The Best Laid Plans…Or…Cooking Light’s Way to Cook Attempt # 2

Well, you all know how I’d made this great meal plan based upon Cooking Light’s Way to Cook? Well, life had other plans for last week and the weekend. I didn’t get around to making *any* of the recipes – partially because evenings turned out to be super busy (we are still setting up a house) and partially because my in-laws are visiting and we decided to go out to dinner rather than stay in. 
That’s okay, though! I was being a bit overly-amitious when it came to the meal plan. So, we’ll start with the project tomorrow, with the roasted chicken, oven-fried okra, and herbed rice. Luckily, my ingredients have kept well. I’m going to throw in that eggplant curry I want to make somewhere too, though it’s not in the book. I will update everyone as I go. I’ll finish out this week with the original plan – aaaand then on Saturday post the new plan, still working with Way to Cook for next week. 

Meanwhile, while I don’t have any pictures to share of tasty goodness that was cooked up last week, I do have some pictures of other things we did. Saturday night, we went to downtown Wichita’s Keeper of the Plains  to see the base lit up with fire. This statue is at the place where the Little and Big Arkansas rivers converge. I’m told (but do not know if it’s true) that the way the river’s name is pronounced here is “Are-Kansas.” So, that’s an amusing little tidbit. Each night, given good weather (no wind, no rain nor hail, etc.), the city lights up the base of the statue for about 15 minutes at dusk. It was pretty neat (but the teenager was not as impressed as I’d believed he would be). 

We went to a block party at one of the local United Methodist churches as well, and the teenager helped to pack meals for those in our community who are needy while we tended to a very curious toddler. She had a balloon animal made (a bunny), enjoyed a pink cupcake (which made it look like she was a toddler zombie when she finished it), and kept my husband and I running after her pretty much constantly. I think that both kiddos had a great time. 

We also discovered a new coffee shop, Reverie Coffee Roasters. We had their coffee when we visited Elderslie Farm a couple weeks ago (I will share about that later this week), and in my husband’s words “It’s the best coffee I’ve ever had in America.” It’s pretty good coffee. We went there, and they definitely demonstrated their mastery of the mocha, and we picked up some coffee beans. Yes, I’m pregnant. Yes, I’m supposed to limit caffeine, no that doesn’t mean giving it up completely. This was a nice little mid-day treat for us. 

We went to dinner at some fun places, last night, it was River City Brewery (don’t worry, I had no beer). When we came out of the restaurant, there were a lot of clouds out, and it was quite pleasant-looking. I had to “dork it up” a little and take a picture. 

I guess the other big news coming out of the weekend is that on Wednesday, we will be finding out (I hope!) whether we are having a little boy or a little girl. I’m 20 1/2 weeks along, so a little more than halfway to the end of this pregnancy. I have plans to make maternity clothes soon, and I packed maternity clothing patterns separately. I’m looking forward to getting started on that project. For now, I have this picture of me taken Saturday by my husband. I’m looking forward to meeting this little person 🙂