Thursday the 7th: Food of the Week

Tomorrow is crispy potato cubes and a salad kit--I presume, but I won't be here because I'll be on the St. Louis choir trip. 

 Today is Betty Crocker's Spanish Rice.

Yesterday was McDonald's and Fritz's and leftovers.

Tuesday was flatbreads topped with onions, spiced beef, and feta cheese and mint. They were really tasty if a little too salty in places.

Monday was a cheddar biscuit pie with a turkey sausage filling. This always turns out well, but I maybe wish there was a little more sauce in the filling.

Sunday was some beef kebabs. I think I would have preferred smaller chunks and maybe chicken over beef. 

Wednesday the 6th: Music of the Week

 Tonight is my last concert at my school! I'm both happy to have this chunk of work done and very sad that I won't get to play with them again. Tomorrow is a concert at another school as a fill in, and then Friday and Saturday is a trip to St. Louis for a choir competition. Busy, busy next few days.

Tuesday the 5th: Flowers abloom

 This is the first year one of my Lenten roses has bloomed for me. I'm thrilled.

 

 

Monday the 4th: St. Florian

 From https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=149

The St. Florian commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on May 4th, was an officer of the Roman army, who occupied a high administrative post in Noricum, now part of Austria, and who suffered death for the Faith in the days of Diocletian. His legendary "Acts" state that he gave himself up at Lorch to the soldiers of Aquilinus, the governor, when they were rounding up the Christians, and after making a bold confession, he was twice scourged, half-flayed alive, set on fire, and finally thrown into the river Enns with a stone around his neck. His body, recovered and buried by a pious woman, was eventually removed to the Augustinian Abbey of St. Florian, near Linz. It is said to have been at a later date translated to Rome, and Pope Lucius III, in 1138, gave some of the saint's relics to King Casimir of Poland and to the Bishop of Cracow. Since that time, St. Florian has been regarded as a patron of Poland as well as of Linz, Upper Austria and of firemen. There has been popular devotion to St. Florian in many parts of central Europe, and the tradition as to his martyrdom, not far from the spot where the Enns flows into the Danube, is ancient and reliable. Many miracles of healing are attributed to his intercession and he is invoked as a powerful protector in danger from fire or water. His feast day is May 4th. 

 

 

Friday the 1st: The house that got away

 We did not buy this house BUT we toured one beautiful mid century modern house in Wichita that's still for sale. It had some really lovely details BUT a backyard that was falling down the hill.

 

 

Thursday the 30th: Food of the Week

*Tomorrow I will be on retreat so the boys will feed themselves. 

 *Tonight is Bella Napoli, and I *think* they will have homemade gnocchi as their Thursday evening special.

*Last night we had leftovers and grilled cheese sandwiches with parts of three different loaves of bread.

*Tuesday night the Son made picadillo tacos. It was a really nice filling but needed more salt than the recipe called for, and I had to teach the boys how to drain ground beef.

*Monday night I made the NYT recipe for chicken shawarma on a sheet pan with red onions, feta, cucumber, white sauce, and pita. They were pretty tasty. I probably could have doubled it to have some leftovers, or made some rice to have with it.

*Sunday we had Cheeseburger Macaroni and Cheese from Cook's Country. We had a small amount of leftovers but it was inhaled!  The pickles and the mustard really lift this recipe. For supper we had sausage patties and french toast.

 

Wednesday the 29th: Music of the Week

 *We had the KCKCC Jazz Summit yesterday, so our Chamber Singers sang a set of four songs along with me, a drummer, a standing bass, and alto sax. They did a great job.

*Next week is our last choir concert with everyone and then a trip to St. Louis with about 40 choir students. 

Tuesday the 28th: Relics

 My parents have had their silverware and silverware trays since the 70s when they got them from a rectory that was closing. No notes.

 

 

Monday the 27th: Saint of the Week

 St. Catherine of Siena is the saint for April 29. A Dominican Tertiary, she had the stigmata, a mystical ring given her by Jesus, infused knowledge, and was instrumental in getting Pope Gregory XI to end the Avignon Papacy and return to Rome.

 

Friday the 24th: Spring Break Tradition

 The Son and I always go out for breakfast at some point over spring break even if he doesn't really have spring break anymore. We went to First Watch and really enjoyed it. The boy got a fun juice.

 

 

Thursday the 23rd: Food of the Week

 *Tonight I'm making French Toast and sausage, nothing fancy. This is assuming that my kitchen is available to cook! It's being painted at this moment.

 *Tomorrow is going to be Grilled Cheese sandwiches, again, nothing fancy. 

*Wednesday night the Son made Lemony Lentil Soup from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. He's still learning what a lentil tastes like when it's completely cooked (they needed about 30 more minutes) but the rest of the soup was really good.

*Tuesday we ate pizza when we got back home from unpacking the Uhaul at the new house after we closed.

*Monday I made corn and black bean quesadillas. I scaled up the original recipe to make 6 and then used extra filling to make some nachos.  

*Boys were gone on Sunday so it was just leftover for me! 

Wednesday the 22nd: Music of the Week

 *This week is preparing for State Solo festival. I have 5 soloists, 3 voice and 2 strings, to accompany.

The first one is at 8 a.m....in Salina...almost 3 hours away. So it's going to be a VERY EARLY morning. 

Monday the 21st: New House

So we bought a new house. We will all live there together in August; until then it's a little crazy. The Husband is staying there for three days while working in town so he gets to do the first arranging and unpacking. 

 

 

Monday the 20th: Saint of the Week

 *An Italian doctor of the church who died as a missionary in England, St. Anselm is known for the phrase "faith seeking understanding" and for prolific writing, including the following: 

O God, let me know you and love you so that I may find joy in you; and if I cannot do so fully in this life, let me at least make some progress every day, until at last that knowledge, love and joy come to me in all their plenitude. While I am here on earth let me know you fully; let my love for you grow deeper here, so that there I may love you fully. On earth then I shall have great joy in hope, and in heaven complete joy in the fulfillment of my hope.
O, Lord, through your Son you command us, no, you counsel us to ask, and you promise that you will hear us so that our joy may be complete. Give me then what you promise to give through your Truth. You, O God, are faithful; grant that I may receive my request, so that my joy may be complete.- Saint Anselm 

 

 

Friday the 17th: Stew!

 I made Irish Stew on March 17 to celebrate St. Patrick's day. I've made the same recipe for over 10 years now, and it's always delicious. The parsnips add a nice change from just carrots and potatoes.

 

 

Thursday the 16th: Food of the Week

 *The rest of the week, including today, is leftovers and eating out because the boys left for Minneapolis for the Video Game Music Conference.

*Last night we went to Thai Orchid and celebrated Thai New Year with our favorite Thai food. We, as usual, ordered too much, and there's plenty for me to eat this weekend.

*Tuesday I made polenta with tomato and mozzarella topping. My boys are skeptical of polenta every time, but they really enjoy it when I make it...as long as it's not too often.  I also believe the acidity of the topping is really important for an overall balanced dish.

*Monday the Son made peanut butter cookies and picked up Firehouse Subs for us. The cookies are really quite delightful and I got a salad from the sandwich place since my stomach felt off. It was good veggies for me.

*Sunday we had grilled pork cutlets, green beans, and rice a roni.The pork cutlets were really juicy and delicious this time, maybe because I used my good olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the marinade.

Wednesday the 15th: Music of the Week

 *Today is large group festival at Baker University, so I'm dressed up and ready to go. We are performing the following songs:

 

*"Ad Adstra" by Jacob Narverud

*"Run, Mary, Run" arranged by Brian Tate

*"Hine Ma Tov" arranged by Neil Ginsberg

*"A Red, Red, Rose" by James Mulholland

*Crucifixus" by Antonio Lotti

*"The Battle of Jericho" arranged by Moses Hogan

 

It should be a great day! 

Tuesday the 14th: Snow?!

 We had snow a few times in March, probably more times than we did the rest of winter. We also had more 80 degree days than we've ever had in March. It was a wild ride.

 

 

Monday the 13th: Saint of the Week

 St. Martin is the saint today, our first saint since before Holy Week. 

Why do we care about him:  struggled against monothelatism (denied that Jesus had both a human and divine will, thus denying he had two complete and perfect natures); last pope to be honored as a martyr; pope Eugene was elected while he was imprisoned