February: Weekday Dinners from Around the World

A little more than a month ago I went to bed one night and couldn't sleep very well.  I kept tossing and turning because I had a lot on my mind.  My brother was struggling to figure out who he was and was angry all the time, I found out someone I knew committed suicide, I was debating whether or not I should write that letter to a friend (who's partner committed the suicide) I used to have and let stuff go and a bunch of other stuff.  I actually got out of bed at like 1 a.m. to write some notes on that said letter.  I also had a thought; I wonder what it would be like to pick a meal to try from a different country every night for February, since it was the shortest month, to see if they were any good.  There were 20 weekdays therefore 20 different meals to get ready for.  

I started planning meals.  I wanted a good array of things.  Soups, sandwiches, casseroles, stir fry's, bread, crock pot meals, chicken, beef, rolls, noodle bowls etc.  I got onto several recipe websites to do some research.  I chose quick and easy ones for Thursdays since Ben had training and I picked more lengthy ones for Fridays.   A lot of the ingredients we already had for many of the meals, and I would have to purchase two or three ingredients I didn't have for each meal every week when I went to the store.  I would try and make sure I had everything before the new week so I didn't have to go to the store every day because that would get old and annoying.

I printed out all of the recipes and made a grocery list every week.  A lot of the ingredients were really easy to find since most of the meals required chopped onions and a lot of rice.  However, some of the meals required me to buy rice I've never worked with before.  Some of the ingredients were really hard to find and I had to go to three or four different stores.  Puff pastry, spinach and certain Asian ingredients were super hard to find.  I struggled that week when I went shopping.

I was torn.  I had fun learning about new foods, how to cut and prepare those foods, using different techniques to prepare and cook the food, eating the food and sharing the food with others but it was a lot of work.  However, a lot of preparation, time, energy, cleaning and putting leftovers away was a lot of work.  There is a reason why I am not a chef.  I would get so burnt out from doing this for a living. 

Tuesday, February 1 (Sweden)

Our first meal comes from Sweden.  I found an easy recipe for Swedish meatballs (Svenska knottbullar) and I decided we needed a side and had a green salad with the meatballs.

The time-consuming part was getting the ingredients mixed with the hamburger, rolling them into meatballs and putting them into the fridge to chill.  I then put the meatballs into a skillet with beef bouillon, flour, water and evaporated milk until it thickened.  I added some lemon juice and then plucked out the meatballs and put them on three plates.  We each got four meatballs and a side green salad.

Everyone said they've had some form of these before because the flavor was familiar.  Overall, they thought it was pretty good, but it did not make the top five. 

Wednesday, February 2 (Spain)

The second day was a trip to Spain.  I made Paella de Pollo.  It is a rice dish mixed with different kinds of meats, spices and veggies.  It is originally from Valencia, on Spain's Mediterranean coast and is one of the best-known dishes in Spanish cuisine.  Mine had chicken, diced ham, onion, red pepper, arborio rice, turmeric, cumin, garlic, salt, chicken broth and frozen peas.

You cooked the chicken, ham, onion and red peppers together, removed it from the pan, browned the rice in oil, put in the spices, returned the meat and veggies to the pan with the broth and brought it to a boil.  I covered it and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.  I put the peas in last.

Everyone liked it.  I thought it was a simple dish with a lot of flavors.  I will probably make this one again because it was easy and tasted pretty good.

Thursday, February 3 (Australia)

I had to find a couple quick meals on Thursdays because of Ben's training nights.  I saw this one for Aussie Rolls, looked pretty good and easy.  I've never used puff pastry before, and it was really hard to find at the stores.  I had to go to three different stores to find it.  

That day, I should have taken the puff pastry out of the freezer sooner than I did.  I think it was just the lack of not being that experienced with it.  I followed the instructions and got everything chopped up and mixed with the sausage.

I got the rolling pin out and rolled the puff pastry as the directions indicated.  I cut it into three long strips and placed the sausage mixture in the middle, pinched off the edges and cut them into bite sized pieces and stuck them on the rack on the cookie sheet.

I had two cookie sheets full of sausage rolls to put in the oven.  I was really excited to see how these turned out.

In Australia, these are consumed during lunch or as a snack and could have just about anything as a side.  I chose potato chips because that's what we had.  I had gotten a large bag of sea salt Kettle Chips from Costco the other day.

Everyone liked them.  They were flavorful, crispy and I could see why these were a big favorite of those down under.  

Friday, February 4 (Germany)

I've always wanted to know how to make German potato salad (Kartoffelsalat) and schnitzel.  I made an effort when I was searching for recipes to find a somewhat easy one.  I knew it was going to be a little bit more time consuming than the rest of the meals from the previous days and I chose a Friday just because of this reason.

Our schnitzel was going to be pork (Schweineschnitzel) and it didn't look too complicated to tackle.  I started with the potato salad because that part was going to be the most time consuming.  I managed to get the potato salad done and put it in the fridge to chill.  

The next part I was nervous about because I am not too well versed in hot oil in a pan and frying things in it.  I didn't know if it was going to be too hot or not hot enough.  I put the first breaded pork into the oil and it was definitely too hot, so I turned the temperature down.  I was supposed to flash fry them because they were thin.  I did get it to the perfect temp and flash fried a bunch of them so we would have leftovers.  I even asked Dad if he wanted to come over and he politely declined.

My favorite part was the potato salad.  It was really good and will probably make it again.  The schnitzel's flavoring was disappointing, and everyone agreed that if I were to make this again, it needed some more flavor, it was too bland.

Monday, February 7 (Norway)

I was excited for the Norwegian dill salmon and lemon infused risotto mostly because we are Norwegian, and I really enjoy eating salmon when I can.  The lemon infused risotto also sounded delicious.  

I made the dill sauce first, which consisted of mayo, dill, sour cream. green onion and lemon juice, stirred it up and stuck it in the fridge to chill.

Next, I made the risotto.  It had chicken broth, olive oil, shallot (which I've never used so I had to see how to cut it), arborio rice, garlic, pepper and grated lemon zest. I let that cook out and then I pan fried the salmon with some oil, salt and pepper.

I placed some risotto on a plate, stacked the salmon on top of it and a dollop of the sauce to complete the meal.  I made some canned green beans as a side.  I meant to make the fresh green beans but got so immersed in what I was doing that I forgot to make them. 

Everyone liked it.  Ben really liked the rice.  Doug said the sauce reminded him of tartar sauce and that it would go really nice with some good fish and chips.  Hmmm, I might have to consider that if I ever decide to make homemade fish and chips someday. 

Tuesday, February 8 (England)

I chose Bubble and Squeak because of the name.  I have heard of this dish before but never really looked that into it to see what it was.  The dish is eaten typically for breakfast made with left over veggies, potatoes and chopped meat.  It is known as the great peasant dish of the world because of its ingredients.  Its name comes from the sound the food makes while it's cooking.

I made the mashed potatoes because we didn't have any already cooked from previous dinners, I added diced ham, bacon bits, cabbage, onions and green onions and cooked that in a pan like a pancake.  Afterwards, you add a sunny side egg to the top.

I liked this meal and would probably make it for everyone for breakfast one day.  It was a nice change of pace for dinner.  Ben and Doug said that this really wasn't a dinner but more of a breakfast.  I told them that sometimes people have breakfast for dinner.  They didn't disagree.

Wednesday, February 9 (Peru)

Pollo a la pina (pineapple chicken) was the recipe I picked from Peru.  I actually have been to Peru, and they have some great food there.  I was trying to stay away from potatoes, corn, quinoa and beans.  I found a recipe that had pineapple in it, and I was kind of excited.  I wanted to try something different.  I am not a huge fan of pineapple, but this recipe had some potential.  Yes, I am one of those people who agrees that pineapple does not go on pizza.

This recipe had a lot of steps but in the end, they were totally worth it.  I used bite sized chicken, soy sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, pineapple chunks, sugar, corn starch, olive oil, tomato paste, green onions and a red bell pepper.  All the spices and soy sauce got mixed together.  The sugar added to the pineapple chunks along with the juice and boiled together.  I used the corn starch to coat the chicken pieces, cooked the chicken evenly on all sides until crunchy.

I added oil and tomato paste in a wok (this was my first time using a wok, I took the one from Grammie and Grandpa's house and cleaned it up) added the bell peppers, chicken, pineapple chunks and some of the syrup until it was slightly glazed.  I added green onions on top and scooped up some and put it on top of a bed of brown rice.

So far this was a huge favorite of us all.  Ben said this one was in his top three so far.  He even had one of his coworkers ask me for the recipe. 

Thursday, February 10 (Poland) 

It is another Thursday and another quick meal because Ben had training tonight.  I chose a "sandwich" this time and took advantage of the many different types of Polish sausage.  I found some local-ish Polish sausage from Oregon.  I read up on people's reviews of this sandwich and they said onion buns were better than the given bread in the recipe.  I picked up some Dijon mustard and had all of the other ingredients required for this dish.  Pepper, salt, olive oil, honey, white wine vinegar and lettuce, I already had.

I really wish we had the BBQ up and running this time of year, but we didn't.  This meal would have benefitted from the grill.  I didn't have a raised cast iron pan either, so our sausage wasn't going to have the grill marks on it.  

I get the sausage cooked, I make the honey mustard dressing, I wash the lettuce and I toast the buns.  It was an easy peasy meal and I had everything all done minutes before Ben walked through the door from work.  I threw some of those sea salt Kettle chips on the plate as an easy side.

I liked the dressing paired with the sausage and the onion buns gave it a little bit more of a dimension than having plain buns.  Overall, the flavor was there but it could have used the grilled flavor and char.  Ben and Doug said it wasn't bad but not one of their favorites. 

Friday, February 11 (Greece)

This looked good and fairly easy to make but the making part ended up being the hardest because I had no idea how to handle phyllo dough.  That, and it was really hard to find at the stores as well.  Why are these ingredients hard to find for some reason?  Anyway, I went by the recipe...made the chicken and spinach mixture and started putting the layers of dough in the pan.  I should have done not as many layers of the phyllo dough because it ended up being waaayyy too much.

That would have been my only critique, less phyllo dough.  The chicken and spinach mixture was pretty good and everyone said they liked it except for the excess dough.  It was out of control.  Ben ended up taking this to work with him for several days because this served like 8 people.

Monday, February 14 (Mexico)

I had originally had something else planned for this day, and I was trying to stay away from North American Food (Canada, US and Mexico), but Ben insisted that we keep to our Deadpool and chimichanga tradition.  So, we had Mexican food from Don Juan's down the street and Ben was responsible for picking it up.

The chimichangas were amazing and obviously Deadpool was awesome as well.  I can't wait for the third Deadpool!

Tuesday, February 15 (Philippines)     

This Filipino dish, Pancit, looked pretty amazing.  I have never had no made it before, so it looked like a challenge.  The hardest part was finding the right noodles at the store to use.  They wanted the wet noodles in the frigerated section, but I just couldn't find any.  I had to go with dry noodles and put them in water to soak.  There are a bunch of different versions of Pancit but ours was chicken, rice noodles, onions, garlic, cabbage, fish sauce, oyster sauce and soy sauce.  I have never cooked with fish or oyster sauce before, so I wasn't sure what it was going to taste like.

This was another meal that I got to use the wok with but this time the wok got too hot and the noodles kinda burned on the bottom of it.  I got everything cut up and threw it on the wok and gave it a couple tosses.  I put some on each plate and garnished it with some green onions.  

Ben gave it a 6.5/10 and Doug said it was a little bland for his taste.  I liked it and would probably have this dish again but with the right kind of noodles and maybe a little bit more sauce.  

Wednesday, February 16 (Middle East and Israel)

I can't speak for Ben or Doug, but I have never had Middle Eastern food or couscous before.  I've always wanted to try it and I found a couple recipes that seemed easy.  The main dish was going to yield a lot of food though which meant a lot of leftovers for Ben to bring to work with him.  The main dish was a chicken and rice recipe with a lot of Middle Eastern flavors such as allspice, cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon and chickpeas.  Of course, there are onions.  There are onions in just about every meal and I hate cutting onions.  Luckily, I have some onion cutting goggles to keep the burn to a minimum.

I followed the instructions and let everything simmer in the pan.  Pretty sure this was my first-time cooking with Basmati rice.  Meanwhile, I got everything ready to go for the lemon infused Israeli couscous.  Everything got done around the same time.  I dished it up and served it to everyone. 

Ben said the food was pretty good but the spices in the chicken and rice dish were an interesting combination and he said he really liked the lemon in the couscous.  Doug said the chicken and rice were okay, but he wasn't that much of a fan of couscous.  He did eat a couple bites of it though.  I also thought it was an interesting combo of spices and ingredients, but I imagined that a lot of Middle Eastern food would be similar to this.

Thursday, February 17 (Russia)

This was another meal I chose because it was quick since Ben had training after work.  I don't believe I've ever had piroshki's but if not, I wanted to make them and eat them.  There are several different kinds of them, but I chose beef and onion.  Here we go with the onions again.  After this, I should be a pro at cutting onions.  

Again, one of the ingredient's was puff pastry and I learned from last time to set them out earlier in the day so they could thaw out longer.  I got my mixture done, cut my strips of puff pastry, put a tablespoon of beef and onion mixture and pinched the sides to make them look like triangles.  I placed them on my cookie sheets with racks on top and put them in the oven.  They smelled good when they were cooking.

Ben came home and ate and then got ready for his training and headed out to Tenino.  Erika and Zach invited Doug out to dinner, so Doug never got to try any.  I thought they were tasty and ended up giving Dad a few of them the next day when he stopped by.

Friday, February 18 (Brazil)  

I wanted to do a crock pot meal, so I found this one, Brazilian black bean and pork stew, and it looked pretty good.  The only problem is that it would have to cook for nine hours.  Which meant, I would have to get most of the stuff cut up, portioned out and ready to go the night before.  I know for a fact; I am too lazy in the morning to get it prepared.  I found out that Ben was taking the day off so he would be home to help me get it ready.  I had to start it around 9 a.m. so it would be ready around 6 p.m.  That night, Ben helped me cut up the meat, we put it into containers and stored it until the morning.

That morning, I got all of my stuff caught up enough to help Ben get the ingredients into the crock pot so it could cook.  It was torture smelling it all day long.  I couldn't wait to try it.  

As it approached 6 p.m., I got the rice cooker out and started cooking some brown Jasmine Rice dump some of the meaty goodness over the top of it.

Ben said that at this point, this was his second favorite meal, Doug said it was decent and I really liked it and planned on making it again sometime in the future.  I had toasted some plain bagels and stuck some honey cinnamon butter on it.  It was so good.

Monday, February 21 (Scotland)

Doug and I had a day off from work due to President's Day.  I chose, Scottish red lentil and barley soup with oatmeal bread, to make on this day, so I had enough time to make it.  I did some geocaching away from home for a couple hours because I didn't want to sit at home on my day off.

I should have started the oatmeal bread first but instead; I started the soup first.  I got all of the ingredients measured out and dumped into the pot and just let it simmer for about an hour.  The unusual ingredient for the soup was rutabaga, I know I've never had that before.  Meanwhile, I tried my hand at making bread without a bread maker.  This was new territory for me, and I hoped that they turned out well.   

I had to let the dough rest twice, once for an hour and the second time for 30 minutes.  I put them on the cookie sheet and into the oven.  Fingers crossed.  

The soup and bread turned out pretty amazing.  I was impressed with myself.  I made bread without a bread machine and soup from scratch.  I don't think I've ever had lentil or barley soup come to think of it.  This meal was on Ben's top three and Doug said it was okay, but he has pretty much said that about all of the food I've made so far.  I enjoyed it and I was pretty proud of myself on how great it turned out.

Tuesday, February 22 (Korea)

Happy Two's Day!  

I was excited to make this meal when I originally was looking for meals to make.  Around lunchtime, I cut up the sausage so it could marinate in the Korean BBQ sauce in the fridge.  The rest of it wasn't hard to prepare so I did after I logged off of work for the day and did some of my chores.  I cut up the carrots, red, peppers, green onions, and gathered up all the spices, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic.  I boiled some angel hair pasta and cut up two fried eggs into strips.  

The food turned out perfectly and this was the number one meal so far.  Both Ben and Doug loved the spice and the sausage.  We are definitely going to make this one again.

Wednesday, February 23 (Netherlands)

I accidently came across this recipe when I was searching for food to make.  That accident turned out to be pretty good.  It is called Mansaka and it is a traditional Danish recipe.  It is a combination of meat, veggies and spices.  I was intrigued.  

This recipe contained beef, onion, garlic, flour, salt, pepper, sugar, basil, cinnamon, oregano, mushrooms, tomato sauce, potatoes and Swiss cheese.  I am not a huge fan of mushrooms, so I cut them as tiny as I could. 

I cooked the burger, added all the ingredients to it and let it simmer while I sliced the potatoes with a mandoline, the thinner the better.  I placed the slices in a casserole dish and then layered the meat mixture, another potato layer and then the rest of the meat mixture...kinda like lasagna.  I grated the Swiss cheese over the top and put it in the oven.

I made green beans in the oven to go with it.  

It really did remind us of lasagna but without the noodles.  Ben said he liked it and I am not sure how much of it Doug actually ate.  This would be a great casserole if you were having a bunch of people over.  It had a very "homey" feel to it.

Thursday, February 24 (Japan)

I wanted to do a skewers meal and found a chicken yakitori recipe.  I knew the grill wasn't going to be ready at this time of year, but I went with it anyway and did my best.  I used mirin, soy sauce and sugar.  Most recipes asked for sake, but I didn't have any so our sauce was going to be a little different.

I cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces and poked them on a wooden stick.  I also cup up some red peppers into bite sized pieces and stabbed them with a wooden stick as well.  I kept them separate, when cooking because the peppers would have gotten done before the chicken.  I didn't want to have raw chicken and very crispy peppers.  I put them in the oven to cook.  

I threw on some green onions and some sesame seeds and served it with some more of the sauce on the side in a small bowl.  They turned out pretty good even though the grill wasn't up and running yet.  Ben liked it but he agreed that the grill would make it better and Doug didn't partake so I didn't get his opinion.    

Friday, February 25 (France) 

This French recipe for a cassoulet looked pretty good and easy to make.  It is a dish of white beans baked with meats.  I had to use one of my deep-frying pans because I didn't have a traditional cooking pot, a casserole d'lssel, which is sort of like a ceramic Dutch oven.  I got all of the ingredients together, chicken, sausage, beans, broth, veggies and spices, mixed them up and let it simmer inside the oven for about 35 minutes.  I served it with plain bagels with honey cinnamon butter.

I had invited Mom and Dad over to eat with us so I wouldn't have a ton of leftovers.  Doug decided he wasn't going to have dinner with us.  Mom ate very little, Dad and Ben thought it was pretty good.  I would probably make this again and invite people over to share it with.

Monday, February 28 (Jamaica) 

I've always wondered what jerk chicken was, so I made it a point to find out.  This recipe had a lot of spices that were involved.  Hours before cooking the chicken, I mixed together the spices, brown sugar and oil and rubbed the chicken with it.  The spice concoction smelled really good.  I put them in a container and put them in the fridge to marinate.  

I got the chicken out and put some tin foil on a sheet pan and placed all 12 chicken legs and put them in the oven for about 40 minutes.  Meanwhile, I made some more brown Jasmine rice and mixed some black beans into it for a rice and beans side dish.  I had forgotten I found a recipe for a Cuban rice beans dish, so I had to make my own at the last minute.  

The chicken, rice and beans went together perfectly, and I really enjoyed the jerk spices on the chicken.  We had some leftovers and Ben has those the next few days at work.

I really enjoyed learning, executing and enjoying an array of meals from all over the world.  I used many different techniques, pans, utensils, spices and ingredients.  It was interesting going to the store every week to purchase groceries especially when I had to go to many stores to find everything.  I will admit, it was hard work getting everything prepared (sometimes the night before), making sure I had enough bowls, pots and pans for everything.  I didn't like how many dishes some of the meal produced but I had Ben there to help me clean them up.  Some of the meals did seem like a second job after I logged off from work.  Overall, it was a fun experience, and I might do something like this again soon or next February.  We will see.

Next Adventure:  Errands, and Some Geocaching and Adventure Labs in Steilacoom, Wash.  

Two's Day: 2.22.22

A while ago I heard that we were going to have another palindrome week this year and what made it really memorable was that on Tuesday it was going to be Two's Day - 2/22/22.  Of course, there was going to be a geocaching event, Let's Celebrate Twos-Day on 2/22/22 at 2:22 p.m. (GC9MGG2).  Crap, it was on a weekday and those are hard to get time off for, especially in the middle of the day.  The only thing I could do was move my lunch from 11:30 to 2:00 instead and have that free hour to do my event.  Now, I had to hope that Tuesday wasn't going to be stupid busy.  I had my fingers crossed and hoped that the company that did our reviews didn't work on President's Day or I wouldn't be able to go. 

This was the 439th day that I've been working from home.  I really didn't want to get out of bed because it was pretty cold that morning and coming off of a three-day weekend is always brutal, but the silver lining was that it was a short work week.  Some places in the south sound got some snow.  Well, it forgot Lacey because we had none whatsoever.  I was a little jealous.  I did my work throughout the morning.  It was going perfectly until our PT lady got behind and I had to wait for her work to come over.  I had everything else done and was just waiting for that.  I did eat my lunch while I worked because 2 p.m. is a little late for eating lunch when we have it around 5:30-6:00. During my lunch time I was doing PT and my ten phone calls.  I got everything pretty much done before 2.

I changed my clothes really quickly because it was like 20 degrees outside, and the wind made it seem like it was colder.  I jumped into the Escape and drove to the park.  It was like a 5–7 minute drive.  I found the shelter everyone was congregating at, got out and joined them.  I signed the logbook, said my hi's, chatted about stuff and waited until 2:22.

We took a quick group photo.  OhJoy gave us coords for the cache, The Other Half (GC9MH9H), that was supposed to publish at 2:30, so we could get our second cache to allow us to get the souvenir. It was nice to see friendly faces again.  Since the pandemic, we haven't had very many events.  I think I've been to three and this one makes it four since March 2020.  Before the pandemic, we were going to like 6 or 7 of them a year.

Once the cache published, we all walked to it as a group along the trail on the edge of the park.  The wind was very cold, and I wore my mask just to keep my face warm.  

By the time I signed it, I had to start walking back to the Escape so I could get back home before 3.  I managed to get home on time.  Then I found out my massage (the thing I look forward to every month) was canceled for the next day because my massage therapist had to have knee surgery.  I was so bummed out!  The rest of the workday, I did my spreadsheets and got ready for the next day.

I was super thankful everything worked out to where I could go to the event.  I just wish Covid would go away completely so we can finally go back to normal.  These past two years have been rough.  

Happy Two's Day!!

Next Adventure:  February:  Weekday Dinners from Around the World

President's Day: Geocaching, An Adventure Lab and Some Thrift Shopping

I had a day off and I was determined to do something outside with it.  Sadly, Ben had Friday off and not President's Day off.  This year I actually enjoyed this long weekend because the company we get our reviews from at work also had this day off so that meant we were not going to have a double Tuesday.  I hate double Tuesdays!  I wanted to go get a couple caches and do another Adventure Lab in downtown Olympia.  I had my sights set on Percival Landing - History & Art on the Waterfront.

I slept in until about 9:30-10:00, ate some breakfast and put some clothes on.  Doug was going to spend his day wasting it away in his bed doing nothing.  I was getting pretty tired of it.  I grabbed stuff I would need and made sure my umbrella was in the Escape.  Before I left, it was dry but cold and I was hoping the rain would hold off until I was done.  

It didn't take me long to get down there since there weren't that many people driving around at that time.  I drove down to the Farmer's Market parking lot and found a place to park.  I was all bundled up, had my gloves, my hat and brought the umbrella with me just in case.  The clouds coming in from the west looked ominous.  I opened the app and looked to see where I started on my quick adventure.  I started at the anchor and had to find out how much it weighed.  I also saw that I needed All Along the Watchtower (GCF8CYX).  For some reason I remember coming here and looking for it, but it was missing at the time.  I let it go for a while and ended up finding it along with doing the boardwalk Adventure Lab.  I walked right up to it, signed my name got a picture and put it back.  I knew there were people watching me through the windows at Anthony's.

I spent a few minutes checking out a new piece of art near the watchtower.  I wasn't sure how long it'd been here since I haven't been out this way in a while.  It was a Rotary Club art piece.  I thought it was a cool piece and the sun was in the right place to get a nicely lit photo.

I moved on down the boardwalk towards 4th Avenue.  I felt like it was getting colder.  I was really hoping the rain would hold off at least another half hour.  I walked past several people walking their dogs and most of those dogs were wearing sweaters. My second stop was at the mural at the Olympia Seafood Company.  I had to find out the name of the boat.  The third stop to my short walk was near the shelter.  There was a panel that talked about the Mosquito Fleet that talked about tugboats and tow barges in the Puget Sound.  I got the captain's name I needed.  The fourth stop took me to a wooden Orca whale statue, and I had to get a name off of the list in front of the carving.  The last stop was near the kissing statues.  It was a mosaic map of the Puget Sound, I had to find out which capital letter was shown on the map. 

 The rain was still holding off so I debated whether or not I should start the other Adventure Lab on the list.  Historic Downtown Olympia was the next one that was nearby.  The first stop was near the fountain at the backside of a building belonging to the Chinese community.  I had to answer a question about our former governor, Gary Locke.  I actually got to meet him when I was a kid when my Dad took me to bring your daughter to work day back in the 1990's.

I was on my way to the second leg of the adventure when it started raining so I got the umbrella out and started back to the Escape.  Ben had messaged me, so I wrote him back.  I told him that I came down to downtown Oly to do one of the Adventure Labs and that I was walking back to the parking lot because it started raining.  He said that it had hailed at the base.  I hope it doesn't hail on me.  I hopped back in the Escape and decided what I was going to do from there.  

I drove up the hill to where Pacific intersected Martin Way and turned to get onto South Bay Road.  I wanted to avenge a DNF that's been sitting there since the beginning of 2021.  Ben and I came out there to get our souvenir for the new year and struck out because it was missing.  I stopped by again in July with Bev and again, it was missing.  This time, I finally found Zombie Skate (GC5W9HD).  I literally walked right up to it.  I think I would have found it the first time we were here because it was super easy, and I know I've checked this place twice.  I signed my name and Ben's and put it back.  There were a lot of people in line waiting for Skateland to open.

I drove into Lacey and went to the Dollar Tree, Value Village, Fred Meyers and the Lacey Goodwill on the way back to my house.  I was trying to find a SpongeBob toy for my trackable that I was waiting for in the mail.  I was one of a couple thousand geocachers who were rewarded with a trackable to promote SpongeBob's Kamp Koral cartoon on Paramount+.  I was not able to find one which was weird because SpongeBob is all over the place when you don't need it but when you do, you can't find anything.  

I went home and for the rest of the evening I worked on dinner.  It was the last full week of international meals that we've been trying all month long.  We had been getting tired of the same food over and over again and I had this idea to try.  So far, it's been pretty educational, and the food has been good.  That night, I worked on a Scottish red lentil and barley soup and made some Scottish oatmeal rolls.  I've never made soup like this before and have never had lentils or rutabaga.  Also, I've never made homemade bread without the bread machine before either.  I was pretty amazed with my cooking skills.  We watched the latest Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.  We liked it and definitely recommend it to anyone who likes Marvel movies. 

I have hit my 12,400 geocache milestone.

Next Adventure:  Two's Day: 2/22/22

Ben's Princess Themed Birthday Party

Every year, since we met, I've always asked Ben what he wanted to do for his birthday and just about every year he waits until the last minute to decide.  The only one he put any real effort into was when we went skydiving in Oregon for his 29th birthday.  When we went to Idaho to visit his friend Josh and his wife Sam back in 2019 was a close second.  We have birthdays in the wrong months.  It's hard to plan something because we don't know what the weather is going to be like.  

About a month ago, I asked Ben what he wanted to do for his birthday this year and he said he hasn't put any real thought into it.  I told him that his birthday was going to come quicker than he thinks it will.  He knew that and still didn't give me an answer.  Two weeks before, Josh, his other friend named Josh, messaged me on Facebook messenger to ask if I had anything planned for his birthday yet and I said I had no plans as he was speaking to me.  He asked if he could be in charge of it and I said sure.  He said he would provide the theme and the food as long as I host it and get the decorations.  I told him that I can make that happen.

I asked him what the theme was going to be.  He said princess.  Ben is going to murder us.  I am somewhat off the hook because it wasn't my idea.  

I asked Josh some of the details such as what time this was going down on the Sunday, what kind of food we were going to have and who was all coming as far as we knew at that point.  He told me 3:30, Costco sandwiches and cake and I was supposed to let him know how many people were coming so he could order enough food for everyone.  I told him I would let him know when I got the decorations.

I ended up picking up all of the decorations a few days later when I went grocery shopping.  I sent a photo of it all to Josh so he could see it.  He commented back, that's precious.  I hid them away so Ben wouldn't see them and ruin the surprise.  I called his mom and told her what we were doing, and she seemed pretty excited about it.  

I kept asking Ben what he wanted for his birthday and kept telling me that he didn't know.  So, I ended up getting him a few weird things that he could put some use to.  Two black long sleeved thermal shirts, a pair of Dragon Ball Z sandals and a picture frame that says I love my cat with a photo of Oliver in it.  Wade helped me wrap his gifts.

The day of, we got up, I made breakfast sandwiches and we spent a couple hours putting stuff away and vacuuming the house.  Dad came over to trade out some of our beat-up folding chairs for better ones.  Since he had the truck, he took our Christmas tree away I had forgotten to throw in the back of the truck a few weeks ago when I trimmed our out-of-control Rhododendrons.  Meanwhile, Ben worked on getting his motorcycle's sissy bar and seat changed out so I could ride on the back of it.  Then Doug decided he wanted to brush his dog at the most inconvenient time and needed my help.  So, I went out to the back yard with Doug and helped him and it took longer than I thought it would.  Charlie is so undisciplined.

I grabbed what I needed, Ben put a helmet on me, and we rode around the neighborhood for about 20 minutes just to get the feel of having two people on the bike.  

We got back and I started getting the rest of the living room ready.  I had Ben bring in chairs before I had him sit in the computer room while I decorated.  Trish, Ed and Amy arrived just as I started to decorate.  Trish helped me decorate.  She even brought her own tiaras for people to wear at the party if they wanted to.

We told Ben to come out of the room and he was not impressed.  He flipped us off and called us all dicks.  I told him it was all Josh's idea, and I could prove it if he wanted to see the Facebook message.  Kenyata arrived shortly after and laughed at all the decorations.  Kenyata is one of Ben's JBLM co-workers and this was his first time to our house.  Ben showed him around for a few minutes.  Josh messaged me to let me know that the food and cake were all picked up and he was on his way to our house from Tumwater.  

Josh arrived with the food, and everyone helped him bring the stuff into the house while I got the kitchen ready.  I bought princess paper plates and napkins to match.  Again, Ben was not thrilled.  Josh showed him his cake.  It was a rainbow unicorn.  More middle fingers and dick phrases were directed at us all.  

We ate food, chatted, made fun of Ben a little bit, told jokes and just enjoyed our day.  We got the cake out and decided not to blow out candles, but we did all sing Happy Birthday to him.  Trish cut the cake and we all got a piece of the rainbow unicorn cake.  It was good but soooo much frosting.  Ben opened his gifts.  He got a DNA ancestry kit from his mom and a couple things mentioned already from me.  We cleaned up and Ben wanted to play a game, so I told him to go pick one out.  He chose Joking Hazard and Doug ended up kicking our butts. 

We cleaned up and thanked everyone for coming over.  We put the tables and chairs away, did the dishes and I went over to Erika and Zach's house to deliver some of the food and cake to them.  We will not have a chance to eat it all, so we decided to share.  I was over there for about an hour visiting.  I came home, ate some popcorn, watched some movies while Ben played his game and I worked on my blog.  I was pretty much caught up and it felt good.  I've been behind for about four years.         

Happy 36th Birthday Ben!

Next Adventure:  President's Day:  Geocaching, An Adventure Lab and Some Thrift Shopping