Monday, February 27, 2012

The Weekend Was a Doozy

Saturday was pretty much all kids activities.  My younger daughter volunteered to work on the Makali'i, a Hawaiian voyaging canoe - she had to be at school at 7 am and was meant to be back at 9 pm, but the real arrival was closer to 10 pm.

I was very tired because my son had both a track meet and a wrestling meet.  Fortunately, they were both at the same place, so he was able to do his high jump, run over to wrestling and wrestle three rounds, then run back and do his 400 m run, and his 4 x200 m relay.  This is after he was gone all week working hard on various fish ponds and lo'i on Moloka'i with his class.  (He lost his expensive shoes and his expensive jacket along the way...).  I have no right to say I am tired - if anyone should be tired, it should be him.  But I am - track meets wear me out.  It was his 7th and final season in Age Group Track, which is amazing, actually.  If I were crafty and motivated, I could do some kind of display with his medals and what not - but I am not, so there you go.  I will have to go with the memories.  Some of the kids I coached when they were in 4th grade will be coming up to high school next year - it's just crazy how time flies. 

Running the 4 x 200 m relay in (school) record time was a pretty good way for the boys to end their Age Group career.   It's the laaaaassst race of a very long day, so most coaches pack it in before then - there were two teams running - a girl team and a boy team - so they were running against the clock rather than another team. 

Depending on my daughter, I may have an 8th season next year, but who knows - this year she had to make some choices between track, honor band, and the Makali'i.  She ended up doing a little bit of all of them. 

On Sunday, I decided to make stuffed rolls.  I cooked up several pounds of chicken thighs in the crock pot with carrots, cooked a kabocha pumpkin and several Okinawan sweet potatoes and started a double batch of whole wheat dough.  I divided the chicken mixture in two and seasoned some with curry and the rest with teriyaki sauce.  I froze a bit of the kabocha pumpkin and used the rest for the stuffed rolls.  I flattened disks of dough and placed the fillings in the middle and sealed them up.  So I could tell which was which I shaped them differently - the pumpkin ones were made into crescents, the purple sweet potato version was a ball.  The chicken version was also formed into a ball, but I sprinkled it with paprika so I could tell which was which.  I guess they were a little like manapua, but whole wheat and baked.  It took pretty  much all day and for some reason I had a grand-daddy of a headache.

It was worth it, though - I had two for lunch and they were delicious.  

6 comments:

Barry said...

Congratulations on your children's achievements and their involvement in Hawaiian culture and history!
While I wish I had some of the hanabata- and later-year memorabilia [rusty spellchecker just now] from my past, it would be just for nostalgia. Your kids likely have their own priority rank for da kine. Their gustatorial memories may cause them to ask you later on for your "secret recipes", annotated if possible with "how-to's" and "how-didja's". My mom did that, but the sole copy in the universe was purloined during a trip to Australia, much to our chagrin. The few bits and pieces we have, such as her eggnog recipe, have to suffice - she was a fabulous cook!
Your kids are very fortunate to have such caring and involved parents.

NancyDe said...

I have to say the term "helicopter mother" has been applied by my at-the-moment-ungrateful kids. They may change their minds later.... I once went on the College Board site and took a quiz about helicopter parents - I passed as a NON-helicopter mom... which I promptly told my kids....

Barry said...

Ha ha ha, touche`!! That is so funny!

HeirloomRosaries said...

Your parents must be so proud and in awe of you!

HeirloomRosaries said...

What's a helicopter mom?

NancyDe said...

Well, Heirloom Rosaries, thank you for that. A helicopter mom is one who "hovers" - asking about grades, checking up on applications, etc. etc. was deemed hovering - to which I say, "Too bad for you! This is the way it is."

A real helicopter mom will go on job interviews with their kids...I might be tempted, but I don't do that :).