Saturday, March 13, 2010

relaxation

Today marked the beginning of spring break- the luxury of a teacher's life! I didn't get to savor my morning, however, as Ali had an early morning soccer game. We were only a couple of minutes late, and that because I didn't know exactly which field it was at. The little ones are very cute chasing after the ball. He insisted afterwards that their team made 4 goals- it was closer to 9. The other team managed to score 2, much to the relief of me and the mothers next to me. It felt a little odd to be hoping for them to score, but it's so awful not to get any goals. Leila's team has had that result twice now, but in today's game, while they still lost, they managed to score.
H took the kids to that and I got to meet my former colleagues for lunch at The Olive Garden. I couldn't finish my lunch even though it was an appetizer. Halfway through the meal my phone rang, and I checked in case it was H. The name of a chef friend appeared: "Oh, no!" I thought. "He knows I'm cheating by eating at another restaurant!" But luckily Sol had just borrowed his phone to say goodbye as he flew off to an exotic spring break destination.
Lunch was lovely- and we left with plans to do it again. I popped home, found noone there (they were having lunch at McDonald's) so headed out to check out some open houses. Neither was quite what I'm looking for, but there are some other possibilities out there. I'm still thinking about a beatiful house I saw a few weeks ago, that's already been sold. It had five bedrooms! With a boy, a girl, and a work at home dad, plus all my stuff, we could use that many.
Back home to find everyone here, and naps for all- what a delicious afternoon. A friend came by shortly after I woke up (because my mom called, which was nice, by the way, Mom). Always hungry, he stayed for dinner. I had been thinking about what to make before he arrived, and finally decided on poached eggs in vegetables. It's a Tunisian dish, but I added salsa since I didn't have enough tomatoes, and it tasted great.
Here's the scoop:
Slice and saute an onion (or two) in olive oil. Add 2 sliced bell peppers (not green) to the pan. Add a couple teeths of garlic, chopped fine. Throw in about a teaspoon, maybe 2 of cumin, and some thyme- just a sprinkle. Chop up about 6 roma tomotoes and add to the pan. Put a lid on it, and let simmer. If there isn't enough water (though there should be) you could add a couple of teaspoons. It shouldn't be runny, but not dried out.) I only had 3 tomotoes, so I threw in a jar of mild salsa. You can go hotter, but I've got little kids. (Tunisians actually put hot peppers- like Anaheims- in this). Throw in a handful of chopped cilantro, or parsley, if you prefer. When the veggies are tender, make little wells, and break eggs into the wells. I break the yolks since we don't like runny, but that's optional. Serve with a rustic bread to sop up the goodness. I also served chewy brown rice and buttered carrots, and leftover broccoli.
This is a good- oops! I forgot to defrost any meat dinner, or if you are trying to cut back on meat- both of which options worked for us tonight.

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