Old School Dining

Creamy Artichoke Soup by Brennen

Caelan's Lentil Spinach Soup

This bread was seriously good!

It all began with lamb . . . :) Actually, it all began when we got Gabby's new glasses. The prescription was way wrong. When the girl at the counter was typing in the order, she said, "This is really a big change, I better go check." Well, she checked and the doctor confirmed. The glasses (a week or so later) did the opposite. "Mom, I see double in this eye?" Yeah, not good.

So we made another appointment with another doctor (again wishing our regular eye doctor had not had to transfer his appointments that day). Gab got a completely different prescription, we re-ordered her glasses, and since Buck is sort of (kind of) the eye doctor's boss--he was a not happy pappy!

Our original plan during this unusual second trip, was to gather some of the ingredients Caelan had been storing up on a list. Their curriculum invited them to plan and prepare a Bible times meal for the family. Caelan had been searching the internet and getting feedback from her siblings for more than a week. Finally settling on the menu, the trip seemed timely. But we forgot, ha! Because Buck was able to leave early that day. We had way more fun things on our minds . . . like dinner out as a family.

Well, oddly enough, this particular evening there was a crazy winter thunderstorm--with lightning! There were accidents everywhere, tons of traffic, and soaking rain--so weird! We drove separately to the restaurant, and found ourselves seated in a giant corner booth, practicing our chopstick skills ;) Yes, Grandma J sent us a PF Changs gift card (Buck said it was just for us, but we decided to share). Somehow--we managed to hit the price almost exactly, which is weird because usually just Buck and I can rack up that kind of bill by ourselves. Granted, he signed up for some special club deal so he could order sushi  off the super-secret, not available to the public menu. G$ got a kids' meal. Gabby declared Chinese food was not her jam, and just ate rice :) I remember the portions being gigantic, so we had C & B split a plate and viola! However, everyone licked their platters clean and B said, "Mom, I'm still REALLY hungry." (He had second dinner at home after we made it through the crazy weather back to our house).

But we forgot the lamb.

So, the next day, being Buck's day off--he and several of the children set out to gather the (of course, rare, expensive) ingredients on C's list :) He drove ALL over town, looking for lamb. Strike one! Called to confirm (they didn't mention he had to buy like HALF the lamb); Strike two! Finally had to go to a Sam's Club (our membership expired, so he had to reup it to buy lamb--I kid you not) and we ended up with four pound lamb roast that cost about $65 (including the membership, which he did get reimbursed because he uses it for work a lot) and hours of time.

While I continued to work on next year's school book order, he and the kids prepared our feast--wait, maybe that was the next day, but they for sure put the lamb in the marinade (which was a lot of onions and a lot vinegar). Buck said the actual making of the meal was harder than prepping for Thanksgiving! So many unusual ingredients and cooking methods.

Finally, they served the first course--an artichoke soup (soooo yummy) with the El Khobz bread that the girls made. The second course was spinach and lentil soup (I liked it, but I really like spinach :), rice of Beersheba (Graysen's contribution--with capers and dill), cucumber and yogurt salad (Gabby's dish), and Rebekah's tasty dish--remember how Esau's birthright got tricked out of him by his brother? Apparently this lamb dish is what was served--although, I'm not sure how Biblical hunting sheep is. Surely it was some other meat back in the day? :) Despite it's strong salty/vinegar flavor, it was so tender! And we were stuffed! :) Caelan finished off the meal with Tiger Nut Sweets--a roll of dates, cinnamon, walnuts, honey, and almonds all dusted with powdered sugar. Kind of healthy, really!

We of course could not eat all of this! We took a large tin full to the K family to enjoy (and there's still more in the leftovers category within our fridge :)

Anyway, we were proud of the kids for trying something new, planning and prepping it (with a little help from dad) themselves!

G's Rice of Beersheba

Gabby's Yogurt Cucumbers

A healthy dessert, pretty much ;)