This and That

For some reason last night my body just would. not. go. to. sleep. I lay there for what seemed like forever. Well past one, before things finally decided to shut down. No idea why. I'd not even had any caffeine. Go figure.

Well, here's hoping I get better sleep tonight.

The baked oatmeal was a success. So is the menu plan. My kids LOVE knowing what's coming. I like not having to figure stuff out, too.

Tonight I tried a new pasta cooking technique: I got the water started boiling, added the noodles, covered it and turned off the heat. And then I went to vespers. An hour later I came back and drained the still warm and nicely fluffy pasta (twas a wee bit softer than I'd normally cook it, but very very edible) and we ate dinner. I'd done the sauce up in advance, too. So, in addition to baking stuff in the oven while I'm at vespers, now I have another vespers-friendly menu item. Yay.

The Waterfront Park is just lovely. The kids and I explored there this afternoon. Got a little overheated, so ended up at the spray park, and I let the kids get wet, even though they were in street clothes instead of swim suits. Bethany can get overheated easily as a side effect of her meds, so I have to pay attention to details like that.

Down by the water, we watched some birds, the usual ducks and a water bird that I was unfamiliar with. It looked gullish but different. Can't really describe it. We also watched a huge barge go by and enjoyed throwing stones into the Ohio River. Some poor ducks kept thinking we were tossing them bread chunks, so finally I put a stop to the rock throwing, as it was causing confusion and consternation for the duck population. Maia lamented at the garbage in the water, which was indeed sad.

I'm still not bored with exploring Louisville yet. There are lots of fun places to go here in this town.

Comments

Laura said…
The water park sounds lovely!

We deal with feeding issues at school sometimes. If I discover anything useful about introducing new tastes and textures, I will let you know. I'm still learning a lot!
mamajuliana said…
Alana,

Does your pasta cooking method work with the GF rice or corn pasta?
Alana said…
I have no idea about the GF pasta. You'd have to try it to find out.
elizabeth said…
very cool! meal planning in advance - sounds like something I should try...
Unknown said…
I often start gluten free pasta boiling, turn it off, cover it and let it set for about 20 min. (not sure exactly). Anyway, it works just fine with the Tinkyada pasta which is my usual brand. But if you leave it too long it definitely overcooks. I've been meaning to experiment with maybe not heating the water all the way to boiling to see if that would work but haven't tried yet.

The park sounds great, we did something very like that with the kids at the Cinci waterfront park. They had a blast. Does yours have a playground? Perhaps that would be a better idea than a zoo trip?