We had some great meals last week! Having visitors really helped motivate me. But first, I finished a book I really liked:
I originally got this book because I thought it would be light and easy to read during a busy week. I had no idea I would enjoy it so much! Five years ago, Lucy was somehow involved in the murder of her best friend. Everyone thinks she did it, but she can’t remember anything about the incident, and she was never charged with the crime. She’s trying to put it all behind her, but a true crime podcast is dredging it up again and forcing her to revisit the scene, and memories start to return, little by little.
This book was funny! (For anyone who’s read it- Grandma’s birthday party, hahahahahaha!) And it’s a satisfying mystery, and there’s a little romance thrown in. I enjoyed it so much, I was sad when it ended because I didn’t want to stop reading it.
Everyone recommended the audio version, but I read the print and I can vouch for the fact that it was VERY enjoyable in that format.
Ah, food. I already reported on the epic burrito night from my sister’s visit. The next night we ate out at Planta, an amazing vegan restaurant. We got all sorts of sushi rolls:
…and noodle dishes, appetizers, and some amazing desserts.
Fun and delicious night! THEN… we had our Big Pizza Party! Originally we were going to make four different pizzas, but the logistics of getting them all cooked at the same time didn’t make sense, so we made two very large ones. The first was half Buffalo “chicken” (we used the Daring brand) and artichoke, and the other half was Beyond sausage, pineapple, and hot peppers:
The second pizza was our “bipolar” pizza. About 2/3rds of it was a veggie-lovers pizza, with yellow pepper, broccoli, hot peppers, and onion, and the other third was a “vegan meat lovers” pizza with leftover Beyond sausage, Buffalo chicken (we just put on everything that didn’t fit on the other pizza) and vegan pepperoni from Trader Joes.
Both pizzas had homemade pizza sauce and Miyoko’s liquid mozzarella. So good!!!
It probably goes without saying that after all this, I hit the wall. Our visitors left and I felt like I never wanted to cook dinner again. We got Chipotle the next night, and since then we’ve been grudgingly throwing together some meals, because everyone still insists upon eating dinner… every. single. night. Sigh.
What are you reading?
Have you made any great meals lately?
Top photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash
21 Responses
that’s some real good food! you know how to treat your guests! I always love preparing food for my guests too. But I can totally see the point of not wanting to cook for a while after that.
chipotle! I’m coming to you soon.
Ha, we get Chipotle once a week- it’s our Friday treat.
Ooh! All the food looks amazing!!! That pizza looks practically professional. Extra points for vegan recs!
I’m putting _Listen for the Life_ on my TBR. I usually don’t read mysteries, but am on my third in a row this week–maybe it’s the summer vibes? (I did not like _The It Girl_, but enjoyed _The Villa_ and _The Nicest Couple_)
I actually didn’t think I would like this book as much as I did- i don’t usually like the new “buzzy” books. But this one was good!
That sushi looks awesome and the pizza!! YES.
That’s book has been on my holds list forever, and I keep thinking I am going to snag it as a library walk in, but no luck so far. Maybe I can use an Audible credit! (For some reason, I am hoarding those for late summer releases, but I don’t know what my problem is— I spend the equivalent of an extra credit at Starbucks ALL THE TIME— I just really like reading for mostly free LOL)
I agree- it’s hard for me to spend money on books that I COULD get for free- if I’m just willing to wait a little. I do buy books every once in a while though.
We have a houseguest for a few days, and just an extra person is making me ramp up the cooking. I’ll get back to you next week after collapsing in the kitchen, I guess.
I’m reading a book called One Star Romance and it’s beyond my expectations so far! I’m really enjoying it.
Ha ha, that’s how I felt. We ramped up the cooking so much, I could have collapsed at the end.
I love sushi and that looks amazing (so does the pizza).
My favourite meal lately has been a form of deconstructed sushi – a rice, salmon, nori, pickled cucumber, and cashew bowl. It was SO good. A good meal is so satisfying! (Though I still often wish we humans didn’t need to eat because it TAKES SO MUCH TIME AND MONEY!)
I know- sometimes I “joke” (?) that I wish we could just take a pill with all the nutrients we need, instead of eating dinner. I would probably miss eating though.
Deconstructed sushi sounds great- I should try that. Much better than trying to make rolls!
You made some really good meals, I’m impressed by those pizzas! But the sushi also looks amazing, and it’s totally understandable that you wouldn’t want to make dinner for awhile after hosting your sister and brother in law!
One meal I’m loving that’s super easy to throw together is chickpeas, baby cucumbers and vegan feta cheese with Everything but the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s. It requires no cooking which is great for hot summer days and it makes for a good lunch to pack for work or have for dinner with toast on the side for added carbs!
That dinner sounds AMAZING, and I think I could eat it every day for a week (or longer.) If I didn’t have the family to cook for I would probably eat like that all the time. As it is, I’m gradually getting them to cook more and more for themselves, while I have something more simple.
Now I want to know what happens at Grandma’s birthday party!
I’m assuming everyone else is a vegan, too? Or maybe meat-eaters but are happy with the vegan option?
I think my favourite is the veggie-lovers pizza – it’s looks delicious!
Yes, everyone else is vegan too! I liked the one with the Buffalo ‘chicken” the most. It was spicy though!
Oh, it’s good to now that Listen for the Lie holds up in paper format, too. The audiobook is brilliant!
I haven’t had any great meals recently, but my husband will not be eating dinner with me tonight (for reasons) and I am making myself Nachos Supreme. I bought the good tortilla chips, corn, black beans, and I’ll put some garlic scapes on there with cheese. And sour cream. I am so excited about this!!!
I would be excited about that too- as a matter of fact I think we should have a Nachos Supreme night here soon.
We have houseguests arriving soon and I am dreading the extra cooking. It’s not like it’s that much harder to make a meal for two more people, but I feel so much more pressure. Plus, I feel much worse about doing spontaneous takeout nights or Fend For Yourself nights when we have people staying with us. Everything you made and ate looks fabulous. And hooray for Chipotle!
You were right – your review of the book reminded me what it was about. It was a good read for sure!
Suzanne, it made a big difference that my son helped SO MUCH with those meals! I would have been really stressed out if I had to do everything by myself. Plus we only had to cook three dinners for guests, and one of them was very informal, as a matter of fact we made sandwiches with chickpea salad.
I get highly stressed- probably oddly so- about having to cook for other people. Glad you had a good plan and it all worked out! I am getting mixed up- you are vegetarian but not vegan? Or are you vegan? I can’t remember right now! And does your sister/husband have same eating style? I feel like it could be extra challenging if you had to entertain someone who had very different eating patterns! But it seems like you guys must eat similarly. So great your son could be so helpful with all the prep too!!
Chipotle! I need to get that this weekend. We haven’t had it since well before our trip, so we are overdue for a visit. I also LOVE it.
I’m glad that you enjoy the print version of Listen for the Lie because I prefer to listen to print so I can reserve my listening time for podcasts which I am always woefully behind on listening to lately. I just started “The Wives” on this DC work trip and have really been enjoying it. It’s a memoir written by the wife of a guy in a special ops unit of the army. It’s giving me more insight/understanding about what my little sister’s life is like as her husband is also in the army although has fortunately only officially deployed once. But he travels a ton and they have a 1 and 3 year old so that is really rough.
I made a couple of meals before leaving for DC but nothing all that noteworthy. I fly back tonight on a 7pm flight and will get home at 9 which feels late to me because by the time I get home it will be 10 but I still still need to read to help myself fall asleep/wind down. We have an unplanned weekend which I am excited about, plus don’t hate me for saying this, but it will be 75 and sunny!
Yay – I’m so happy you loved Listen for the Lie! And I’m really glad it was good in print. I really loved the audio version because of the way the podcast is produced, but not everyone has the option for audiobooks. I am currently finishing up Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson, which has been enjoyable. On audio, I’m listening to Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, which has been really eye-opening for me.