Busy Weekend in the Kitchen

I had a busy weekend. I thought it would be a little hectic but it turned out worse than expected because we decided to invite family up for dinner on Sunday and ended up with 7 guests.

Saturday was totally nuts! Aidan had to be the piper for 2 weddings, one at 10am and the second at 4pm (with the reception at 5.30). Thankfully, I slept in when he left to go to the first wedding (I think he left at 9 or something because he had to warm up his pipes away from the church). Since he had the car, I had to catch the bus into Hamilton. Unfortunately, I don't really know the bus schedule so I caught the wrong one and had to walk to the office. No one was there to let me in so I went to the Botanical Gardens for the SPCA Fair. I saw a few friends and their dogs and then got a call that the office was open. I only was in the office for about 45 minutes. Aidan picked me up and we went back to the Fair, had some lunch and he dropped me off at dance class #1.

The class was for our younger dancers and barring a parent incident, the class went very well. We then loaded the kids in various cars and went to dance class #2 on a school field. There we met up with the older dancers and ran through the two dances that we're doing for the Tattoo next week. By this time Aidan was well into wedding #2 and I had to get home. Thankfully I got a lift with two of my dancers. I literally walked into the house, sat down with QVC on and in seconds I was asleep. Aidan woke me up when he got in. We cleaned up, ran out to the store because we had extended the dinner invitation and managed to put the chicken in the brine solution before going to bed.

On Sunday I wanted to prepare the dogs for a party that they were invited to (a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel get together). I clipped them (mangled their paws though), bathed them and dried them. Then I started on dinner. At 1.30 (we were making 2pm), I was still cooking. At 4pm, I was still cooking. At 6pm, I was still cooking. Yeah, it was an all day affair. I made food for the dinner but I also made food for our Dec 19th party (to freeze). By the time our guests had arrived, I had the following on the table: carved roast chicken, sage sausage stuffing, sage gravy, lemon meringue pies (from scratch), pumpkin soup, chicken & lentil soup (using the chicken rack), pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, praline cookies, mini peanut butter cup cookies.

Dinner went really well and everyone ate their fill. The great thing was that once we cleaned up, my kitchen and dining room are pretty much ready for Saturday's jewelry making party! Granted, I haven't figured out the food for that one yet... maybe pizza... that's easy!

So now I'm back in Tattoo mode (ordered back-up uniforms), Summit mode (Oct 29 - Nov 4) and Master Class mode (planning Nov, Dec, Jan & Feb classes at the moment). It's a little insane but I am looking forward to resting between Nov 5 and 19... and then the next wave starts before surgery.

Oh, I did get some bad news today. My doctor in CZ has left the clinic. I've been notified but they probably won't give me a new doctor until I make arrangements for the next cycle. So I don't know whether (i) we find out where he goes and continue to see him (I really like how thorough he was), (ii) use the doctor that they give me (apparently a new female doctor has joined the clinic) or (iii) take this opportunity to explore other options (like Prague, Brno, another country... Aidan isn't hot on the Mumbai option though).