Summer is cooking

I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen over the past week. 

I tried to make my mom a birthday cake early last week, but I think the frosting I made was too heavy for the very light, springy cake, and it fell in on itself. We still ate it, though; it was tasty and extremely sweet.

Later, I made steamed buns for the first time. It was a Hawaiian take on them, filled with ground beef that had been sautéed with onions and seasoned with five-spice, hoisin, and soy sauce. They were ugly, due to my inability to shape the dough properly, but they were stinking delicious. We still have a bunch because I made a double recipe. I think steamed buns are something I could eat almost every day and not get tired of it.

We recently re-subscribed to Imperfect Foods, taking a break from eMeals for a bit. I am liking it because instead of picking the same types of meals (vegetarian, heavy on the Asian and Latin influences), I'm getting ingredients that I then figure out what to do with. 

Later in the week, I cooked the pork chops they sent, and made a big batch of purple mashed potatoes. We also had some mushroom ravioli with a lovely spinach Alfredo sauce.

This has nothing to do with our grocery delivery, but the past couple of days, I've made yak chews. I've been looking at them ever since we decided to get a dog, but they're so expensive. I found a recipe online, made them. Twice. The first time, I guess I didn't use enough acid so I was able to run the milk through a second time and did a second batch! Now we have whey left over that I'm trying to give to my neighbors who have chickens, if I can catch them at home.

If I ever do decide to purchase yak chews at the store, I'm going to buy these from Yak-9. They're local!

We finished paying for our dog yesterday, and within a couple of hours, got a notice to set an appointment for pick-up. We're scheduled for Sunday, August 8! 

They're getting so big! This is actually two litters together. Ours start coming home next weekend, then the others a week later. (Luke is the mostly-white dog with some brindle spots and a blue collar, sitting right by the big old bucket, watching his bro (or sis) try to chew the dog fence.)

This week, Mal and I finally made it to a different homeschool meetup than the one we usually attend. He met a couple of kids who played the same way he does, and as we left, he told me, "I had the time of my life!"

We met at Casa Costa in Old Leander, where James and I went a couple of years ago (the pandemic makes the passage of time so weird), and it was really good. This time, I got Portuguese fries, which I highly recommend, if they're the special when you visit.

The next day, we went swimming with the group we frequent, and Mal loved the pool so much that he just went back with James. I still have a bit of a sunburn so didn't want to re-expose myself yet.

Mal slept with James two nights this week. The first night, he kept having to use the restroom (his doctor says this is normal, just an immature bladder) and decided he'd rather be in a bedroom where the bathroom is in the same space, because he was scared of running five feet through the living room to get to the well-lit bathroom in the front of the house. The next time, he just decided he wanted to sleep in there. I slept GREAT both nights! 

It's about three years late, but Mal might finally be transitioning to his dad as the "favorite" parent. I don't mind that at all. It's been a good run, and I'm more than willing to share the title with someone else for a few years.