The Search for Miss Direction: Weekend Round-Up

I'm in the process of getting ready to head out early tomorrow morning to Fremont. From there, my parents, Scott and I are heading to Cinci to watch Sarah run in her first ever half marathon! Flying Pig, here I come! If I don't say it again when I get back, I am super proud of her. She's been battling a knee issue since she started training but has stuck it out none the less. Plus if you've ever been to Cinci you can only imagine what a killer the course is going to be. Yay Sarah!!!

In the meantime, before I left I wanted to make sure I covered my 'food' bases here today, tomorrow and Sunday, And of course, they couldn't be easy foods that Grant could whip up without me. He is very competent in the kitchen, but let's face it, Candied Orange Peel is not the undertaking of an every so often chef. So here's a quick update on what I've left over the next few days.

Today is National Raspberry Tart Day. I made some mini raspberry tarts that came out pretty cute. After dinner tonight we got on the bikes and headed down to Shiawasee Park to play for a bit. Thank you God for the wonderful sunshine this week - I think we're getting a bit spoiled. It is so nice to head out as a family for an hour or so after dinner for a walk, a ride, the park, picking up sticks in the front yard :) Plus, as Grant pointed out, even I'm wearing short-sleeves!

Tomorrow is National Homebrew Day, National Orange Juice Day and National Candied Orange Peel Day. While I'll let Grant decide if he wants to celebrate Homebrew day with a cold one after he mows the lawn tomorrow, I didn't think I could manage any brewing, too. I've alerted my Dad, though and we'll be all over it on our trip down tomorrow. Then I made a loaf of orange juice bread (I'm dying to cut into it and see how pretty it is inside) and here in a bit I'm going to whip up a batch of orange juice muffins. I also left them with some orange juice chicken for dinner tomorrow night. I did try my hand at the candied orange peels, too, though I'm not promising anything. If nothing else, scrubbing the pot when I was done totally ruined my nail polish which I then had to touch up at the park because I know that drives my Mom nuts ;-) I'll have to update you on how that goes over...

Sunday is National Chocolate Custard Day (May is also National Chocolate Custard Month, fyi), National Hoagie Day and National Oyster Day. Oh, and if all that's not enough, it's also Cinco de Mayo. Good luck being me and trying to figure out how to get all those things in on one day. So I'll admit to a little bit of a cheat. I did make custard for the first time ever actually. If I'd have known how easy it was would have definitely done that before. I'm tempted to dig into one of them custards before I leave in the morning... I made my own hoagie rolls with my bread machine and then made some pizza hoagies (yeah for freeze ahead recipes!). Oysters is where I cheated. While I know my kiddos love all things seafood, I just couldn't see sticking Grant with this one in case it didn't go over well given I'm not exactly sure when I'll be getting home on Sunday.... So I tweaked the system and made ranch covered oyster crackers! I had to laugh the other day because I was talking to Mom about it on the phone and said oysters and from another room Noah yells "Oyster crackers!" so at least I'm not the only one who's brain went in that direction...

Phew, think I managed it all. No one will go hungry around here without me, that's for sure. I'm taking the camera with me (and my computer so you might see an update from me!) so I will try to post on Sunday when I get back. Say a prayer for Sarah (I know she's going to kick butt!) and that the rain stays away. Until next time...