Dinner for a Frazzled Weekend

The frazzling began late Saturday night, when out of nowhere JJ started throwing up. Now, this child spits up right and left, but had never out and out vomited before, so we checked all of our books, and when he did it a few more times called his doctor. After which, of course, he settled down and didn't do it again, sparing us a trip to the emergency room at midnight. But the damage to his hapless parents was done. D got next to no sleep all night, leaving him borderline ill himself the next day, when we were expecting his sister and her husband to be staying the night with us on Sunday.

We managed to get the place cleaned up, and I finished up the grocery shopping. On the way home, the ginger ale's cardboard case gave way, scattering cans hither and yon through the the parking lot. I gathered up those that hadn't sprung a leak and soldiered on. When we got home, I found that the bottle of spray cleaner hadn't been tightly closed, so most of one bag smelled rather strongly of citrus and half of its contents had to be thrown out.

In the afternoon, wonder of wonders, both kids took a nap, so I took myself to my freshly cleaned kitchen and started to mess it up again, making sandwich bread and a cake to go along with the taco dinner I had planned. The latter I have made before, and we love the recipe in the summer, though the tacos tend to be a little bit unwieldy, with bits of veggies and pork juices falling everywhere. The previously untried lemon cake was okay, but I've definitely had better. I may give up on Cooking Light for dessert recipes; they have some standouts, but the whole impulse to be low-fat about things has led to some less than outstanding results. Though it may not seem like it to read this blog, I don't make desserts all that often, and if I'm going to the effort I want something that tastes really, really good. Like Lisa Yockelson's blueberry tea cake, reported on here by a fellow blogger (and commented on by Ms. Yockelson herself!).

By the time we finished dinner, I could feel the scratchiness starting in my throat. JJ got us up no less than three times in the night, and every time he did, my throat felt worse. So here it is, Monday morning, I am coming down with a cold, I have a ton of work to do this week, and I left my headphones at home.

The week should get better from here.