It’s all about the sauce!

I’m having quite a busy week, with so many unexpected twists and turns…but it’s been FUN!! Since not all our friends homeschool, June becomes the month where we plan and get together with various friends that we don’t see as often during the school year. I had a chance to catch up with a good friend on Tuesday, our kids had a blast and my middle and youngest two didn’t want to part ways with her middle and youngest. It was cute to see my 3 year old take on such an emotional opinion about leaving. She was visibly upset, but not in your typical tantrum sort of way. A promise that we’d see them Friday helped to get her to the van.

A pool playdate yesterday added a bit of drama….but thankfully everyone is okay. Isn’t there always the potential for that when kids and water are concerned? I hope my poor friend Michelle recovered, but glad she had a quick response! It was great to have time with other Mops moms outside of Mops, and kids always love the chance to swim. Our hostess was kind enough to open her lovely home, and went above and beyond in feeding us all lunch…an unexpected blessing.

Tomorrow we’ll be hitting up the waterpark. I love it because it’s not one of those massive ones with tons of kids, its the smaller one at our local rec center but still has plenty to keep them busy…like an entire playground in water for the youngers, and big tunnel slides and a huge pool for the older ones. They also just put in a rock climbing wall, a splash pad and a waterslide. The kids are excited to see those! Next week we have VBS, and I can hardly believe that takes us through the halfway mark in June. How is that possible? I hope you’re also enjoying your summer!

I won’t leave you in suspense any longer, and I’m SUPER excited about my plans for tonight!! I’m taking a hands-on cooking class with fellow food blogger Michelle down in Boca Raton. It’s entitled “The Mother Sauces” and we’ll be making many different meals that highlight various sauces such as hollandaise, béchamel, sauce vin blanc, sherry peppercorn sauce and a tomato cream sauce. You know what a “sauce” girl I am!!

Not only do we get to cook in a professional kitchen, but after we cook….we get to sit down and have a nice dinner with our prepared foods. Mmmm…… and I hear there’ll be wine too! I’ve been looking forward to this for awhile. This will be our first “foodie” event since our weekend at Food Blog Forum Orlando, and our first time getting together without our kids since then. Be assured…I’ll get lots of pictures so I can share the experience with you guys!! And since I’ll be picking and choosing which foods to use carbs on, I’m hoping that they’ll have something like this to finish off the meal….

Don’t worry…I’m not abandoning my 2 week Atkins induction experiment. This event was already on my calendar before I started, and it’s only 1 full day ahead of my 2 week mark. Red wine is only 2 carbs for 4 ounces, and I am usually only a 1 glass girl anyway. I won’t be eating the pasta or bread, and there is plenty of protein on our menu that’s allowable for me. Sugar may slip in with some of the sauces (not sure yet), but I’m definitely eating a dessert if there is one! That’s probably where I’ll get the majority of any carbs from. Then tomorrow morning back on track. I’m starting to learn how to transition into the ongoing weight loss phase where you start allowing more carbs, so the timing is perfect with this actually.

I do have one fashion dilemma though…maybe you can help me. Apparently I have to wear closed toe shoes in the professional kitchen (safety, cleanliness). Which poses a problem for this Florida girl…I only have open toe shoes (other than my running shoes and my fur-lined winter clogs). I find the safety part of it kinda funny since I’ve been cooking barefoot in my kitchen for as long as I can remember, and I haven’t injured my toes yet!! 🙂 It really must be for the cleanliness then? Hmmm…still trying to figure that one out. The only thing I can come up with is maybe bringing my stylish pair to change in to after we’re done cooking and it’s time to eat? Do you all have any ideas for me?