Random - Barbecue, S'mores and Life Changing Decisions
Yesterday was our school's barbecue event. There were fewer participants than usual, but that made it easier on us - even then we were quite tired of the end of the day. We'd planned to celebrate Alex's birthday afterwards, but with leftover barbecued chicken in the fridge, and our legs and backs all aching from the barbecue, we decided to postpone to today. (So I was able to get an icon post out and read some posts :) )
The theme of our annual barbecue is American Style. I don't know how barbecues are in other countries (DO TELL :D) but in Japan, barbecues usually consist of Korean barbecue and stirfried noodles - yakisoba - at the end. A big square pan is put on top of the netting on the barbecue to cook the noodles -- and sometimes even the meat.
So, we try to make ours a bit more western. In the early years, we used to have hamburgers grilled on charcoal. Then came the mad cow desease which made it impossible to get cheap American beef patties from Costco so... we switched to barbecued chicken with rolls and salad. I have a barbecue sauce recipe I use for spare ribs that is also awesome for chicken and so I prepare the chicken the day before and the guys cook it on the pans first so the heat goes through completely, then for a short time on the charcoal to get the yummy taste of charcoal on there too.
Dessert is of course s'mores. Most people know about roasting marshmellows, but are pleasantly surprised by the idea of making a chocolate biscuit sandwich out of them! We can't get graham crackers so, we use digestive biscuites with chocolate on one side.
meesasometimes had posted a new variety of s'more - with banana added- which I just had to try :P It was really yummy!
Here are some pictures:
Julian preparing the wood for the fire :D
Chicken on the pan!
Julian and student's dad - finally having some lunch!
my chicken, buns, salad etc.
roasting marshmellows!
my s'more♡
So after the barbecue, we stayed home and had some leftovers with wine.
As we were about to go to bed, hubby asked what I thought about moving to the country in 3 to 4 years. We'd talked about this before and I love the area he wants to move to but I've been really really wanting to move to Canada for the kid's sake for a very long time and rather than talking about something vague in the future, I really wanted to seriously consider moving to Canada next year summer if possible - so I told him that, bluntly. Hubby told me that if I wanted to go to Canada and take the kids with me, I should. But don't expect him to go with me.
I was like, woh... are you serious? It's true we were both a bit drunk but (not much - we didn't even drink a full bottle) I couldn't help but hope he was (serious I mean - not drunk :P).
He thinks it's just a dream, I think. That I'm not going to do anything about it, you know? That his plan for the future is much more realistic. But if he's actually giving his go ahead to take the kids to Canada... I feel like I can do something about it. Because the only thing that had been holding me back was the possibility that he might resist having me take the kids away. If we can do this amicably... So I'm going to tell my mom of the possibility and see if I can come up with a job (most important...) that could support us over there. See if I can make it on my own. I feel that being with him has made me complacent and lazy and dependent. Unable to do anything on my own. I really want to get out of that situation if I can. So, maybe this time next year my life will be totally different.
The theme of our annual barbecue is American Style. I don't know how barbecues are in other countries (DO TELL :D) but in Japan, barbecues usually consist of Korean barbecue and stirfried noodles - yakisoba - at the end. A big square pan is put on top of the netting on the barbecue to cook the noodles -- and sometimes even the meat.
So, we try to make ours a bit more western. In the early years, we used to have hamburgers grilled on charcoal. Then came the mad cow desease which made it impossible to get cheap American beef patties from Costco so... we switched to barbecued chicken with rolls and salad. I have a barbecue sauce recipe I use for spare ribs that is also awesome for chicken and so I prepare the chicken the day before and the guys cook it on the pans first so the heat goes through completely, then for a short time on the charcoal to get the yummy taste of charcoal on there too.
Dessert is of course s'mores. Most people know about roasting marshmellows, but are pleasantly surprised by the idea of making a chocolate biscuit sandwich out of them! We can't get graham crackers so, we use digestive biscuites with chocolate on one side.
meesasometimes had posted a new variety of s'more - with banana added- which I just had to try :P It was really yummy!
Here are some pictures:
Julian preparing the wood for the fire :D
Chicken on the pan!
Julian and student's dad - finally having some lunch!
my chicken, buns, salad etc.
roasting marshmellows!
my s'more♡
So after the barbecue, we stayed home and had some leftovers with wine.
As we were about to go to bed, hubby asked what I thought about moving to the country in 3 to 4 years. We'd talked about this before and I love the area he wants to move to but I've been really really wanting to move to Canada for the kid's sake for a very long time and rather than talking about something vague in the future, I really wanted to seriously consider moving to Canada next year summer if possible - so I told him that, bluntly. Hubby told me that if I wanted to go to Canada and take the kids with me, I should. But don't expect him to go with me.
I was like, woh... are you serious? It's true we were both a bit drunk but (not much - we didn't even drink a full bottle) I couldn't help but hope he was (serious I mean - not drunk :P).
He thinks it's just a dream, I think. That I'm not going to do anything about it, you know? That his plan for the future is much more realistic. But if he's actually giving his go ahead to take the kids to Canada... I feel like I can do something about it. Because the only thing that had been holding me back was the possibility that he might resist having me take the kids away. If we can do this amicably... So I'm going to tell my mom of the possibility and see if I can come up with a job (most important...) that could support us over there. See if I can make it on my own. I feel that being with him has made me complacent and lazy and dependent. Unable to do anything on my own. I really want to get out of that situation if I can. So, maybe this time next year my life will be totally different.