday dinner: After that huge lunch why bother? 

Sunday: We went to the communion service, the 8:30 traditional service, and Sunday school, before coming home. After a quick lunch of leftovers, we began to watch the final Fed Ex tournament. Well at least one of us did. The other might have been reading and then watched the rest of the tournament with her eyes closed, but I am not naming names. 

Son2  woke me when he called and he and DIL2 came over for a bit. Sometime after he phoned but before they got here I drifted back to a sort of dream state and thought I was making peanut butter fudge for them. Of course once I was fully awake I had to make it, and sent them home with a full plate of the stuff. They were not unhappy to take it.

Sunday dinner: Saturday after we left the reunion we stopped at a little produce/farm stand. Last year we had bought a delicious tomato pie there and wanted to get another one. We got there just 10 minutes before they closed and bought the last one they had, planning to have it Sunday night.  

Tomato pie**

What we might possibly have this week:

1. Mississippi pot roast, potatoes, coleslaw, dinner rolls

2. Leftover crack chicken, rice, tossed salad, coleslaw, green beans

3. We have another club minimum to use before the 30th

4. Out to eat (going to Nashville for the day)

5. Veggie meal TBD

6. Big salad meal TBD

7. BBQ ribs, baked beans, caulitato salad

Books read in August

Fly Away

The Noticer

Odd Thomas

The Noticer Returns

Rum, A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails*****

The Names

Have a great day staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all

*I learned to never start reading a book on a day guests were expected.

**Last year the tomato pie was delicious. This year it was too salty and had too much cheese in it. I thought it might have been just me because I do not like salty foods, and cook with the bare minimum, but TheHub thought it was over salted also. So now we will scratch getting one there off our to do list. I will just make them myself from now on.