Easy Sunday Night Dinner

This Weekend was one of the most relaxing weekends I have had in a long time. With the boys gone camping, my mom came over to spend the weekend at my house.  We got together with my cousin, Lorena, and aunt Felipa and had one of those weekends we used to have.  Growing up, my cousins always lived either on the same street or very near our house, so we were always together.  It was 4 of them and 4 of us kids, exactly 4 boys and 4 girls.  You can imagine, we had some great times.  On Saturdays, once the housework was done, my mom and aunt would take us girls to the mall and we would spend the entire day there.  For those of you who don't like to shop that may sound like torture but I come from a long line of shopoholics and that was such great fun!  At the end of the day we would go out to eat then come home and try on the things that we bought and just relax and talk.

Now that we are all married and have children of various ages, our get togethers consist of birthday parties and holidays.  I love to see and spend time with my family during these occasions but I really miss our leisurely and unhurried weekends.  In recent years, we have tried to continue this tradition; at least once a year, we go to The Grove with my nieces and shop and eat.  It's really fun but it still not as relaxing as it was then.  But this weekend had all of the makings of those long Saturday afternoons of my youth.  Maybe it had to do with knowing that when I got home there wasn't going to be a hubby asking where the remote is or a son wanting to know what's for dinner.  I knew that they were enjoying their own type of fun in the dessert while Lorena, her daughter, and I and our moms enjoyed our mall adventure.  In keeping with our precious memories, we went to our local mall.  We had a late lunch then came home and -we didn't try on what we bought- we oohed and ahhed over our spoils and we talked and talked until the wee hours of the night.  Oh, I don't know if I have mentioned it, but Lorena is my neighbor again!!  She is now living a few streets down from me, which also makes getting together a little easier now.  I'm so excited!

Alas, a mom's job cannot be neglected too long.  This morning, my mom and I tackled some stuff around the house before the boys came home.  We were like weekend warriors.  I finally cleaned out and reorganized the pantry and some of my kitchen cabinets. I think I now have a good amount of stuff to put together a decent yard sale.   My mom cooked black and garbanzo beans for me.  Yay, mom!  I love to have cooked black beans and garbanzo beans on hand to use in salads or other dishes during the week but I really love to eat them the day they are cooked, just like that.  The boys are now home and each are in their bedrooms catching up on their sleep so I made myself a bowl of these delicious beans, chopped in some grape tomatoes and settled in to watch To Rome With Love.  The perfect ending to the perfect weekend.  Ciao!

P.S. For the recipes, please visit my previous post here.