At least once a month, I feed Elizabeth an early dinner and then we all play for a little while together. Afterwards, we give her a bath, put her to bed and make dinner for ourselves.
While we have made a routine of having dinner as a family at the table every night, sometimes we just need a dinner to ourselves. One that doesn’t require me to get up and down fetching various things, constantly wiping “yucky hands”, or cleaning up spilled milk.
One of our favorite things to make together is sushi! It is way easier than we thought it would be. And much, much cheaper! And I love that we can do it together.
After we prepare our food, whether we’re eating sushi or something more fancy, we usually follow it up with a date night on the couch. Our tv is very rarely on, but some nights it’s nice to just snuggle on the couch and be with each other.
What you’ll need:
- Sushi Mat
- cutting board and sharp knife
- seaweed sheets
- sushi rice (it’s much sticker than regular white or brown rice)
- avocado, cucumber, crab, tuna, or other filling (you can buy it cooked in your freezer section or deli usually).
- I usually put my rice on in the morning, and let it set all day. The sticker the better! But I have made it before we give Elizabeth a bath and it’s been good.
Here is the video we watched on youtube to teach us. It’s quite amusing.
We didn’t follow them word for word. We kind of made our own, but it gives you the general directions.
I like them better with the rice on the outside. But you can see which ones you like better.
Do you ever put the kids to bed early so you can enjoy a little more time with your hubby? Or just to have a quiet dinner?
What are your favorite ways to nurture your marriage?
My daughter is 21 and son is 12, so they stay up long past dinner time. I can barely keep my eyes open past 10, and usually soak in the bathtub before that. So my husband and I make a point of sitting outside on the deck together for a half-hour as soon as he’s home from work and changed into comfortable clothes. I’ll make an appetizer and pour us both something cold, and we catch up on our day. We’ve been doing this since my oldest was 8 or so, and both kids now know that it’s “Mom and Dad time” during which they need to keep themselves entertained.
I remember my grandparents doing that! My grandfather retired when my cousin was born, so that he could keep us! And every evening, when my grandmother would get home, he’d have coffee and something sweet made for her. Then they would go out on the deck and spend some time alone, too!
My daughter is almost 2, and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 usually, so we can definitely still get away with putting her to bed a little early and having our own dinner.
I have been with my husband for 11 years and well, that is one thing we haven’t done together is cook a meal! I think we should give it a go
My kids generally don’t get to bed very early, especially here in the summertime it’s still very much daylight and they just won’t sleep. We try to have a family member babysit a couple of times a month and we go canoeing together or have a night out to the movies. My husband works a lot this time of year so even getting before the kids and enjoying our coffee together is a blessing
LOVE it! we do this every friday! we call it TGISF ~ thank goodness it’s sushi friday! it’s my most favorite day of the week!
Love that! I may have to establish our own TGISF!
I love sushi – what a great idea!
Thanks, Mary!