Menu Plan Monday

I did my groceries with my assistant today. We visited 2 new shops in the neighbourhood : Produce Depot and Njieme ( a mediterranean grocery ).

The Produce Depot was exciting.. I got CRESS and they had 3 different types of eggplants, 4 types of zucchini and at least 10 different types of apples! The Texan flag on the box of Kohlrabi made me spin around and grab some.

I got some chicken and beef for great prices from the grocery next door and we had no line ups plus friendly service at both. What a great find!

Here's the Menu Plan Monday menu (cooked in replacement baking dish plus new roasting pot ... I been shopping.. )

Monday -roast chicken with turnips, chard with garlic

Tuesday - roast porc, brown rice pilaf, salad
OR ... (it's my B-DAY : we'll go out for supper :) )
Wednesday - porc and tomatoes, roasted stuffed potatoes, steamed zucchini with gahlic

Thursday -Either mediterranean baked fish, or salmon steaks and cress (if I can get to Farm Boy for salmon!!) , fufu, salad

Friday - mac and cheese (per special request), kohlrabi

Saturday - mac and beef, cauliflower gratin

Sunday - steak and anchovy sauce, rice, carrot salad with lemon vinaigrette

Menu Plan Monday

This is posted late, but was saved and ready to go since Sunday night...

Monday: roast chicken, red cabbage , brown rice with gahlic

-- This was yummy!! I used Bittman's recipe for chicken.

Tuesday: salmon , sweet potatoes , veggie sticks

-- Today I tried out Bittman's 10min salmon recipe. It was simple,but I will get back to adding gahlic to it next time. I skipped the parsley because we didn't have any
-- CATASTROPHE!! One of my 2 pyrex dishes EXPLODED when I pulled it out to flip the fillets over!!!
It blew all over the veggie stix that I had just finished chopping , so I had to throw out 1) a nice pyrex dish, 2) half of the salmon fillets, 3) all of my veggie stix!!!

I was feeling quite negative about the whole thing when I forced myself to admit the good things :
1) only 1 pyrex broke ( I had made 4 fillets, 2 in each pyrex)
2) it didn't break in the oven
3) it was the smaller pyrex
4) I had extra veggies for the veggie stix
5) I'm lucky that I can even buy such fine food

Then a miracle happened : Greg came home from Arnprior and ,even though he was tired and hungry, he did that wonderful vacuuming thing he does. Ain't I lucky ?


Wednesday : pate chinois and salad
-- G and D like this. I am looking forward to the salad.


Thursday : jambalaya with kale
-- There's nothing like homemade salsa to revive leftovers ;)

Friday : white fish with tomatoes , spaghetti squash, salade

Saturday : porc with tomato, leek , polenta
--If I can find some camembert for the porc, this will be super yummy

Sunday : Chicken enchiladas , rice with corn, salad

The Souls of Black Folk

I'm still reading this but it's been so interesting that I want to post about it now.




In my opinion, it started off good, but not great. If I were less ignorant of American history, I might like the beginning better.







In the first 2 chapters , DuBois soulfully recounts the history of emancipation. The flames, famine, hardship and suffering of this story left me with a heavy heart. There are a lot of details about the Freedmen's Bureau and the bills and the struggles that were only partly overcome. It's good, but it would have helped to have a mini-encylopedia on hand to make the dry details a little more lively.




The book picks up quite a bit after pulling us out of the trying sad history.


It pulsates with scathing anger at Booker T Washington, so of course, that chapter flew by. I read it with a look of shock and finished it with a gasp. How did we miss all this in history class?

DuBois continues by writing warmly and lovingly of his first students and their families when he teaches in the South. There's nothing quite like a first hand account of life in Jim Crow days.

Now I'm reading his chapter on Atlanta... wow.. He compares Atlanta to Atalanta who loses the race because of her love of gold. He then explains how this impacted the development of school and life for all of the South, not just blacks. He says something about how the pursuit of Bread overtook the pursuit of Life. It seems like much hasn't changed. Those who have the most bread end up with the power to run our schools.

Menu planning ?

We have no internet and no phone at home until FRIDAY (if we're lucky...)

I love the new home. It's so cozy!! And close to parks. The neighbours are great but we'll miss our pals in Barrhaven.

I whipped up a menu plan while heading back from Barrhaven with the car full of pots, pans, fridge leftovers and plates. Then I got to test out the new grocery store (The Independent at Alta Vista/Bank ) . It's not anywhere near as nice as the one in Barrhaven but we got enough groceries to get us partway through the week. I'll still have to get bread, milk, salad from Farm Boy on Wednesday.

Monday - chicken nachos, broccoli and cheese

Tuesday - roast beef, roast potatoes, salad

Wednesday - fajitas, rice and corn, purple cabbage

Thursday - spicy salmon, fried rice, salad

Friday - ham, mashed potatoes, spinach

Saturday - breaded baja, egg noodles in rose sauce, chard

Sunday - spaghetti and meat sauce, carrot salad

Menu Plan Monday

If I can commit to this puppy, I'll be a monkey's uncle!

My pal Jen of allthingsedible.ca has a cool habit of posting up her cooking adventures. It rubbed off on me a bit and so I'm going to try to do this Monday Menu Plan thing.

I've been doing menu planning for the past 2 months and I like it , so this might stick...

Monday : Jumbalaya , Sweet Potatoes, Swiss Chard

Tuesday : Roast Chicken , Broccoli, Rice

Wednesday : Trout, Mashed Potatoes, Salad

Thursday : Fish and Bean Tacos, Corn, Rice, Salad

Friday : Lamb chops, Boiled Potatoes , Green beans

Saturday : Quiche, Vegetable soup, Crusty Bread, Salad

Sunday : Spaghetti + meat sauce, salad

We're moving on Friday, so Sat and Sunday will depend on the condition of the range at the new locale..