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| Gifts from Cousin M |
Monday was Memorial Day, a day to honor and remember those who died while serving in the United States Armed Services. It is also the unofficial beginning of summer.
I had been invited to lunch by cousins V and M and I was told that cousin R (V's younger sister) will also be there. I pushed aside any misgivings I might have had about socializing and accepted the invitation because cousin M was visiting from Australia. It was good to see her, again (her last visit had been three years ago). M brought me chocolates, cookies, and Australian cheese as gifts; I gave each cousin a jar of my peach topping! M's sister B had asked me if I could send a jar of the peach topping to her through M and I had said yes, but, M said that she had called her sister and explained that she had limited space in her suitcase and would not be able to take the jar. So, I didn't give her the two additional jars of peach topping I had taken with me to give to her two sisters.
I spent a lovely afternoon, chatting with my cousins and enjoying the Thai food that M had picked up for our lunch, as well as some dishes that V had cooked. They had also invited a close family friend who had brought dessert to share.
I came home around 4:30 p.m. Then, relaxed. The only item I did from my usual Monday tasks was take the trash cans to the curb for pick up in the morning.
I wasn't very hungry for dinner, so I had scrambled eggs on toast and half a mango. Much later, I had some crackers with peanut butter.
My daughter had done her weekly meal prep in the evening:
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| Daughter's Weekly Meal Prep |
She had made Japanese food, this week: chicken and vegetable soup with a sea urchin and soy milk soup base, shio koji karaage (fried chicken), bok choy ohitashi, simmered beef with onion and bok choy to be served on top of rice for gyuudon, cucumber pickle, green bean gomaae, and rice. She said that normally, the simmered beef for the gyuudon would not include bok choy, but, she added it because she wanted to include more vegetables in that dish.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Being able to visit with my cousins
- Cousin M bringing me some treats
- Being able to share some of the peach topping with my cousins
- Phone chats with aunt C, friend R, and video chats with daughter
- A safe drive to and from cousin V's
Today's joyful activity was visiting with my cousins.
Tuesday's To Do List:
- Dust
- Tidy the family room
- Paperwork
- Water the indoor plants
How was your Monday? What are your plans for Tuesday?
It sounds like you had a good day with your family. It was nice of cousin to bring you the food gifts.
ReplyDeleteI am sure everyone will enjoy that peach topping - yes, calling it that does sound intentional ;)
Oh my - your daughter's food prep this week is outstanding looking!
With her new household items and this weeks food, she is surrounding herself with Japanese goodness.
How nice that she will have this wonderful food to take for her lunches and to look forward to when she comes home from work.
Our trash pickup will be delayed one day this week because of the holiday. Yours won't be affected?
It was good to meet up with the cousins, even if there was still some risk involved; I'm constantly weighing the pros and cons of doing anything, these days!
DeleteYes, peach topping it is! :D
I thought you'd like to see her food prep, this week. :)
No delay in trash pick up - the bins were emptied, this morning. I think only those who had a Monday pick up were affected.
Cousins who lunch and daughters who cook. There's a lot of good sounding and good looking food in this post! :)
ReplyDeleteYes! I need to find something else to blog about other than food! :D
DeleteI'm glad you were able to visit with your cousins and that you had a nice time together. Hopefully you will feel less anxious about doing this sort of thing the more you do it, but it was kind of your cousin to check how you felt about eating out and then to accommodate your wishes.
ReplyDeleteI'm busy sorting out all the keys. It gets a bit monotonous so have taken a break to catch up with blog comments and will get back to it later on.
Thank you, Eileen. Yes, it was very kind of my cousins to accommodate my wishes. I'm still being cautious, though; I guess I am very risk averse!
DeleteHave fun sorting out the keys! Maybe you can mount the extras in a shadow box - keys to locks that no longer exist! :)
Glad you had a lovely time socialising. I hope that you stay healthy for the next few days, but at least you have had that nice chat and human contact. I have just booked myself a ticket to a literary talk next month. It has been on sale for ages and I had been looking at the website daily to track sales. This morning, there were less than ten tickets remaining so I finally decided to book. It is not expensive and I don't need public transport so I will wait and see nearer the time whether I actually go or not. Having not been to any live events for so long, it would be a nice treat but only if I feel OK about it. Our COVID figures are no longer publicised, and people are allowed to carry on as normal even if they know they are positive, so I shall have to do some digging to inform myself.
ReplyDeleteSo, news of your topping had reached Australia already! That's quite something - shame the courier failed to oblige - but all the more for you then! :o)
I like karaage chicken but I am drooling over the thought of gyūdon! Funnily enough, I was only thinking about it last week, and it occured to me that I didn't have it last time I was there. Such an oversight! Another thing I really like is buta shōgayaki ... which I don't think I had either. What was I THINKING!?
Thank you, Lady Ella. Yes, hopefully, I will continue to remain healthy! I am constantly weighing the risks of going out, socializing, etc., the pros and cons. At this point, I'm OK with attending small family gatherings as I know my cousins are vaccinated, etc. If you decide not to attend the literary talk, will you be able to get a refund of your ticket price?
DeleteWell, I posted a picture of the peach topping and my cousin saw it (she is in Sri Lanka, right now, actually, but, planning to go to Australia, soon).
Sounds like it might be time for you to make some of those Japanese dishes! Or, do you have any Japanese restaurants nearby that you can order food for take out?
No refunds on the talk. They did refund money for events which had been planned pre-lockdown but since they started up again, no refunds is specifically stated in the terms. The talks are run by a small independent bookshop so I'm sure they can't risk taking a hit in such uncertain times.
DeleteQuite a lot of Japanese restaurants in London of course. I have tried relatively few, mainly because my Japan friends don't live nearby. I don't particularly want to go alone and the friends who are around are probably not interested. Also, I never think of it. They tend to be on side streets and nor in the city centre. I think there is one closer to me, but I have never been tempted to try it. Although ostensibly Japanese, I have a feeling that in reality its menu is a bit of a general far eastern mishmash and not authentic. BUT I did notice a new place on one of my walks the other day. It looked fairly convincing so maybe I'll think about trying it some time....
In that case, if you choose not to attend the talk, you can look on your ticket money as your contribution to keeping the independent bookshop going. :)
DeletePerhaps you can give the new Japanese restaurant a try, one day. Have you ever tried making the Japanese dishes?
So glad you had a lovely visit with the cousins, especially with the one from Australia after such a long time apart. What a pity she wasn't able to take some peach topping for her sisters, but it is always hard to take extra weight on plane trips. It amazes me how some people do the most amazing shopping on holidays and haul it all home onboard!
ReplyDeleteYour daughter's meal prep looks very appetizing as usual.
I finally put out our hummingbird feeders yesterday and they must have been sighing with relief as they soon showed up to squabble over them! We had a large crow on the driveway and I threw out a peanut and shut the door (they can be rather shy), and he came over and grabbed his prize.
Thank you, Bushlady. Yes, apparently, cousin is now allowed only one free suitcase instead of two, so she can't take a lot of stuff back with her.
DeleteI'm sure the hummingbirds appreciated you putting out their feeders and the crow enjoyed his peanut! :)
It must be wonderful to see family after these strange times. Your daughter is incredibly organised!
ReplyDeleteIt was good to see them, again, Lyssa. Yes, daughter is very organized! I want to be like her when I grow up! :D
DeleteFantastic food preparation by your daughter! So healthy. the weight restrictions for traveling are very strict. If you go over 50 pounds, the charges are extremely high. Glad that you had a nice visit with your family.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Stephenie; my daughter does like to eat a lot of vegetables (unlike her mother!). Yes, my cousin said you have to pay a high fee for extra baggage.
DeleteI'm glad you were able to socialise with your family and you had such a good time. Your daughter's food preparations look delicious, she is very organised.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; it was good to get together with my cousins. Yes, my daughter is very organized, isn't she?
DeleteHow wonderful to have a get together. Must have been lovely to visit. Your daughter is so organised too - she must have got that from you!
ReplyDeleteIt was good to be with the cousins again. My daughter is very organized; not sure where she got that from! :D
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