Sunday Routine
Posted: 03/14/2010 Filed under: Food + Drink, Health, Photography, Recipes, Us | Tags: cooking, Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw, Jimmy Fallon, John Stewart, kitchen routines, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, routines, snacks, Stephen Colbert, Sunday, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, The Splendid Table, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me 2 Comments »
For as long as I can remember, Sundays were my least favorite day of the week. For both me and Matt, they seemed to bring a particular restless ennui.
This year, we started a new weekly routine that revolutionized how we feel about Sundays. We decided to try mixing two things we love (NPR podcasts and Comedy Central talk shows) with two things we don’t (Sundays and cooking prep-work) to see if we could retrain our brains to associate “Sunday” with “goodness” — and it worked!
Here’s the routine:
First, we get up and eat breakfast. We turn on this radio show or this one. And then we start prepping.
We slice carrots and celery and radishes and cauliflower. We steam broccoli or brussels sprouts or kale or Swiss Chard. Sometimes we make rice. And then we’ve got snacks for the week!
We make homemade chicken stock, which is much easier than you’d think, and far more delicious. We take the meat off the cooked chicken. And then we’re set to make soup and chicken salad or enchiladas later on!
When that’s done, we make lunch. Today we made these, which are easy and quick and good. (We always add salsa, though, and often use broccoli slaw instead of cabbage.)
Sometimes, at that point, we’ll start a soup cooking, to eat up all week for lunch.
And then we take turns doing all the dishes and tidying up.
The routine takes the morning and into the early afternoon. All the while, we listen and listen. When our radio shows have wrapped, we bring in the laptop and stream our favorite late-night talk shows (this one, this one, and this one) as we work.
When all that’s finished, we’ve laughed a lot and have a clean kitchen full of good things to eat (and ready to cook) all week! And, for the first time in our lives, we are happy with Sundays.
For two people, this routine is great. Folks in other family configurations — with little ones, for example — might not find it a good fit, though I bet a variation would work!
Birthday Soup
Posted: 03/10/2010 Filed under: Food + Drink, Photography, Reading, Recipes, Stories, Us | Tags: "Birthday Soup", Deborah Madison, Else Holmelund Minarik, great spring soup, Maruice Sendak, quinoa chowder, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone Leave a comment »
When I was small, some of my favorite children’s books were in the Little Bear series, written by Else Holmelund Minarik and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. One of my favorite Little Bear tales was “Birthday Soup.” It’s the sort of story that makes you feel good, head to toe.
You can read “Birthday Soup” here, if you’d like, but the book is surely worth buying if there are any little ones in your life!
We are home on holiday today, so I made Matt some birthday soup for lunch. It was delicious and fresh, perfect for spring, and made us feel good, head to toe.
The soup recipe is from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which is a fantastic book also worth buying if there are any hungry ones in your life!
Quinoa Chowder with Spinach, Feta, and Scallions
Yield: Serves 4 Read the rest of this entry »
A Valentine for Hands
Posted: 02/14/2010 Filed under: Poetry, Us | Tags: "A Valentine for Hands", Annie Finch, Calendars, love, Poetry, Valentine Leave a comment »A Valentine for Hands
names, silence—quietest minutes
(building like rain or returning like seas)
since they have touched me, your warm hands have sown
gentlest sounds, touches and hours
(or, building like rain, turning, like seas)
(building like rain, or returning like seas)
ripples and springs—the shiniest rivers—
since they have known me your warm hands have gathered
smallest, most stars—happiest skies—
simplest—touched—sounding—hours
- Annie Finch, from Calendars (2003)
Hot Chocolate for Pioneers
Posted: 02/10/2010 Filed under: Favorites, Quotes, Us | Tags: "Sentimental Memory", hot chocolate, Laurie Colwin, marriage, pioneers, The Lone Pilgrim 1 Comment »
In our marriage, we were like a pair of pioneers. Everything we learned about the terrain we learned from one another. We were as fresh and intent as explorers. We believed in the same things. [He] believed in closeness to the land. I believed in the wonder of nature. We believed that differences could be talked about and fixed; that the best cure for melancholy was a long walk; that fights were best repaired by cups of hot chocolate followed by an afternoon in bed. In short, we thought that life made sense. We felt that destiny was simple: you got born, developed lifelong interests, fell in love, got married, raised a family, and then died in your home town or the home town of your choice.
- Laurie Colwin, from “Sentimental Memory” in The Lone Pilgrim (1981)
Cross-Country Skiing
Posted: 01/31/2010 Filed under: Favorites, Photography, Us | Tags: cross-country ski, Greensprings interpretive Trail, neighbors, wetland Leave a comment »Thick snow, blue skies, still air. A rare and perfect day for skiing through our neighborhood and around the Greensprings Interpretive Trail! On our way out our driveway, we met a nice neighbor who lives down the street with his wife, little girl, and good yellow dog, whom he was out walking.
“When it snows, you get to see who all the outdoorsy folks in the neighborhood are. They’re the ones out with the cross-country skis!” he said.
“Indeed!” I agreed, thinking to myself that skis expose outdoorsy persuasions the way election-year yard signs expose political ones…
Matt is a living furnace, and he needs no snow pants. His silhouette is thus svelte.
I am not a living furnace, and I need snow pants.
My silhouette is thus like a Stay-Puft Marshmallow.
Matt is happy to be skiing.
I am happy to be skiing, too.
The surface of the wetland looks like reptile skin!
Matt leads the way.
A lovely afternoon!
Happiest Moment
Posted: 01/23/2010 Filed under: Photography, Prose, Reading, Us | Tags: "Happiest Moment", bedtime, Lydia Davis Leave a comment »
Lydia Davis writes short short stories. Last night, Matt read me this one at bedtime. It is beautiful, and beautifully crafted.
Happiest Moment
If you ask her what is a favorite story she has written, she will hesitate for a long time and then say it may be this story that she read in a book once: an English-language teacher in China asked his Chinese student to say what was the happiest moment in his life. The student hesitated for a long time. As last he smiled with embarrassment and said that his wife had once gone to Beijing and eaten duck there, and she often told him about it, and he would have to say the happiest moment of his life was her trip, and the eating of the duck.
- Lydia Davis, from The Collected Short Stories of Lydia Davis (2009), originally from Samuel Johnson Is Indignant (2001)
Congratulations, Matt!
Posted: 01/16/2010 Filed under: Food + Drink, Photography, Us | Tags: Matt, NSF, Scholar's Award, sparkling wine 9 Comments »
Hooray! It’s been confirmed: Matt is the recipient of an NSF Scholar’s Award!
During the 2010-2011 academic year, the National Science Foundation will pay his salary; he’ll be free from teaching duties and able to focus exclusively on research (during working hours, at least)! Our level of excitement over this award is far greater than our $5 bottle of sparkling wine conveys…
Congratulations, Matt! You’re a badass!
Scenes from a Birthday
Posted: 01/15/2010 Filed under: Food + Drink, Photography, Stories, Us | Tags: birthday, birthday cake, dinner, filet, lunch, New Quarter Park, Queen's Creek, Second Street, trader joe's, York River 6 Comments »We ended up in Williamsburg for my birthday. It was a gorgeous day here: blue skies and a high of 58. So warm, we didn’t need jackets!
Lunch at Second Street Bistro, a surprise birthday treat from Matt’s dad and stepmom. Thank you two for the gift card!
The Fro. Oh, how I love it. It’s getting shorn tomorrow morning, so I felt it should be photodocumented today.
Sycamore, we think. I adore winter fruits and seeds still on the branch. Perhaps even more than in full bloom!
Sometimes we are sweet. Always we are tall.
Queen’s Creek, with the York River in the distance. The Farm, a C.I.A. training camp, is off to the left. Today, we saw troops parachuting down during training exercises!
Here I am, in my orange jacket, as always. That scarf is from my Auntie in Michigan, who gave it to me right before I was married. Thanks, Auntie! I wear it all the time!
So many fantastic cards!
We decided one meal out was enough for the day. So, Matt made me A Wonderful Dinner: filet with portobello-wine sauce, smashed sweet potatoes, and steamed broccoli. Yuuuuuummmmm! AND, he’s doing the dishes as I type! That one. He is the best.
Trader Joe’s “Rockin’ Chocolate Chip Fudge Cake: Word from the bird is that this is the richest, most decadent cake this side of the Mississippi River” Cake. As we cut it, Matt asked, “So, do you think they sell this on both sides of the Mississippi?” Well, do they, West Coast friends?
And now, we will drink some red wine and watch some Netflix. A very, very good birthday all around.
D.C. friends, we’ll try again soon!
