If you follow me on Twitter, you might’ve noticed that I’ve suddenly gone missing. This was no accident. I jumped on the Twitter bandwagon a year ago, I think after being introduced to it by a colleague at the New York City Writing Project, who uses a student-friendly version of Twitter. At first, it was pretty neat… a way of updating my status all day long, to my heart’s content without annoying my Facebook friends.
But then… it kind of took over. First came the Firefox plug-in, then the iPhone app and the inevitable obsessive-compulsive behavior that led me to check my twitter incessantly.
I added more and more followers, and I gained more and more followers, most of them people trying to sell me something or spam me. I started to feel like it was kind of pointless… what the hell was I using Twitter for? None of my friends were on it, save for a few RL friends and some blogging friends. That handful of people that I actually cared about, I could follow them on FB, or on AIM, or read their blogs or, you know… in real life!
The straw that broke the camel’s back, though, was the advent of celebrity twitter. Ugh. Too mainstream! Too commercial! I mean, c’mon… I’m supposed to believe that these famous people are actually doing their own twittering? Gimme an effin break…
In short, I got burned out… so, that’s the end of Twitter for me. No big deal… You know you can still find me all over the internets!
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This week’s menu requires me to pick up only 5 things on my shopping trip, in addition to my weekly staples (eggs, half&half, etc). This makes me very excited! I have tons of stuff in the freezer and leftover veggies from last week’s shopping, plus we went to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. I got a new issue of Everyday Food on Saturday as well, so I planned this week’s menu around my inventory, and EF.
Monday: Slow-Cooker Spiced Chicken Stew with Carrots (EF, 3/09). We have always have a boatload of carrots on hand because we like to juice them with apples, so this recipe is perfect for using up carrots before they go rotten since we usually buy a gigantic bag but don’t juice everyday.
Tuesday: Pulled pork sandwiches with cabbage slaw (EF, 3/09). This is a “lighter version” from EF and the cabbage slaw is a good way to use up a half head of red cabbage leftover from last week.
Wednesday: Cornmeal crusted fishsticks with apple salad (EF, 3/09). When I saw this recipe, I said to myself, “check, check, check and check.” I don’t need to buy a single ingredient for this one. As an old friend was fond of saying, “niiiiiiiiiiice.”
Thursday: Chicken cutlets with roasted beet and potato salad. I got some nice looking fingerlings at the Farmer’s Market and I have beets in the freezer that I’ve been waiting to use. The best part is, this is a very Alice-friendly meal. She can eat everything in this meal with no adaptations. Win-win!
Friday: Cod with celery root puree and roasted mushrooms. I actually wanted to make celery root puree a few weeks ago but my supermarket didn’t have celery root. I found some teeny tiny ones at the Farmer’s Market, along with some nice looking mushrooms. Voila. Friday dinner!
Hey, hey! The weekly menu is back. This week, my goal is to use the crockpot at least once, so I have three crockpot meals on the menu this week.
Monday: Pork Roast with Cabbage, braised in cider. I don’t really have a recipe for this one. I did a little research on crockpot basics, and made sure that it was okay to make cabbage in the slow cooker (it is!). I also went with pork after reading an article on the best cheap cuts of meat for braising. This is slow-cooker meal #1.
Tuesday: Acorn squash pizza with goat cheese. I’m using an pizza dough recipe from Everyday Food, and I’m using actual goat cheese this time (instead of swapping in farmer cheese) because I have discovered the miracle that is Trader Joe’s cheap cheese. A big log of goat cheese was only 5 bucks! (I’m late to the game, I know.)
Wednesday: Short ribs with roasted potatoes. I’m testing out a Cooks’ Illustrated recipe for short ribs. (I’ve included the link but the recipe is only accessible by members. Sorry!) This is slow-cooker meal #2.
Thursday: Chicken paprikash, with rice. I’m using this recipe from Epicurious.com, but I swapped out the legs for thighs. This is slow-cooker meal #3.
Friday: Fish, with brown rice pasta and veggies. I’m trying out brown rice pasta in an effort to cut down on gluten consumption in this house.
PS: I got sidetracked by a hungry, bored baby, preventing me from publishing this earlier but I would like to report that the pork roast was the bomb. Nom. Alice liked it, too!
Boy, I didn’t mean to be neglectful. I’m enjoying my little love affair with HuffPo. (Did you see my latest post?) I know I usually post my menus on this blog but this week, it’s over there and next week, it’ll be back here. (Oh, you haven’t seen a menu in awhile here? That’s because I’ve been totally lazy and not written one in weeks. So there.)
In other news, that expensive Master’s Degree of mine is finally coming in handy. It’s not making me any money but it’s giving me some clout in a neighborhood grassroots effort in which I’ve gotten involved. I live in the northwest section of The Bronx, in a neighborhood called Riverdale. It’s a relatively affluent community, with many retired folks, religious folks, and young families such as mine. Recently, owing to a variety of factors, we’ve seen a decline in businesses on our main strip, Riverdale Avenue. After a popular bookstore closed, some members of the community got together and formed a group to address these issues, and the fact that the business community is not meeting the needs of our changing community. I complain constantly about the fact that I go to Westchester to do my shopping, so I decided it was time to stop complaining and start taking action. I joined the group and signed on for the steering committee. I’m excited about having something to sink my teeth into and alleviate this little stay-at-home funk I’ve been in since the New Year hit.
Don’t get me wrong. I love being at home with Alice but it was definitely a huge transition for me, going from having a place to go everyday, where I got to interact with all kinds of interesting people to having weeks where I don’t leave the house for days at a time, especially when it’s cold out. So, yay for some brain relief. Maybe it’ll cure my mommybrain.
Speaking of mommybrain, have you read this article from Atlantic Monthly? I found myself shaking my head in affirmation as I read the article, which says that our ability to multitask has made us, in fact, less efficient and reduced our attention span to rubble. The article was written in 2007 but it remains prescient.
