Sort of growing up.

Apparently its a thing for kids in middle school to meet at our local shopping center and just hang out.  I've heard about it from one of my mommy friends who have kids Ian's age.  Only her kids are a bit more popular than Ian and seemed to be moving at a faster speed in doing new things.

We recently had a teacher workday and the kids found themselves with a free day.  Ian gets a text the night before from one of his friends asking if he'd like to meet at this shopping center the next day.  Ian comes to me and asks if its ok?

Ian (totally nervous): So um, Brian texted me and would it be ok if I met Brian tomorrow at University Mall?

Me (not letting Ian know that I knew it was totally a thing for kids his age to hang at the mall):  What's the plan when you get there?

Ian:  What? 

Me: Yeah, when you get there, what will you do?

Ian: Um, you know, I'll have some money and my phone (saying this in a very nervous voice).

Me: Ok, fine with me.  Just let me know what time I should drop you off.

Ian comes back in my room 5 minutes later and says Brian just texted him and he is being forced to go ice skating with his younger sister and her friends so tomorrow is off.

Ha!  I had to laugh.  These kids are trying so hard to be independent and make plans.  But as quick as a snap of the fingers, their plans can change and they have to do what their mom wants.  This kid Brian sounds like a good kid. I haven't met him but I like him already.

Ian, Sam and I decided to go to Dave & Buster's during our day off.  As we are walking inside Ian tells me that if we see anyone we know, I shouldn't say hi.  He is torn between wanting to go to Dave & Busters and not wanting to be seen with his mom and sister. It's a tough age to be.

Dinner Fail.

Several months ago, I jumped in to the deep end with the Instant Pot mania that has taken over our region. I embraced it without hesitation and have had many successes to speak of.  Even Jeff is most impressed when I put in a bunch of uncooked ingredients and voila!, in no time, we have a yummy dinner and no pots or pans to clean. It's like magic.

This past week I found a recipe to make that had the most amazing comments describing it..."Best dish ever!"..."Everyone loves it!"....."So fantastic!!"  "This one's a winner!"  and "So easy!"  It had all the ingredients (chicken!, broccoli!, rice!, cheese!...yum, right?) that my family loves to eat and sounded like a no-brainer to make on a busy weekday.

So I loaded all the ingredients in to my magic machine and set the manual button for the required time.  It was so easy and so fast.  I felt like I was winning at this dinner thing.  The table was set, the family came home and the instant pot beeps it is finished turning my pile of ingredients into a fabulous concoction. 

As I go to scoop out a heaping spoonful I notice the rice is not cooked. Not even a little. Every other thing looks cooked perfectly, but the rice looks like it just came from the bag.  It's crunchy and the pieces are tiny; many, many tiny pieces.  Way too many to take out of the dish.

What can I do?   What options do I have with a family ready to eat dinner?  The only thing that comes to mind is to serve it anyway.  Everything else is cooked, it's just the rice that isn't.  Can't the majority on this be enough?  So yes, I gave my family uncooked rice to eat.  And not just a little of it, but a lot of it!

Each person in their own way, took a bite, made a face and then commented that next time I should cook the rice.  It was very funny.

Here's the thing...the dish was yummy!   We can all imagine just how much better it will be with cooked rice.  I've since tried to figure out where I went wrong and have come to the conclusion that using brown rice was the issue.  Brown rice takes a lot longer to cook than white rice. Even the easiest dishes can be a problem in the wrong hands.  Next time I will get it right.