This Week’s Menu

First things first: We spent $31.75 on produce last week, a little bit more than we usually do, but still a lot less than we’d pay in a store here. The most expensive item? Bananas! They were not easy to find for some reason last week. Broccoli and tomatoes were also high, but the season for them here is short so their price is always more. Pineapples are just starting to appear at the market, but they’re still charging tourist prices right now (i.e. $12 for a small one). As I said in one comment yesterday, for some farmers we buy from, the markets are the only way they earn a living.

It’s going to be a kind of screwy week here menu-wise at Casa Aloha because WenYu and I will be gone for two days out of the week. Also, last week’s menu got a bit messed up because I forgot about Thursday’s never-ending track meet (they didn’t get home until around 9:30 p.m.) and bought broccoli at the farmers’ market which needed to be used up sooner rather than later – I made stir-fried tofu & broccoli with spicy peanut sauce for our dinner last night.

So, coming into this week I have two meals getting bumped from last week, and there will be two days where Brett and YaYu will be on their own. WenYu and I won’t be arriving until way after the dinner hour on Saturday, so it will be another YOYO night for all of us.

I’m not too concerned about eating while I’m in Colorado although I know nothing about the town, or how to get around in it. We’ll stop somewhere on the way to the campus on Thursday to grab lunch, and then I’m going spend a short time with WenYu after we arrive, but otherwise she’ll be on her own until we meet up for lunch on campus on Friday. Some of this is because I want her to experience as many things at the college as possible without me being a filter (and who wants to check out a college anyway with your mom hanging around), but also because I know I am going to be drop-dead exhausted from our overnight flight to Seattle followed by the flight to Colorado. I plan to check into our hotel as soon as I possibly can and go to sleep!! The hotel has a cafe, and I did find some tasty looking vegan items on their menu so that will do for my dinner on Thursday, and breakfast on Friday and Saturday is free at the hotel. WenYu and I will go out to dinner somewhere on Friday evening.

Anyway, here’s the menu for next week, although there are no guarantees that it won’t get changed either!

• Tuesday (tonight): Drunken noodles with tofu
• Wednesday: Grilled fish tacos with mango salsa; Mexican rice
• Thursday: YOYO for Brett and YaYu
• Friday: YOYO for Brett and YaYu; WenYu and I are going out to eat (we’re thinking Japanese)
• Saturday: ?????
• Sunday: Hiyashi-chuka (cold noodle salad – no ham for me)
• Monday: Slow cooker chicken adobo with bok choy; steamed rice (not sure yet what I’ll have)

Once again, we’ll see how it goes!