Listening, Talking, Learning

J enjoys audio books, so when he spent a couple days with me at the end of May, we went to the library and picked out one to go along with the other books we got for bedtime. 

Here is is listening and quasi-reading along.  He can read some words and recognize parts of others.  This particular book was about rescuing injured animals. 

 Mr. GV came back from his bicycle ride and the three of us hung out in the backyard, sitting in the shade of a tree. 

 There was some gentle inquisitive checking of bugs,

 and apparently a very important hanging-of-the-dog-frisbee-in-the-tree.  I think he wanted to do the birds a favor, and perhaps they are using it as a perch.  You never know!

 And there was some drawing of blueprints on a piece of packing paper.  I don't remember exacty what it was, but I'm sure it has the name -inator and 3000 tacked on to it!

It's Millet Time

Millet is something that I don't cook very often.  And I should.  Millet is rich in B vitamins, plus iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc.  Recently I found a recipe in Appetite for Reduction for a millet-containing recipe:  Ethiopian Millet. 

 I cooked the millet dish along with the suggested Mushroom Tibs.  Now, I am no fan of mushrooms.  It's the texture that I cannot take.  But Mr. GV enjoys them, so I really made this for him.  I also cooked the Curried Cabbage and Peas from the same cookbook. 

All in all, the dishes weren't bad.  Will I cook them again?  Perhaps the millet, but not the mushrooms.  I think it's just too much of one thing for Mr. GV. 

Another round of dishes from Appetite for Reduction:  Quinoa Puttanesca, Pineapple Collards, and Butternut Coconut Rice. 

These were not as big a hit as the previous dishes from the cookbook.  The butternut squash dish was pretty good.  Mr. GV said the sauce served on quinoa was kind of odd to him.  The greens must have been unremarkable, because I didn't hear much about those. 

We'll keep trying recipes out of Appetite for Reduction though.  You can't win them all!

Before and After

Mr. GV had a bike race (excuse me, "fun ride", but let's face it, many of the participants are trying to beat a certain time goal they have set for themselves) in late May.  It was his first ride after being sick, so he took it easy and did the 30 mile. 

I hung around town and enjoyed being able to go to a book store and grocery store that carries a lot of items that we buy.  It's the little things that make me happy most of the time!

Water Time

J and I got the water toys out and had a water fight in the front yard.  J got himself ready, and this is what I found him wearing: 

 He was so eager to get out there that I didn't discover the tag was still on his trunks until the very last. 

 We had a great time playing that day, and made a great memory!

Lunch

Mr. GV has long hours at work.  He's also an avid bicyclist and runs some days.  So he needs a lot of food to keep him going.  Here's an example of the contents of his lunchbox from one day in May:

Hummus with baby carrots/cucumber to dip, strawberries, cranberry-cashew biryani, salad, and potato-spinach curry with rice.  Along with that he got a bottle of homemade tea, a reusable bottle of ice water, a cloth napkin, and silverware. 

Appetite for Yum

Recently I've been cooking from a cookbook entitled "Appetite for Reduction."  I've made several recipes from it, and most of them have been enjoyed here at the GV house.  Every now and then there's going to be a dish that doesn't tickle your particular tastebuds, you know? 

The first two dishes that I made were Cranberry-Cashew Biryani and Potato-Spinach Curry.  Oh my!  These were soooo good.  As I've stated many times before, we love Indian food, and these two dishes were no exception.  They will both be going into regular rotation here in our house.