Playing with friends

Thursdays are usually my day off.  I can take some time for myself during the day and relax for a little bit.  I can clean the house a bit by myself, watch some television without considering anyone else in the room, or take a nap if I so desire.  This week the world had other plans.  I stayed at the school this morning to help prepare for the school's upcoming summer festival.  The mom's from my son's class gathered to cut out shapes to make a small art project during the festival. 

I spent over an hour cutting little shapes out of construction paper that the kids will glue onto paper cups.  Other moms prepped cups, while others made signs.  Good thing so many moms showed up, as it could have taken much, much longer.

Afterwards, I headed home to eat lunch and clean up a bit.  Soon after I picked my son up from school, a friend from the park came over for a play date.  We had organized it as soon as we saw the weather would be rainy and windy today.  So I wanted to prep a few activities to do during their visit.

We ate snacks, dug up the remainder of the potatoes, played with trains, and even created things with playdoh.  It was a fun afternoon.  But by the time they left, I was super tired.  Even though I just wanted to lay on the couch for a while, I still had dinner to cook and my son to attend to. 

Dinner needed to be quick and easy.  So, I made my most recent quick and easy dinner.

I take any vegetables I have in the fridge.  After chopping them into very large pieces, I stir fry them in garlic oil.  Once cooked, I add the protein (tonight was tofu, but thinly sliced pork or chunks of chicken are also nice).  Finally, I toss in a pile of kim chee and a dash of soy sauce.  Then I serve it on a bowl of rice. 

Tonight's veggies included eggplant, zucchini, carrots,

kohlrabi, peppers, cabbage, and mushrooms.

I let my cubed tofu sit in a strainer for

30 minutes or so to release excess moisture. 

You can use any sort of kim chee - whatever you like!

The finished product. 

Not the most attractive, but very tasty.

Super quick and easy.  Perfect for a tired mom at the end of the day who didn't get her much needed day off.