Weekend in photos, and news!

I shouldn't have put that "and news" at the end of the title, because there's no way I can wait until the end of the post to say this: we got the duplex we applied to rent last week!!! It's beautiful, and we're so happy to be moving there, and to know finally where we will be living and what's happening for at least the next year.

Matt got the call offering the place to us if we were still interested yesterday afternoon, and we will be signing the lease in the next couple of days. I'm so glad that the timing worked out the way it did, because around noon today, he found out that someone else was hired for the job in Indiana. Because we didn't know that yesterday, we were really able to make a free decision that "no matter whether we're offered the job in Indiana or not, we want to stay here and move into the new duplex." It's a little thing, and maybe it wouldn't have made a difference, but it seems possible that if we'd heard that Matt didn't get the job before we heard about the duplex, being able to rent the duplex might have seemed like a "consolation prize," and we might not have been as happy and excited about it as we are. Overthinking it? Probably.

Paperwork for our current landlords' sale is messy because they leave partway into July, so we're going to have to pay for July in both places, but I'm trying to look at that as a positive: this way we can move into the new place whenever we're able and still have plenty of time to thoroughly clean the old one.

So that's our excitement right now! Time to start packing up boxes, making a list of what we'll need for the new place and looking on Craigslist/at garage sales, plus lists of people and companies that will need our new address, utility companies that need to be contacted, questions to ask our new landlords... Yes, I need lists to function effectively. It sounds like we'll probably start moving boxes once we sign the lease and get the keys, but won't actually "move in" (furniture, etc) until next week. We have enough going on just with prepping, packing, and getting ready to celebrate the Fourth of July with my family.

As for the weekend photos that I promised... I really thought I did a good job of taking pictures this weekend, and maybe there are more on Matt's phone, but it looks like pretty much all I have are photos from cooking supper on Saturday and Sunday! Sorry I don't have anything more interesting, but both meals did turn out well... And given my track record of photo-taking, having this many photos of anything from a 48-hour period is an accomplishment!

Saturday: bourbon chicken on the grill with peppers and onions

Little Bear made sure Matt had "music" while he was grilling

So much grilled deliciousness! Usually we would just make a reasonable amount for supper that night and put the rest of the pack of chicken breasts in the freezer uncooked. But we figured that we're trying to empty our freezer right now, so we should grill all five and have wonderful leftovers for the next few days. It was definitely a good plan!

Sunday: sole meunière with rice and green salad

Dredge three-quarters of a pound of Pacific Dover sole in flour with a little bit of salt and pepper 

Brown three tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook sole a few pieces at a time, not allowing them to touch, for one and a half minutes per side

My first attempt at French cooking, and a recipe which was apparently Julia Child's first experience of French cuisine, was a success! And it was incredibly easy; I was able to make the rice and salad while the sole cooked, even with a whiny toddler hanging on my knees. I'll definitely try making it again some time if I find sole on sale again.

Using these quantities yielded three largish servings; one for Matt, one for Little Bear to share with me, and one left over. I don't know how well it would reheat, although I'd be reluctant to try... Instead I chopped up the leftovers and added them to my leftover tilapia and vegetable medley from Thursday and made soup. Little Bear ate the soup more eagerly than I've ever seen him eat anything that wasn't straight carbs, so it looks like a fish chowder will be appearing on our supper menu in the near future!