Foodie Chickie

Hope everyone had a nice weekend whether it was celebrating Easter or Passover.

Friday my friend Stephanie's had given me an early birthday present. A set of Ina Garten's products. Her BBQ sauce, chocolate chip cookie mix and waffle/pancake mix. We're both Ina fans. Thank you again Steph!
After work I went to run an errand, then Niel picked me up and dropped me off to get a haircut. He was in the area. Then we met up at home where we finished watching Half Nelson. Niel and I tend to sometimes start watching a film and not finishing it in one sitting. Half Nelson was a very good movie. Ryan Gosling is a terrific actor. The movie was about a teacher struggling with his own demons while trying to be a mentor to his students. Afterwards we went out for sushi with Mike and Mandy, came back and ate the pastries they had brought over while watching a little bit of Wedding Crashers. One of those movies that if its on cable that ends up being seen again, even though you've seen it before.

Saturday was my birthday and it was a neat day. Niel and I had fallen asleep on the couches again and when I got Niel to sleep in bed he in his sleepy stupor wished me a happy birthday. In the morning Niel gave me my lovely gifts (thank you again sweets) and had made plans for us to go take a little road trip to go to the Waffle House and to Reading for some outlet shopping. On the way out one of the presents Niel had ordered was in the mailbox. It was very very cool. A belt buckle from the 80's Battle Star Galactica! Which we caught on Sunday, on some strange network. It is entertaining enough and gives us our fill of Battlestar but we prefer the modern one better.
We got to the Waffle House much easier since we had been in the Winter and Reading was on the same road so it was easy to get there also. And some so many snow flurries! It was nuts. We went to the VF outlets. A couple of big buildings and a few little ones. There are a lot of good deals for kids clothes there. We didn't find much. But we did find a Chick A Fla on the way back. Niel and I shared nuggets, waffle fries and a lemonade. It was all good. When we got back home in the evening for dinner we had pepperoni pizza and for dessert Niel brought me a vanilla birthday cake. It was a very nice day! I am a lucky girl. The entire day was very thoughtful!
Thank you also to everyone who sent me card both my mail and email, as well as left comments and sent me a little something something! It is very sweet of all of you to remember.

Sunday morning Niel and I exchanged our Easter baskets for one another. I go peeps, M&M's and such pretty seeds for flowers: Alyssum, Astor, Bachelor Buttons, Gypsophila, Shasta Daisy, Marigold, Cleome, Perennial mix, and Forget Me Nots(I love the name). I've been saving all the seeds I have received, so someday when I have a back yard I can plant them.
In the afternoon on the way to my parents house we saw more snow flurries. Luckily none stuck. Niel kept saying how wierd it was that his birthday in December it didn't snow but on mine it snows. We celebrated Easter and my mom and my birthdays. My brother and Nie's mom were already there when we arrived. Mike and Mandy dropped her off before heading to the airport. Hopefully Mandy's trip back was better than getting here. I wish we knew ahead of time about the time of flight, so my mom would have been able to make lunch earlier so we could all have Easter together. My mom made them a little care package for their ride though. Unfortunely our oven is still not fixed so we couldn't make anything to bring to my parents. Not that it was a problem because my mom cooked for 20 people. Even though we thought there would be 8 or 10. But we only had six. So we just brought her birthday gifts and tulips for Easter. Orthodox Lent is different than Catholic Lent where you don't eat meat on Fridays and give up something during Lent. Orthodox Lent you give up meat, dairy and oil for all of Lent. Then Easter you break the fast. My mom made a feast: mushroom and mozzerella casserole, easter bread, savory crepes, salad, mushroom and bean salad, cheese turnovers, mini meatloaves served with rice, the best roast beef served with delicious gravy and mashed potatoes, hummus and a crudite platter. We had two cakes, of course, jello, peeps and easter eggs. Niel's mom brought some meat pies. All yummy! We all also played the egg cracking game. My dad won but gave his egg to me. The egg cracking game is something my family has been doing as long as I can remember. It's an Orthodox Christian custom. It symbolizes Christ breaking through the tomb and who's ever egg is unbreakable, has good luck for the rest of the year. Other countries and sects of Christianity have also used this custom. We then sat around and chatted before cleaning up and opening up presents. Dropped off my mother in law and my mom gave us food to go and (now we have food for a few days). At home we finished off the weekend by watching The Sopranos. Last season. Sniff.


Niel photo