Dinner Tonight

Meg

Sunday Morning Coffee: March 15, 2020

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How is everyone doing?

This has been quite a week as the urgency surrounding the coronavirus precautions intensified. It was midterms at school, and this week is spring break, which is nice now but was stressful last week as we were all trying to learn, study, and adapt simultaneously.

My dad also flew in for a visit, which started out fun and relaxed and evolved into a hunkered down visit and an early flight home. Now, I’m at home with the kids and looking to keep them relatively engaged. We’ll see how that goes. If anyone finds any resources or activities, please share! Right now, I’m looking to do a bit of reading, a bit of outside time or movement, some baking (the pic above is Will getting involved in a lemon merengue pie I made last week), arts & crafts, and the material on Scholastic’s learn-at-home website.

One of the stressful elements for me was figuring out how to grocery shop and meal plan. I did a decent job of getting some shelf-stable and easy-to-make options (in the event we all or some of us get sick… we won’t want to cook with fatigue and flu-like symptoms). But then I found myself questioning whether and how to get groceries for the current week, right now, or whether to start cooking with what I had on hand.

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Sunday Morning Coffee: March 1, 2020

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Just when I thought I’d get back into my usual routine and work flow after taking a day off for the February holiday last week, Charlotte got sick with a nasty fever, and we had to stay home for a second Monday in a row. It was really the worst over the weekend, and by Monday she was feeling better, if a bit stir crazy from being inside for days on end. So we baked cookies and enjoyed each others’ company, and I stayed up super late for the rest of the week trying to get it all done. Here’s hoping the week ahead is a bit more predictable.

Here’s what I’ve been reading and cooking this week:

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Sunday Morning Coffee: February 16, 2020

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Valentine’s day came and went this weekend. I hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely time, and for those who find the holiday to be a bit of a bummer, know that you’re in good company. David and I celebrated with just a slightly elevated home-cooked meal. After years of working in restaurants, I now avoid going out to restaurants this week because it tends to be overpriced and crowded. Those special limited Valentine’s menu tend to be a pared down selection from the standard menu to minimize surprises in a hectic kitchen (though some places do go out of their way to make the evening special). Anyway, life as it is right now means we’re focusing on transitioning Will out of the crib and into his big-kid bed, conserving our energy in case we have our own sleep-disrupting surprises.

Here’s what I’ve been reading and cooking this week:

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Sunday Morning Coffee: February 9, 2020

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It’s been a full, big week. Productive, but still a lot. I spent Saturday at the JFK library with a group of my peers and program administrators; it was a beautiful venue for the day, and I can’t believe I’ve never been before. Then David and spent the evening out to dinner. Having worked in restaurants for several years in college, I avoid going out to dinner on Valentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day weekend — I feel restaurants are always too crowded and service is overloaded. Most restaurants print up limited special menus that just reflect fewer choices and higher prices. We’ll cook at home instead, and I’ll try to do something special (though what that is exactly is TBD).

Here’s what I’ve been enjoying this week:

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Sunday Morning Coffee: February 2, 2020

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Here we are in February: it certainly feels like the initially unstructured expanse of January has started to settle in to the routine that the rest of the spring will follow.

I’m still making my way through posting the photos from Iceland (many are here). The one above is a snapshot from our hotel in Reykjavik, drinking coffee from the exquisite pottery from the shop just below our rooms.

It’s been fun to think back on that vacation and the down time of the month overall, but I’m recharged and looking forward to all that’s coming up on the semester ahead.

Here’s what I’ve been reading and cooking this week:

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Sunday Morning Coffee: January 26, 2020

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I wasn’t able to post last Sunday because I was on a wonderful and much-needed vacation to Iceland with my sisters over the long weekend. I feel a little sheepish talking about international travel as a weekend activity; it’s definitely not the norm for me and was something we planned and saved for well in advance (actually just my sisters did the planning part: I wasn’t much help there).

It was gorgeous and otherworldly. Pictured above is the southern coast where we stopped at Vik. We did some of the traditional highlights like the Blue Lagoon (a great first-day activity to help with jetlag, and then bundled up in a rental car (with four-wheel drive — that landscape is no joke!) and took in the sights. As I get my photos organized, I’ll post some on my Instagram account.

Here’s what I’ve been reading and cooking this week:

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Sunday Morning Coffee: January 12, 2020

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There are glimpses of things getting back to normal: I’ve spent more days this week in the office than home sick with the kiddos, but not by much. Then, as the end of the week rolled around, David came down with whatever the kids had. In the midst of all that, we successfully pulled together a birthday party for Charlotte (and by success I mean controlled chaos).

The picture above is from Tuesday’s trip to the ICA museum’s exhibit Love Is Calling by Yayoi Kusama. Will was home sick with due to having a fever on Monday, but he was feeling well and was up for the trip. My sister, Lena, had tickets and invited us along: it’s so fun having my sisters in nearby. I definitely wouldn’t have had this on my radar or felt like I could make it happen without her inviting me.

Here’s what I’ve been reading and cooking this week:

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Sunday Morning Coffee: January 5, 2020

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This is a picture of the kids getting an up-close look at the snakes at the Bell Museum, a new addition to the U of M St. Paul campus. It was exciting to take them out and let them explore. While it’s been great to spend so much time with them over winter break, I haven’t yet managed to get back into my own routines and systems, which leaves me feeling a bit discombobulated. Last week was supposed to be a get-back-to-work week, where there’s still a lull in deadlines and an uptick in motivation. Instead, we got clobbered with fevers and ear infections. I’m really looking forward to the week ahead: I feel like the New Year hasn’t quite begun yet for me.

Nevertheless, here’s what I’ve been managing to read and cook this week:

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Sunday Morning Coffee: December 15, 2019

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It’s been a wonderful, crazy week. We’ve had snow and rain over the past few days, and on Wednesday especially, the city turned into a winter wonderland. It was beautiful. I’ve been keeping my head above water with a lot on my plate: it’s easy to forget how intense final exams can be and how just about everyone is busy both professionally and personally at this time of year. Even as frenetic as the days can be, I really, really like what I’m doing and studying and consider myself lucky.

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