Sunday Fun Day!

8 a.m. block party
9:30 a.m. Church Ministry Fair and Sunday School
11 a.m. Children's Mass
12:30 Lunch
2:00 Final Basketball Game (a tie!)
3:00 Award Ceremony
3:45 Splash park
4:45 Shopping for dinner ingredients
5:30 HOME

I may collapse in a heap at any moment. It was all fun really, at the Ministry Fair I got to talk up two of my favorite events Stone Soup (check out this version of the familiar fairy tale) on Ash Wednesday and Las Posadas (illustrated with this lovely book). Anyhow, I meant to start a roast or something but time got away from us.

By the time we were finally headed home my husband was craving egg rolls. I have decided I am never NOT craving egg rolls at least a little, so this was fine with me. The only hitch in my giddy up was the fact that I have never made an egg roll before. After last month's very successful experiment with pot-stickers though, I was game for the challenge. I bought some egg roll wrappers in the produce section of the store and then went about figuring out the veggies I needed for the filling, the usual suspects bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, green onion. I had the onion and cabbage at home, plus some squeezy ginger in a little tube so I got what I still needed and headed over to the fish counter. There I bought some vegetarian sushi (the kids' favorite) and some California rolls (the only other kind of sushi I'd buy at our local grocery store). I also bought a package of edamame.

I got home and defrosted some ground pork and mixed it with my veggies, ginger and some soy sauce and garlic powder. Then I wrapped it in the little wrappers and sealed all the edges with beaten egg (the only egg in an egg roll it seems). Then the Hubs and I dropped them one by one into the pan with hot vegetable oil. The first one we tried was sort of horrifyingly raw in the middle so we nuked it in the microwave oven and then let the next egg roll sit a bit longer in the oil. The next one was less raw, but not entirely cooked. I won't say HOW many I ruined up before I decided to just quickly stir fry the filling and use cooked pork, but I am sure YOU would have figured it out much sooner. The cooked filling egg rolls went together in a snap. Very easy to make and delicious. I recommend making them a bit on the thinner side regardless just because the thinner rolls seemed to be more firmly wrapped.

We cut some egg rolls in half to cool, plopped them on the plates with some veggie sushi and edamame (came with it's own microwave tray, super easy) and called it dinner. A lot of vegetables per serving really! No one was really in the mood for a heavy dinner so it was a great choice.

Tomorrow is Lundi Gras (Fat Monday) aka the day before Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) basically the last 2 days before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season. I have a recipe to try to make homemade beignets. I love beignets and I have had them at the Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. My Mom used to send away for their beignet mix back before you could order stuff on the internet. Nowadays I can even find the beignet mix in the store sometimes, but I think making the whole kit and caboodle from scratch might be fun. Might also be a big sugary pain in the neck, but we shall see. I also plan on getting a LOT of chocolate in me before Ash Wednesday because I am giving up the stuff for the duration of Lent, 40 days, ending as I dive ravenously on a chocolate bunny on Easter Morning. :)