this is what last weekend looked like: lots of food, lots of friends, lots of down time. this is what my upcoming weekend will look like: lots of food, lots of family, lots of work! 18 family members (little ones included) gathered at my parents' house to celebrate my cousin's birthday–a meal, that largely, james and i are preparing on our own. hi james! did i mention that part? oh, don't feel too bad for him, it's not that he didn't know we'd be helping in a major way. it's just that my cousin loves chinese food and my parents sort of defer to us when it comes to that cuisine. i mean, my mom can COOK, and she makes a mean dry, chili/garlic long-bean stir-fry. yet she opts to make fried-rice with par-boiled rice (sorry, but that's not going to yield the expected result), and my dad would automatically curry any chinese noodles he got near enough to stir. so while they will be super sous chefs, james and i will be running things in the kitchen that day/night/all-weekend-who-are-we-kidding.
so i look back fondly for now on the weekend past, when i had time to make eggs poached in tomato sauce with black olives, eaten with buttered, crusty bread, in front of the tv watching an episode of lidia's italy on pbs. my favourite saturday afternoon ritual will probably be on hold for longer than i can bare to think about. because after this weekend, well, it all starts, doesn't it? season of chaos, here we come…