Weekend Happenings

It was another busy weekend here in the Erickson household. I watched our friends kids on Friday night while they went out for dinner and when they got back Bryan joined us and another fun couple from our ward for a massive game of Settlers of Catan. So fun!

On Saturday Max and Sophie finished up the soccer season and then in the afternoon Max's team had a coaches BBQ at one of the team members homes. They BBQ was a lot of fun with some really great food. The boys were out of control but what can you expect when you put 12 seven year old boys together on a hot Saturday afternoon?

I did not take many photos, but I had to snap a shot of the food because it was so yummy! They burgers were cooked on the grill and had a selection of great toppings - roasted red peppers?! Yum! The asparagus was also grilled and had been marinated in garlic, butter olive oil and salt and pepper. The guy who made it said the trick was to marinate it in the fridge so the butter and oil congeals onto the asparagus before you put it on a very hot grill for just a minute or two. It was crispy and oh so good! I made one of my favorite recipes Quinoa and Black Bean Salad. I did not have the regular quinoa in the cupboard so I used red. I follow the basic recipe except I cook the quinoa just like rice and when it is done I spread it on a cookie sheet to cool. I added one fresh jalapeño instead of pickled, cucumber, celery, red pepper and green pepper and red onion. I also add more lime juice and cilantro and a bit less olive oil. It is really, really good and quinoa is all sorts of healthy and a great source of protein. Try it!


On Saturday night, our friends watched our kids while Bryan and I and Koo went to see the Minnesota Orchestra season preview concert. Koo had received free tickets from a colleague and gave a pair to us - free date! The concert was excellent and it felt so nice to go somewhere so adult! I feel like we do very few things that do not involve children in some way so it was lovely to go to the concert and not be on pins and needles wondering if the kids next to me was going to be quite or disturb the whole concert!