This was a rough week.
It all started when I saw this post…
😳
You see, 5 years ago my Mom and I took HBear to the beautiful Linden Gardens in a nearby town, Kaleden. As we were driving up the hill to the highway there, on the left-hand side was this elderly gentleman watering his plants… Buck naked!
It was freaking hilarious! My Mom being my Mom LOL got up to the highway and promptly did a U-turn so we could drive back down 😂. On our third time driving by him my Mom began honking the horn and whooping. I ducked. 😂
Seeing this post made me think of that day and how wonderful it was. Which led me to the realization that I will never have that day with my Mom ever again.
A few days later my Sister posted an article called Watching Your Parent Die is Absolute Hell. It hit home on so many truths it left me numb.
Seeing your Mom in pain is the absolute worst. She always seemed infallible. Larger than life. The leader… It was impossible to imagine life without her but it was obvious in those last few days that that was my future. For a control freak like me, not being able to do anything was like slow torture.
I had a similar feeling on Tuesday. Not quite to that extent of course but sick to my stomach because I could not help HBear when she was in pain.
We tried the gas but my little girl is also a control freak LOL and she refused to suck in the laughing gas through the “magic nose”. She went ape shit and started bawling. Did you know they make you pay sign a piece of paper saying that you will pay them $50 if your child freaks out? Yep, and I could see $50 flying out of my wallet as she sat on the chair snotting and bawling about the gas.
We ended up going with needles and freezing and surprisingly she was absolutely A-OK with that. Me… Not so much. I’m usually on the receiving end so that I don’t have to see the needle repeatedly poking into my gums with blood bubbling out all over the place!
It was awful. She was such a trooper! As soon as the top tooth popped out all the blood rushed out of her face and she said, “I don’t feel so well.” They got her a cold compress and and I sat there smoothing her hair.
She had been in the chair for 2 1/2 hours!
They were so impressed with her they gave her 3 coins for the prize machine out front 😊.
She blew my mind! So proud of that kid 💗.
A while back we had this super flavourful noodle dish! I know I know ramen = bad. But really? To my belly… ramen = deliciousness 🙉 Actually, I always find the problem to be the sodium. All stirfry recipes use so much soy sauce! I try to use low-sodium and that definitely helps. This is one of those treats that I could eat every day LOL
Beef and Broccoli Ramen
Adapted from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, separated
3 teaspoons minced garlic, separated
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons soy sauce, separated
1 tablespoon Italian flat leaf parsley
3/4 pound sirloin steak
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup oyster sauce
4 cups broccoli florets
2 packages ramen noodles
garnish: green onions and sesame seeds
Very thinly slice the steak against the grain into 1/4 inch thick strips and then into 2 inch pieces.
In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of the minced garlic, red wine vinegar, honey, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped Italian parsley.
Whisk together and pour over the flank steak in the bag.
Seal and place in the fridge for at least 1-8 hours. Flip the steak in the bag halfway through.
Cook the ramen noodles according to package directions omitting the seasoning package. Drain.
Chop the broccoli into bite-sized even pieces.
Remove the steak and drain off any remaining marinade. Toss the steak to coat with the cornstarch.
In a large skillet over high heat, add in 1 tablespoon of the remaining vegetable oil. Heat until the oil and add in 1/2 the beef so it can be in a single layer.
Cook without moving until the beef is well seared, about 1-1/2 minutes. Continue cooking for about 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate.
Add in the last remaining tablespoon of oil and add the remaining beef and cook without moving until the beef is well seared, about 1-1/2 minutes.
Transfer the rest of the beef to the plate.
In the same skillet, add the beef broth, brown sugar, remaining soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, remaining garlic, and ginger.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Once boiling, top the mixture evenly with the broccoli. Cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat to low.
Allow the broccoli to steam until crisp tender about 3 minutes.
Remove the lid, add in the cooked pasta and cooked meat.
Stir and top with desired toppings, I topped with green onions and sesame seeds.
Despite Mommy having an emotionally exhausting week, the Girls had a pretty good week! There was dress up, playing outside, and gymnastics!
HBear had her final KISU practices and team practice and then we went to the family spring dance! The theme was Hawaiian and the girls had so much fun! I may have even won Best Dancing Mom with HBear’s GR1Besty’s Mom 😂💃🏻. SBean won Best Sibling Dancer as well! It is for a great cause as they are raising money for a school division trip to Tanzania! We watched a few videos of past trips and hopefully by the time HBear gets to be in grade 11/12 she will want to go and make a difference over there as well 💛!
