Social events of the week

With Jamie being off work this week, we have been rather social. Every Tuesday night 'the group' (as previously described - friends from church and other associates, several of whom came to our wedding) get together for sushi. It's called '$1 sushi night' as each plate of 6 small pieces is $1!!! So for the second week in a row we made it to Sushi Night on Tuesday. Various individuals from the same crowd attend a Bible study on Wednesday nights which is held at a Starbucks not far from us. Quite fascinating really as although it is run by Derek from 'the group' some of the regular attendees are from various other denominations (not to mention random people who happen to be sitting in Starbucks and join in). So we managed to attend that as well this week. As well as cleaning out the garage on Monday and part of Jamie's Mom's basement on Thursday, we made it to the gym and various other places around town as well as lots of leisurely times at home. On Saturday instead of going to our usual church which is about 35 min drive away, we went to one that is nearer (their web link didnt work when I looked at it this evening). Then we went home for lunch - the first time we have had lunch together after church since we got married as we usually go to lunch with 'the group' at someone's house, are travelling or else Jamie is at the hospital. So that was nice to have time together. We had Broccoli and corn soup (Chere Jacksons recipe) and a Michigan salad. For those intrigued by this Michigan food idea - the salad is comprised of lettuce, crumbled blue cheese, dried cherries, sliced pear, caramalised walnuts and a vinagrette dressing. I caramalised the walnuts last week by baking them in the oven for 6 min and then adding water, brown sugar and salt and re-baking them. Quite nice and I am even getting used to the blue cheese in small doses! We had a light lunch as Val and Liz were putting on a fondue party at their apartment in the evening. I was quite excited because I had never been to a fondue party before and had always wanted to go to one! It was fairly eventful with someone spilling the boiling chocolate fondue all over themselves and the white carpet, the cheese fondue almost boiling over and the oil fondue getting smoking hot! I was rather amused by the husband's shout at the time of the chocolate incident of "quick, he is burned, we need a nurse" (and even more amazed by my quick first-aid response)! Today we met a friend of Jamie's from his residency and his wife and 2 yr old at a coffee shop for a couple of hours so that I could meet them we all could have a catch-up. He is a general surgeon and they live 45 min from where Jamie's new job will be. And that's about it for the first week of holidays! We are currently trying to assess what we will do and where we will go for the next four....