New Year's Review and Meal Plan 1/5-1/10

As I mentioned, Brad and I met up with friends to celebrate the new year. This isn't the first year I've celebrated NYE off of East Coast time, but it is always strange to do so. You cannot really watch the ball drop in New York (the don't broadcast it live so its a replay which seems strange to me). Anyway, when midnight was approaching we took to the streets to get a good view of the space needle from Capitol Hill. Much to everyone's disappointment, Mother Nature had other New Years plans and dropped a thick fog over the city. We couldn't see almost any of the fireworks show! We drank sparkling wine and toasted anyway. It was actually fairly amusing to see how many people came out to see the fireworks and got nothing. I guess fear of fog isn't a reason to not put on the show but...seriously a lot of money was wasted that night!

The buses were so backed up with the downtown traffic that Brad and I ended up walking two miles home in the dark. But it was fun anyway, and its a walk I am accustomed to. We slept really well after that!

Next week everything will be back to full swing at work with everyone back from vacation. I guess in a certain way I am looking forward to things being "back to normal." But then again, I often wonder if I shouldn't have more spontaneity in my life. The somewhat monotonous schedule I have set for myself wears me down and bores me, but complete chaos would cause me a lot of anxiety. I definitely need to learn to go with the flow a little more to strike a better balance. Also, it would help if it wasn't pitch dark by 5 PM every night when I leave work, maybe then I would feel like doing more. 

Today was a good day. We cleaned all the shelves in our fridge because it was already almost empty from eating everything we had left. Its so nice looking now. Then we went to the zoo to get my membership card :) There were far, far too many whining children there, but it was still fun. We didn't intend to stay long because it was cold and we can go as much as we want now. But we did swing by a few exhibits, including the snow leopards where the youngsters were actually out and about this time. So cute to watch them chase each other! 

Peacock on the table outside the zoo food court.

One of the best things about the membership is that I don't have to be in a panic to get to every exhibit to get my money's worth and not miss anything. Its ok to just see a little bit and leave when we want to because we can come back and see more any time! 

After the zoo, we went to the home brew store and Brad bought the ingredients to make a "British Strong Ale"...Not sure how well I will like that one but it will certainly be something different to try. I will try to get him to write a post about that soon.

Then we got groceries, which brings me to the meal plan for the week!

Sunday: Kale and rice casserole, but I'm making a few mods to use what I have (brown rice instead of wild, pepper jack instead of gruyere, and milk instead of cream)

Monday: Tortellini 

Tuesday: Corn Chowder from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook I got for Christmas! and some bakery bread

Wednesday: Rice with red beans

Thursday: Spaghetti with bean balls! Very excited to try this, making the balls today and freezing

Friday: Not sure yet, but probably just veggie burgers or something else equally boring