Sunday, June 14, 2015

Hoopla And Hoop Blah

This is celebration season at our house.  Between June 11th and July 2nd three people in the family turn a year older.  Add Father's Day to the mix and there's a lot going on.

Years ago, we made a big deal out of birthdays.  The guest of honor got to choose a special meal and dessert, and then they opened their presents after dinner.   Now that the the boys are grown up and two of the three live out of the area, things ave changed.  We have one large celebration (the past few years have been on Father's Day) devoted to presents, but each person still gets a meal in their honor on or around their day.

Hubby Tony's day was Thursday. He gave me some general ideas of what he wanted for his dinner, then I pulled up a few recipes online and on my computer (where I save any "keeper" recipes I've tried that I want to make again). He liked all of them, but I ended up making Teri's Ethiopian Lentils. Dessert was decadent ice cream and fresh cherries.  There was enough lentils for leftovers on Friday, and I finished off the remainder yesterday.

Son Donald turns another year older tomorrow, but tomorrow will be busy so we scheduled his meal for today.  He requested "Mom fried rice", which  is a made-up concoction I came up with years ago when my wok wouldn't hold the quantity of rice I needed to serve the whole family.  Although the dish turns out slightly different every time, the basic framework is easy.  I toss brown rice (cooked the day before, so it's cold) with a little oil and soy sauce, then put it in a large pan and place it in a 425 degree oven. I stir it every 15 minutes or so, and at the 45-minute mark pour a bag of frozen mixed vegetables (thawed) on top and stir it again. Ten minutes later I add beaten eggs and stir them in. When the eggs are done it's dinner time!

Donald has been telling me all week how much he was looking forward to his dinner.  This morning when he was rooting around in the refrigerator at breakfast time he saw the bowl of rice I'd cooked yesterday and came out with a big smile on his face.  Mid-afternoon, though, he said his stomach was hurting.  At dinner he ate a small amount of rice,  then said he was going to lay down in the family room (where he promptly fell asleep).  I sealed up his special dish so he could enjoy it later.

Five years ago today: Flag

8 comments:

  1. April seems to be the month of birthdays in my family. We never really celebrated much though when I was a kid. I don't remember my mom asking what we wanted for dinner she'd just make a regular meal. Afterwards, we'd have cake and the open a present. As I got older, the present turned into a card with a few $ stuffed in it. I would say birthday's are much more fun now as an adult.

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    1. Yes, growing up has some advantages, like having more activity options to choose from.

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  2. Poor fellow; I hope the bug is short lived and he has a happier birthday today.

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    1. I'll pass on your kind thoughts. After a long nap he woke up and ran to the bathroom, where he emptied his stomach and said he felt a little better.

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  3. Husband M and I celebrate our birthdays in that same period! Plus Fathers Day!

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  4. Hope the birthday boy feels better! Have you ever tried the brown rice from Trader Joe's frozen food section? To serve it hot you just puncture the bag and microwave for a few minutes to warm it up. I'm wondering if you could just dump it in with the defrosted veggies, saving yourself the step of making rice the day before.

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    1. He DOES feel better (although he passed the germs my way and I felt ill all day yesterday, but that's another story). Interesting about the frozen brown rice. I've not tried it, and I could see it would be handy in a pinch. We have a rice cooker, which works well. Put rice and water in, plug it in, and turn it on. Wait until it beeps and you have rice.

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