Animating a lazy (and soup-er) weekend

It was a long weekend here, because of the Dragon Boat Festival,  but it was also a rainy weekend here.  We didn’t let that stop us, though.  Saturday it didn’t rain so we got out and had a family lunch.  It was pho and then we got groceries on the way home.  Sunday was the rainy day.  It was just grumpy.  All day.  Luckily, I planned on that the day before and while shopping I also picked up everything that I’d need to make soup.  Soup was indeed made and we had some friends over for soup… and a little bit of wine as well.

I started Sunday morning.  We all were having a lazy day, but I had to make stock for soup.  That’s not hard work, so it wasn’t taxing.  Just time consuming.  You kind of have to babysit the stock.  It also takes time.  You can’t extract all the goodness in an hour.  You need to give it time and love.  J and Kiddo just hung out, listening to music, and playing Legos.  In the afternoon, they headed over to the Animation Museum, while I started on soup.  Again, soup isn’t a one hour thing; at least, not for me.  I have to build my flavors and layers.  I make a mirepoix while I start to warm the stock and add bay leaf, some mustard, and add in my root veg.  I’ll also add the rind of a parm cheese and let that give off goodness as well.  Once the mirepoix is done, I’ll add that in and then I’ll use the same pan to give bit sized bits of chicken a HARD sear.  I want a lot of Maillard reaction happening.  That caramelization is going to boil off in the broth and add flavors.  Then, I use a cup of wine to deglaze the pan and add that into the pot.  Then, it just needs to simmer and make flavor love happen.

Dinner was great and our guests (S&L) loved it as well.  It was a good time for all.  Even Kiddo.  She got to show off her turtles and S loved them.  He was into those turtles and spent a little time with Kiddo chatting about them.  We also played a game that J got for us, as it seemed Kiddo speed, but we busted it out with S&L.  The game is called Splurt.  Card game.  The cards have something on the “front” side (colored pink) that will be like- Something found at the beach.  Then, as card is flipped and that is the challenge or “back” side of the card (colored black) and it will say - Contains double consonants, or only one vowel, or ends in G, or something like that.  The players then SPLURT out answers and whoever gets the best answer, wins the card.  At the end of the deck, count them up and whoever has the most, wins.  It was a blast and L won the day.  We celebrated with cupcakes.

Monday was again a rainy day.  We didn’t do much, again.  Kiddo and J went out and jumped in puddles and did a walk.  We then joined S&L at a Korean BBQ place they know and had a late lunch.  That was a good time, just sitting about and eating a bunch of yummy stuff.  Kiddo didn’t care for much of it, but she nibbled.  Anticipating this, we gave her eggs and bacon an hour before hand.  J and I were still pretty stuffed from a late lunch, so we ordered Kiddo a pepperoni pizza that J and I could nibble on that night as needed and watched Kung Fu Panda 4.  It was a great weekend.  Very restful.  A lot of family and fun time for all.

Other than that, Kiddo has 3 full days and 4 half days left.  She is ready for summer.  However, so are we.  I put this together today and I’m excited for that.  The only bummer is that corn is coming into season and I will make it for the girls, happily, but that’s a trigger for my diverticulitis and something I need to avoid.  Could be worse, but I miss corn, popcorn, raspberries, kiwis, peanuts, and all the other stuff I need to avoid.  I do get steaks back, which I didn’t have in BKK, so it’s a net positive.

Let’s go, Kiddo…. Summer is almost here.  You did your last homework yesterday until September and the rest is just cruising.  Get ready for some fun and more exploring this summer and we can’t wait to get your feedback on all of it.

NOTE: This was written a day before, but I needed pics and other stuff to upload so it had to wait a day.  Overnight, we lost Granite.  We still have Amazon and Nile, but both Granite and Everest passed.  Maybe it was something about that breed, as Nile and Amazon are a different breed and seemingly a lot better.  Both are still very mobile, active, and eating regularly.  Everest and Granite didn’t do either.  They will, however, be missed.