Weekly Meal Plan For A Family Visit

My dad’s coming tomorrow with his wife for a short visit. They’re always short visits with him. One time, when we lived on Vancouver Island, he came over on the two hour ferry ride but only stayed an hour. No, he didn’t have other plans and yes, he took the two hour ferry ride home afterwards. He’s just kinda like that. I don’t get it. It’s not malicious and I don’t shy away from telling him I wish he’d stay longer, especially now that we live further apart. C’est la vie, eh?

My dad is vegan and has been so since I was a teenager. I think it’s one of the reasons I’m so fond of food. Growing up we didn’t eat anything special. I might even say our diet was disgusting with the hot dogs, old dutch artificially flavoured chips and ketchup topped meat loaf type meals. Gives me the shivers as I type. Something changed for my parents though and they decided to like fresh food and put the animal products aside. This was a huge changing moment in my dad’s life.

I’ve eaten some fantastic meals with my dad since and you can’t help but appreciate the simple tastes of food when you eat a meal with him. He’s enthusiastic about a few things and food is definitely one of them. Good Scotch, tennis, running and classic rock would be on that list also.

My dad, however, is a disciple of routine and so I thought hard about my meal plan this week. I don’t want him to be able to just make his usual meals. I want him to try something different and I want to share some of my favourite meals and flavours with him. Cooking is really becoming a way of expressing myself and I want him to know me better.

All that said though, I want to make sure that my meals are really simple so that we can spend the limited time we have wisely. So this week with Lily’s help with the meal plan, I’m making:

• Potato and Cauliflower Samosa Pie (this is amazing and fast as a pie)
• Bhangra Burrito with Chickpea Potato Curry and Spinach
• Roasted Potato and Cauliflower Salad with Chili Vinaigrette and Cilantro (you had to know Lily would opt for this one)
• Spicy Black Bean Soup (but did you know she would insist on this one?)
• Squash and Bean Saute
• Caramelised Onion and Sauted Spinach Pizza with Peanut Sauce

It’s my birthday tomorrow so I’m making Joy’s Lemon Spice Cake. I’m excited to try this recipe! Tonight friends are coming over for a potluck and Cam made Rebar’s Famous Vegan Brownies. Lily’s planed out the candles and she worked for quite some time today on a card. I’m really touched. Thirty one (is that how old I am?…. yes, that’s right) isn’t some great milestone but it feels good.