Weekend in Review: July 2026

This past weekend was a busy one for me, the kind where Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each felt like they belonged to a completely different version of myself. Friday night was calm and low key, Saturday had me out at camp doing physical work, and Sunday was all about celebrating my dad. It was a lot packed into a few days, but looking back, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Here’s how it all went.

I’ve been eating more of a plant based diet lately, and I want to make sure I’m still getting all the nutrients I should be getting. I was reading about nutritional yeast, and I decided to get some on Friday. My understanding is that it has a cheesy flavor to it, so I’m hoping to use it when I want to add some cheesy flavor to meals. I still eat dairy, but I’m going to be trying to work in the nutritional yeast as a replacement for parmesan cheese to get in those extra nutrients.

If you eat it, I’d love to hear how you incorporate it into meals. I’m looking for more ideas.

Friday afternoon I headed over to the A Mart near me, a Korean and Japanese grocery store. I’d never been in before, so I figured I’d check it out. I’m so glad I did because I found a few delicious things.

I’ve been on a huge vegetable sushi kick lately, eating it weekly. I was hoping I’d find some sushi at A Mart, but instead I found something just as tasty. Kimbap is a Korean seaweed rice roll that I had never had before. It’s different from sushi in a few ways: the rice is prepared differently and the fillings are cooked rather than raw. They had a vegetable option, so I thought I’d try it.

I’m so glad that I did because it was delicious. I had the kimbap for dinner on Friday, and there was something slightly sweet in it, maybe the pickled radish, that I absolutely loved. It’s definitely something that I’ll be getting again, and it was really budget friendly too. Sushi, even vegetable sushi, can really add up. I’m very happy to have found an alternative that still satisfies the craving for rice and veggies.

I also found some onion ring chips while I was there. I’ve tried other brands before and they’ve all been delicious, so I was glad to find another kind that I like. If you haven’t had them before, they’re a puffed corn and rice snack that’s seasoned to taste like roasted onion. Apparently it’s a popular snack across Asia, but I believe the ones I picked up are Korean.

I’ve shared before on the blog that I volunteer with Girl Guides. This weekend, one of the camps near Calgary was hosting a work weekend, where adult volunteers and their families were invited to camp for the weekend in exchange for helping out with some maintenance work. While I wasn’t able to stay for the whole weekend, I did attend on Saturday.

There were a bunch of different tasks to pick from, and I chose organizing and taking inventory of the two kitchens in our biggest building at camp. The building can be split in two by closing just a couple of doors, so two groups can be in there at once, each with access to their own kitchen, washrooms, and bunk rooms. Since the kitchens are in the same building, things often get “borrowed” from one to the other and never make their way back. So my job was to make sure all the plates, bowls, cups, silverware, pots, pans, and utensils were split roughly evenly between the two.

It ended up being a bigger job than I thought it would be, but it looked so much better by the time I was done. I started in the kitchen that wasn’t being used that day, then worked my way over to the one that was actively being used to cook for all the volunteers. Needless to say, that second kitchen was busy, but I think I still managed to do a pretty good job of organizing it.

Other volunteers were busy too, painting both inside and out, trimming bushes, mowing alongside roads and ditches, clearing brush, and digging post holes. It was a very busy place.

As a youth member, camping was my favorite part of Girl Guides, hands down. I’m glad I’m able to take the kids I volunteer with camping now, and give them the chance to make similar memories to the ones I treasure so much. Volunteering at camp and helping to keep it running smoothly is one of the behind the scenes ways that I can make sure kids today get to experience the same fun things that I did.

Burgers were barbecued for lunch, and these veggie burgers were really good. I’d never had them before, so I got a photo of the box from the person running the kitchen. She said she got them from Costco, so I’ll have to look for them the next time I’m there.

I was exhausted by the time I got home Saturday evening, and after a shower I finally felt human again. It’s amazing how much energy the heat and all that walking between the two kitchens took out of me. I wasn’t expecting to be that tired afterward, so Sunday ended up being pretty quiet as a result.

I’ve been slowly making my way through One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune. It’s the first Carley Fortune book I’ve read, and I’m really enjoying it. It’s one of those books you want to savor, even though I could easily finish it in just a few days. It’s so hard to put down. I spent some time relaxing on Sunday reading out on the deck.

Sunday was also my dad’s birthday. Last weekend I’d ordered the ice cream cake he requested from Dairy Queen, and Sunday morning my brother and I drove over to pick it up. We ordered the smaller size since it’s just the three of us, but it was definitely bigger in person than we expected. We’re going to be eating a lot of ice cream cake over the next few weeks.

I think my dad was happy with his gifts. I got him a series of books that he’d only read the first three of, ones he’d found at a charity book sale. I ended up getting him the entire series instead, since it worked out cheaper than buying only the books he hadn’t read individually. There are ten books in the series in total, so they should keep him busy for a while.

Looking back on it, this was one of those weekends that reminded me how much I love a good mix of quiet and busy. I got to try new foods, support a place that means so much to me, and spend meaningful time with my family, all in the span of a few days. It’s these kinds of weekends, the ones filled with small discoveries and familiar traditions, that I always end up thinking about the most once Monday rolls around.

Now that you know how my weekend was, share the highlights of yours in the comments below. I’d love to know what you were up to!