Monday Morning

I feel a little wistful on this Monday morning.  During one of Cora's several middle of the night wakings, I caught myself planning things for our day today, completely forgetting that it was Monday and that Nick would be at work.

But this morning feels good nevertheless. Cup of half-caf in hand at the computer, Cora in her highchair next to me chewing on Pepe le petit-chien and growling "da da da da" to him...  The heat of the weekend has abated a bit, and it's a cool 58 degrees and overcast outside, although it'll heat up in a bit.  Hoping not so much that we can't go play outside. Both Cora and I are afflicted with an almost total lack of pigment, leaving us prone to sunburn and heat stroke.  My left ankle, sprained about a week ago, is still healing pretty well.  It's a little sore, but I can walk on it now.

So, here we go into Monday.   The weekend was nice.  Not super eventful, but one of those at-home weekends that slip pleasantly by.  After our weekly Saturday morning trip to Kettleman's Bagels, we did a little yard-saling.  And scored some great new things for Cora:  her very own outdoor swing, a Kelty baby backpack, a chair that hooks onto tables, and a food mill.  Yay for yard sales!  We're pretty minimalist in general and have a very small house.  So far it's amazingly not overrun with baby gear. While we do want to provide Cora with toys and gear that have purpose, we're trying not to go crazy and spend a fortune on things that'll be used for a short time.  But those few scores were had for a total of $17.00.  My kind of shopping, indeed.

And we got to have some food fun too.  Food for Cora consisted of blueberry mess, adding peaches, which she enjoyed as popsicles, and a chunk of brocolli stalk to chew on.   Yum. 

For us, food consisted of grilled chicken teriyaki with veggies, quick huevos rancheros (always a favorite), Nick's favorite take-out pizza, and our Sunday excitement:  Vietnamese Bun.  Bun has always been my favorite Vietnamese food.  I love pho, to be sure, but a good bun can be pretty spectacular.  Back in my pre-Cora days, creating food, trying recipes, and basically thinking and obsessing about food was my constant pasttime.  I had a food blog with my lovely Twinnie that has gone entirely neglected since my pregnancy.  I guess food stopped being my focus back then, and with Cora's arrival, the time and energy to focus on it has dwindled a bit.  At least the time to write about it has dwindled.  But I still find it necessary to carve out the time for it in my life.  So enter my first attempt at this dish.  And it was amazing. Sure, I'd tweak a couple minor details, but the marinated pork was to-die-for and the end result was very impressive.  So I thought I'd post the photos and recipes here too.  Why not?  Nick thinks this isn't the forum; that I should write on the food blog again. Oh well.  Mixing things up a bit can't hurt. Here is the recipe:  Vietnamese Grilled Pork Bun.

Time to wrap up.  Miss Cora's telescoping arms are requiring too much interference.  I think it may be nap time.  So I'll leave you with a few of my favorite weekend pics of our Beanie Girl in the tub. Happy Monday!