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Menu: Simple Middle Eastern-ish Dinner
Do you hear that? Wait, I don’t either. That’s because it’s the sound of silence – the kids are asleep. There’s candles lit without any supervision needed and there are breakable things low to the ground. I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be human. I don’t know how else to say it. Parenthood changed me in that I kind of forgot who I was for awhile. But I’m back, at least kind of back. I’m back in the kitchen when I have the time (going on several months now) but more recently and importantly, I’m back to hosting real dinners. See, for awhile there I hadn’t posted any menus. That’s because my entertaining involved making a Caesar salad with homemade croutons but with bottled dressing and then ordering some pizzas. Thank GOD that phase is somewhat over. We’ll still have our pizza and salad parties, but thrown in there are parties with real food – food that might take a little time to prepare and that requires real serving dishes! Hurray.
I was so out of practice for our recent dinner party that while all the toys were hidden (see here), I didn’t even have a decent bottle of wine. Oh the horror! The dinner we hosted was really simple, but it felt special. Here’s the menu we ended up tagteaming for this fun little dinner for 4:
Middle Eastern-ish Dinner
Appetizers:
Armenian string cheese, homemade pita chips, hummus, Marcona almonds, the most delicious green olives ever, Kalamata olives, carrot sticks
Dinner:
Chicken kebob (marinated by Trig in yogurt, onions, and lots of various spices)
Lamb kebob (marinated by Trig in red wine, onions, salt, pepper)
Armenian rice pilaf (the first time I did it perfectly – with my side’s addition of toasted pine nuts and slivered almonds)
Grilled vegetables (eggplant, mushrooms, colorful peppers)
Pita
Dessert:
Grapes, chocolates, and sinful brownies
Toy Map
I recently wrote about how I manage our toys in our play area. Our play area is a part of our living room so it’s important to me that the toys aren’t visible all the time. However, that poses one problem – it is hard to know where toys are and where they need to be put back.
Solution? A toy map!
Trig worked late tonight so once the kids were asleep, my work was done, and the kitchen and floors were clean I played on my computer for a few and created this toy map:
It corresponds with each section of our toy bins. I plan on putting it in a plastic frame that we can all reference when playing or cleaning up. That includes Raffi! I put a photo that represents each section to make it easier for him to identify.
Oh the things I do when my husband works late…
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