post valentine's day

Valentine's Weekend was very fun this year...much less like the Hallmark holiday we have typically thought it to be and much more like a very heartfelt bonding time between us. I had planned on making Kima Curry, the dish I have made for several past Valentine's Day dinners, but had mistaken the defrost time of the beef and had to make our special dinner on Friday.

Oh well, it was good that night too! Leftovers are better anyway so we enjoyed it again for lunch the next day. We had also planned on making Chocolate Mousse, (the one Katie posted on her site!) and that became the item on the menu that decided everything else....nothing to rich, not too much dairy, no beef or tomatoes having just had that the night before, hmmmm, what to do for dinner?!?! We just put off thinking about it and filled our day doing other non-food-related fun stuff.

We exchanged our little gifts to each other ,made bracelets, visited thrift stores, lounged around the house in our jammies till about 2 PM, then finally decided what to celebrate and

finish our day off with, foodwise. The kids wanted hot dogs (the yummy eco-groovy (?!) Applegate Farms ones) Greg and I went with a baguette and brie (forget the too much dairy and too much richness,) everyone had a nice salad and then our much anticipated mousse. Perfect.










****I must interject this before this blog goes any further. I am not a grammer pro. I was a B or if very lucky a B+ English student and I really never took to being a perfectionist at the technical side of writing. I hope I don't drive any one crazy with all my funky sentence structure, or lack thereof and possible overuse of exclamation points. I write like I talk...maybe making some mistakes along the way but always excited about what it is I am saying! Bear with me, maybe I will teach myself in the process of writing more often! OK, back to story.****

Sunday came around all too fast but we had fun all day as well. We drove out of Madison about 30 miles to look at a 1950s sewing machine that we found on craigslist, of course. The pictures looked just like the machine and cabinet my mom had and maybe still does. (?) I remember playing in the drawers when I was maybe Sol's age with all the bobbins, thread, little scissors and all the accessories that made different types of stitches. They smelled like wood, metal, potpori, clothes, oil to grease the parts....just the way this new cabinet and machine smells. I am soo excited to have this new addition to our house. Greg is looking forward to learning how to use it, I like having an ultra sturdy machine that some master seamstress once used, and the kids think they are "using the force" to make it sew (there is no presser foot, it is operated by a knee lever making it perfect for a bit of magic!)

After we picked up the sewing machine, Greg and Sol went to a show at the UW Physics Department called, "The Wonders of Physics." They got to have some fun bonding time..... although we got there a bit late so they couldn't sit side-by-side, and we didn't have time for lunch beforehand, and Sol was coming down with the sickies...but still, they had fun! We took it easy the rest of the day as Sol was feeling kind of crummy and overdone. It's always nice to be at home just relaxing too.

Sol and Greg both took the day off on Monday, today, and we tried to get everyone well. Sol may have Strep throat (we are going in to the Dr. tomorrow) and Greg is nursing a pulled muscle in his back/neck/shoulder that had been bugging him since last Wednesday.

I should wrap it up...that has been the life in the Orum household for the last three days or so. Hope all is well with everyone and I will post more again soon! Thanks for checking in with us! xoxoxo

Our new favorite smoothie:

"The Tropical Island Oasis Sunshine Shake, In Wisconsin, Smoothie"...I'm sure that's a grammatical nightmare!

In a blender, combine:
1-2 bananas, frozen or not, broken into chunks
1/2 Cup pineapple juice, good too with pineapple pieces
1/4 Cup orange juice concentrate
1- 1 1/2 Cups yogurt
soymilk, add enough to the blender to make however much you want

Blend on high speed. Turn blender to low and while still running, add a heaping spoonful of honey. Replace cap and continue to thoroughly mix. Turn blender off and add ice cubes...I like to put in about two handfuls, but watch out, by now your blender may be overflowing! Return to blending on high speed until ice cubes are crushed. Serve immediately as it will begin to separate if not consumed ASAP.