Menu Plan - 6/3/09 - 6/7/09

This week is a little short because I'm so busy right now, and my shopping day will be on Monday next week. Also, a couple of dishes from last week got pushed into this week because things came up. Oh well, it happens!

*Austrian Ham and Noodle Casserole with buttered fava beans
*Vermicelli with Green Veggies
*Joo-young is making fried rice
*Turkey Bacon Avocado Wraps
*BBQ Pork Ribs with macaroni salad, green beans, and new potatoes

Menu Plan - 5/27/09 - 6/2/09

Another week, another trip to the grocery store. Here's what I'm cooking this week:

*Korean Braised Tofu with rice and tomato and cucumber salad
*Stiry Fry with beef and veggies and rice
*Vermicelli with New Green Veggies
*Chili Braised Beef with Bok Choy over noodles
*Austrian Ham and Noodle Casserole with buttered broad beans
*Tamale Pie with ??? (by the end of the week I pretty much dig up whatever is left for side dishes)


The Austrian dish is a new recipe from Betty Crocker's International Cookbook. (The cookbook was recommended by Katie's boyfriend, Sam.)

*GASP* It's a Menu Post

So... I haven't kept up with the menu posting, but I have a little extra time on my hands so I'm going to try again.

*BBQ chicken with baked potato and corn on the cob
*Savory Chicken Squares (from Sarah's blog) with asparagus
*Hearty Bean and Pasta Stew
*Hamburgers with Tomato and Cucumber Salad
*Enchilada Soup
*Ravioli with French Bread

Please enjoy the above picture of the lovely Chicken Square. And thanks to Sarah for the great recipe! (That I finally tried.)

Well, I've proven to be not incredibly great at posting my menu plans. I've actually been working a little on a recipe database website that will include recipes (duh), pictures, and menu plans current and past. It's not really anywhere near done so I'll try once again to get in the habit of posting my menu plans here. For now, I will leave you with some pictures of recent things cooked...

Menu Plan

So, I'm going to try and take after Sarah and post my week's menu plan. When I actually do it, I'll post pictures of stuff I've cooked too, but I can't promise that will be too often. Here's the plan for this week:

*BBQ Beef Sandwiches with potato salad
*Turkey Butternut Squash Ragout with salad and possibly home baked bread
*Lentil Soup with (again) possibly home baked bread
*Spicy Garlic Cashew Chicken with rice and snap peas
*Tacos
*Chicken Enchilada Chili

Sunday will be dinner at my parent's house, so I don't have to cook!

2004-10-29 Wedding/Honeymoon Journal

October 29, 2004

We were up early and off to the snorkeling cruise today. This one was on a much smaller boat than the one we were originally scheduled for. It was called the Mahana Nai'a, which means twin dolphins. We had breakfast on the way to Turtle Town. Also on the way, we saw flying fish. It was really neat to see and they really do look like they're flying.

At Turtle Town the water was kind of murky, so we didn't see too much. We did see a turtle though. It was on the bottom (about 20-25 feet below us) and then it came up for air right next to us.

We went on to Molokini for the rest of our snorkeling time. We saw tons of different fish there. There were several boats parked nearby with a lot of people on each boat. Even with so many people around, there were way more fish. We saw a lot of the fish that we had seen at the Maui Ocean Center. We had lunch on the ride back to the dock. While we were going back, some dolphins swam near our boat along with us.

2004-10-28 Wedding/Honeymoon Journal

October 28, 2004

Today we were supposed to go on the snorkeling cruise to Molokini, but we were given the wrong instructions, so we had to reschedule and go tomorrow. Instead, I went down to a small cafe and had a breakfast burrito, and brought back a bagel for Ethan. Then we took a drive up to the Iao Needle. It was a really short hike, but it was a pretty drive and a nice view.

We went to lunch at Aloha Mixed Plate. They have all outdoor seating. The food was really good and I had a good drink too. It was something with Midori in it. I started having some allergy issues and took some of the allergy medication we brought. It totally knocked me out. When we got back to the hotel, I slept for the rest of the afternoon. For dinner we went to the Pupu Lounge.

2004-10-27 Wedding/Honeymoon Journal

October 27, 2004

We went down to the beach to play in the water and shortly discovered that we liked the beach in Kihei better. Although it was a sandy beach there were rocks, shells, and pieces of coral everywhere. The water was also much rougher.

We stopped in Ma'alaea and went to the Maui Ocean Center. There were a lot of great fish. We got some nice pictures while we were there too. The staff was also really knowledgeable, so we asked them all kinds of questions about the marine life around there. We also checked into the Kihei Akahi today. It's a decent condo, but it definitely is older than the others. A lot of the decor and furnishings seem to come from the 70's.

For dinner, we went on a sunset cruise aboard the Maui Princess. We sat with another honeymooning couple. They were from Michigan and very friendly. There was a nice view of Lahaina and a beautiful sunset. It was a very relaxing way to spend the evening.

2004-10-26 Wedding/Honeymoon Journal

October 26, 2004

The wedding day. We ate breakfast from the hotel's "orientation to Maui". We listened for a bit, but it was mostly stuff we already knew. So, Ethan took a nap and I took some time to relax and read the newspaper. For lunch, we went to the Mango Cafe, which is set on the golf course on Kaanapali Parkway. Our waitress, Alejandra, was from Mexico and she apologized for not speaking english very well. She actually spoke better (and more understandable) english than people that we run into on a daily basis in California.

We drove to the wedding in full attire, sweating the whole way. It was actually a little overcast, which was nice. Rev. Alalani spoke most of the ceremony in english, but she also spoke in Hawaiian for parts of it. It's a beautiful language and she spoke in a manner that made it seem as if she was singing to us.

We decided to just take it easy that evening. We walked on the beach and took some pictures outside the hotel. We sat at the bar in the hotel restaurant and drank a bottle of Riesling. Diane, the bartender, kept us company. She's been working there for 18 years.

We ordered Chinese food to be delivered to our room and spent the rest of our evening relaxing there.

2004-10-25 Wedding/Honeymoon Journal

We spent our morning packing and being lazy in the hotel room. We watched birds and lizards from our lanai while we ate breakfast. Again, we drove up the coast. This time we stopped at a florist to choose flowers for a simple bouquet. Afterwards, we ate lunch at Maui Tacos.

We drove around the Kaanapali area while waiting for our marraige license appointment and for our hotel room to be ready. We stopped at one beach park and saw tiny fish zooming around in the water that came up to our knees. A man there told us he'd seen angelfish and a giant turtle there also.

The Aston Kaanapali Shores had a beautiful reception area. They had a sign in the lobby to welcome "E. Clark" and a couple other guests. We spent some time relaxing in the hotel room before heading out to Warren & Annabelle's. I'm not all that into magic shows, but we had heard this one was pretty spectacular. You start out with a small group of people being led from the reception area into a small room. There are four doors (Passage, Destiny, Enlightenment, and one that I can't remember). One person is given a key (that was me!). Annabelle speaks to you, to give you clues. Well, we were too smart and figured the puzzle out too quickly. We only checked one of the doors, and then we figured it out.

After that, you're seated at small tables in the parlor. The hostess guessed that we were honeymooners, but when we told her we'd be getting married the next day, she promised to do something special for us.

Our dinner was great. It was a sampler appetizer plate. We also each got two cocktails and a dessert. It was honestly some of the best food we had in Maui. We were sat down in the front row for the actual show. The magician - Warren - was hilarious. I would call it a comedy show as much as a magic show. Mostly, he picked on members of the audience, especially the four couples sitting in the front row. He also did some pretty amazing magic tricks. I know it's all sleight of hand, but I could not figure out how he was doing it. It was definitely a fun show, and it was something I'd probably come back and see again.

2004-10-24 Wedding/Honeymoon Journal

October 24, 2004

I woke up early and took a trip to the local grocery store. Bagels and cream cheese with some POG (pineapple, orange, guava) would be our breakfast. We ate on our little lanai while listening to the birds. After that we walked across the street to one of the Kamaole Beach Parks. The water was amazingly clear. Standing in water up to our necks we could see a few fish swimming near our feet. The other great thing about this beach was that it was so sandy. To get cleaned up after the beach we took a hydrojet bath... very relaxing.

A good portion of the day was spent wandering through Lahaina Town. We looked in a ton of different shops. There was a gallery with paintings by an awesome artist - Christian Lassen. His artwork seems to emanate light. The paintings honestly look like they're glowing. There was also another gallery, but this one was all photography. Peter Lik had some incredible pictures. We also visited the Wo Hing Temple which had some cool Chinese artifacts. There wasn't a whole lot to it, but it was still interesting. Oh... when we first arrived in Lahaina Town, we went to the Blue Lagoon restaurant for lunch. It was all open air seating, and there was a koi stream running through it.

Afterwards, we drove up the Honoupiilani Highway for a while. We stopped for pictures a few times, and made it to somewhere past mile marker 37. On the way back in we stopped at a roadside stand and met Mel Wit at Wit's End. We bought a woven basket and a fresh pineapple.

We went to the Maui Marriott Luau. The emcees were funny, the food was good, and the dancing was great. The dancers changed costumes several times and did dances that were from many different islands including Fiji and New Zealand. At the end they did Fire Night Dancing, which was just amazing to watch.

2004-10-23 Wedding/Honeymoon Journal

I wrote a journal during the time that we were in Hawaii so that I would remember all the fun things we did. I decided to go ahead and post it here so that I don't end up losing it.

October 23, 2004

Our day started at 4:30am with us getting ready and Becky driving us to Oakland Airport. We were greeted with enthusiasm at the SunTrips ticket counter - they knew we were coming because our wedding attire needed special attention. The flight attendants were just as friendly, making sure we had everything that we might need or want during the flight.

We arrived safely in Maui and "deplaned". (Sorry, I just had to use that word.) After picking up the rental car, we headed straight for the hotel - Maui Coast. We were a bit early for check in, but the desk person didn't care. He was very friendly, and even gave us an upgrade to a 1 bedroom suite. We took everything up to the hotel room and immediately left to find food.

We ended up in Wailea at the Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was a bit overpriced, but there were some interesting birds wandering around. One that I called Four-Toes and another, Stumpy. Although, Stumpy just made us kind of sad, since he was hobbling around with two legs but only one foot. After lunch, Ethan took a nap while I tried to figure out what we should do with our week.

The evening ended with us eating at a cute little restaurant called Stella Blues. They seemed to have a thing for Jerry Garcia (the had two drinks named after him and a quote from him on the menu) but they were playing Sting all through the meal.

Emotions take up more space than words.

Oh, if only we could pass someone the emotions sitting in our hearts as we hold them with our arms, all trembling, scared, quiet and lovely as those emotions are.