April roundup

Like sands through the hourglass, so goes another month, leaving only the last crumbs behind. And, like yesterday’s Royal Wedding tea party, almost consumed before there’s enough time to take a decent picture. Before it slips away completely, here are a few links to commit some of April’s best mouthfuls to memory:

Tea cake

I have vivid memories of my first Royal Wedding. I was still in grade school, and very excited about it. I spent the month before cutting every scrap of information I could find out of newspapers and magazines, and set up a collage wall in our attic play area. I set my alarm for 3:30 am on the big day, and got myself up to watch the live coverage (incidentally astounding my mother, because even then getting up in the morning was not my forte). I spent the morning glued to the TV set, while various family members passed in and out, mildly curious and bemused at my preoccupation. It remains the only time I ever remember being carried away by the whole “princess/fairytale” narrative.

Spinach salad

Aka look: more eggs! Because apparently that’s what I like to eat when the weather shows signs of spring.

Although hard-boiled eggs are not essential to the composition of a spinach salad, they can give it enough nutritional heft to make it count as a meal. And anything I can eat that contains something as healthy as spinach and serves as a vehicle for eggs and bacon? Lead me to it.

Snack day

I’ve mentioned before that at Miss B’s school, we take turns bringing in snack for the whole class each day. With the number of kids in her class, that works out to each family bringing snack once a month, and occasionally twice, as the schedule rotates. (It’s our turn for a twofer this month.)

While in theory I appreciate the community spirit embodied in this method, in practice I am often dismayed by the reports I hear of what is getting handed out at snacktime—packaged rice krispie treats, fruit roll-ups, gummy whatevers. I don’t mean to be sanctimonious about this: I have sent in Goldfish for snack on more than one occasion, and once we even chose TimTams to share because a) we have a stash sent to us by friends down under who know how much Miss B and I love them and b) I was desperate. (I pretended it was an edible version of Show and Tell to mitigate my guilt.)

Wordless Wednesday

Where Do Americans Get Their Calories? (Infographic)

Breakfast burrito

Having time to cook a proper breakfast is one of the luxuries of working from home, although not one I take advantage of very often, if I'm honest. This, despite its name, is much more likely to appear on my plate at lunch, particularly on a day when I’ve had a productive morning and thus feel justified in spending a few extra minutes preparing a meal that will fuel an (I hope) equally productive afternoon.