Everyday Life and Menu Plan (1.29.16)

This was a pretty nutty week, in so many ways... For us, it was school conference week interspersed with sick days - one for my girl and two and a half for the boy child. Thankfully, they were okay-ish on conference day and missed school on mostly short days. Though, we didn't get out to celebrate their achievements with a trip for fro yo like usual, we DID go to the Bellevue Arts Museum for the first time this weekend. The free family day was a FANTASTIC experience. 

The theme for arts and crafts was Cultures Around the World and the amount of art, QUALITY art, we came home with was plentiful and so much fun to create: Aboriginal animal dot painting, 

make your own felt flag, Japanese kimono cut outs 

(so pretty, I made one too), Egyptian gold cuffs, and appropriately Chinese dragon puppets on the beginning of the lunar new year. It's also been so long since my husband and I have gone to view art. We had a lot of great discussions, and the bingo game for the kids was a perfect way to get them engaged, too. 

We will for sure be back for family day at the BAM.

And at the beginning of the week, I got to catch up with friends and see Laurie Frankel at Elliot Bay Book Company on the launch day of This is How it Always Is (review here). 

She was interviewed by Nancy Pearl, superhero Seattle librarian. What a fun book nerd extravaganza! Laurie was super charming, a fellow serial novel reader, and we were surrounded by so many authors. Laurie's husband and his band did an opening number which included Garth Stein - who you hopefully know as the author of the amazing The Art of Racing in the Rain! 

(Laurie's husband is in the lovely pink hat, and Garth is on the right.)
AND Carol Cassella was sitting just a few rows behind us. Cassella is a doctor and bestselling author - I quite enjoyed her novel Gemini, and she helped Laurie shape the mother's character in her book, a doctor. I'm sure there were others in attendance, but those two stood out to me!

On to this week - thankfully the kids are well and are back to FULL DAYS at school...

• Monday - Pizza
• Tuesday - Curried Lentil Soup (a top recipe of 2016 from The Cozy Apron)
• Wednesday - Buffalo Chicken Burgers (from How Sweet Eats)
• Thursday - Thai Turkey Meatball Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing
• Friday - Fish Tacos with Cilantro Lime Crema (a longtime favorite from Cooking Light)
• Saturday - Chicken Parmesan (fantastic recipe from Tyler Florence)
• Sunday - Pinto Bean Turkey Chili (Superbowl day recipe from Food and Wine)

As always, I'm linking up with Org Junkie - be sure to check out all the great weekly menus!