A request…but more importantly a great curry recipe

This is the week in our house where there are many birthdays to celebrate, Easter and a time to look forward to seeing family. Oh…and all the regular stuff too. I don’t usually address time or the lack-thereof in this blog as it’s boring (and it scares me a bit) to me to write down what an average day is like in my life (I think it’s cool when other people do this because I get a lot of great ideas from them) but a friend has asked that I do this once. Apparently because I don’t mention that my days tend to run 18-20 hours, I tend to make “everything look easy”. She knows that it isn’t but she says I put up a really good front.

Life is very good but easy isn’t the way I would describe it.

Who wants to read about the crappy bits?

Honestly-who wants to write about that?

This blog is about yummy food, some personal exploration (hopefully some improvement there too) and some solutions to being busy but still wanting to sneak in some fun while being grateful for what I’ve got.

This one time only I’ll write-out a typical day (today) and leave it at that as this is a special request from a very good friend.

6:00 Baby wakes-up after sleeping six blessed hours, has her diaper changed and gets her bottle. This is the first time in three weeks we’ve had more than one or two hours of uninterrupted sleep. Husband gets ready for work.
6:30 My turn to get ready. Go downstairs and put diapers in the dryer that were washed during the night. Get lunches for three in the appropriate bags and baby’s bag of diapers etc (packed the night before) to the door while “the daddy” dresses the baboo in the clothes picked-out the night before.
7:00 Pack car, if tonight’s dinner is in the slowcooker then plug it in if not take something out of the freezer. Drop baby off at the sitters (we alternate) then run to school to coach (it’s badminton season).
7:20-8:30 Coach my team. Phone my mom and see if she is doing alright.
8:30-45 Put everything away, make notes on what needs to be improved the next day in practice.
8:45-9:05 Meet-up with my early bird students who need to chat randomly or need help with our current assignments.
9:05-3:25 Teach. I don’t think it would be appropriate to go over details for that as it is part of my school’s ballywick (if you want lesson plans then just drop me a line) but some extra things that I have on the list for today are; finish planning for a Shakespearean group to come in next week, grade six parent night organization, arrangements for my part of a visit from a Kenyan headmaster, send thank-you notes to presenters from an event last week, check-on the progress of the teacher I am mentoring, get a supply teacher for the day I will be at a Badminton tournament, meet about our end-of-year Grade eight ceremony, arrange for staff social next week, update homework calendar, mark blogs for this week (90 of them), prepare work for a student who is going on holiday for the next two weeks, help to take apart all of the props from the play.
4:30 Run home. Today I’ll be later as I have a couple of meetings and the babes will be picked-up by her Daddy.
Tonight: Make dinner (see delicious noodle recipe below), take baby for a walk, put away laundry, put together diapers, pack baby’s bag, laundry, clean fridge, write blog, pay bills, put in final grocery order to organic company for Wednesday, give baby bath (with husband), find time to discuss some of the finishes that are being chosen for our renovation starting in a couple of weeks with husband and father-in-law, pack lunches and breakfasts for tomorrow, phone my mom and see if she is doing alright, bake four pies for various birthdays this week and freeze them.

Note: a lot of this stuff is done while doing other things. Who knew ADD in an adult could be a positive?

Pray (and I mean this literally) that the baby will sleep the night through again. I got a taste of what sleep was like last night and I LIKE it.

Hopefully get to sleep around midnight but that is always up in the air. Tomorrow is busier as the baby has her final swim class in the evening and there is less time for everything else then.

So…see what I mean? This is dull-why write about it?

ONTO better things…

My husband (with his babyface that apparently never ages-arrggghhh) turns 40 this week and as such gets to choose what is for dinner every night this week. Tonight he really wanted “those fat noodles with the curry that you get from the Chinese food place that after I eat them I complain that they had too much fat and that my stomache aches”. I think that I have found a recipe from his stellar description.

http://habituallyhungry.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/585/

Thai Red Curry with Whole Grain Udon Noodles

3 tablespoons coconut oil
12 oz chicken breasts (honestly, I have leftover chicken and will be using this)
fine grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 oz dried whole grain or whole wheat udon noodles
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons red curry paste
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 tablespoons shoyu sauce, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon cane sugar
14 oz can coconut milk
2 cups vegetable stock or water
Juice of 1 lime, plus more wedges for serving
1/3 cup slivered shallots
Large handful of peanuts
Large handful of cilantro, chopped (I DID NOT BUY ANY CILANTRO-IT SOMEHOW ROTS ON ME IN THE TIME I TAKE TO GET IT HOME FROM THE GROCERY STORE)

1.) Season chicken with salt and pepper. Grab your dutch oven and heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil over medium-high heat until swirling and hot. Add chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes on one side without moving it until it is nicely browned and detaches from the bottom of the pan with minimal prodding. Flip and cook 1-2 minutes more. Set aside. When cooled, break apart chicken into chunks with a fork. Wipe out the dutch oven with a paper towel but do not wash.

2.) Heat a pot of water until boiling. Salt generously and cook noodles until cooked but still quite firm; according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

3.) Heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil over medium-high heat in your dutch oven. Add garlic, onion, and curry paste, using your wooden spoon to distribute the paste across the mixture. Cook for 2 minutes; until fragrant. Add chicken, turmeric, sugar, and shoyu sauce and and stir to coat. Add coconut milk and vegetable stock, bring to a boil, and then simmer gently for 5 minutes.

4.) Remove from heat and stir in noodles and limes juice. Ladle into bowls and serve garnished with a sprinkling of shallots, peanuts, cilantro, and wedges of lime.

On the weekend (again in between birthdays) I was able to make a really gorgeous baked chicken but even more excitingly I replenished my stash of homemade stock.

Made some yummy pate for snacks this week

Yesterday we were lucky enough to attend my godson’s ninth birthday where the baby pretended to be king kong with the connect-thing houses (we did sound affects to this as none of us are very mature) the kids made and we ate a lot of cake that my very smart and talented friend cleverly shaped into leggo pieces (she used marshmallows for the top bits and then iced over everything) sigh…she’s my hero. Last year she made the most spectacular dragon cake.

My photos are also larger now due to her urging but let’s face it-the quality is still needing a lot of improvement.