December 2

For a couple of busy parents (who apparently have no time on their hands) we sure seem to eat well these days. I suppose with Christmas a few weeks down the road we should be saving some good cheer for later. But I’m definitely not arguing.

Day 2: “I only let grandma squeeze me like that!”

If you don’t count Friday night when we were just too lazy to cook anything real and made Kraft Dinner and sausages, the weekend has been somewhat gourmet.

Last night, for example, I was feeling inspired and pulled some of our lamb meat out of the freezer (did I mention we bought a whole lamb from a farmer near Red Deer?) and improvised something of a 100-mile-diet lamb tagine. Heck, other than the spices, most of the ingredients came from local sources. Central Albertan lamb chops, garden carrots and onions, homemade chicken stock from an Alex colony Hutterite chicken. True, we been dipping into the (Mexican) saffron that Alice brought us pretty readily as of late (it goes great in rice!) but the bulk of the raw materials were definitely local. And it tasted awesome.

This afternoon (as is apparent from today’s photo) Mom and Sharyl were in town for a visit. We did a “Seafood Lunch” matching a bit of sushi, smoked salmon, and lox on bagels with a vegetable-platter.

Tonight is Karin’s office KIDS party that we can now legitimately attend and not feel like moochers (as with every year past). And yes, she gets invited even while on maternity leave. I guess they like us or something. I don’t know if I’ve written about that particular bash in years past, but it is traditionally a very sweet catered spread. And the party season is about to begin. Counting tonight, I personally have THREE this week.

If anyone is looking for a last minute gift idea… strike food and send me a gym membership!