March Week 4 Meal Plan Review and April Meal Plan Week 1

Smoked Sausage Stir Fry

Here's what the March Week 4 meal plan looked like:

Brunches/Lunches: 

Peanut butter on toast (or bread)✔
Waffles/Pancakes
Tuna salad sandwiches
Salads
Leftovers from dinners✔ 
Ramen noodles

Dinners:
Leftover meatball curry with rice, cashew curry, and green beans, cucumber salad✔
Smoked sausage and vegetables stir fry with rice✔
Boxed mac & cheese with tuna/tuna "casserole", broccoli (on the 2nd day)✔
Sauteed chicken with potato wedges and broccoli boxed pasta and sauteed green beans
Leftovers✔
Pork chops, baked sweet potatoes, green peas, leftover broccoli

Snacks: Fresh fruit, granola bars, cereal, crackers, etc.

And here's how that turned out:

Monday:
Brunch:  Peanut butter toast
Dinner:  Leftover rice, meatball curry, cashew curry, cucumber salad

Tuesday:
Brunch:  Peanut butter toast, again
Dinner:  Boxed macaroni and cheese with tuna; an apple for dessert

Wednesday:
Brunch: Scrambled eggs, hashed browns, bacon 
Dinner:  Leftover mac and cheese with tuna and broccoli; ice cream for dessert

Thursday:
Brunch:  Ramen noodles
Dinner:  Smoked sausage stir fry over rice

Friday:
Brunch: Plain toast (me); leftover stir fry (daughter)
Dinner: Pork chops, baked sweet potato, green peas, leftover broccoli 

Saturday:
Brunch:  Frozen pizza from the grocery store
Dinner:  Pork fried rice

Sunday:
Brunch: Leftover pizza
Dinner: Sauteed chicken thighs, boxed herbed angel hair pasta, sauteed green beans

Pork Fried Rice

And that is how the March Week 4 meal plan worked out.

I'm late posting a meal plan for this current week, which I am calling April Week 1.

But, here's how the first half of the week turned out:

Monday:
Brunch: Waffles with bacon and blueberry compote (made with homegrown frozen blueberries)
Dinner: Hamburgers and fries from a fast food place

Tuesday (April 1):
Brunch: Milkrice, seeni sambol, lunu minis, jaggery
Dinner: Leftover pasta, chicken, sauteed green beans; bananas for dessert

Wednesday:
Brunch: Leftover waffles with canned mackerel curry
Dinner: Rice, chicken curry, cucumber salad, beetroots boiled and sliced; mango for dessert

Thursday - Sunday:

Brunches: Leftover waffles, Vietnamese banh mi sandwich, tuna salad sandwiches, etc.

Dinners: Leftover rice and curries, waffles and curries, turkey and vegetable soup, "breakfast for dinner", or something else!  

As always, I am grateful for having a variety of food to eat and plenty of it.  

Did you do a meal plan this week?

Starting April

The Neptune Rose 

Happy April, everyone!  I opened the drapes this morning to be greeted by the sight of my Neptune rose in bloom!  On March 31, it was still a bud and just a day later, it was in bloom!  It does look more mauve than pink, now!  It has a very light spicy fragrance, but, my sense of smell isn't the best; I wouldn't be surprised if the fragrance is stronger than I can detect.  This rose plant was a gift from my gardener friend M to me for my birthday, last year. 

March ended on a very happy note for me as I was able to pay a visit to the temple with my daughter.  I had called the monks, earlier in the afternoon, to ask if the monks would be available if we visited around 6:00 p.m. and was assured that they would be.  We were the only ones at the temple and the monks held a small service for us and chanted blessings.  Afterwards, they tied the blessed thread that was made from the different colored threads we had donated, last year.  I took the opportunity to donate a book on Buddhism that my mother had bought for me to the temple as it is an English translation of an important Buddhist text and I thought it might be useful for the monks.  I also made a monetary donation in memory of my late father, whose birthday was at the end of March.  It has been a while since I last went to the temple, so, I felt very happy that I was able to do so.

Today, April 1, I made my usual milkrice for brunch and picked fresh flowers from the garden to offer at the altar.  Then, I brought in a package that had arrived for my friend R, brought in the emptied trash cans, and, replied to blog comments. 

In the afternoon, I took my daughter to her appointment with the physical therapist.  We almost met with an accident as I made the left turn into the parking lot!  I had to cross three lanes of traffic to turn into the parking lot, mid-block, and here was a lot of traffic waiting for the light to change.  Two lanes of cars gave me space to turn, but, another vehicle came up at a speed on the third lane and didn't slow down.  It would have crashed into my car had I not been extremely cautious when crossing that third lane.  I was just starting to go into the third lane and was able to brake very quickly!  This is why I always say a prayer when I get into the car to drive anywhere! 

Daughter's appointment went very well.  The PT is pleased with her progress and has given her advanced exercises to do.  Daughter had taken some time off from work to attend the PT appointment and after we got back, she went back to work.  

Later, we had a cup of tea and watched the news and a video.  

Today, on the first day of April, I am grateful for:

- The start of a new month; it always feels like a new beginning to me
- A lovely, sunny day after several cloudy, overcast days
- The Neptune rose flowering for the first time
- Daughter's PT appointment went well and her foot is improving
- We had a safe drive to the clinic and back

Today's joyful activities included admiring the new rose, chatting on the phone with friend R, and spending time with my daughter.

Plans for tomorrow include tending to the garden with M.  I sent him a picture of the rose, but, he'll be able to see it in person tomorrow. 

How was your first day of April?  Did you do an April Fool's Day prank on anyone?

The Back Garden in March

 

The Back Garden in March

The back garden at the end of March is showing some changes as we start Spring.  

The Sparaxis or Harlequin flowers are coming to the end of their flowering season:

The Sparaxis flowers are coming to an end

But, the citrus trees are coming into flower:

Orange Flower Buds

Lemon Flowers

Some of the other fruit trees are flowering, too:

Plum Tree

Nectarine Tree

Asian Pear Tree

Meanwhile, the apple seedling (grown from an apple seed) has not flowered, yet, but, it is starting to leaf out:

Apple Seedling

I've no idea if it will ever flower and bear fruit, but, I am letting it grow to see what happens.

Other plants that are flowering include:

Crocosmia

One of the Succulents

Close Up of the Succulent Flowers

Which went from looking like this in early March :

In Early March (March 2)

To this by the end of March:

Close Up of the Succulent Flowers (3/31)

California Poppies

In case you are thinking I've a lot of orange colored flowers in the garden, we have:

Neptune Rose Bud

The flower is supposed to be mauve when it fully opens, but the bud looks like dark pink to me!

And there are the yellow flowers on the Early Girl Tomato plant:

Early Girl Tomato Plant

Currently, the Early Girl tomato plant is the only vegetable I've planted in the garden, this year.  The self-sown Berkeley Tie Dye tomato plant is still alive, too, and has some flowers, but, I didn't photograph it.

Here is the curry leaf tree that I had M prune all the way back, in January:

Curry Leaf Tree

It doesn't look very promising, does it?  But, if you look very closely at one of the branches, you might see the very beginnings of new growth:

New Growth on the Curry Leaf Tree

The peach tree has finished flowering and has set fruit:

The Peach Tree in March

M has already thinned out at least one third of the baby peaches:

Baby Peaches

The blueberry bushes have also finished flowering and have started to develop berries:

Blueberry Bushes

And finally, the "rockery" which seems to be changing from week to week:

The Rockery - View 1

The Rockery - View 2

The nasturtium plant's leaves have all withered, but, it is still flowering!  The round basin-like planter has a chive plant growing in it.  The rooted cabbage stem has produced two cabbages (although they haven't actually formed a head of cabbage).  Obviously, I have not harvested them, partly because I think they make very attractive plants.  There are sparaxis flowers growing here, too, and this little white flowered plant:

White Flowered Plant

It's a bulb that M planted, but, he doesn't know the name of the plant.  The flowers remind me of miniature agapanthus (Lily of the Nile) but, the leaves of the plant aren't as broad as agapanthus leaves.  I wonder if it is a type of scilla, but, I don't know.  Whatever it is, I really like the little white flowers.

Next to the white flowers and one of the sparaxis/Harlequin flowers, we have the pink flowers of the kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos) plant:

Pink Kangaroo Paws (Anigozanthos) Plant

I hope you enjoyed your visit to the back garden in March.  I love strolling around the garden, almost daily, and checking on the plants and seeing what is growing and observing the small changes.  

As always, I am grateful for:

- Having a garden
- M's help with the garden
- Water for the garden
- Being able to garden year round
- Pollinators

What are your spring gardening plans?