March 26th and 27th

The days continue to be
sunny and even a touch warm. 

The 2nd full week of quarantine ended with a very nice Skype happy hour (at 8pm) with some of our favorite people here. We have dubbed ourselves "The Supper Club" because back in the good old days we would pick a restaurant and all meet there to eat a fabulous meal together.  Or we would meet at one of our houses with entire families and enjoy each other's company.  I'm not big on Skype calling or video calling of any kind but it was super nice to all "be together" for an hour or so.  Hoping we do it again.
Thursday and Friday went pretty much the same as the beginning of the week.  Dietrich, Marty's dad, celebrated his 91st birthday on Thursday.  Wow!!  Sad to be away from family, especially on their birthdays and especially during a global pandemic.  Happy 91st Birthday, Opa!! Liz sent us the cutest pictures of her and Ed on the outside of a large window and Oma and Opa sitting in the inside peering out the window in their Senior Living facility.  Liz had brought a fun little "happy birthday" banner even.

Thursday, Benjamin and I made an apple pie from scratch.  In Seattle I would always opt for the pre-made pie crust but here they only have pre-made phyllo dough and it does not work so well for a pie.  I also don't have my apple corer/peeler here... but in the age of Corona - we all have nothing but time.  I also made pretty good veggie burgers.  We had had "the best veggie burger ever" on our trip to Stockholm a few years ago and I have not been able to recreate it.  SO frustrating.  This was not as good but it was the closest I have come.

This is the recipe I mostly followed.  A friend in Seattle
had posted a bunch of veggie burger recipes.  Still trying
to recreate the one from Stockholm... 

I mostly followed this recipe for the veggie burger but I didn't add tofu and only added 1 cup cooked rice.  I also doubled the garlic, used a full can of chick peas and added a small, grated zucchini, a small bunch of cilantro, a tsp ish of cumin, one egg, about 1/4 cup of grated parm cheese.  The mixture was a bit too liquidy.  I

added a bit more flour and should have drained the zucchini and wrung it out with a cheese cloth first.  They needed about 45 minutes to cook through - flipping every 15 minutes.  They were in fact crunchy on the outside and cooked through but not too dense on the inside.  This made about 8 patties.  I cooked the first four on Thursday and put the rest of the mixture to cook fresh in a few days. Other than school work, the kids have spent a lot of time on the trampoline.  Mogli has never been on this many walks in his ENTIRE life.  At the end of the each day he just crashes happily next to one of the kids.  I will say it again, but this Corona was a HUGE win for the dogs!!
At night Mogli is SOO tired... but happy.  And Josie has not been seen without earbuds in her ears for 2 weeks!