a restful weekend.

yesterday, i took the day off from cooking. by the end of five straight days of real cooking, my kitchen looked like all the cupboards had exploded, every single flat surface was covered a couple layers thick with dirty dishes, and if there is anything i learned from watching Julie&Julia and also reading the book, it is the importance of keeping a clean kitchen so as to avoid having maggots take up living under your dish drainer. (but just to clarify i am NOT planning on making this a whole year experiment)

so in an effort to minimize the mess of the kitchen and maximize the chance that i would actually clean it all up, i didnt attempt any new recipes. instead, we ate brunch (eggs on toast for Mark and pancakes for me) when we finally woke up around 1130, and then invited some friends from college over for the afternoon. the boys worked out while the girls had some much needed social time. then we all went out to dinner and a movie. a fabulous, much needed time of just hanging out and relaxing and having fun that was way overdue.

and eventually, the kitchen did get cleaned - after i made strawberry smoothies for breakfast, before we microwaved more leftovers for lunch, and just in time for tonight's dinner - crunchy breaded pork chops with mashed sweet potatoes and sauteed spinach!

it was SO much easier to cook when i was starting with a clean kitchen, and also easier to convince myself to clean up after myself when i only had one meal's worth of mess instead of layers and layers of mess. also, i think cooking on the weekends is much more enjoyable, since i have more time and am less rushed. (although i was rushed enough to mis-read the spinach recipe and add 50% more salt than was called for, leaving the spinach all but inedible)

i have one or two more recipes left on my meal plan, which has lasted us more than a week. if i can remember to find some macadamia nuts, then i think i'll make the last dinner recipe tomorrow and maybe finish up a few of the lunches we skipped throughout the week.