Houses, Snow, and Too-Simple Dinners

We went house shopping this morning- I felt really bad for the realtor who gave up his Saturday morning to drive us around in heavy snow. It's certainly not a job I would ever want. I felt pretty neutral about the experience until the last house we saw, which we loved. Our realtor seems to think it's a death trap, and that's the reason it's sat for months in a market where houses sell overnight. I think charm + affordability= my kind of death trap.

It's been really cold in DC this week- in the single digits and snowy. We had the snow day on Tuesday and then many of the suburban school districts closed for the rest of the week because it was too cold. I think this is absurd. This is the reason that DC is justly made fun of in the winter. It's a good idea for the government to shut down for a day when it snows more than a few inches- we just don't have the plows or wherewithal to clear the roads, and people end up stuck on the highways, abandoning their cars trying to get home from work. But too cold? It wasn't even windy this week! Kids can withstand getting cold while waiting for the bus- they'll be fine. If they can't afford sufficiently warm clothes, they may not have heat at home, or enough food, and really, really should be in a classroom. I don't have sufficiently warm clothes for this weather either- I can afford them but I chose not to spend my money on such depressing items. I walked the two miles home from work in the single digit temperature twice. Both times I was cold, both times I survived.

Cooking:

We have not done much cooking this week and haven't tried any new recipes.

Behold the five ingredient, five-minute dinner. Well, five minutes after the water boiled.

Pre-made pesto + tortellini + shrimp + heavy cream + spinach

Tasty and ridiculously easy.

The only problem is that for the cost of these ingredients (especially at Eastern Market where it was all purchased) you could easily go out to eat for cheaper. Not for shrimp, but two people could feast at Chipotle for less. That's the little secret of home cooking- it's only cheaper than eating out if you want it be and plan for it. And planning takes time- often more of my time than cooking the actual meal. Does home cooking retain it's virtue if all you do is mix things together and cook for five minutes and if it's more expensive than going out to eat?

I'm not sure. In any case, this week should be different. We just trudged through the snow from the grocery store- and look what I found at the library!

Already annotated

I'm hoping I can just renew it indefinitely and make lots of these recipes. I don't think anyone in my fancy neighborhood would bother to get a cookbook from the library.