Month in Review: January

New recipes we tried in January:

Stuffed Eggplant
Caramelized Garlic Tart
Chicken and Sausage "Paella"
Popeye's Pizza
Chicken Apple Chili 
Spicy Pumpkin Enchiladas 
Cinnamon Rolls
Light Pad Thai
Mushroom Marsala Pasta Bake
Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry 
Spicy Sausage Ragu with Red Peppers
Kimchi Noodle Cake 
Philadelphia Style Chocolate Ice Cream
Stir Fry Lettuce Wraps 
(I made this Thursday night. It was easy, delicious, and created very few dishes.My kind of recipe!)

We had to compromise on the wrap- behold tortilla wrapped lettuce wraps.

New recipes we tried that we both* liked enough to make again:

Chicken and Sausage "Paella" (with modifications)
Popeye's Pizza
Chicken Apple Chili 
Spicy Pumpkin Enchiladas (Jason's favorite, by far)
Cinnamon Rolls
Light Pad Thai (My favorite, I think)
Philadelphia Style Chocolate Ice Cream
Stir Fry Lettuce Wraps 

*I liked all of them.

Things I learned in January:

• Going out to a nice restaurant during the week is fun.

• I have to find a way to hate my tutoring program less. Suggestions?

• I have a lot more time when I don't exercise, but I am crabby about it and just watch TV instead. This rib thing is the worst.

• Sometimes it's good to hyper-plan, but usually it's not.

• Too often, I still feel busy, even though I am so not. How do I convince myself?

• Taking a multi-vitamin is a good idea.

Progress on January Resolutions:

Almost none, except for blogging. Sal is not a celebrity, I am not financially advised, and I don't have a dentist.

Sal helps with meal and trip planning.

Race to the Upper Middle

I read this article and thought: YES. These people are the worst! They are the ones who create and dominate neighborhood listservs, complain about renters ruining the quality of their condo building, and think their preference for a spin studio over a 7-11 is just common sense. So self-righteous!

Of course, I am a hypocrite because I also think that being UMC would be great! Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get there by the time I'm in my mid-50's. Then I can make all my decisions based on my values and taste and not on gauche things like money. How fun! Sal (yes, he'll still be around then) will only have the finest treats and cat accoutrements to laze around on. It will be so great!*

In conclusion, I move that we do not try to abolish the UMC until I have had a chance to briefly join their ranks.

*Jason, the health policy analyst, interrupts this revelry to state that long-term care is extremely expensive and I am not spending all of our money on cat fountains.

Highs and Lows

Lowlight of the week, so far: Amidst a generally abysmal tutoring session, I had to ask the Center director to go in search of two kids (out of my three) in the boy's bathroom, since they had been in there for a long time. (One of them started farting at the table to convince me he really needed to go.) Turns out, they were horsing around so much that one slipped and fell in a puddle of pee. I was so eager to get out of there after that.

Highlight of the week, so far: Groupon + half-priced bottle of wine Wednesdays = broken restaurant moratorium.

I have been wanting to go to Smith Commons since the Obamas went there in 2012.  They also went to Boundary Road, which is just down the street from Smith Commons, and where I am actually more interested in going, but... Groupon + half-price wine. Anyway, we walked over tonight, and had a fun dinner. We ordered a beet and goat cheese salad and frites to start, and then we had duck with brussel sprouts and lamb with bok choy for the main course. It was all good, but the duck was the best. And a Cotes du Rhone rose...also very good, but I am not used to having a half bottle of wine on a week night!

Consecrated Kitchen Table

Yesterday, on my afternoon constitutional (this is what I call walks when I'm not allowed to exercise) we passed a structure in our neighborhood that looked like some sort of small monastery or convent. It had stained glass windows and crosses carved into the stone corners, but there was no public entrance. So we wandered around it for a bit and found a sign that said, "The Residences at St. Monica's." So I am thinking this is some sort of transitional church sponsored housing, or temporary housing for people training to be in some religious order. Except that it looked really, really nice. So I looked it up online, it turns out that it WAS a 100 year old church and is now....nine luxury condos. I was surprised that it had no religious affiliation because they kept so much of the exterior religious accoutrements. But it's pretty, so you know, fine.  But then I read they were so true to the structure of the building that they kept the original altar and turned it into....a kitchen island! That is so...I don't even know. Strange. Mean? No? I mean, if someone invited me to their new luxury condo, and excitedly told me that their fancy kitchen island used to be an altar, I would think that person was a tool. Talk about food becoming your religion.

Cooking:

Comfort Food Week includes a return to traditional pepperoni for the weekly pizza.

The slow-cooker sauce from last night was only ok. It was not as rich and flavorful as I expected, and was a little watery. I probably would not use that recipe again, although the leftovers will be a great base for many future easy dinners.

Wine + vitamin = balanced meal

Jason made chocolate ice cream yesterday and it was amazing. According to his ice cream cookbook, there are two main types of ice cream- French style and Philadelphia style. The French style is more custardy and has egg yolks and the Philadelphia one doesn't. This was his first time making the Philadelphia style, and the first time making chocolate, since he likes vanilla, but I love chocolate.

Isn't this container adorable?

Sal would like in on all of these goodies, but is always denied. Poor Sal.

Ice cream for the Sal Cat!

My hopes for a snow day are dimming. Greedy Northeasterners! (Just kidding, three feet of snow sounds terrifying.)

My Uneventful Weekend Comes to a Close

Ok, I know this looks terrible, but it actually was very tasty!

I really liked the texture of the crunchy rice noodles. Shockingly, Terrible Safeway did not have Korean red pepper paste, so I substituted some other kind of Asian red chili paste they had, even though they are likely not comparable at all. I have no idea how I'm going to eat all of this- Jason would not even come near it. If my stomach can handle the heat in the mornings, maybe I'll eat it for breakfasts before work.

Jason wants a break from trying new recipes, so our grocery shopping was geared towards comfort food this week. I made cajun-spiced club sandwiches with sweet potato fries for dinner last night, with salad. It was a nice bistro-like meal, especially with the delicious Argentine white wine we got last week. It was deemed unworthy of pictures by someone who was so excited to finally have a sandwich for dinner (with bacon!) that there was no pausing for photos.

This sauce is in the slow cooker right now:

We need a bigger slow-cooker...

The recipe is Spicy Sausage Ragu with Red Peppers from our Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook. I think this will be enough sauce for like, eight dinners. It has TWO POUNDS of sausage and we added some pancetta!

I kind of wanted to not be a hermit and go out to dinner tonight, but I also want to eat this sauce. Maybe I can go out during the week if we have a SNOW DAY! (Please, please, please.)

Sal wants to go outside also

Set me free!

Other than feeding myself, I have been spending time wrangling all of my accounts into submission on various platforms, arguing with Citibank, and updating Mint budgets. Keeping track of your spending is hard! I don't know how people who are not as neurotic as me, and don't check all of their accounts every day, manage.

I ordered Argentina guidebooks! And got our joint credit card with travel rewards to purchase the tickets.

I am not sure how to motivate myself to make the stupid photobook. What sort of carrot and stick method would be effective to perform a service for Alex of the Future Who Would Appreciate an Album of Her Wedding?

I've been passing time by singing to Sal.

His expression after being woken up for the umpteenth time. "Hey, I'm nocturnal!"

He is frustrated.

Exciting Times

• My rib pain is not getting any better- in fact, I think it has been getting worse. It is definitely more painful to lie down than it was a few days ago, and I haven't been able to sleep. So we spent our Friday night at Eastern Market's new MedStar urgent care facility getting an x-ray, which was inconclusive. The doctor just told me to take a lot more ibuprofen than I had been taking, and not to exercise. I bought some Motrin PM, took a lot of it, and slept for 11 hours. That was nice, but my rib still hurts.

• I am sad that I can't run or do yoga. This is what I do on the weekends. I also had to cancel my massage. I think this is the universe's way of punishing me for not going last weekend in my fit of planning craziness.

• I should use this downtime (it's not like I had any plans anyway) to accomplish my goals of making the wedding photobook and planning the Argentina trip. But I don't FEEL like it. Harumph. 

• At least the weather matches my mood.

• On Thursday night, I went to a work happy hour, my first social event since I started in September. I don't mean to be anti-social, but all of the other events have been inconvenient for one reason or another- even though there have been a LOT of opportunities. So I went for an hour, made small-talk, met new people, etc. It was good. Then I met two friends at a restaurant I never knew existed, Panache. It was ok- a very DC restaurant*- but we had a 50% off coupon, so that made it good.

• Should I made this Kimchi Noodle Cake or does that sound terrible? I have all of the ingredients except the dried shrimp, which I would likely skip, and the pepper paste. Jason almost certainly would not eat it. 

*To me, a very DC restaurant means that the food, service, and decor are nice enough that you don't have anything to complain about, but is totally uninspired and costs about 50% more than it should.

Goings-On:

• Last night we snuck out of tutoring early. Mentors are supposed to be there from 6-8 pm, but the tutoring session is really only from 6:30-7:30, with ancillary activities on either end. By 7:30 I usually: (1) have had a poor tutoring session and am annoyed, (2) am hungry, (3) miss my home (and cat) after 12 hours* away. So I left. Jason feels more guilt about these things than I do, but luckily he followed. That extra half hour is really key to re-heating my leftovers and watching Gilmore Girls IN PEACE.

• I think I bruised or cracked a rib??? From residual flu-coughing?? For about three days now, I have had a sharp pain in the upper part of my left rib cage every time I take a deep breath, cough, sneeze, or twist. This seems consistent with online symptoms of bruised or cracked ribs...but I'm not sure what to do with this information. Apparently you just have to wait until it heals itself. But can I run? Do yoga? Get my massage? I don't want to puncture my lungs! Also, if I really did crack a rib from coughing (admittedly a lot of heavy coughing over a month long period) does that mean I have very weak bones????

• One of the highlights of my day is checking the Afternoon Animal Fix on Popville. Look at those little guys. This past Saturday, a local pet supply shop was hosting a kitten adoption event and we stopped by on our way to the wines of Argentina tasting...They were SO CUTE omg. I wonder how Sal would feel about a feisty little sibling in his life. It was so hard not to take one home! At least I got a bottle of wine...

• I made this chicken and sweet potato curry tonight:

I thought this was delicious, but Jason said there were too many peas...and even though he didn't like it very much, he liked it better than the mushroom marsala pasta I made on Monday! This is part of the challenge of trying new recipes...

I was inspired by the pad thai to use crushed peanuts as a garnish.

I have never made this recipe, so it counts as new, but honestly this is similar to the types of meals I used to make for myself when I first moved to DC and would really only cook once, maybe twice per week. A big vat of protein and veggies in a sauce spiked with curry powder and served over rice. Then I would eat it for lunch the rest of the week. I don't really remember what I ate for dinner...happy hour foods? lean cuisine frozen pizzas**? Anyway, I like to think I am a better cook now, (although I got distracted while chopping and burnt the sweet potatoes) and this is a better recipe, so eating leftovers for the next several days won't give me flashbacks.

• I'm still unsure about this Little Serow menu. Do I want to eat a snakehead fish??

Exercise:

Jillian Michaels video + short stretchy yoga video. I was planning to run but I wanted to be in my living room in case I punctured my lung and collapsed.


*Really, would it kill me to watch middle school kids sing and make announcements for an extra 30 minutes of my life? Not so very long ago, I had 15 hour days, three days a week (I left for work at 7:30 am and came back from class after 10 pm). I would have been THRILLED to be home by 8:30 pm, eating home-cooked food on my couch, and watching TV. I need to try harder to remember this.

**Omg, I just cringe thinking about how many of those terrible frozen meals I used to eat. And all that Easy Mac I ate in college.

Hurray for Federal Holidays

I used to have so much vacation time that I didn't really pay all that much attention to federal holidays. Now that I have basically no vacation days, federal holidays are such a beautiful thing.

Food:

These came out well, I think, although I only had a couple of bites of one of them:

But this was Jason's breakfast so I think he liked them.

I had leftover pizza for breakfast so I guess I can't judge.

Jason made Popeye's pizza again last night. We have a difference of opinion on the point of trying new recipes- he thinks it's to find a few that he loves so that he can make them over and over again. It's a good thing he makes excellent pizza! 

Both last night's and tonight's dinner were enhanced by the purchase of a Groupon to an Eastern Market creamery to buy many fancy cheeses. After I used the Groupon, I came home and bought another one! My salad tastes so much better with a few crumbles of $36/lb blue cheese....

I have been craving Asian food this weekend. There is a new Korean place on Barracks Row that I'd been wanting to try, Cafe Kimchi, so I got some lunch takeout. I think it was good, but I am no Korean food expert. If I had a choice between the two, I'd probably go to Takorean, but it is farther from my apartment.

Bibimbap + extra kimchi

Tonight's Dinner: mushroom marsala pasta bake.
I thought it was very good and relatively easy to make, but Jason didn't think it was flavorful enough. I think more grated Parmesan on the leftovers will help. I like that it created a lot of leftovers! We ate this with chicken sausages for some protein.

This is a great stove to oven pan but it is so hard to clean

Other:
I can't wait to have my own washer and dryer. The middle of the day on a federal holiday is a popular time to do laundry in our building. Luckily we have an assistant.

These go on the gentle cycle, right?

I'm still managing to do short runs every other day. I almost (almost) enjoyed my mid-day 40 minute run (slow jog+walk) today. My doctor this morning seemed impressed by how much I exercise. I didn't tell him that my routine is only a few days old. But he seemed shocked, shocked that I eat cheese every day! I lied and said it was only one meal per day. (I eat cheese at most meals. And for snacks. And whenever else I can.) What, if my cholesterol is fine, what's it to him?!

They have arrived! More beautiful than their predecessors!

Sparks of joy going off here!

Weekend Cooking Notes:

• Pad Thai: Since Little Serow was out of the picture on Saturday, I made pad thai at home using this recipe.

I've never made pad thai and was a little leery of this recipe since it doesn't really have a peanut sauce, but apparently that is like 2,000 calories or something. This was very tasty! I liked all the vinegars and fish sauce flavors. Although I made a lot of modifications:

-Chicken instead of shrimp
-I didn't have peanut oil so I used sesame oil
-Added extra garlic and some carrots because I wanted to use them up
-Terrible Safeway didn't have bean sprouts so I used....alfalfa sprouts. But only a handful, certainly not two cups
-I used rice noodles, but wide ones meant for pho, and I couldn't understand how long to cook them from the poorly translated Vietnamese on the package. So they were a little chewy, but I liked them that way!
-I added soy sauce at the end, and the peanuts I used for garnish were salted, so it was likely much saltier than it was supposed to be. But that's ok, I don't really worry about sodium in home cooking.
-The recipe said four servings, but we easily at the whole thing. I have that issue with Smitten Kitchen recipes as well, but never with Rachael Ray recipes...

• Cinnamon Rolls: these are happening.

Getting ready for their second rise

I don't love to bake, and I especially don't love to fuss around with yeasty dough that needs to rise (twice!). My $20 hand mixer was unfortunately not up to the challenge of this dough- the dough basically rose up and overtook the poor thing. This is the first time I've thought that a stand mixer would really come in handy. (But $600 worth of handy??) This also created SO MANY dishes. But Jason has been asking me to bake him cinnamon rolls for almost two years now.  Hopefully they turn out well!

More cooking to come since this is a long weekend!

Exercise:

I ran* for about 35 minutes on Saturday, and did an hour of living room ashtanga yoga this morning, since it was raining and I didn't want to walk to the studio. Does procuring groceries count as a workout? It involves walking two miles, the second one with very heavy bags. Car2go is really failing me lately.

*Just to be clear, run=very slow jog with walking breaks. My last 5k time was 39 minutes, so this was probably a little less than three miles.

Other Notes:

• We opened a joint checking account and applied for a joint credit card! We are keeping all of our own personal accounts though. Baby steps. 

• Jason got in line at 4:30 pm on Friday at Rose's Luxury, and there was already a long line! We sat at bar stools facing into the open kitchen, which is the most fun place to sit since you get to watch everything being made. The couple next to us had come straight from their courthouse wedding, and were in the process of getting pretty drunk in their full wedding regalia when we sat down. We went a little crazy and ordered most of the menu, as well as several drinks, and our waitress sent us out samples of the things we didn't order. It was amazing and I want to go back every night, although I was feeling sluggish the next day from the indulgence.

• Getting your nails done in the winter is a huge pain in the neck! I guess I've only gotten my nails done regularly in Miami, where you can always wear flip flops and not bother with outerwear. The nail technician had to slather my toes in oil and then put a plastic sandwich bag over them, then put my socks and shoes on for me. This is kind of genius but also kind of humiliating. I also ruined two nails putting on my coat, even with her help. Also, in Miami, I don't really pay attention to the time commitment, because I'm generally on vacation/don't have to cook or clean. But even in this less busy period of my life, I can't see doing this with any regularity. I was in the salon for about two hours with drying time, and I still didn't want to do anything productive for at least another couple of hours for fear of ruining my nails. The cinnamon buns are not going to roll themselves! 

• Salvers. This contraption is meant for you to scratch and play, and get some exercise.

What's your point, Mom?

I'm back! Did you miss me? No?

Random Updates:

• I ran last night! Probably only about 2.5 miles, but given that it was 35 degrees and dark, I'll take it. After the first 10 miserable minutes, I actually really like running in the cold, provided it is above freezing.
• This article makes me despair for current children and also makes me not ever want to be a parent. Who can deal with all of the years of judgement, especially for women? Nasty looks if you have a cup of coffee while pregnant, haranguing about breast feeding (thinking about pumping at work makes me feel like an industrial cow), and then nearly getting arresting for letting your kids walk down the street? Ugh. (Although to be perfectly honest, I probably would not let Hypothetical Future Children do this. I get worried when I don't know where Sal is in our 500 sq/ft apartment!)
• My plan to have an indulgent Dupont Circle spa day has been dashed. The menu at Little Serow was vetoed (by both of us), and somehow the whole day fell apart. Truly, sometimes I am a crazy person and get overly caught up in my own plans. But since part of scheduling the message was being able to look forward to it, and I was just stressing about it, I re-scheduled for next week.
• I am still going to get my nails done because the polish on my toe nails is from my wedding. In August.
• Per the above, I think the solution to not driving myself crazy ruminating on nonsense is to be busier so I don't have time to dwell on things. But being busy makes me sad and despairing as well.
• Rose's!

  

  This is simply called "hot chicken" on the menu.

  Seriously, just the best restaurant ever.

There was a slight dusting of snow this morning, but not enough for a snow day, although the Fairfax kids got another day off for approximately 1 cm of snow. Oh, Virginia.

I spent the early evening visiting a friend's new condo, drinking wine and eating cheese. I'm so jealous of my friends who have taken the plunge into property ownership. But also not, because, stress.

I am planning a very exciting long weekend for myself. Jason works from home on Fridays, so he is going to get in line early for Rose's Luxury. And then on Saturday, I have my Christmas massage scheduled, followed by a mani-pedi, followed by killing some time either shopping or reading in a coffee shop, followed by standing in line for/eating at Little Serow. (Although now that I'm looking at the menu, it looks like it's mostly fish this week! Hmmm. They only have one pre-fixe menu that changes weekly.) I don't really deserve these indulgences because I am not overworked and my life is not taxing in any way, but...it was at one point! That counts, right?

Cooking:
Spicy pumpkin enchiladas made by Jason! We are trying to keep the resolution to try new recipes. Delicious!

Exercise:
Omg, I am still in so much pain from the Jillian Michael's dvd. So pathetic. Tomorrow I run. Totally.

To Do List:
-Boston trip is booked! 5402 Reunion, here we come! I can't believe one of us has a BABY. What are we, in our 30's? Oh, wait.
-I am planning to go to a "Wines of Argentina" tasting on Sunday- does that count as trip planning?
-I continue to think very hard and argue with Rita about joint finances.

Dreary Tuesdays

Tuesdays are my least favorite day of the week.

This sounds so, so awful. If I had been trapped on that train, I would be way too traumatized to take Metro ever again. I would be at the car dealership the next day! That's probably a bad idea since traffic fatalities are way worse than Metro fatalities... but it's so unsettling how unprepared Metro personnel are for an actual emergency- probably because dealing with the everyday absurdities of Metro are a low-level emergency all the time. The scariest part is that it has taken them to the next day to even have an idea of what happened! I'm glad I am able to walk home most days.

In less tragic news, tutoring was still terrible. We are doing the poetry unit, which usually is the highlight of the year, because poems are short to read and very structured to write. No dice- these kids seriously hate the program. But they still got candy! Ugh.

No cooking on Tuesdays, no exercise on Tuesdays. But this little guy cheers me up when I get home.

Where were you ALL DAY?

He requires sustained petting for many minutes from the first person who gets home. When I stop, he does little twists and dances to get my attention for more petting.

Monday Monday

Two hour delayed arrival due to some icy rain this morning- unnecessary, but I enjoyed sleeping in and lingering over my coffee. Last year, we had something like six snow days but we haven't had any this year. No snow on the ten day forecast either- the highs are in the 50's towards the end of the month!

My volunteer tutoring program starts again tomorrow, after a holiday break. I did this program (with Rita for a year) for four years before grad school, and then started back up again this year, and...I am not enjoying it. I think I am crankier and less energetic than I used to be, but the group of kids I have this year just don't like each other or me, and we don't work well together. The organization itself is also very disorganized. This may be my last year...although I feel bad not doing any sort of volunteer work in the community. I should have spent the weeks off thinking of ways to improve our sessions and make the kids more motivated and eager to learn. Did I do this? Of course not. I will just keep bribing them with candy.

What my filing cabinets actually contain.

Cooking:
I made a chicken, apple, and white bean chili. This recipe sounded a little weird, but someone recommended it and I want to try new things. It was good! I used half of the butter and added a half a jalapeño because I like my chili spicy. Although the Harris Teeter chicken broth I used has a bit of a weird flavor. Further proof that it is a terrible grocery store!

Lots of leftovers- I hope it freezes well!

I don't usually crave desserts, but I have an intense desire to make this recipe. I think I would make it with a graham cracker crust. I also want to up the coconut flavor. Would it be better to replace the heavy cream or the milk with coconut milk? (I ask my many readers and commenters out there...ha!)

Exercise:
Well, I walked home, but it is still a little icy and raining for running... I attempted Level 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred in my living room, but I just feel so terrible doing this to my downstairs neighbors! You can hear and feel EVERYTHING that goes on in this apartment building!

Excited:
The last season of Parks and Rec starts tomorrow! I love Parks and Rec and I think Leslie Knope is a feminist hero. I can often be a cynical person, but I like my TV to be about good people trying to do good things. I mean, shows like Breaking Bad can be great, but they will never be in my heart like Buffy, Friday Night Lights, or even the Office. And Parks and Rec makes that list.

Weekend in Review

Highlights:

1. The brigade outing was a success! We are doing a greatest hits tour. Unbeknownst to the brigadiers, an old favorite restaurant, Four Sisters, has been surrounded by a large suburban development called the Mosaic District, so it was unexpectedly crowded. We had to wait for a table, a brigade first! The food was almost as good as we remembered, however, except for a beef and broccoli dish that was bland. Besides that, we had crispy pork rolls, louts root salad, shrimp tamarind soup, caramelized pork, and lemongrass chicken.

We even had leftovers- another brigade first.

2. 100 Montaditos was great. Jason and I enjoyed the long walk over, sat at the bar, had some beer, and split a dozen little Spanish sandwiches. Tortilla on bread is my carb heaven.

3. We had drinks at Wisdom for a friend's birthday. I've known about this bar for a long time, but for some reason had never been. I was really impressed! It's cozy, not too crowded, has good drinks and good service. It's nice to discover good places that are walking distance from home. I am looking for a reason to go back!

4. The weekly pizza! Changing it up with this recipe for Popeye's Pizza. Delicious!

Lowlights:

1. It's lucky 100 Montaditos was good, because the little grocery store outing to Harris Teeter I planned in conjunction was...abysmal. There is just something about the layout of Harris Teeter that I find deeply counter-intuitive, and I needed help to find about half of the things on my list. Even though this is a shiny brand new store, they had such poor selection that we had to abandon TWO planned recipes for the week! And overpriced is a given in DC. To top it off there were NO cars2go AND the Circulator never came. The long walk back home was not fun. And so I remain defeated. Capitol Hill grocery shopping=1000000, Alex=0.  

2. Housekeeping. I am thinking of attaching Swiffer pads to Sal's paws, and a duster to his tail, so he can clean up his mess as fast as he creates it.

3. No progress on to-do list. 

Competing Philosophies

Operation Retrieve Lunchbox did not go as planned. I went back to the bar and made them look again, and it was nowhere to be found. I was surprisingly upset about this! I mean, the monetary value of my lunchbox, tupperware, and coffee mug is probably less than $40, so this is not a major set-back. Plus, with my minimalist inclinations, I shouldn't be so attached to material items that this small loss would make me genuinely upset. Right? But I am!*

I think part of the problem is that when you strenuously de-clutter, you don't have multiples of items to fall back on. Other times in my life I have owned many versions of lunchboxes and travel coffee mugs. But a much bigger part is that I buy into the currently popular philosophy behind de-cluttering, which is to get rid of things that do not "spark joy." I have not read Marie Kondo's book, but I mostly agree with the idea that you should get rid of things that do not immediately make you happy, and take joy in your possessions that serve you well. (Not that I have de-cluttered to this standard at all. It's tough!) But obviously part of that idea is that some of your possessions DO make you really happy, and this exercise makes you spend more time thinking about how much you like the items you choose to keep!

People have criticized this idea by saying, what, I should get rid of my blender if it doesn't spark joy? How is a toaster supposed to spark joy? But I think they can! I don't have the kitchen space for a blender or toaster right now, and I can totally imagine being really happy in the future to have these appliances, and being appreciative that the toaster saved me from the hassle of using the oven broiler to make toast. Similarly, I liked this lunchbox because it was sleek and sophisticated-looking, and fit my lunch containers well, I liked the tupperware because it was a great size and was almost continuously in use, and this coffee mug was great because it never leaked in my bag and kept my coffee hot for hours. I had taken the time to appreciate these qualities while I had them.

Sal, for example, really appreciates his bed, but also does not give a damn, in general

In conclusion, I am torn. I am re-thinking this method because I don't think it's healthy to be so attached to inconsequential material possessions. But do think it's a good idea to appreciate your belongings for what they do well, so that you can get rid of things that don't meet this standard. Maybe I should focus on achieving a state of detachment- then I can get rid of things and not worry about anything at all, especially losing a lunchbox.

*I'm over it now, please do not worry that I have lost my mind.

Home Cooking Triumphs

Tonight we have plans to meet one of Jason's college friends for dinner. I was trying to remember the last time we went out for dinner and...I couldn't! I had to check Mint.com, my spending tracker- it was December 20th! Yes, I had a four day trip to Miami between then and now, but still- just counting from when we got back home from Christmas, we have eaten dinner at home every night for 11 nights. That might be a new record!

Surely post-holiday social isolation and flu-recovery played a part, but since you (did not) asked, we have been on a restaurant moratorium for the past several months. This means that we don't go out to dinner unless it's with friends, or it is a planned outing/special occasion. After several lavish months of fine dining last year, we decided (I decided?) to do this because:

• We could not afford this lifestyle
• Going out to eat stops being special
• Cooking is important
• I finally, blessedly have time again to meal plan, grocery shop, and cook

Mostly this means "it's Friday night and there is a hot new restaurant to try out" usually does not make the cut. This is probably an over-correction, but I was just so sick of eating almost all of my meals out while I was in school. I'm setting up camp in my kitchen until I get sick of that too!

Last night I made a fast and improvised chicken and sausage "paella." It was delicious! I am missing Spain a lot lately.

Goya Spanish rice mix makes everything delicious.

Terrible news: So distracted was I by the over-stimulation of being at happy hour, at a bar, with other people, not in my home, that I left my lunchbox, containing a great tupperware and $$$ coffee mug, under the lounge table! I called the bar a couple of hours later, and they said they couldn't find it. I am crushed! I am going there after work today to demand they search harder.

This week has not been super exciting. I am still working on a strategy for enjoying weekdays more. I am going to a happy hour tonight with my old co-workers. Too bad it is so cold that they closed schools today!

View from my pillow every night. "Stop reading and pet me!"

Things to look forward to this weekend:

• I bought a Groupon for 100 Montaditos at their new location close-ish to my apartment. I loved this place when I lived in Madrid! We can have lunch there and then go grocery shopping at the fancy new Harris Teeter* across the street, which seems to always have cars2go parked outside of it. Chain restaurant + groceries= my life is super exciting. At least I am excited about leaving the house?
• An actual yoga class at Yoga District. I really like Yoga District- it's a non-profit, their classes are affordable, and they have a studio walking distance from my apartment. Shockingly, I get a much better workout there than when I am laying on my living room floor.
• THE BRIGADE RETURNS. Although I don't know where we are going yet.
• A Pumpernickel's bagel! A generous co-worker brought me a half-dozen, and I froze them to ration out one per week. They are the only good bagels I have ever had in DC.
• Above freezing temperatures starting Sunday! Hopefully I can start my outdoor runs again on Monday.

*I don't love Harris Teeter but it is better than the hateful Safeway I am usually forced to shop at. Actually I don't love any grocery store except Publix, which I love a lot but does not exist here, but my old combination of Giant + Whole Foods (when I lived and worked in different neighborhoods) was much preferable to my current options. The main downside to not having a car right now, I think, is being so constrained in grocery choices. Not to mention shlepping them home!

Cooking: I have made this recipe for steak and blue cheese salad with mustard vinaigrette before, but this is the first time I cooked the steak in a cast iron skillet, and the first time I haven't over-cooked it. Success!

Yesterday was a day when everything irritated me for some reason. I took the metro home instead of walking because the streets were icy, and I zoned out and missed my transfer point and ended up in... Virginia! That did not help my mood.

Part of the problem was that I had some free time earlier, so I browsed houses for sale to see what options we have in our price range, and the results did not please me.

After I got off the train, I took a walk around Lincoln Park to try and ease my mood. That didn't really work, although it was fun to see dogs play in the snow. Then I tried to do some restorative yoga, but that made it worse! I started and stopped three different videos after getting annoyed at how long I had to just lay around and relax! Like, let's stretch already, I'm in a hurry! Absurd.

View of Sal from downward dog in the living room.

So far, today is better. I managed a quick lunchtime trip to the grocery store, so I feel more productive and also like I will not starve for the next few days. The world will not end if we go out to dinner during the week, but making dinner at home makes me feel so... virtuous.

Last night was nice. I did a short yoga video in my living room (I use doyogawithme.com and so far I am a fan. A lot of free options and styles, and videos of different lengths), heated up leftover garlic tart, watched the Downton Abbey episode, and took down the Christmas decorations and tree.

Given my quest for minimalism, I am happy to see that all Christmas ornaments and decorations fit into these two small containers, and go easily under the bed.

Sal shown for scale. And because he's cute.

I also managed to read a little bit before my eyes fell shut at 10 pm. I'm re-reading Gilead, which I liked the first time, but am liking even better after reading Lila. Lila felt a lot more plot-driven and accessible than Marilynne Robinson's other novels, so now I feel like I have a better sense of John Ames and the characters he is talking about in Gilead. I don't remember what I thought about Home, but maybe I'll give it another read as well.

First snow of the season on my walk home

Exercise:
I was getting into a zone with cold weather running in December, but um, it is really cold now. And snowing. And I am still coughing. I did walk home last night (a little under two miles). It was cold. I'm not actually sure my living room yoga sessions count for anything- they are basically guided stretching. But so nice after sitting at work all day.

Cooking: At some point, we will have to go grocery shopping. Today is not that day. Holidays and illness have thrown off my routine. Today I had to buy my lunch because I just could not eat anymore leftover butternut squash. More stuffed eggplant tonight.

Lazy Weekend

Still Life with Cat

I don't think I left my apartment this weekend  for more than the 15 minutes it took to buy some apples and cheese at the market. There was a lot of sleeping, cooking, reading, chatting with friends, and TV watching. It was nice, but I'm looking forward to more active weekends once all flu symptoms finally give up their grip on my household.

My lovely brunch spread.

Cooking: For brunch, I made a caramelized garlic tart, using this recipe and apple muffins using this recipe. I used regular pie dough for the crust and used two heads of garlic, not three. Very tasty!




















We also made progress on making more interesting dinners. Behold eggplant stuffed with ground turkey, rice, and veggies, made by Jason.

Looking forward to: 
Taking down the Christmas decorations
Two nights worth of dinner leftovers
Planning a trip to Boston to visit Rita!
Planning the Argentina trip
Doing an easy online yoga video to ease back into working out
Scheduling my first massage ever using a Christmas gift certificate
Planning a trip to my favorite restaurant (everyone's favorite restaurant) Rose's Luxury, also using a Christmas gift certificate

Fun with the Sunday newspaper

I really should stop reading these things: How to Find a Feminist Boyfriend

So many questions! Some thoughts:

It certainly made him more appealing than the guy who said, “Wow, you’re really ambitious,” like he was surprised. Or the one who asked, “Why do you work so much?” and “Why would you want to work even more?” when I was angling for a promotion.

I think these can be reasonable, feminist-neutral questions. Spending all of your time at the office is not an attractive quality in a partner. Feminism means that your career goals and ambitions, for both men and women, are driven by your interests, aptitude, and personality. This feminist personally thinks working more than 40 hours a week is lame. 

I want a partner to be: cute, smart, funny and . . . yes, feminist.... A 30-something single woman, eggs unfrozen, is telling other single women that they should dare to want it all.

Wanting to date someone who is not blatantly sexist is wanting it all? That's like saying wanting someone who bathes is asking too much.

A true male feminist is supportive of, interested in and enthusiastic about his partner’s career. He might not expect to earn more than his partner or think that his career trumps hers; a feminist couple might relocate for the woman’s career.

Yes, this is a reasonable statement. More stuff like this!

The challenge of breaking out of rigid gender roles isn’t limited to straight daters. “Both my partner and I have known butches who are so into being butch that it can be like dating a man who’s a bit sexist,” lesbian writer Donna Minkowitz, 50, tells me. “And I’ve known gay couples who are so rigid in their gender division . . . one man doesn’t want his partner to work, wants him to stay home with the kids.”

???? How can you ascribe this to gender roles if both people are the same gender?

Minkowitz thinks that sometimes straight people fear that if they try to have an egalitarian relationship, sexual attraction will suffer. “That’s an unnecessary worry,” she says, “because you can still admire the way a person is masculine or feminine without buying into a whole socioeconomic package that goes along with that.”

????? I have no idea what this means, and yes, I have read the articles claiming women won't want to sleep with their husbands if the husbands do the dishes.

A feminist dater or boyfriend (and yes, feminists have boyfriends) is aware of the ways women have traditionally been held back, by others and by our own accord, and actively pushes against that. He’s sensitive to the fact that women’s bodies are frequently judged, abused and legislated, and takes no part in that. He gets it.

Yes! Back on track! But....why the parenthetical? So unnecessary. 

But once she thought about how she — and other women like her — has built herself up “as this feminist, this self-assured woman, this strong person,” she realized that “it becomes harder to access the more feminine parts of yourself that could be more positive.”

And now we are back in crazy land. Feminism (in the context of finding a partner) doesn't mean you are more or less emotional than you are. It doesn't mean manufacturing vulnerability to create intimacy or faking strength when you are sad. It just means being a person, the one you are, with another person, who is not stupid or mean. Maybe easier said than done, but it's not theoretically complicated. 

In the Kitchen

Last night, a friend from high school was unexpectedly in town for her birthday, giving me the opportunity to make progress on one of my resolutions by staying out until almost midnight. Very fun... but I don't know if Black Jack is an egregious example or if I have just gotten incredibly grumpy, but what is the point of a bar if I can't talk to my friends because the music is so loud and I can't get a drink because the line is so long?

Today I spent the entire day chopping, cooking, baking, cleaning. Muffins and corn bread for brunch tomorrow, peeling and chopping butternut squash, heating up lunch for both of us, making dinner...and I had this ridiculous thought. The public conversation about feminism is so....bizarre these days. When celebrities get put on the spot about it, half the time they say something stupid about not being a feminist because they don't hate men or don't want to burn their bra. Why is that such a thing, bra burning? Did it ever even happen? So I was thinking about my day, and then I though, what if this was my day every day? If every day I woke up and baked and cooked and watched my work get eaten and disappear, and I wasn't able to earn my own money to make my own decisions, and I felt trapped because I wasn't educated and probably had a few kids, and this endless cooking and baking wasn't a total one-off that I had complete control over but something expected of me both by my family and socially, day after day after day....

I would absolutely want to burn my bra.

Sal oppresses me by dirtying the clothes as soon as they come out of the drier.

I also watched a lot of Gilmore Girls and How I Met Your Mother on Netflix. Modern life is so good.

_____________________________

Exercise: No, but I am still recovering from the flu!

Cooking: Turkey burgers with onions and mushrooms last night. Boring, but cooking on a Friday night is always a triumph! I was going to make sweet potato fries, but my sweet potatoes disappeared. Improvised butternut squash pasta tonight. Resolution to start cooking more exciting things begins...next week.

Exciting Saturday night

Happily Leaving 2014

Although a lot of good things happened in 2014, I am expecting 2015 to be a much better year for my day to day happiness, because all of the lead up to the good things that happened (finishing my classes, planning a (very simple) wedding, training and orientation for a new job) were stressful. I'm looking forward to a 2015 where nothing big happens!

From 2012-2014, I was doing my Master's full time, while also working full time. It was awful and ruined my life for two years. 2015 could be a great year solely based on the absence of school. (My life had been on an upward trajectory every year since high school, and grad school brought that momentum to a grinding halt.) Also, in April, Jason was able to leave a job that was making him miserable, and get a new, better job. So, our main sources of misery have been removed. Hooray!

Things to do in 2015

• Keep blogging.
• Keep de-cluttering. I spent New Year's Day getting rid of stuff, and I want to do this on a regular basis. We have a tiny apartment and it stresses me out to see things pile up. That spoiled cat has so many accessories now!
• Continue exercise routine of running 6-9 miles a week, with yoga twice a week. I don't have any specific fitness goals other than to maintain reasonable health and well-being, despite the cold and dark. And the laziness.
• Streamline meal planning so that there is more ingredient overlap throughout the week, recipes with lots of leftovers are planned earlier in the week, and meals revolve around more inexpensive ingredients. My grocery bills are out of control! Also, try new recipes every week, instead of making fajitas and pasta all the time. And stop being such a control freak and let Jason cook during the week. Expect many dinner selfies!

  

  The weekly pizza

• Make Sal into an internet celebrity.
• Try to embrace and find happiness in the day to day, instead of living for sleeping in on the weekend. It can't be healthy to wish away 5 of every 7 days of the week. I don't have a specific strategy for this yet.
• Learn how to make cocktails.
• Be less boring. Don't get so tied to my routine that I sacrifice seeing friends or otherwise doing fun things. Keep hosting friends for dinner, and don't turn down social plans because it means I won't be in bed by 10 pm. Seek out art and interesting events the way I used to. Maybe I need a multi-vitamin that will give me more energy.

Things I need to do sooner rather than later:

But the real mystery is....will this be the year I manage to floss? Sal doubts it

• Plan honeymoon! Right now the plan is 10 days in Argentina in May.  
• Make wedding photobooks. This has been hanging over my head since I got the digital photos in October. Selecting, dragging, and editing photo pages is just not my favorite way to spend my free time. But I know I will be happy to have it, and so will the parents.
• Complete job transition: roll over my retirement accounts, make sure my doctors take my new insurance and make appointments, find a new dentist on my plan, etc.
• See a financial planner. I don't know how to get started on this one. Can I just walk into my bank and ask to talk to someone? I don't know to be an adult with regards to joint bank accounts, balancing paying off debt against saving, thinking about buying a house, car, etc. 

Everything Old is New Again

As I have for several new years, I have resolved to start blogging again. I have blogged fitfully for about 11 years, and now that the blog seems like a dying art, it's time to start again.

Reasons to Start Blogging Again

• Now that I am done with grad school, I have excess mental energy
• Julia started blogging again
• Rita was bugging me
• I obsessively read other blogs, so it seems only fair to contribute
• 2014 was a big year- I finished school, quit my job of six years, got married, and started a new job. Change provides fodder for blog posts.
• To give myself another outlet for the indignation and strong opinions I exhaust my husband with

What I Intend to Post About

• How I think about things and manage potentially big life decisions: getting older (I'm turning 30 this year), developing a career, buying a house (???), hypothetical future children (???!!!!)
• My daily routine and goals, such as exercising, meal planning, cooking, and various other personal projects, mostly as self-motivation
• News articles/trends/anonymous people in my life that annoy me
• Cats

Note that these things are not necessarily intended to be of interest to you, dear reader. But if you are like me, maybe they will be.

My last blog was a beautiful thing; the Brigade is another old habit I want to bring back in 2015!